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The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has contributed a large impact on various economic sectors and the energy sector is no exception. In this paper, we analyze the time-varying correlation between COVID-19 shocks (positive and negative) and energy markets (natural gas, gasoil, heating oil, coal, and crude oil) in the time-varying environment. This study adds to the literature by implementing the Markov-switching dynamic copula with Student-t distribution to explore the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic shock effects on energy markets. Our results revealed that (i) there is evidence of correlation between COVID-19 shocks and all energy markets; (ii) the contributions of COVID-19 shocks on energy markets are not constant along 2020. (iii), there is evidence of a similar response of the energy markets to the positive and negative COVID-19 shocks.

Isolation is a separator between conductors in electrical equipment that prevents flashover, resulting in a short circuit or electrical failure. Isolation is critical in electrical appliances, exceptionally High Voltage Power Equipment (HVPE), to ensure the safety of circuit breakers, capacitors, and transformers. In addition to being an isolator, the insulating liquid material also serves to cool the heat generated by electrical appliances. Isolator with mineral oil-based transformer has various environmental issues, including non-biodegradability, non-renewability, and rarity. Because it is environmentally safe and extensively used, virgin coconut oil (VCO) is an alternative transformer oil insulation. This study aims to determine the properties of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) breakdown voltage using the IEC 156 standard and oil temperature conditioning. According to the test results, the oil breakdown voltage before heating (at room temperature) is 14 kV, which is much below the IEC 156 standard, and the breakdown voltage after heating at 90 ° is 35 kV, and 110 ° is 40 kV, which is even higher than the IEC 156 requirement

Thyme oil, which is an anti-fungicide, was used to increase the physical and mechanical properties of wood as well as improve its strength, especially in outdoor conditions. For this purpose, Stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) wood samples classified according to the annual number of rings were exposed to either the impregnation process or the combined process, which was comprised of impregnation followed by heat treatment. As a result of the study, it was determined that the wood had different physical and mechanical properties based upon the number of annual rings. In addition, it was specified that the thyme oil used in the impregnation process improved the physical properties of the wood and also reduced the water absorption during the combined process. As a general conclusion, the impregnation process and the combined process increased the mechanical properties of the wood in parallel with an increase in the number of annual rings. The process of impregnation of wood materials with thyme oil is promising due to its anti-fungal and antibacterial properties, its ability to be used in small amounts in on-site impregnation, and it being an environmentally friendly product for the wood protection industry.

According to the US Department of Energy, succinic acid (SA) is a top platform chemical that can be produced from biomass. Bread waste, which has high starch content, is the second most wasted food in the UK and can serve as a potential low cost feedstock for the production of SA. This work evaluates the environmental performance of a proposed biorefinery concept for SA production by fermentation of waste bread using a cradle-to-factory gate life cycle assessment approach. The performance was assessed in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and non-renewable energy use (NREU). Waste bread fermentation demonstrated a better environmental profile compared to the fossil-based system, however, GHG emissions were about 50% higher as compared to processes using other biomass feedstocks such as corn wet mill or sorghum grains. NREU for fermentative SA production using waste bread was significantly lower (~ 46%) than fossil-based system and about the same as that of established biomass-based processes, thus proving the great potential of waste bread as a valuable feedstock for bioproduction of useful chemicals. The results show that steam and heating oil used in the process were the biggest contributors to the NREU and GHG emissions. Sensitivity analyses highlighted the importance of the solid biomass waste generated in the process which can potentially be used as fish feed. The LCA analysis can be used for targeted optimization of SA production from bread waste, thereby enabling the utilization of an otherwise waste stream and leading to the establishment of a circular economy.

We develop an index of uncertainty, the COVID-19 induced uncertainty (CIU) index, and employ it to empirically examine the vulnerability of energy prices amidst the COVID-19 pandemic using a distributed lag model that jointly accounts for conditional heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, persistence, and structural breaks, as well as day-of-the-week effect. The nexus between energy returns and uncertainty index is analyzed, using daily price returns of eight energy sources (Brent oil, diesel, gasoline, heating oil, kerosene, natural gas, propane, and WTI oil) and four news/information-based uncertainty proxies [CIU, EPU, Global Fear Index (GFI) and VIX]. The CIU and alternative indexes are used, respectively for the main estimation and sensitivity analysis. We show the outperformance of CIU over alternative news uncertainty proxies in the prediction of energy prices. News (aggregate) and bad news are found to negatively and significantly impact energy returns, while good news has a significantly positive impact. Imperatively, energy variables lack hedging potentials against the uncertainty occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, while we find no strong evidence of asymmetry. Our results are robust to the choice of news variables, forecast horizons employed, with likely sensitivity to energy prices.

