Energy Conservation Awareness Research Articles

Influencing factors and paths of direct carbon emissions from the energy consumption of rural residents in central China determined using a questionnaire survey

Rural residents have unique lifestyle characteristics, energy consumption methods, energy-saving behaviors, and awareness. And the direct carbon emission from rural residents is based on the combined effect of multiple factors. In order to address the complexity of factors affecting the direct carbon emissions from rural household, this study used a structural equation model to examine the effect of multi-factor variables on direct carbon emissions from rural households in central China. Data were collected using questionnaires and surveys in six cities in central China to reflect the daily reality of rural residents. The results show that quality of life and awareness of energy conservation can affect the direct carbon emissions of rural residents. Family characteristics and awareness of energy conservation affected carbon emissions indirectly by affecting the daily behaviors and quality of life of the residents; consumption characteristics, energy-saving behaviors, and energy conservation policies are not the main factors contributing to the direct carbon emissions of the residents. Based on the results, future studies can focus on energy conservation education, improvement of the living habits, coal energy use efficiency, and energy consumption structure of residences.

Impact of Climate Change Beliefs on Youths' Engagement in Energy-Conservation Behavior: The Mediating Mechanism of Environmental Concerns.

Global climate change presents a profound threat to the survival and continued development of humanity. The present study featured a survey of 3005 adolescents in China on 13 December 2021, aiming to determine whether climate change beliefs (including recognition of the existence of climate change, cognition of the causes of climate change, and climate change risk perception) influence their engagement in energy-conservation behaviors. Concurrently, the psychological mechanism underlying the influence of environmental concerns on the above relationship was also tested. The results showed that, among youths, climate change belief positively predicts engagement in energy-conservation behaviors. Specifically, awareness of the existence of climate change, knowledge of the causes of climate change, and climate change risk perception all positively predict engagement in energy-conservation behaviors. Further, environmental concerns were found to play a mediating role in the relationship between climate change beliefs and energy-conservation actions. From a practical perspective, the government and education departments should guide young people to develop accurate perceptions of climate change, and should raise their awareness of energy conservation and social responsibility, which should lead to their development of energy-conservation habits.

Optimal selective maintenance scheduling for series–parallel systems based on energy efficiency optimization

With the industry sustainable development and increasing awareness of energy conservation, many manufacturing enterprises prefer to develop the operation and maintenance (O&M) with high production throughput and low energy consumption. In reality, many manufacturing systems are required to conduct a sequence of predefined missions with finite breaks between any two consecutive missions. To successfully complete the next mission production, maintenance actions are arranged and performed on machines during each scheduled break. In this paper, an energy-oriented selective maintenance policy (ESMP) for series–parallel systems is investigated. At each break, multiple maintenance actions with different impacts on machine degradation are available under limited maintenance resources. To obtain the throughput-and-energy based maintenance scheme, we first model the system energy efficiency based on system throughput and energy consumption. Then, we integer the energy efficiency modeling, production throughout analysis, and selective maintenance scheduling into an optimization model. And the model objective is to find the appropriate maintenance action for each machine at each break subject to cost and duration constraints. Numerical examples have been addressed to demonstrate the performance and adaptability of our proposed ESMP in long-term selective maintenance scheduling. Finally, a comparative analysis with traditional reliability-oriented policy shows the significant improvement of energy efficiency.

Impact of Industry 4.0 on Green Decoration Materials in Public Architectural Engineering for Application of Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection

Industry 4.0 is derived from the concept of German industry, and its essence is to use technology for efficient production. However, the evolution in wireless technologies has opened the door to a new class of plant automation architecture that offers adopters a significant strategic advantage. Under the historical background of advocating low-carbon production, energy conservation and environmental protection, and sustainable development in various fields, the awareness of ecological energy conservation and environmental protection has gradually become a mainstream ideology. This paper principally studies the application of energy conservation and environmental protection green decoration materials in public architectural engineering projects to show the advantages of energy conservation and environmental protection green decoration materials in architectural decoration construction and analyzes the future development direction of public architectural decoration in China. Therefore, it is of great significance to improve the public environment and develop new ways of housing renovation with sustainable development goals to create a sustainable Industry 4.0 combining environmental protection and sustainability.

