A global review of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and policy in the residential sector (with an overview of the top ten CO2 emitting countries)

Irrigation is a land management practice with major environmental impacts. However, global energy consumption and carbon emissions resulting from irrigation remain unknown. We assess the worldwide energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with irrigation, while also measuring the potential energy and carbon reductions achievable through the adoption of efficient and low-carbon irrigation practices. Currently, irrigation contributes 216 million metric tons of CO2 emissions and consumes 1896 petajoules of energy annually, representing 15% of greenhouse gas emissions and energy utilized in agricultural operations. Despite only 40% of irrigated agriculture relies on groundwater sources, groundwater pumping accounts for 89% of the total energy consumption in irrigation. Projections indicate that future expansion of irrigation could lead to a 28% increase in energy usage. Embracing highly efficient, low-carbon irrigation methods has the potential to cut energy consumption in half and reduce CO2 emissions by 90%. However, considering country-specific feasibility of mitigation options, global CO2 emissions may only see a 55% reduction. Our research offers comprehensive insights into the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with irrigation, contributing valuable information that can guide assessments of the viability of irrigation in enhancing adaptive capacity within the agricultural sector.

Irrigation is a land management practice with major environmental impacts. However, global energy consumption and carbon emissions resulting from irrigation remain unknown. We assess the worldwide energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with irrigation, while also measuring the potential energy and carbon reductions achievable through the adoption of efficient and low-carbon irrigation practices. Currently, irrigation contributes 216 million metric tons of CO2 emissions and consumes 1896 petajoules of energy annually, representing 15% of greenhouse gas emissions and energy utilized in agricultural operations. Despite only 40% of irrigated agriculture relies on groundwater sources, groundwater pumping accounts for 89% of the total energy consumption in irrigation. Projections indicate that future expansion of irrigation could lead to a 28% increase in energy usage. Embracing highly efficient, low-carbon irrigation methods has the potential to cut energy consumption in half and reduce CO2 emissions by 90%. However, considering country-specific feasibility of mitigation options, global CO2 emissions may only see a 55% reduction. Our research offers comprehensive insights into the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with irrigation, contributing valuable information that can guide assessments of the viability of irrigation in enhancing adaptive capacity within the agricultural sector.

Residential solar energy consumption and greenhouse gas nexus: Evidence from Morlet wavelet transforms

Data shows residential energy consumption constituting a significant portion of the overall energy end use in the European Union (EU), ranging between 15% and 30%. Furthermore, the EU’s dependency on foreign fossil fuel-based energy imports has been steadily increasing since 1993, constituting approximately 60% of its primary energy. This paper provides an analytical re-view of diverse residential building/energy policies in targeted EU countries, to shed insight on the impact of such policies and measures on energy use and efficiency trends. Accordingly, the adoption of robust residential green and energy efficient building policies in the EU has increased in the past decade. Moreover, data from EU energy efficiency and consumption databases attributes 44% of total energy savings since 2000 to energy upgrades and improvements within the residential sector. Consequently, many EU countries and organizations are continuously evaluating residential building energy consumption patterns to increase the sec-tor’s overall energy performance. To that end, energy efficiency gains in EU households were measured at 1% in 2000 compared to 27.8% in 2016, a 2600% increase. Accordingly, 36 policies have been implemented successfully since 1991 across the EU targeting improvements in residential energy efficiency and reductions in energy use. Moreover, the adoption of National Energy Efficiency Actions Plans (NEEACP) across the EU have been a major driver of energy savings and energy efficiency. Most energy efficiency plans have followed a holistic multi-dimensional approach targeting the following areas, legislative actions, financial incentives, fiscal tax exemptions, and public education and awareness programs and campaigns. These measures and policy instruments have cumulatively generated significant energy savings and measurable improvements in energy performance across the EU since their inception. As a result, EU residential energy consumption trends show a consistent decrease over the past decade. The purpose of this analysis is to explore, examine, and compare the various green building and energy-related policies in the EU, highlighting some of the more robust and progressive aspects of such policies. The paper will also analyze the multiple policies and guidelines across targeted European nations. Lastly, the study will assess the status of green residential building policies in Lebanon, drawing from the comprehensive European measures, in order to recommend a comprehensive set of guidelines to advance energy policies and building practices in the country. Keywords: Building Policies; Residential Energy Patterns; Residential Energy Consumption; Energy Savings

