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The paper industry is a high-carbon emission and energy-intensive industry. From the perspective of low-carbon trade and carbon neutrality, its energy conservation and emission reduction are worthy of attention. This study used the input-output model to calculate the embodied carbon emissions of China’s paper industry’s export trade to the United States from 2006 to 2020 and used the logarithmic mean division index (LMDI) method to analyze influencing factors of the change of embodied carbon emissions. The study found that the embodied carbon emissions of China’s paper industry’s export trade to the United States generally shows a stable downward trend after reaching the peak with the increase of export trade scale; scale effect is the main factor that causes the embodied carbon emissions, while technological progress, policy support, and environmental regulations are important driving forces to promote carbon emission reduction. The research results of this paper not only can test and guide China’s paper industry trade policies and industrial policies, but they can also provide decision-making reference for China and the United States to promote the carbon emission reduction of the paper industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal government last formally assessed the state of the nation's schools in the 1999 report "Condition of America's Public School," which estimated that it would take $127 billion to bring the nation's schools to "good condition." The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issued its own report card the same year. In "The Report Card for America's Infrastructure," the ASCE gave schools a D grade and estimated an even greater dollar amount ($322 billion) was needed over five years to bring schools into good condition. Funding these needs remains a huge challenge, and a policy statement ASCE adopted in 1999 has evolved and is a focus in the organization's 2011-2012 priorities. There is some uncertainty about finding funding today. However, some less well-known sources exist, such as Local School Construction Bonds and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds. Although the U.S. Department of Education plays a small and somewhat informal role in addressing the need of school facilities, there are some dedicated funding programs that may help meet facility improvement needs. There are also funding possibilities for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on top of typical renovations and building programs.

Abstract: Adoption of energy efficient technologies is considered a key sustainability strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in global industries. This article aims to assess costs of energy savings and carbon reduction from applying energy efficiency technologies in the US pulp and paper sector. Applicable efficiency measures were identified and their cost effectiveness was evaluated in two historical years – 1994 and 2006. Potential savings of final energy use resulting from applicable sustainability options were estimated as 707 PJ in 1994 and 1064 PJ in 2006, respectively, corresponding to approximately 32% of the sector''s annual final energy use in 1994 and 62% in 2006. The associated carbon-emission reduction was 8.1 million ton of carbon (MtC) in 1994 and 11.8MtC in 2006, corresponding to 26% and 45% of sector''s total energy-related carbon emissions in 1994 and 2006, respectively. Using the concepts of cost of conserved energy and cost of carbon reduction, we estimated that cost effective sustainability options contributed to final energy savings in the range of 15–25% of the annual energy use, and carbon-emission reduction from 14% to 20% of annual carbon emissions from the sector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One would not expect Niles West High School to be a model of sustainability. Located in Skokie, Illinois, the facility is more than 50 years old and at 612,000 square feet, it stands among the nation's largest high schools. Last winter, Niles West became one of the first five schools in the United States to achieve certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (EB: O&M). A shaky economy has forced many school districts to tighten their purse strings. However, school administrators, teamed with an experienced consultant team, can still build a realistic plan for creating a sustainable model that improves operational performance, creates healthier learning environments, enhances curricula, and promotes environmental stewardship. Best of all, realizing all these benefits does not require constructing an expensive new school or knocking down a single wall. The Niles West story teaches a valuable lesson: if a massive 50-year-old high school building can achieve higher energy efficiency and save operational dollars, so can most other education facilities. Distilled from the Niles West experience, some of these considerations discussed in this paper will help districts make the most of what they have without spending a fortune.

