Estimation of Global Bioenergy Potentials and Their Contribution to the World’s Future Energy Demand – A Short Review

Measuring the effects of energy transition: A structural decomposition analysis of the change in renewable energy use between 2000 and 2014

Commercial Sector and Energy Use

Chapter 11 - Sustainable Construction Technology Adoption

The solutions are there to improve energy efficiency in all sectors. We don’t need to wait. We need action because the greenest energy is the energy we don’t use.—Kim Fausing, president and CEO, Danfoss I don’t know any other solution like energy efficiency that can simultaneously address our economic crisis, energy crisis, and climate crisis. … efficiency is the very first fuel.—Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA Energy security, energy prices, and the cost of living were the focus of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 7th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency held last month in Sønderborg, Denmark. Twenty-four governments from around the world issued a joint statement stressing the importance of energy efficiency to address the energy crisis, rising inflation, and greenhouse-gas emissions. IEA said, “It was the first event of its kind at which so many governments—including France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Senegal, and the United States—have made a specific call for stronger action on energy efficiency.” Although energy efficiency has long been mentioned as a means toward achieving Paris Agreement goals, the “more exciting” announcements such as carbon capture and storage grabbed attention. Big projects offering big solutions proposed by big corporations and governments outshone energy efficiency, which also called for personal actions. Although that may be an unpleasant truth, more attention may be turning to it. Global energy prices are high and volatile—an unsettling mix—and are hitting hard the wallets of individuals, households, industries, and entire economies. Gasoline, other fuels, and electricity prices are high (and likely to get higher), and added to inflation, are increasing the cost of most everything else. A threshold has been met or surpassed for what is considered “affordable,” and the critical role of demand-side actions, including energy efficiency, should gain traction. Consider this: Doubling the current rate of improvement in energy intensity, a measure of the economy’s energy efficiency, from 2 to 4% per year over this decade could potentially avoid 95 exajoule (EJ) per year of final energy consumption—equivalent to China’s current final energy consumption. (One exajoule is equal to 1018 joules.) IEA added that with each unit of energy delivering more than it does today, final energy demand by 2030 could be 5% lower yet serve an economy 40% larger. With an eye toward energy security, cutting 95 EJ per year by 2030 avoids 30 million BOPD, approximately triple Russia’s average 2021 production. And it avoids 650 billion m3 of natural gas, around four times the EU’s imports from Russia in 2021.Also highlighted was a shift in global efforts to provide clean and efficient cooking and hearting to all who lack it today. More than 20 EJ demand would be reduced for the traditional use of biomass such as wood and charcoal in 2030, dramatically improving the lives of billions of people. For example, household air pollution is linked to around 2.5 million premature deaths a year, with women and children most affected. One-third of the decreased energy demand is forecast to come from the use of more technically efficient equipment ranging from air conditioners to vehicles, including the adoption of electric vehicles. Electrification provides around 20%, for example through switching to electricity for low-temperature heat in industry and replacing fossil-fuel boilers with more-efficient heat pumps. Smart (digital) controls and an increase in recycling of plastics and scrap steel account for another 30% of the decrease in demand. Changes in human behavior, our personal actions, could cut 18% or so through changing travel patterns and turning down thermostats. Buildings, heavy industry, manufacturing, and the transport sector hold significant potential for reducing energy use. In 2020 transportation’s energy consumption totaled around 105 EJ and accounted for around 27% of total global energy-related emissions, according to IEA. Buildings accounted for 129 EJ and contributed 28%, and industrial energy consumption was 156 EJ and contributed 39% of the emissions. Although IEA said the oil market may rebalance in the second half of this year as oil demand is tempered, OPEC+ increases supply, and strategic reserves are released, it added, “This situation might prove short-lived. OPEC+ capacity constraints set the stage for 2023, when global oil supply will struggle to keep pace with demand. While non-OPEC+ continues to power ahead, OPEC+ would have to further deflate its shrunken capacity cushion to keep the implied balance from tipping into deficit.”

Variation of biomass energy yield in wastewater treatment high rate algal ponds

The industrial sector accounts for 40% of global energy use. In 1995, developing countries used an estimated 48 EJ for industrial production, over one-third of world total industrial primary energy use (Price et al., 1998). Industrial output and energy use in developing countries is dominated by China, India, and Brazil. China alone accounts for about 30 EJ (National Bureau of Statistics, 1999), or about 23% of world industrial energy use. China's industrial sector is extremely energy-intensive and accounted for almost 75% of the country's total energy use in 1997. Industrial energy use in China grew an average of 6.6% per year, from 14 EJ in 1985 to 30 EJ in 1997 (Sinton et al., 1996; National Bureau of Statistics, 1999). This growth is more than three times faster than the average growth that took place in the world during the past two decades. The industrial sector can be divided into light and heavy industry, reflecting the relative energy-intensity of the manufacturing processes. In China, about 80% of the energy used in the industrial sector is consumed by heavy industry. Of this, the largest energy-consuming industries are chemicals, ferrous metals, and building materials (Sinton et al., 1996). This paper presents the results of international comparisons of production levels and energy use in six energy-intensive subsectors: iron and steel, aluminum, cement, petroleum refining, ammonia, and ethylene. The sectoral analysis results indicate that energy requirements to produce a unit of raw material in China are often higher than industrialized countries for most of the products analyzed in this paper, reflecting a significant potential to continue to improve energy efficiency in heavy industry.