A robust non-intrusive load disaggregation method with roof-top photovoltaics

As a promising technology dealing with electric behavior analysis and energy characteristic mining, non-intrusive load monitoring is popular with these people with energy conservation awareness. Coincidentally, these residents are with strong motivation to install roof-top photovoltaics. Therefore, it is a real challenge to implement non-intrusive load disaggregation considering PV integrations, which is rarely researched. In this paper, this problem is thoroughly investigated with an achievement of a corresponding robust load disaggregation approach. At the first stage, the problem formulation is established based on the evolved dictionary learning scheme, where the special features of PV, e.g., no switching pattern and continuous power variation, are addressed. Secondly, aiming at robustness of monitoring, the steady state disaggregation is enhanced by integrating with event-based detection, forming a hybrid validation strategy. Then, the whole problem is solved following the sparse coding principle. The proposed study is verified by both simulation tests and field measurements, and the results show that the proposed method is accurate and robust in non-intrusive load monitoring with PV consideration. Besides, it is compatible with various load signature utilization, leading to a practical disaggregation solution.

Data-driven dynamic harmonic model for modern household appliances

With the rapid development of power electronics technology and the enhancement of users' energy conservation awareness, the proportion of modern household appliances with power electronic devices is increasing year by year, which has become an important harmonic source. Together with the massive access of home photovoltaic and electric vehicles, the harmonics of the existing residential low-voltage distribution system (RLVDS) show higher distortions and stronger dynamics than ever before. Therefore, an accurate harmonic model of the modern household appliance is necessary for power quality analysis and improvement. This paper proposes a data-driven dynamic harmonic coupled admittance matrix model (HCAMM) based on measured voltage and current data. First, the parameters of the HCAMM are solved by the partial least squares method (PLSM), which can effectively overcome the matrix pathology problem in the solution process, and the HCAMM can reflect the coupling effect between each harmonic. Second, to address the voltage dynamics, the dynamic HCAMM is established by combining the recursive PLSM and the adaptive update strategy, which can accurately characterize the harmonics under different supply voltages. Finally, the accuracy, dynamics, and generality of the proposed harmonic model are verified by simulations and experiments, and the harmonic model is applied to the power quality harmonic evaluation, line power loss calculation with harmonics, and energy saving by reducing the harmonics.

Customer Perceived Risk Measurement with NLP Method in Electric Vehicles Consumption Market: Empirical Study from China

In recent years, as people’s awareness of energy conservation, environmental protection, and sustainable development has increased, discussions related to electric vehicles (EVs) have aroused public debate on social media. At some point, most consumers face the possible risks of EVs—a critical psychological perception that invariably affects sales of EVs in the consumption market. This paper chooses to deconstruct customers’ perceived risk from third-party comment data in social media, which has better coverage and objectivity than questionnaire surveys. In order to analyze a large amount of unstructured text comment data, the natural language processing (NLP) method based on machine learning was applied in this paper. The measurement results show 15 abstracts in five consumer perceived risks to EVs. Among them, the largest number of comments is that of “Technology Maturity” (A13) which reached 25,329, and which belongs to the “Performance Risk” (PR1) dimension, indicating that customers are most concerned about the performance risk of EVs. Then, in the “Social Risk” (PR5) dimension, the abstract “Social Needs” (A51) received only 3224 comments and “Preference and Trust Rank” (A52) reached 22,324 comments; this noticeable gap indicated the changes in how consumers perceived EVs social risks. Moreover, each dimension’s emotion analysis results showed that negative emotions are more than 40%, exceeding neutral or positive emotions. Importantly, customers have the strongest negative emotions about the “Time Risk” (PR4), accounting for 54%. On a finer scale, the top three negative emotions are “Charging Time” (A42), “EV Charging Facilities” (A41), and “Maintenance of Value” (A33). Another interesting result is that “Social Needs” (A51)’s positive emotional comments were larger than negative emotional comments. The paper provides substantial evidence for perceived risk theory research by new data and methods. It can provide a novel tool for multi-dimensional and fine-granular capture customers’ perceived risks and negative emotions. Thus, it has the potential to help government and enterprises to adjust promotional strategies in a timely manner to reduce higher perceived risks and emotions, accelerating the sustainable development of EVs’ consumption market in China.