Information technology (IT) is regarded globally as a voracious consumer of energy. According to a 2007 research paper issued by the United Kingdom's Global Action Plan, IT accounts for 10 percent of the electrical usage in the U.K. In the United States, Stanford University estimates that IT accounts for 15 percent of its overall electrical use. Although IT adds to the problem of energy consumption on campus, it can also be a partner in the sustainability solution--by contributing to overall energy reduction and by enabling sustainable practices in other areas across the university. In fact, according to a 2007 NetworkWorld story, Gartner Group named "green IT" number one in its "Top 10 Strategic Technologies 2008." Interestingly, several of the other top 10 technologies in Gartner's list play roles in sustainable computing across the enterprise, including virtualization, unified communications, and the web as a platform. Sustainability is no longer a fringe project in IT organizations. At Indiana University (IU), University Information Technology Services (UITS) plays a large and growing role in IU's sustainability initiatives. That wasn't always the case, however. IT's role grew organically and will continue to evolve over time. This article describes the story of how IT got engaged at IU, and some of the payoffs of that engagement, which might have relevance for other institutions considering a similar role for IT. (Contains 5 figures and 7 endnotes.)

The article comments on a paper published within the issue, "Capital Formation and the Recent Productivity Slowdown," by Peter Clark. The author also discusses results from his own research in "Accounting for United States Economic Growth, 1929-1969," and applies it to Clark's paper. It is suggested that an abrupt rise in energy prices may have affected growth rates during the mid-1970s. The author also looks at a similar analysis made by John Kendrick, who focuses on the U.S. postwar period of 1948-1966.

Energy efficiency policies require the implementation of strategies to reduce energy use during the operation of integrated urban water systems. In Italy, the overall amount of electrical energy consumption for water systems is close to 2.3% of the total national consumption, thus efforts to minimize costs are crucial. This paper analyzes a case study of urban water systems in a specific area in the Piedmont Region, Italy; the case study includes the data collection methodology and the analysis of the energy consumption of seven large water providers. The discussion includes the quantification of the energy consumption reduction, achievable with the replacement of existing transformers with high-efficiency transformers, power factor correction, and the use of variable-frequency drives for the centrifugal pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

During the last one and a half decades, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have witnessed significant growth and tremendous development. While enjoying the wide variety of applications, the sensors in WSN have constrained resources, affecting their living lives, working times, assigned tasks, etc. Though a large number of efforts have been devoted into designing protocols that save energy as much as possible, they are still a passive solution. In this paper, we propose a novel approach called policy-based assistance system (PAS) that addresses the issue of resource limitation in a proactive manner. Complementary to existing works which focus on saving energy in individual nodes, our proposed approach further allows sensors with limited resources to make requests to other sensors to help complete the tasks. In this way, the resources in the whole WSN are better utilized and more tasks can be completed with little communication overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides energy saving tips from energy industries in the U.S. AC variable speed pumps replacing constant speed pumps with throttling valves make good economic sense in many applications. Examine auxiliary systems on mill site owned and operated by others who may be getting a free or discounted ride in energy if they were developed in times of relatively inexpensive energy. It is important to assure that all gauges, meters and monitoring devices related to your energy consumption are working and are accurate.

