Energy Efficiency

This paper is intended to explain how the possibilities of enabling technologies (advanced metering infrastructures) can be expanded on to evaluate end uses at the demand-side level. For example, these data allow validating the effective response to market prices (energy markets) or system events (demand response), and besides, the possibilities that energy efficiency offers (in capacity markets), mainly under the supervision of a load aggregator. Hilbert transform properties along with other mathematical tools are used to extract the characteristics of the more suitable uses for demand response policies from the aggregated load demand of the user. This is achieved without complex statistical analysis of the demand loads. The tool filters pulse waveforms (in this case, the components of daily demand) and provides the aggregator the main characteristics of load, both in normal state or under response to system events or market prices.

Ngành công nghiệp giấy tiêu thụ một lượng năng lượng lớn trong tất cả các giai đoạn của quy trình sản xuất. Điều này đặc biệt đúng ở các nhà máy Bắc Âu, nơi gỗ nghiền áp lực là nguồn nguyên liệu chính. Mục đích của nghiên cứu điển hình này là để chỉ ra cách thức tiêu thụ năng lượng thay đổi theo tháng tại một nhà máy giấy ở Phần Lan có nhiều dây chuyền máy làm giấy. Nghiên cứu xem xét các loại hình sử dụng năng lượng khác nhau, cũng như các chi phí tổng thể. Kết quả cho thấy rằng mức tiêu thụ năng lượng hàng tháng dao động đáng kể. Mức tiêu thụ điện năng của nhà máy thí điểm khá ổn định, nhưng có sự biến động lớn trong tiêu thụ hơi và gas tự nhiên hàng tháng. Hơn nữa, chi phí đơn vị cho hơi và điện tăng lên đáng kể khi kết thúc giai đoạn nghiên cứu. Dữ liệu nghiên cứu theo chiều dọc cho thấy rằng khó khăn trong việc nâng cao mức tiêu thụ năng lượng cho mỗi đơn vị sản phẩm tại nhà máy giấy. Một lý do cho điều này là triển vọng nhu cầu yếu ớt cho các sản phẩm cuối cùng, thường dẫn đến việc cắt giảm quy mô và đóng cửa hoạt động trong đơn vị tích hợp.

In this paper, we study the responses among households to the promotion of renewable electricity. We analyse an experiment conducted by a Norwegian power company that offered Guarantees of Origin of supply to 5,000 of their customers. In the experiment, five different groups of 1,000 customers each received information about a renewable electricity certificate and how to purchase it. The information and the reasons given for why the customers should accept the offer was framed differently to each of the groups. The experiment produced minimal responses, and we use material from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews for interpreting and explaining the results. The analysis shows that customers tend to disregard information coming from their supplier, while there is also a low degree of commensurability between the message presented in the information and the understandings and perceptions held by the customers. For example, whereas the information contained the argument that customers must purchase certificates to obtain renewable electricity, Norwegians, because of their awareness of the country’s hydro-based production system, perceive electricity to be renewable as it is. Additionally, focus group participants found the presented terms and figures to be incomprehensible to the extent that the information can be said to have produced ignorance in them. In turn, this negatively affected people’s trust in the message and also its sender, as relevance and reliability are disclosure’s main challenges in Norway. We use the case of electricity labelling in Norway to demonstrate some of the general challenges associated with using information as a tool for changing people’s consumption patterns in deregulated energy markets.

The primary objective of the current study is to examine the social issue of energy poverty from a multi-dimensional perspective in Pakistan’s national, sub-national, and urban-rural regions. The universally attributed Alkire and Foster indexing approach and globally organized PSLM (Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement) data from 2010–2011 to 2019–2020 were used to calculate numerical results. The study’s empirical findings emphasize that multiple-attribute energy poverty is primarily a rural phenomenon in Pakistan and its provinces. Furthermore, the time-variant situation reveals that with a shorter (longer) period, energy poverty exhibits a hybrid (declining) trend for Pakistan as a whole, its four provinces, and its regions. Finally, decomposability analyses of population subgroups and key dimensions show that households in two provinces (Sindh and KPK) and three attributes (cooking, home appliances, and entertainment) are the primary contributors to multi-dimensional energy poverty. Hence, to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, i.e., SDG7, by 2030, several measures must be implemented rapidly, particularly in rural areas and the provinces, especially Sindh and KPK, such as providing easy access to modern energy services, reducing load shedding and energy shortfalls through advanced technology adoption, and improving households’ living standards by reducing financial poverty. All of these solutions will assist in rapidly reducing energy poverty at all levels, paving the way for achieving the zero energy poverty goal (SDG7) by 2030.