This article provides an overview of the methods of managing the primary petroleum refining. To improve separation efficiency was proposed to stabilize the reflux ratio in the rectifying column. Purpose of work. To develop a system for automatic regulation of the reflux ratio of diesel fuel sec-tions in an atmospheric column of the refinery oil. To study the operating modes of an atmospheric column with the participation of the obtained automatic control system. Materials and methods. The article presented the features of the oil rectification process at the atmospheric unit of a small capacity refinery. The features of heat dissipation with intermediate circulation flash compared to a large-capacity unit will be shown in this article. The parameters of the facility were selected and divided into groups. A dynamic model of the section of shell-and-tube heat exchangers for heating oil with diesel fuel at a low-power refinery unit in the form of differential equations of heat balance has been developed to achieve the goal set work. An electrode dehydrator material balance equation has been compiled to find desalted oil consumption and saltwater consumption. The dependence of the reflux ratio of diesel fuel sections of the atmospheric column on the inlet and outlet temperatures of the atmospheric column circulation flash, the acute fractionation con-sumption, circulation flash, and oil fraction selection was obtained. The resulting model of the facili-ty consists of two parts: the linear part of the electric dehydrator and heat exchanger section, which determines the temperatures of the coolants, and the nonlinear output part, which determines the re-flux ratio depending on technological parameters. The proposed model makes it possible to investi-gate the effect of disturbances on the controlled parameters. The MATLAB/Simulink software prod-uct has been chosen as a tool to implement the model. A system of automatic regulation of the re-flux ratio in MATLAB/Simulink has been built with the participation of the developed model of the study object. Conclusion. The results of modeling a system for automatic regulation of the reflux ratio of diesel fuel sections in the atmospheric column of a low-power refinery unit has been ob-tained, taking into account the peculiarities of the process under disturbance conditions.

The effects of hot-cold bio-oil treatment on properties of wood material from pine species are not known. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of hot-cold bio-oil treatment on oil uptake, density and moisture content properties of Brutia pine wood. This study used castor oil (Ricinus communis L.), flaxseed oil (Oleum linii), mixtured oil (castor oil + flaxseed oil) and Brutian pine sapwood (Pinus brutia Ten.). The wood samples were treated with hot oil (110 ºC ± 2 ºC) for 6 hours before cold oil (23 ºC ± 2 ºC) for 2 hours. Then, the oil uptake, density and moisture content of treated and untreated wood samples were measured. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical program (p0.05). The results showed that hot-cold bio-oil treatment had a significant effect on oil uptake, density and moisture content of Brutia pine wood; and there were significant differences among these effects at 95% confidence level. Such treatment increased the treated wood density between 40.38% - 78.85% compared to untreated wood, while it reduced the moisture content between 93.44% - 96.72%. It was measured the highest density in linseed oil treatment, and the lowest density in castor oil treatment. Flaxseed oil treatment gave the lowest moisture content, while the highest moisture content was measured in mixed oil treatment. Mixed oil treatment increased the moisture content compared to others; increased the density compared to castor oil; reduced compared to flaxseed oil. Accordingly, the moisture diffusion may have been prevented. Because the porosity and penetration in Brutia wood have been limited with reduced the moisture content and increased the density., Sıcak-soğuk biyo-yağ işleminin yerli çam türü ağaç malzemenin özellikleri üzerine etkileri bilinmemektedir. Bu çalışmada sıcak-soğuk biyo-yağ işleminin kızılçam odunundan hazırlanan ağaç malzemede yağ alımı, yoğunluk ve rutubet miktarı üzerine etkisinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmada, hint yağı (Ricinus communis L.), keten yağı (Oleum linii), karma yağ (hint yağı + keten yağı) ve kızılçam (Pinus brutia Ten.) diri odunu kullanılmıştır. Odun örnekleri 6 saat sıcak (110 ºC ± 2 ºC) yağ ile muamele edildikten sonra 2 saat soğuk (23 ºC ± 2 ºC) yağ ile muamele edilmiştir. Test ve kontrol örneklerinin yağ alımı, yoğunluk ve rutubet miktarları ölçülmüştür. Elde edilen veriler, SPPS istatistik programı yardımıyla analiz edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, sıcak-soğuk biyo-yağ işleminin kızılçam odununda yağ alımı, yoğunluk ve rutubet miktarını istatistiksel anlamda önemli derecede etkilediğini, bu etkiler arasında %95 güvenle önemli farklılıklar olduğunu göstermiştir. Bu uygulama ile test örneklerinin kontrole kıyasla yoğunluğu %40.38-%78.85 artarken, rutubet miktarı %93.44-%96.72 oranında azalmıştır. En yüksek yoğunluk keten yağı işleminde, en düşük yoğunluk ise hint yağı işleminde ölçülmüştür. Keten yağı muamelesi en düşük rutubet miktarını verirken en büyük rutubet miktarı karma yağ muamelesinde ölçülmüştür. Sıcak-soğuk karma yağ işlemi, diğerlerine göre rutubet miktarını yükseltirken, yoğunluğu hint yağına göre arttırmış, keten yağına göre azaltmıştır. Buna göre, denge rutubeti azalıp yoğunluğu artan kızılçam diri odununda porozite ve penetrasyon sınırlandığından rutubet difüzyonu engellenmiştir.