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Energy consumption is the primary source of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions, so reduction of energy consumption in any sector of the economy can be used as a tool to fight against global warming. However, to do that satisfactorily, it is necessary to know the degree of persistence of sectoral energy consumption. In fact, the degree of persistence shows how much of impact of shocks carries over to the following periods. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze the persistence and stationarity of sectoral energy consumption in the United States during 1952–2016 using bootstrap and subsampling confidence intervals. These confidence intervals provide more information compared to the unit root tests. Not only they provide evidence about the stationarity or non-stationarity of the variables, but also they show the degree of persistence. In addition, they require fewer assumptions on the nature of data. The findings show that the energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors appears to be stationary but persistent. On the contrary, the energy consumption in the industrial and transportation sectors is non-stationary. Therefore, the industrial and transportation sectors are the best candidates to implement energy conservation and economic or environmental-oriented policies, because the effect of these policies will be permanent. Similar policies can be applied in the residential and commercial sectors as well; however, the effects of shocks to these sectors will diminish eventually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A large-scale of 15,488 EnergyPlus simulations for commercial buildings in the U.S. • Nationwide energy savings for a single and combinations of multiple ECMs. • Nationwide energy savings for the ECM of fault detection and diagnostics. Abstract Buildings consumed 40% of the energy in the United States, which is more than any other sectors of the U.S. economy, including transportation and industry. The majority of this energy was used for lighting, space heating, cooling, ventilation, and water heating in the buildings. It is well known that the carbon emission is proportional to the energy consumption. Enhancing building efficiency becomes one of the easiest, most immediate and most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions. This paper focuses on the simulation-based nationwide energy savings analysis of different energy conservation measures (ECMs) to enhance building energy performance. The study includes 44 different ECMs, which were simulated in 16 different climate zones for 11 different commercial building types in the U.S. Simulations were conducted using a whole building simulation program, EnergyPlus. Commercial prototype building models from the U.S. Department of Energy [1] were used as the baselines. Model input files were automatically modified to incorporate with 44 different ECMs using scripts. The baselines were based on American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) [2] Standard 90.1 and International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). A total of 15,488 simulations were conducted to study the nationwide energy savings potentials. The details of these 44 proposed ECMs and their corresponding nationwide saving potentials are presented and discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In order to assess how seasonality affects disparities in natural gas consumption among sectors, this paper aims to study the pattern of convergence in natural gas consumption in a sample of 11 sectors in the United States between January 1973 and February 2017. In addition to the full sample, the existence of convergence is also examined in five subsets of sectors: residential, commercial, industrial, transport and electric power. By using various types of unit root tests, empirical results provide significant support for the convergence of disaggregated natural gas consumption across sectors in the United States. Another important finding of this paper is that natural gas consumption, despite being convergent, is very persistent. Highlights • This study is to test the hypothesis of the convergence in disaggregated natural gas consumption for the United States. • We use various types of unit root tests. • The energy conservation policies oriented towards the reduction of the seasonal effects of natural gas consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a substantial body of literature linking energy efficiency to occupant behavior. This paper extends that literature by developing a process for segmenting U.S. homeowners into profiles, on the basis of their (1) level of utility-bill botheredness and (2) household budgetary constraints. This process, using these two lenses to view homeowners, is hereafter called Decision-Ade. It builds on and contributes to theoretical knowledge in the areas of (1) residential energy decisions, (2) marketing science, (3) the psychology of behavior change, and (4) emotional response modeling. The motivation for developing Decision-Ade is to understand whether utility-bill botheredness and budgetary constraints can be used to segment U.S. homeowners into unique groups, which in this paper are referred to as profiles. The empirical analysis confirms that homeowner segmentation is not only made possible through this process, but that it enhances the understanding of how homeowners make decisions regarding upgrades to their homes. A compelling aspect of this study is that its sample comprises more than 1,000 U.S. homeowners, which is a sample size larger than nearly each of the studies reviewed for this paper. By using a sample of this size, this methodology can be applied to other fields as well, providing information that advances basic knowledge and capabilities across multiple disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data centers are a significant and growing component of electricity demand in the United States. This paper presents a bottom-up model that can be used to estimate total data center electricity demand within a region as well as the potential electricity savings associated with energy efficiency improvements. The model is applied to estimate 2008 U.S. data center electricity demand and the technical potential for electricity savings associated with major measures for IT devices and infrastructure equipment. Results suggest that 2008 demand was approximately 69 billion kilowatt hours (1.8% of 2008 total U.S. electricity sales) and that it may be technically feasible to reduce this demand by up to 80% (to 13 billion kilowatt hours) through aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency measures. Measure-level savings estimates are provided, which shed light on the relative importance of different measures at the national level. Measures applied to servers are found to have the greatest contribution to potential savings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