The Republic of Austria has confirmed the 20-20-20 goals of the European Union and has consequently set up an energy strategy for Austria for the 2010 implementation initiative. As part of this initiative a number of “Climate and Energy Model Regions” have been founded, one of these is the Climate and Energy Model Region Bucklige Welt-Wechselland. This model region has announced a regional initiative with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 25% by 2020 compared with 2005 emissions. The real estate sector is the biggest energy consumer and issuer of greenhouse gases, as for setting up, operating and demolishing huge quantities of energy are consumed, this having a direct impact on emission of greenhouse gases. The real estate sector is consequently getting more and more into the focus of national and international legislation. Metrics used for defining political goals are energy consumption as well as emissions of greenhouse gases. As so the real estate sector has earned an important role in Austrian energy politics. To significantly reduce the need for fossil fuels for heating and hot water, a number of measures, like reducing the consumption for heating have to be realized. The potential in this area is extremely high. By means of complete thermal renovation it is possible to realize huge energy savings potentials.The “Climate and Energy Model Region Bucklige Welt-Wechselland” is located in the southern region of Lower Austria an adjacent to Styria and Burgenland. It consists of 32 communities with a total of 830 km2 and app. 50.000 inhabitants. 23 communities belong to the sub region “Bucklige Welt” and 9 communities to the sub region “Wechselland”.This study shows the energy savings and CO2 emission reductions in this region by 2020 which could be realized if all one-family houses set up in the period from 1945 to 1980 would undergo a complete thermal renovation. ^For showing the heating energy savings potential in the region all not renovated houses of this building period are taken into account, representing app. 30% of the total number of buildings in the region. This paper shows the possible reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 if all buildings under consideration would be transformed to low-energy houses (heating energy demand 70kWh/m2/year).The period 1945 to 1980 has been chosen as based on the prevalent construction methods during these years one-family houses built during this period show the highest savings potential (the average heating energy demand of houses built during this period is 200 kWh/m2/year with an average gross floor area of 129m2). This renovation initiative would have a direct and high impact on the CO2 emission reduction demanded by the regional energy concept and initiative and would thus very positively contribute to sustainable development in this region.The total number of 6.266 buildings to be renovated with a current average heating energy demand of 200 kWh/m2/year and an average gross floor area of 129m2 result in a total heating energy demand of 161.662.800 kWh and CO2 emission of 52.379 metric tons per year. A complete thermal renovation of these buildings, reducing the heating energy demand to 70 kWh/m2/year (low-energy house level) could bring massive savings which are calculated and shown in detail in this study. Finally the potential contribution of this renovation initiative to environmental protection and climate targets of the Climate and Energy Model Region Bucklige Welt-Wechselland and the impact on quality of life in the region are discussed and shown.The total heating energy savings of 105.081 MWh per year cause a reduction in CO2 emissions of 34.046 tons per year. This enormous reduction in energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gases can indeed be seen as a substantial contribution to environmental protection and quality of life in the “LEADER Region Bucklige Welt-Wechselland”. Finally every private household can sustainably contribute to the 20-20-20 climate targets as well as to the regional targets of the “LEADER Region Bucklige Welt-Wechselland” to reduce CO2 emissions by 25 % compared to 2005 in this region by 2020 by doing a thermal renovation of their house.

Climate change and energy service demand exert influence on each other through temperature change and greenhouse gas emissions. We have consistently evaluated global residential thermal demand and energy consumption up to the year 2050 under different climate change scenarios. We first constructed energy service demand intensity (energy service demand per household) functions for each of three services (space heating, space cooling, and water heating). The space heating and cooling demand in 2050 in the world as a whole become 2.1–2.3 and 3.8–4.5 times higher than the figures for 2010, whose ranges are originated from different global warming scenarios. Cost-effective residential energy consumption to satisfy service demand until 2050 was analyzed keeping consistency among different socio-economic conditions, ambient temperature, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission pathways using a global energy assessment model. Building shell improvement and fuel fuel-type transition reduce global final energy consumption for residential thermal heating by 30% in 2050 for a 2 °C target scenario. This study demonstrates that climate change affects residential space heating and cooling demand by regions, and their desirable strategies for cost-effective energy consumption depend on the global perspectives on CO2 emission reduction. Building shell improvement and energy efficiency improvement and fuel fuel-type transition of end-use technologies are considered to be robust measures for residential thermal demand under uncertain future CO2 emission pathways.