Background The health hazards of indoor air pollution are well-established but studies of the health effects due to pollution from heating are rare. This study investigated the association of heating and disability for activities of daily living among Chinese middle-aged and elderly. Methods We used two consecutive surveys in a cohort of over 17,000 adults aged 45 or older, who were interviewed first in 2011–2012 and then in 2013. In these surveys, taking advantage of random survey time, we applied a random effects logit regression model that included an interaction between pollution-producing heating fuel and a dummy variable, which measured interview time based on whether or not it was heating season. Results Exposure to pollution-producing heating fuel was associated with a 39.9% (OR 1.399; 95%CI 1.227–1.594) and 71.0% (OR 1.710; 95%CI 1.523–1.920) increase in the likelihood of disability in activities of daily living (DADL) and disability in instrumental activities of daily living (DIADL), respectively. In heating season between year 2011 and 2013, moving from clean heating energy for heating to pollution-producing fuel was linked with an increase in the likelihoods having DADL and DIADL, with the OR of 2.014 (95%CI 1.126–3.600) and 1.956 (95%CI 1.186–3.226), respectively. However, disability increases due to change from clean energy to pollution-producing heating energy did not appear in advantaged education respondents. Conclusions We found that exposure to heating by burning of coal, wood, or crop residue was associated with disability in performing daily living activities. Health policymakers should take indoor pollution due to heating into consideration as it is a major determinant of activities of daily living in elderly people; especially, such policy should focus on elderly people who have disadvantaged education.

In moderate climate, broiler chicken houses are important heating energy consumers and hence heating fuel consumption accounts for a large part in operating costs. They can be reduced by constructional measures, which in turn lead to important costs as well. On the other hand, a software solution to reduce energy would lead to considerably less follow-up costs. The main objective of our work was to assess if it is possible to save energy with a software solution and eventually quantify the savings for a given broiler house in the Swiss Plateau. The investigation was carried out in simulation: the particular broiler house was measured, and a dynamical model for it was derived and validated. To actually search for a particular behaviour of the software that would lead to energy savings, model predictive control was used. The idea was not to specify a particular behaviour of the software but rather to let the software itself find the best behaviour in an exhaustive search. The simulations showed that energy savings can be realised mainly by letting the indoor humidity deviate from what usually is used as setpoint and hence take profit of the outdoor climate, which changes naturally during a 24-hour course. We used expert opinions to determine how long and large these setpoint deviations may be without harming the broilers. The simulations showed alsothat the light control and the biological activity of the animals reduced the potential savings.

Significance This study uses data on ∼93 million individual homes to perform the most comprehensive study of greenhouse gases from residential energy use in the United States. We provide nationwide rankings of carbon intensity of homes in states and ZIP codes and offer correlations between affluence, floor space, and emissions. Scenarios demonstrate this sector cannot achieve the Paris Agreement 2050 target by decarbonizing electricity production alone. Meeting this target will also necessitate a broad portfolio of zero emission energy solutions and behavioral change associated with housing preferences. To support policy, we estimate the reductions in floor space and increases in density needed to build low-carbon communities., Residential energy use accounts for roughly 20% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. Using data on 93 million individual households, we estimate these GHGs across the contiguous United States and clarify the respective influence of climate, affluence, energy infrastructure, urban form, and building attributes (age, housing type, heating fuel) in driving these emissions. A ranking by state reveals that GHGs (per unit floor space) are lowest in Western US states and highest in Central states. Wealthier Americans have per capita footprints ∼25% higher than those of lower-income residents, primarily due to larger homes. In especially affluent suburbs, these emissions can be 15 times higher than nearby neighborhoods. If the electrical grid is decarbonized, then the residential housing sector can meet the 28% emission reduction target for 2025 under the Paris Agreement. However, grid decarbonization will be insufficient to meet the 80% emissions reduction target for 2050 due to a growing housing stock and continued use of fossil fuels (natural gas, propane, and fuel oil) in homes. Meeting this target will also require deep energy retrofits and transitioning to distributed low-carbon energy sources, as well as reducing per capita floor space and zoning denser settlement patterns.

Oil heating has been degraded by thermal, air and moisture penetration leading to the creation of volatile and non-volatile materials serving as active substrate and increasing temperature and mass transmission levels. In this study, Fresh mustard oil was characterized to assess chemical properties like saponification value (SV), iodine value (IV), peroxide value (PV), p-Anisidine value (p-AV), Totox value (TV), acid value (AV),density and viscosity. The oil was reused (thermal process) for three sets of periods at different heat levels 120, 140, 160, 180 and 200 degrees the impact of the thermal process was examined through physicochemical, nutritional and sensory properties and compared with fresh mustard oil. Chemical compounds were identified for selected oils using GC-MS and FT-IR spectroscopy. The effect of spectra reveals there was a significant change in the thermal refined oils band (180 to 200 ° C) and higher temperature changes the band's exact positions and shifts when the fatty acid ratio has shifted. Similarly, the FT-IR study also found the drastic changes in the functional compounds at 180 to 200°C. The chemical property shows that primary and secondary level of rancidity were confirmed through peroxide value and p-Anisidine value respectively; the consistency and the flow rate was reduced due to the deterioration through rancidity.