global consumption of energy continues to increase at an exponential rate, the need to find technologies that can help reduce this rate of consumption, particularly in passenger vehicles, is imperative. This paper provides a progress report on the BSST-led US Department of Energy-sponsored automotive thermoelectric waste heat recovery project, which has transitioned from phase 3 and is completing phase 4. Thermoelectric generator (TEG) development will be discussed, including modeling and thermal cycling of subassemblies. The design includes the division of the TEG into different temperature zones, where the subassembly materials and aspect ratios are optimized to match the temperature gradients for the particular zone. Test results for a phase 3 quarter-scale device of the phase 4 high-temperature TEG will be discussed, where power outputs of up to 125 W were achieved on a 600°C hot-air test bench. The design of the TEG, which uses high-power-density segmented thermoelectric elements, has evolved from a planar design in phase 3 to a cylindrical design in phase 4. The culmination of phase 4 includes testing of the generator on a dynamometer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with a high-performance production engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a preliminary insight into the status of the diffusion and maturity of 'Green IT' as well as some of the driving and inhibiting factors that influence it. The paper is largely descriptive and is based on a survey of 143 organisations from Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Overall, the findings indicate that organisations are developing the 'right mind-set', taking a number of 'softer actions', and investing in new technologies to use IT as part of the solution to pursue both eco-efficiency and eco-sustainability objectives. Nevertheless, the state of Green IT among the surveyed organisations can be considered at the early stage of maturity. In particular, the results indicate that the disposal of IT in an environmentally friendly manner is the most relevant organisational concern about Green IT. It is therefore not surprising that there is significantly more attention paid to the policy and practice in the end-of-IT-life management aspect of Green IT. On the other hand, attention to Green IT sourcing is the least adopted. The need for greater IT efficiency and the pursuit of tangible cost savings from IT operations are the primary drivers for adopting Green IT which have to be articulated in the strategy of an organisation. Likewise, the cost of greening IT and unclear business values from greening IT top the list of the factors that inhibit Green IT adoption. Limitation of the small sample size withstanding, the findings of this study hint at differences in Green IT initiatives among US, New Zealand and Australian organisations. In Australia and New Zealand, environmental consideration is the primary concern. In US the primary concern appears to be energy efficiency and cost reduction. Thus, while Australian and New Zealand organisations are leading the 'softer' side of Green IT policies and practices to reduce the environmental impact of IT, US organisations are far more advanced in the adoption of technologies and practices that reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethanol production in the United States has been steadily growing and is expected to continue growing. Many politicians see increased ethanol use as a way to promote environmental goals, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and energy security goals. This paper provides a benefit-cost analysis of increasing ethanol use based on an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. We find that the cost of increasing ethanol production to almost ten billion gallons a year is likely to exceed the benefits by about three billion dollars annually. We also suggest that earlier attempts aimed at promoting ethanol would have likely failed a benefit-cost test, and that Congress should consider repealing ethanol incentive programs, such as the ethanol tariff and tax credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on those policies that facilitate energy and environmental improvements in Sunbelt cities. Such policies ultimately provide a means of achieving the elusive goal of urban sustainability. Cities have common energy concerns that impact the urban environment. These concerns are manifested in urban policies and programs designed to achieve results such as reducing energy usage, improving the environment and facilitating interaction. This research deals with policies that impact urban sustainability in general and energy use in particular. Cities that are earnestly pursuing specific policies, such as energy management or sustainable development, often have an array of activities directed toward achieving these goals. The purpose of this paper includes: Providing a descriptive comparison of specific environmental and energy related policies in 25 selected Sunbelt cities based on the observed practices and activities; Identifying attributes for policy indicators across the selected cities that indicate how each city is pursuing or not pursuing goals and policies related to energy and sustainability; and Offering evidence that in many Sunbelt cities, policies are in effect to manage and reduce urban energy use, and providing a functional categorization. To this end, the author has selected a set of ten policies that