US residential and commercial buildings were responsible for about 41 exajoules (EJ) of primary energy use per year in 2002, accounting for approximately 9% of the world fossil-fuel related anthropogenic carbon (C) emissions of 6.7 Gt that contribute to climate change. US Government-sponsored building energy efficiency research and implementation programs are focused on reducing energy consumption in US residential and commercial buildings and reducing these carbon (C) emissions. Although not specifically intended for adaptation to a warmer climate and less effective than under today’s cooler climate, these programs also could help reduce energy demand in a future warmer world. Warming scenarios projected by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2001 imply net overall decreases in both site energy and primary energy consumption in US residential and commercial buildings, largely because of the reduced need for heating. However, there would be as much as a 25% increase in building space cooling demand and a significant part of the increase could be offset by energy-efficiency improvements in buildings. Overall, in the US, buildings-related energy efficiency programs would reduce site energy consumption in buildings in the US by more than 2 EJ in 2020 and primary energy by more than 3.5 EJ, more than enough to offset the projected growth in cooling energy consumption due to climate change and growth in the US building stock. The savings would have an estimated annual net value at 2005 energy prices of between $45.0 and $47.3 billion to consumers.

The impact of tribology on energy use and CO2 emission globally and in combustion engine and electric cars

Energy use is an indicator of economic growth. However, high energy intensity has two main disadvantages. First, low energy efficiency increases a country’s dependence on other countries, especially when the country lacks energy sources. Second, if the country’s energy needs are met using traditional fossil fuels, this increases its CO2 emissions and reduces its air quality. Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy intensity are essential to reach the sustainability targets. This paper investigates the determinants of energy use in Turkiye for the period 1991–2019 by taking a dual approach. First, utilizing the Tapio decoupling factor, the decoupling factor analysis is not only being done for total energy use and real GDP, but also for industrial energy use and industrial income. Second, the factors determining the country’s total energy use are also examined, followed by an investigation of the indicators of energy use in the industry sector, which is highly energy intensive. For the industrial sector, two different decomposition analyses are performed and results are compared. The refined Laspeyres index method is adopted, and for each analysis, three main factors are considered. The empirical findings demonstrate that the income effect and population effect increased Turkiye’s total energy use, whereas the energy intensity effect decreased it. The first decomposition analysis for the industrial energy use reveals partly contrasting results with the previously published articles. For the industry sector, the second analysis show that productivity and employment increased Turkiye’s sectoral energy use; however, the sector’s energy intensity reduced it. Turkiye achieved some success in terms of reducing energy intensity at the sectoral and aggregate levels; however, as the findings of the present study demonstrate, further efforts are needed to lessen the country’s energy dependence and also to achieve future environmental sustainability targets. Trends relating to the determining factors in total and sectoral energy use are also compared in this paper, and some policy implications are presented.

Recent improvements in the energy efficiency of agriculture: Case studies from Ontario, Canada

A comprehensive review on advancements and optimization strategies in dye-sensitized solar cells: Components, characterization, stability and efficiency enhancement

A bottom-up assessment of recent (2016–20) energy use by the global iron and steel industry constrained to match a top-down (International Energy Agency) assessment

Theoretical Minimum Thermal Load in Buildings

Biomass energy, forests and global warming

The paper presents data and results from the World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2014, published by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Over the period to 2040, total energy use is projected to grow by almost 40 per cent, while the share of fossil fuels in the energy mix falls. Nonetheless, these fossil fuels remain the dominant sources of energy, with oil, coal and gas each accounting for around one quarter of global energy needs by 2040. Increasingly, modern renewables are projected to replace fossil fuels, especially in the power sector. Around 93 per cent of the projected increased primary energy demand comes from non‐OECD countries, with two‐thirds coming from developing Asia, led by China. By 2025, China could account for almost a quarter of global energy use, doubling its share since the turn of the century. After 2025, India and other Asian countries surpass China as the main centres of energy demand growth. The IEA's WEO 2014 concludes that even taking into account ambitious policy measures announced as of mid to late 2014, energy growth projections place the world on a path consistent with a long‐term temperature increase of 3.6 degrees. Urgent action is required if the world's energy systems are to be steered towards lower greenhouse gas emissions.