An assessment of trends in main air pollutant concentrations (including CO, SO2, NO2, O3, PM2.5, and Asbestos) is conducted for the years 2005–2016 for the city of Tehran, Iran. The focus has been on the contribution of anthropogenic emissions to the observed trend, particularly the role of related mitigation plans implemented in the period of interest. A significant decreasing trend (about 50%) was observed in CO and SO2 concentrations during the considered time interval, which was explained by improvement plans in fuel quality and vehicle emission standards. While a substantial elevation (more than 50%) in NO2 levels was detected over the study period, variant trends were observed during different periods that appear to be driven by multiple factors including the increase in the number of vehicles and fuel consumption, changes in residential heating fuel from heavy oil to natural gas, etc. The analysis revealed that the O3 formation in Tehran's atmosphere was converted from NOx-limited to NOx-saturated regime around the years 2012–2013. The overall analysis showed a slight decreasing trend (about 30%) in PM2.5 concentrations between the years 2011–2015; however, a rise in PM2.5 levels was observed between the years 2015–2016. Apart from the contribution of anthropogenic drivers, general drought in Iran has caused a considerable increase in natural dust in total PM2.5 mass. Finally, a decline in annual mean airborne asbestos fibers (more than 60%) was indicated by the current study during the years 2012 and 2015.

The use of renewable energy sources increases the energy self-sustainability of cities, enabling citizens to reduce energy costs, which results in an increase in their standard of living. However, solar energy penetration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its capital Sarajevo, is not in line with the possibilities. Furthermore, the Sarajevo Canton is extremely polluted during the winter months because of the use of unacceptable heating fuel. The aim of this paper is to introduce photovoltaic power systems use in heating electrification system. In this paper AQI is calculated based on historical data and the hybrid model EMD-SARIMA for air pollution and a solar production forecast is presented. The methodology was tested in the Sarajevo Canton, taking into account 35,000 households. In order to ensure clean air, renewable electric energy use for household heating should be implemented. The widespread use of inefficient individual heating systems characterized by inefficient and expensive use of firewood and the use of coal in individual furnaces in populated areas are the main problems of internal and urban air pollution in Sarajevo Canton. In order to reduce energy poverty in Sarajevo Canton, the use of a floating photovoltaic power plant located on Lake Jablanica with a capacity of 30 MW and the solar prosumers with capacity of 115 MW to provide the 196 GWh necessary for heating electrification of 35,000 households is implemented in this paper. Finally, based on correlation between AQI forecast and solar production it was calculated that the values of the AQI, considering the application of solar energy during 150 days (five months) in one heating season, have significantly decreased. Also renewable energy sources have a very important role in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere and reducing urban pollution. With this approach, households would be heated by renewable electricity, which would make Sarajevo a cleaner, smarter city.

We extend the widely-studied Heterogeneous Autoregressive Realized Volatility (HAR-RV) model to examine the out-of-sample forecasting value of climate-risk factors for the realized volatility of movements of the prices of crude oil, heating oil, and natural gas. The climate-risk factors have been constructed in recent literature using techniques of computational linguistics, and consist of daily proxies of physical (natural disasters and global warming) and transition (U.S. climate policy and international summits) risks involving the climate. We find that climate-risk factors contribute to out-of-sample forecasting performance mainly at a monthly and, in some cases, also at a weekly forecast horizon. We demonstrate that our main finding is robust to various modifications of our forecasting experiment, and to using three different popular shrinkage estimators to estimate the extended HAR-RV model. We also study longer forecast horizons of up to three months, and we account for the possibility that policymakers and forecasters may have an asymmetric loss function.

Households have been pointed out as a significant source of air pollution and climate change. In Europe, the 60% of energy used by households is for space heating. The present work focuses on improving the knowledge on residential heating characteristics in Greece. The full causal chain, from the appliances used to the pollutants emitted, is examined at thelocal scale. A crowdsourcing approach was followed for the collection of the necessary data for performing the emissions calculations. With the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS), dynamic maps were produced for each Greek region, providing the information produced in this study in gridded form. In terms of energy demands, it was found that Greece relies mainly on oil and biomass and secondarily on gas and electricity. The use of biomass burning as a main heating fuel is quite high inthe colder and rural areas, while it is popular as a secondary heating fuel inthe urban areas. The residential heating period in Greece lasts from October to April and it is even shorter in southern Greece. In terms of emissions, CO and PM10 had the highest values since they are related to biomass burning. NOx emissions are mainly emitted by the oil burned in boilers.

Highly viscous fuels present combustion challenges due to poor atomization and consequent inefficient air-fuel mixture, however, due to the demand for cheap heating fuels; burner design and fuel properties are continually optimized to enhance their combustion and emission performance. In this study, used engine oil was drained from the sump of a compression ignition engine; the oil was pre-treated to remove particulate matter, water and ferromagnetic materials. The oil samples were then blended with diesel fuel at different volumetric proportions and were characterized according to ASTM standard. The fuel samples were then combusted using atomizing swirl waste oil burner; flame temperature and flame size were measured using infrared thermometer and direct photography respectively. The burner was then mounted to a combustion chamber and the emission gases and flue gas temperatures were measured using a flue gas analyser and digital thermometer respectively. It was revealed that increasing diesel fuel blend decreases the density and viscosity of the fuel samples. All the blended fuel samples were found to form a homogenous mixture and generated flame temperature higher than the unblended oil sample (B0), B20 generated the highest flame temperature of 1400 °C with flame size of 340 × 210 mm and the lowest carbon monoxide (CO) emission of 0.49 %, unburned hydrocarbon (HC) of 249 ppm and the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) of 12.87 % levels. In view of this, diesel fuel can be used as a good blending candidate to used engine oil to improve flame temperature and decrease emission levels in swirl waste oil burners.