Heretofore, models of residential energy consumption and commercial sectors were developed, and development trends of energy demand and CO2 emissions in residential and commercial sectors were examined for the four Asian mega-cities of Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai. In this paper, effects and sensitivity of strategies in consideration of fuel type factor, energy related appliance, housing and lifestyle factors was carried out by scenario approach for reduction of CO2 emission from energy consumption. Assessment results show that through improvement of factor synthesis, the CO2 emission in the residential sector in 2020 could be reduced by 37.0% in Beijing, 38.3% in Shanghai, 36.3% in Tokyo and 27.0% in Seoul, and the CO2 emission in the commercial sector could be reduced by 29.2% in Beijing, 34.4% in Shanghai, 29.4% in Tokyo and 29.2% in Seoul compared with the tendency case. Sensitivity analysis results show that there exist uncertainties in parameters and model building. For the former case, introduction rates of strategies were selected for main parameters, and effect on the final results was found as dissemination rate was lowered by 10%. For the later, effect on the final results was found as change was adjusted between the upper and lower limit of 95% confidence interval.

The impacts of transport energy consumption, foreign direct investment and income on CO2 emissions in ASEAN-5 economies

Energy-related activities are a major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A growing body of knowledge clearly depicts the links between human activities and climate change. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil and other human activities has released carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and other heat-trapping GHG emissions into the atmosphere and thus increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 emissions. The main human activities that emit CO2 emissions are (1) the combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity, accounting for about 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 31% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, (2) the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel to transport people and goods, accounting for about 31% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 26% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, and (3) industrial processes such as the production and consumption of minerals and chemicals, accounting for about 15% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 12% of total ...

This paper investigates the effectiveness of different energy scenarios for achieving early reductions in global energy-related CO2 emissions on trajectories to zero or near-zero emissions by 2050. To keep global heating below 1.5°C without overshoot by 2050, global CO2 emissions must decline by about half by 2030. To achieve rapid, early emission reductions entails substantially changing recent pre-COVID (2000–2019) observed trends, which comprise increasing total primary energy supply (TPES) and approximately constant fraction of TPES derived from fossil fuels (FF fraction). Scenarios are developed to explore the effects of varying future trends in these variables in the absence of substantial CO2 removal, because relying on the latter is speculative and risky. The principal result is that, to reduce energy-related emissions to at least half the 2019 level by 2030 en route to zero or near-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, either TPES must be reduced to at least half its 2019 value by 2050 or impossibly rapid reductions must be made in the FF fraction of supply, given current technological options. Reduction in energy consumption likely entails economic degrowth in high-income countries, driven by policies that are socioeconomic, cultural and political, in addition to technological. This needs serious consideration and international cooperation. Key policy insights If global energy consumption grows at the pre-COVID rate, technological change alone cannot halve global CO2 emissions by 2030 and hence cannot keep global heating below 1.5°C by 2050. In the absence of substantial CO2 removal, policies are needed to reduce global energy consumption and hence foster degrowth in high-income economies. Policies to drive technological and socioeconomic changes could together cut global energy consumption and thus total primary energy supply and associated emissions by at least 75% by 2050.

Modeling temporal variations in global residential energy consumption and pollutant emissions

The effects of internal migration on residential energy consumption and CO2 emissions: A case study in Hanoi

This paper investigated the impact of economic policy uncertainty, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO2 emissions in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) from 1991 to 2023. According to the Panel Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (PMG-ARDL), economic policy uncertainty has a significant and negative impact on carbon emissions in the long run, while it has an insignificant effect in the short run. Additionally, primary energy consumption has a significant and positive impact on carbon emissions in the short and long run. Economic growth and trade openness have a positive and significant impact on carbon emissions in the long run. The panel causality test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) indicated a bidirectional relationship between CO2 and energy consumption, trade openness, and CO2, but a unidirectional causality from CO2 to economic policy uncertainty and economic growth. The study proposes making critical changes in energy policies while accounting for economic policy uncertainty; examining the various types of uncertainty and their effects to develop a climate policy based on evidence and facts and focusing on the discovery of alternative sources of clean energy.

Net-zero emissions chemical industry in a world of limited resources

The effect of urbanization, energy consumption, and foreign direct investment on the carbon dioxide emission in the SSEA (South and Southeast Asian) region