A post-World War 2 building boom in western Germany (the original Bundesrepublik) produced a cohort of some 8 million apartments, built in 1946–1979, that are relatively homogeneous in design and materials. On average, these apartments are very energy-inefficient, consuming around 147 kWh of heating energy per square meter of floor area per year (kWh/m2/y). Retrofitting them to about 50 kWh/m2/y is necessary to meet Germany’s climate goals. Considerable skill and infrastructure have developed to attempt to achieve this, but it is expensive. This study investigates whether sales and rental markets disincentivise property owners from retrofitting these apartments to high energy efficiency standards. Data from sales and rental advertisements in 2019–2021 in Germany’s largest online housing advertisement portal, Immoscout24, were used to estimate market sales and rental premiums for energy efficiency in these apartments. For property owners who retrofit apartments then sell them, sales premiums for energy efficiency generally fail to compensate for the retrofit costs, unless the renovation is subsidised. Meanwhile, for purchasers, the reduction in energy costs due to higher energy efficiency does not compensate for the higher purchase price. Likewise, for landlords/landladies who retrofit apartments then rent them out, the rental premiums due to higher energy efficiency are nowhere near sufficient to compensate for the retrofit costs. Tenants, however, can often offset the rental premium through energy savings. In all four cases, there is regional variation. Based on a detailed investigation of this market for energy efficiency, this study suggests specific policy interventions to compensate for these market anomalies.

Combining geological knowledge with proven plus probable (“2P”) oil discovery data indicates that over 60 countries are now past their resource-limited maxima of conventional oil production. The data show that the maximum of global conventional oil production is imminent. Many analysts who rely on only proven (“1P”) oil reserves data draw a very different conclusion. But proven oil reserves data contain no information about the true size of discoveries, being variously underreported, overreported, and not reported. In addition to conventional oil, the world contains large quantities of nonconventional oil. However, many current detailed models show that past the conventional oil peak the nonconventional oils will not come onstream fast enough to offset the decline in conventional oil production. The paper concludes that the likely dates of hydrocarbon production maxima are:

The use of efficient design parameters in the initial stages of the life cycle of a building project helps to reduce the final energy demand. This article presents research results on the relation between the morphology of a building and its energy efficiency. Three types of residential buildings are analyzed: the single-family detached house, semidetached house and multidwelling building. The cases studied modeled in EnergyPlus to obtain building energy consumption per useful built surface. Also considered is the energy produced, thanks to the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on the building roof and on 50 % of the south façade surface. The paper provides a method to obtain the curve that shows the difference between the energy demand of residential buildings for various uses (HVAC, lighting, etc.) and the energy generated by installed solar panels in the building. The results reveal that the single-family detached housing model is the less energy-efficient. In the case of multidwelling houses, the optimal building height is obtained to reduce building energy consumption depending on total useful built area. The results show that up to 25 % of multidwelling building energy demand can be satisfied by solar energy on the rooftop and the façade. The balance between the energy demand and energy production of the building highlights the dimensional parameters that define optimal building shape from an energy efficiency perspective. The results obtained can be usefully applied to estimate the optimal geometric characteristics for a building of the same total surface area, which maximally reduces the final energy demand.

In the digital age, banks adopt energy-efficient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly methods. Such organizations with hundreds of branches and thousands of employees not only provide considerable energy efficiency opportunities but also offer significant possibilities with climate change-related investments. In order to manage, control, and mitigate electricity consumption, in-depth knowledge is required, since the banking operations heavily depend on electricity. It is a challenging but necessary step to calculate the electricity consumption of a sizeable banking organization consisting of different units, varying dimensions, and characteristics. The aim of this study is to develop a model for estimating the electricity consumption of the banks based on a few main research questions. A novel model is proposed to calculate the annual electricity consumption of banking organizations to contribute to the sustainability literature and best practice area on efficient use of natural resources. The model was developed using the field data from a major Turkish bank. In the model, nominal bank electricity consumption is proposed from a base month concept, representing the month with no heating and cooling. The breakdown of electricity consumption sources can easily be monitored for energy management by using the model. For the validation of the model, the total electricity consumption of five Turkish banks is calculated. The model results are in good agreement with the respective sustainability reports within 12% certainty. The validity and accuracy of the model are also tested for a Spanish bank that operates in ten countries and is one of the few bank conglomerates with an annual electricity consumption figure given in sustainability reports. The annual electricity consumption was estimated within 6.6% certainty. Thus, the annual electricity consumption of a bank can be estimated within an acceptable range using the number of branches, employees, and ATMs, supported by some reasonable assumptions.

This paper is an attempt to identify a methodology for converting conventional energy consumption buildings to net-zero energy buildings (NZEB). The first step was rather different from the usual energy audit, which is to analyze a facility’s energy consumptions from both macro- and micro-scales. To implement such an approach, a governmental office building (Metro) in Portland, OR, was chosen as a case study. After a building model was validated against a real measurement, it was then used to evaluate different energy efficiency strategies (EESs) so as to reduce the energy consumption. The EESs showed a reduction in energy use intensity (EUI) from 166 to 66 kWh/m2.year, which is 60% less than the current consumption. The remaining energy demand of the building will be compensated by implementing renewable energy technologies (RETs), namely photovoltaic. The photovoltaic (PV) panels showed viability since they will produce 532 MWh on-site throughout the year, which is sufficient for the future remaining energy demand of the building (490.5 MWh). In conclusion, the simple payback period (SPP) and the life cycle cost analysis proved the feasibility of EESs and RETs. Environmentally, a total of 106 tons of CO2 was prevented per year; in addition, 64.6 tons of CO2 will also be avoided by the PVs on a yearly basis.