Recent studies have shown that heating oil to high temperature causes oxidative degradation of the oil, consequently producing characteristics odour, taste, colour and texture. However, this study was conducted to evaluate the stability of four different samples of edible oils. Acid value was found to be 5.22, 3.50, 0.73 and 1.29 mg KOH/g oil in fresh Melon, Bushmango, olive and Palm olein oils samples respectively. When the four oil samples were used for frying, the acid value was found to be; 6.73, 3.90, 2.24 and 2.24 mg KOH/g oil (24 hours after frying), 11.22, 7.86, 4.49 and 3.3 mg KOH/g oil (2 weeks after frying) and 19.17, 13.22, 5.82 and 4.4 mg KOH/g oil (4 weeks after frying), for melon, Bushmango, olive and palm olein oils samples respectively. Saponification values were ranged between 196.70-240.00 mg KOH/g oil in fresh oils of the samples, and between 197.80-252.33 mg KOH/g oil in the oils after using them for frying. Furthermore, Peroxide values ranged from 2.65 to 3.20 Meq/Kg in fresh oils of the samples, and from 2.71 to 24.00 Meq/Kg in frying oils were to exceed the permitted value of 20 meq/Kg for olive oil and 10 meq/Kg for other edible oils in nearly half the analyzed samples. In general, feeding on these kinds of edible oils which have high values of acidity and peroxides is very dangerous because of the destructive effects of peroxide compounds and acidity on the components of the membranes of the living cell.

In a gas turbine power plant, the lubrication oil must be hot enough for the turbine start-up where the unit is in standstill mode. Currently, the strategy to heat the lubrication oil of ANSALDO V94.2 gas turbine power plant is operating the units in turning gear mode or interval mode. However, these strategies cause to suffering the power plant from high power consumption rate and aging. In this study, an auxiliary portable heating system was added to the unit 5 of the MAPNA built MGT-70 (an Iranian version of V94.2) Aliabad Katoul-Iran power plant for increasing the lube oil temperature. Irreversibility, cost-effectiveness, and availability of the proposed heating system are studied by the concepts of exergy, economy, and reliability analyses, respectively. The result of the exergy analysis shows that by using the auxiliary portable lube oil heating system the exergy destruction decreases about 94.7% and 92.6% in comparison with turning gear mode and interval mode, respectively. The result of the economic analysis shows that the auxiliary portable heating system consumes less power rather than turning gear mode. Moreover, it is a cost-effective system which has no penalty and no non-profit production. Finally, the reliability analysis shows that the auxiliary portable lube oil heating system is a reliable tool during its lifetime. Keywords: Gas turbine, Lube oil, Lubrication system, Portable heater, Exergy, Reliability

Switching to natural gas and refinery gas as combustion fuels during refinery modernization, results in a considerable low usage of a medium heavy heating oil, and an open question of the tank function in which such an oil has been stored. There is an idea to make a conversion of such tanks into heat storages and their integration into the cogeneration plant within oil refinery. The analysis of the conversion of two such existing characteristic tanks was made in this paper. Validation of the model is done by comparing the measurement results on the tank that accumulates the cooling energy with the results of the numerical calculation. The results showed that the numerical model provided good results. Validity evaluation of Half cycle figure of merit of charging and discharging process has been analyzed. For both tanks, for all the flows rate it goes over 95%. It was found that during the charging and discharging procesess a significant conduction impact comes up with lower flows, which increases an outlet width of the thermocline. A flow rate impact onto the efficiency of discharge process for Tank 1 and Tank 2 at outlet water temperature 96 °C was analyzed. For Tank 1 ranges from 90.4 to 91.29%, and for Tank 2 ranges between 90.67 and 92.77%, depending on the water flow rate. With both tanks, the results showed that it is better to keep the flow rate low at the beginning of the discharge process.

This study explores the role of social desirability bias in the willingness to pay (WTP)–willingness to accept (WTA) disparity debate. In the context of a valuation scenario involving air quality in Athens, Greece, we examine whether the well-known WTP–WTA disparity is in place and whether social desirability could be related to this gap by introducing different magnitudes of bias on the two welfare measures. To do so, we contrast the results obtained from the contingent valuation method with those from the inferred valuation method that is believed to mitigate social desirability bias. On the policy side, the study shows that estimates of welfare loss associated with the Greek government’s decision to equalize the tax on diesel fuel and heating oil, which had serious side-effects on air quality, vary greatly with respect to the value measure and method of elicitation.