indicate the application of sustainable policies at the urban level. The policies fall into a typology of categories that include locally supported energy policy indicators, local policy indicators, participation in membership based organizations and environmental policy indicators. This research explores the typology of policies that have been adopted. This research concludes by ranking each of the selected cities based on their rates of policy adoption The author concludes that there is wide variability in the implementation of policies that foster sustainability in Sunbelt cities. In addition, it was discovered that cities seeking to incorporate policies that lead to sustainability generally consider energy policy to be a critical component of their urban agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how 10 localities in the USA and England, recognised as leaders in clean energy and climate action, have used collaborative approaches to develop local climate change plans and energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy initiatives. It examines these planning and policy-making processes in the context of Margerum's [2008. A typology of collaboration efforts in environmental management.Environmental Management, 41 (4), 487–500] typology of “action”, “organizational”, and “policy-level” collaborations, as well as Gray's [1989.Collaborating: finding common ground for multiparty problems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass] classification of collaboration in the “problem-setting”, “direction-setting”, and “implementation” phases. We conducted interviews with local elected officials, municipal staff, energy professionals, and citizen volunteers in each community, supplemented with an analysis of their adopted energy, climate change, and land-use plans. We find that despite the different government structures and political contexts between the two countries, there was a surprising amount of commonality in how the case study localities used collaborative planning to develop local climate plans and clean energy initiatives. These processes were most often initiated by local elected officials and/or high-level staff members, and then carried out in collaboration with local third-sector organisations and other community stakeholders. In the USA, collaboration was strongest at the policy level and in the direction-setting phase, with the distinguishing feature that citizen advisory boards or stakeholder working groups often took a more active role in shaping local plans and policies. The English localities had some of those same types of collaborations, but were more likely to also employ action collaboration, in the implementation phase, in which third-sector organisations coordinated with the locality to directly provide clean energy services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential weatherization programs have become a major component of U.S. energy policy. Through these programs, households receive heavily subsidized energy efficiency upgrades as well as informational and behavioral treatments designed to encourage conservation. While previous work demonstrates that weatherization programs provide sizable energy savings, all have measured the composite effect of efficiency upgrades and behavioral treatments. In this paper, we present the first estimates which disentangle the energy savings provided by each of the individual interventions. Our results reveal that the actual energy savings achieved by the efficiency upgrades are substantially smaller than exante, engineering predictions. Moreover, we present evidence that the energy savings provided by the simple behavioral interventions can exceed the savings resulting from the much more costly efficiency upgrades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving energy efficiency can lower the cost of using energy-intensive goods and may create wealth from the energy savings, both of which lead to increased energy use, a "rebound" effect. I present a theoretical framework that parses rebound into economic income and substitution effects. The framework leads to new insights about the magnitude of rebound when goods are not priced at marginal cost and when consumers are imperfect optimizers, as well as the role of technological progress in rebound. I then explore the implications of this framework with illustrative calculations for improved auto fuel economy and lighting efficiency. These suggest that rebound is unlikely to more than offset the savings from energy efficiency investments (known as "backfire"), but rebound likely reduces the net savings by roughly 10% to 40% from these energy efficiency improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an integrated approach to model heterogeneous household water and energy use and their linkages. The approach considers variations in behavioral and technological water and energy use factors that affect U.S. indoor residential water and energy use for toilets, showers, faucets, clothes washers, and dishwashers. The study uses a recent, large, national, disaggregated household water use data set collected from 11 cities, as well as national energy data on water heater efficiency and setpoint/intake temperatures. First, probability distributions of water and energy use factors are identified and correlated. Then, Monte Carlo simulations are used to calculate probability distributions for estimated household water and energy use. Finally, linear regressions are used to find the relative effects of water and energy factors on household energy use. Results show that water and energy distributions among households are skewed, with the largest 12% of the users consuming 21% and 24% of water and energy, respectively. Water heater setpoint temperature followed by intake temperature, heater efficiency, shower hot water percentage, household size, shower flowrate, and faucet flowrate have the highest relative effect on household energy use and should be targeted to reduce household energy use. The approach improves prior homogenous and deterministic water-energy models and can help utilities select and size cost-effective, collaborative water and energy conservation actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]