Transformer thermal modelling is a crucial aspect to be considered as this may help the determination of heat capacity of transformer. This paper present, simulation study on Oil Natural Air Natural (ONAN) transformer heat distribution pattern with and without presence of hot spot temperature (HST). This paper aims to compare the effects of different HST value at different locations inside the transformer unit as well as to evaluate the top oil thermal behaviour of corn oil as cooling mechanism in a transformer. To achieve aforementioned objectives, three HSTs were introduced to the 30 MVA transformer winding to find the total heat build-up in the top of the transformer tank. The outcome of thermal properties is examined using x-y temperature plot. From the results found that the location of HST affects overall transformer’s temperature. HST at the top of the winding give a significant effect compared to when HST is at the bottom of the winding. It is also evident that the usage of corn oil reduced the temperature distribution of the transformer. The findings suggest that the temperature distribution study especially on transformer is important to monitor in-service transformer in a non-invasive manner.

The current study is primarily motivated in testing Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework by including energy prices along with output growth. In addition, the current study is also important for analyzing the impact of energy prices by testing the effects of three different fuel prices. They include crude oil prices, natural gas prices and heating oil. The data is gathered from the period of 1980-2017. The results of ARDL confirm that economic growth has a positive and significant impact on carbon emission in Algeria. On the other hand, all energy prices (oil prices, heating oil and natural gas prices) confirm a negative and significant impact on carbon emission in Algeria. The results of ARDL also confirm a presence of U-Shaped EKC curve in the Algeria. The results VDM have confirm a bi-directional causal relationship between oil prices and carbon emission, however we found a unidirectional causal relationship from heating oil prices to carbon emission and no causal relationship between natural gas prices and carbon emission in Algeria.Keywords: Oil prices, natural gas prices, heating oil prices, Algeria.JEL Classification: E31, Q5, Q56DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.8312

In order to meet ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, the reduction of fuel consumption in the heating sector is necessary. This paper assesses the impact of introducing direct drain water heat recovery systems in commercial kitchens in the UK, based on a commercially available heat exchangers. The recoverable heat from these kitchens was estimated using Monte Carlo simulation, sector consumption data, and data measured in the field. A financial criterion, the Net Present Value calculated over 10 years, was used to estimate feasibility threshold values for the kitchen water consumption, varying with the heating fuel used in each premises. This analysis resulted in a total financially feasible potential for drain water heat recovery in the hospitality and food service sector in the UK of approximately 1.24 TWh/yr, leading to a reduction in GHG emissions of 344 k tons Ce/yr. This could be achieved at a cost of approximately 2.94 p£/kg Cesaved, over a 10-year lifetime, which was several orders of magnitude smaller than traditional renewable heat sources such as heat pumps. Commercially available drain water heat recovery systems could, when installed, exploit around 88% of current potential in drain water heat in commercial kitchens (1.40 TWh/yr) in a manner that is financially profitable. However, this paper assumes the availability of a 2 m vertical drop in the kitchen drain, required to install the heat exchanger, and thus achieve optimal effectiveness. In case this head is not available, the heat recovery potential would be untapped, as in approximately 160 GWh, in kitchens where the hot water consumption is too small for financial profitability. This corresponds to a reduction in GHG emissions of 44 k tons Ce/yr and leaves a gap in the market for inexpensive DWHR devices, which could exploit this potential at lower efficiencies.

Marine oil shale from the Sultani mine was characterized (ultimate and proximate analysis, 13C NMR, differential thermogravimetry (DTG)). The 13C NMR indicated that the shale is highly aliphatic, and the concentration of carbonyl carbon is small. DTG indicated a total weight loss of 21 wt% to 550 °C. The shale was pyrolysed to different final temperatures in the range 360–540 °C under N2 and the shale oils produced characterized by utilization parameters (API, heating value, boiling point distribution) and by chemical properties (1H-NMR and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry GC–MS) as a function of final pyrolysis temperature. Previous studies have only investigated the utilization properties of marine-shale oil at one temperature. The average oil yield increased with pyrolysis temperature to a maximum at 520 °C, and then fell. The oil density was higher at 440–520 °C than at 360–400 °C (0.99–1.00, 0.96−0.97 g/cm3 respectively). Unexpectedly, oil heating value (39.7–40.0 MJ/kg in 360–540 °C) and sulfur content (11.25 wt% in 360–520 °C) were independent of pyrolysis temperature. Oil distillation indicated that up to 90 vol% was in the diesel fraction. 1H-NMR implied that the oil produced at all temperatures was highly aliphatic. GC/MS for the oil indicated the presence of long chain hydrocarbons (C11-C32), both normal and branched, some substituted benzenes, and high concentrations of sulfur compounds, mainly substituted thiophenes with same benzothiophenes. The average molecular weight of the sulfur compounds and proportion of heavier oil were higher at 520 °C than at 460 °C, so that the increased yield of oil at higher temperatures would have to be balanced against the lower quality of the crude shale oil produced. The results emphasized the importance of studying oil properties as a function of pyrolysis temperature, as differences which could be important in practice were noted.

Fuel icing of fuel/oil heat exchange systems has been a troublesome issue. In this study, a de-icing method is proposed to manage the fuel icing problem by switching the fuel flow direction of the systems. This method uses the fuel/oil heat exchanger as a passive heat source, heat and momentum of the fuel are delivered to the ice. A device named FFDSD (Fuel flow direction switching device) has been developed for this method. This device consists of two normally open and two closed type solenoid valves, and the proposed configuration consumes electrical power only when switching fuel flow directions (36 W to 0 W). A control algorithm has been developed as a countermeasure against a large amount of ice inflow that conventional methods cannot cope with. FFDSD was designed and fabricated, and the experimental test was conducted. The experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully achieve the de-icing of the fuel system within 1 s. A numerical de-icing process was attempted. Ice in fuel was numerically modeled as a fluidized quasi-solid material based on descriptions in previous studies. Numerical analysis results show a similar tendency to experimental results. The results of this study would be useful to manage fuel icing problem of heat exchange systems.

This study examines the regional characteristics of energy or fuel poverty in Japan through a new approach, i.e., evaluating energy poverty via the direct measurement of energy service usage. This measure is a kind of relative poverty measure in calorific value, with multiple thresholds reflecting the diverse energy needs of households. The analysis sheds light on several unexplored issues in previous literature. Most notably, the result emphasizes the role of kerosene (heating oil) in securing warmth in winter, especially in the northern regions, and highlights an “energy poverty premium” in Japan on the unit cost of energy (per amount of heat). This study also suggests that the ongoing energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables should be promoted carefully with due consideration to the detrimental impact on the energy poor.

The increased use of wood as a heating fuel in residential and small commercial buildings has increased concern about potential environmental and safety impacts, specifically particulate matter (PM) emissions in the nanometer range. Larger particles (> 2.5 µm) can be effectively removed from exhaust streams by emission control devices. However, nanoparticles (NP), due to their size, are more difficult to capture in exhaust flue gases. In addition, NPs have a higher surface to volume ratio, allowing them to absorb organic compounds, causing them to be more reactive than their larger counterparts. This review focuses on the NPs produced from residential wood heating devices. Current emission regulations do not reflect the NP count or type produced from residential wood combustion, although most published studies show that a significant portion of the particles produced during combustion is in the nano-size range. Fuel type, device type and combustion periods have all shown to impact, at various degrees, the NPs produced. Contrary to common expectations, it appears that modern units may generate a higher count of NPs, although emitting less particulate mass than older units. This investigation supports arguments of needed particle type and count regulations in addition to the current mass based emission regulations. In addition to a critical review and analysis, recommendations are made regarding future testing, monitoring and environmental impact studies that address the significance of NP emissions.

This paper examines the role of structural change in the asymmetric adjustment of retail energy prices following changes in crude oil costs. The paper also examines the pattern of adjustment in retail energy prices when exchange rate is accounted for as part of the marginal cost of importing crude oil in European countries with high oil import dependency ratio. The paper shows that the results of Greenwood-Nimmo and Shin (2013) no longer hold when the structural change in the relationship between retail energy prices and crude oil costs is taken into the consideration. The paper also cautions that studies like Kristoufek and Lunackova (2014) that failed to account for exchange rate as part of the marginal cost of importing oil for countries with high oil import dependency ratio may be misleading. In fact, the results of this paper further indicate that once the exchange rate effect is taken into consideration, the possibility of rent-seeking behaviour in the gasoline markets of Italy and Spain disappears; while the rockets and feathers effect observed in most of the ex-tax gasoline, diesel, domestic heating oil and industrial fuel oil markets vanishes.

Protecting the environment and maintaining the EU’s competitiveness must be inextricably linked. From this perspective, the scope of present article may be seen as quite timely. Air pollution is the main environmental risk factor contributing to deterioration of the health of the population, and consequently influences the economic development of the state. The usage of hard fuels for the heating of local dwellings is one of the most important sources of local air pollution. The aim of this paper is to identify the relationship between the pollution caused by heating and the health of the population. The health status of the population was assessed using the potential years of life lost per 100,000 inhabitants. Data on the energy sources used for heating were taken from a survey of all dwellings in the Slovak Republic from the 2011 census of inhabitants, homes and apartments. To create clusters of similar municipalities in terms of the variables considered, we used the fuzzy cluster analysis for individual size-standard groups of municipalities. The map view of the fuzzy cluster analysis results confirmed the division of the Slovak Republic into two regions – the north, which showed more favorable results and the south, which showed negative findings. The membership function values of the first cluster indicate a significant positive spatial autocorrelation as measured by Moran’s coefficient. A local Moran cluster map identified the areas of interest investigated below.

We examine factors underlying hunting productivity among Inuit in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. Specifically, we focus on the role of gasoline use as the main variable of interest—commonly cited as a crucial determinant of hunting participation. Over the course of 12 months, 10 hunters recorded their on-the-land activities using a GPS tracking system, participatory mapping sessions, and bi-weekly interviews. A multivariable linear regression model (MvLRM) was applied to assess whether factors such as consumables used (i.e. heating fuel, gasoline, oil, food), distances traveled, or the number of companions on a trip were associated with the mass of edible foods returned to the community. Results indicate that, despite being positively associated with hunting trip productivity when assessed through a univariable linear regression model, gasoline is not a statistically significant determinant of standalone trip yield when adjusting for other variables in a multivariable linear regression. Instead, factors relating to seasonality, number of companions, and days on the land emerged as more significant and substantive drivers of productivity while out on the land. The findings do not suggest that access to, or the availability of, gasoline does not affect whether a hunting trip commences or is planned, nor that an increase in the amount of gasoline available to a hunter might increase the frequency of trips (and therefore annual productivity). Rather, this work demonstrates that the volume of gasoline used by harvesters on standalone hunting trips represent a poor a priori predictor of the edible weight that harvesters are likely to return to the community.

The main objective of the study is to assess the similarity between the time series of energy commodity prices and the time series of daily COVID-19 cases. The COVID-19 pandemic affects all aspects of the global economy. Although this impact is multifaceted, we assess the connections between the number of COVID-19 cases and the energy commodities sector. We analyse these connections by using the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) method. On this basis, we calculate the similarity measure—the DTW distance between the time series—and use it to group the energy commodities according to their price change. Our analysis also includes finding the time shifts between daily COVID-19 cases and commodity prices in subperiods according to the chronology of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings are that commodities such as ULSD, heating oil, crude oil, and gasoline are weakly associated with COVID-19. On the other hand, natural gas, palm oil, CO2 allowances, and ethanol are strongly associated with the development of the pandemic.

Consumption of 2,4-decadienal (2,4-DD) delays gastric emptying (GE) rate in animals. Oil heating produces 2,4-DD and other aldehydes. Here we examined whether heated oil affects GE rate and food intake in humans, and whether it is mediated by 2,4-DD. In the first experiment, 10 healthy volunteers consumed 240-g pumpkin soup with 9.2 g of heated (HO) or non-heated corn oil (CO). Subsequently, 17 participants consumed pumpkin soup containing 3.1 g of either heated corn oil (HO), 1 mg 2,4-DD + non-heated corn oil (2,4-DD), or non-heated corn oil (CO). Sixty minutes following pumpkin soup, cod roe spaghetti was provided, and then energy intake was determined. To evaluate GE rate, 13C breath test (Experiment 1) and ultrasonography (Experiments 1 and 2) were used. The results from the Experiment 1 confirmed that consumption of heated corn oil reduced GE rate. Experiment 2 showed a delayed GE rate in HO and 2,4-DD trials compared with CO trial (p &lt, 0.05). Energy intake was approximately 600–650 kJ lower in HO and 2,4-DD trials compared with CO trial (p &lt, 0.05). These findings suggest that 2,4-DD, either formed by oil heating or added to food, contributes to suppressing GE rate and energy intake.

Examining the price relationships of Brent Crude with 78 global commodities, our study shows that the spot price of a certain commodity, New York Harbor No. 2 Heating Oil Spot Price FOB, can serve as an auxiliary forecasting index of the rise and fall of the monthly Brent Crude oil price. With an innovative view for evaluating the price relationship and prediction based on simple, practical measurement, our findings provide a helpful auxiliary index tool for investors and analysts by offering a high success rate (82.98%) and predicting the rise and fall of the monthly Brent Crude oil price three weeks in advance.

The aim of this work is to develop dual purposes solar heating system using a heat pipe evacuated tube solar collector. The heat transfer fluid between the thermal loads and the solar collector loop was heating oil. The study provided two thermal loads; a solar water heating system and a solar baking/cooking system that had experimentally investigated under various weather conditions. The experimental pilot unit was installed in the Solar Energy Department, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt. Several test runs were performed to measure all assigned parameters that affect the system performance. The system is designed to provide hot oil surrounding the inner vessel of the baker with a temperature up to 250o C while the raw food can be baked/cooked and the outlet thermal energy can be used for heating water via an immersed coil in the hot water storage tank; then the relatively cooled oil is returned to the solar collector via hot oil circulating pump. The tested system can be positively contributed to baking and cooking purposes and providing hot water as well. It is considered an environmentally friendly system and can significantly enhance sustainable communities. The system is capable to produce hot water temperature up to 85 oC and an average temperature of about 60 oC during the day which is suitable for residential purposes and industrial process as well The auxiliary heating system can be an electric source in case of using in urban areas and can be renewable energy source like biogas or hydrogen fuels in rural and isolated areas.

Since the industrial revolution, the geopolitics of energy has been a driver of global prosperity and security, and determines the survival of life on our planet. This study examines the nonlinear structure and multifractal behavior of the cross-correlation between geopolitical risk and energy markets (West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent, natural gas and heating oil), using the multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis reveals different associations of the indices of overall geopolitical risk, geopolitical acts, and geopolitical threats against the four energy products. Based on daily data ranging from 1 January 1985 to 30 August 2021, the findings confirm the presence of nonlinear dependencies, suggesting that geopolitical risk and energy markets are interlinked. Furthermore, significant multifractal characteristics are found and the degree of multifractality is stronger between the overall geopolitical risk and WTI while the lowest degree of multifractality is with Brent. Overall, for the WTI and heating-oil markets, the influence of geopolitical threats is more pronounced rather than their fulfilment. Contrarily, the Brent and natural gas are more correlated to geopolitical acts. Energy products exhibit heterogeneous persistence levels of cross-correlation with all the indicators of geopolitical risk, being more persistent in the case of small fluctuations compared to large fluctuations.