Energy conservation: awareness analysis among secondary school students

Without any intervention, Malaysia will be among the heaviest users of energy per capita in Asia. One strategy to reduce energy intensity is by educating future adults. Unfortunately, ineffective approaches due to unclear baseline understanding of students’ energy conservation awareness contribute to the failure of environmental protection programmes. In this study, questionnaire was used to investigate the awareness level of secondary school students on energy conservation, with socio-demographic profile as an independent variable. Three secondary schools in Malaysia were selected based on different recognition types, namely; a High Performance School, Cluster School and an ordinary Daily School. The findings (N = 927) revealed a low level of knowledge among the students from all types of school with acceptable level of positive attitude and practice towards energy conservation. These findings serve as a wake-up call to implement a comprehensive energy policy and a new environmental education curriculum with community participation. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2031902 .

Application of Environmental Protection and Energy Saving Technology in Building Decoration Engineering

On the road to sustainable development, the concepts of energy saving and environmental protection are deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and their technology has penetrated into all aspects of life. Like the construction industry, with the advancement of environmental protection and energy-saving technologies, the prospects for development will also be huge. Many materials used in construction projects can cause pollution. Although environmental protection technology is supported, its technology cannot remain unchanged. Technical researchers must reduce the risks of materials and continue to innovate and develop environmentally friendly technologies. Only in this way can we continue to make progress, ensure that we have a high-quality construction project, and ensure that energy conservation is consistent with social development. Therefore, to use the qualified construction methods adopted for the renovation project, you can use what you have now and ensure its ecological and human safety. Reduce material costs and reduce environmental pollution caused by indoor raw materials. As a basic framework, it combines the definitions of modern environmental protection and energy-saving technologies, and effectively applies environmental protection and energy efficiency technologies. Decoration and decoration of energy-efficient buildings. Adopt environmental protection technology, rationally use various energy-saving and environmental-friendly materials, and raise awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection. In addition, in-depth discussion and analysis of energy-saving management of building materials and equipment are also conducted. The goal is to improve the awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection in building decoration projects and lay a solid foundation for creating an environmentally friendly and energy-saving living environment. Experimental research results show that people do not know enough about the application of environmental protection and energy-saving technologies in building decoration projects. Therefore, we must increase publicity to let people know better, and we must also increase efforts to innovate in order to better implement and apply. People and regions have better development.

Research on Strategy Selection of Charging Pile Operators and Third-Party Platforms Considering Data Empowerment

With the global energy depletion, environmental deterioration of the increasingly serious problems, the social awareness of energy conservation and emission reduction. By virtue of its advantages in the field of digital intelligence, third-party charging pile platform enterprises can accelerate the process of charging pile industry interconnection and promote the deep integration and coordinated development of transportation and energy fields. This paper studies the system composed of a third-party charging pile platform enterprise and a charging pile operator. When the third-party platform data enables the operator and the operator makes data operation input at the same time, the operator chooses to accept the conditions of data enabling, so as to achieve a win-win situation for both enterprises. In this paper, a data empowerment model is established for discussion. The research shows that charging pile operators will choose to accept data empowerment from the platform only when the cost increased by the cooperation between the two parties in data utilization is low. After receiving data empowerment from the third-party operation platform, the charging pile operator's own data application investment level is reduced, but the charging demand of users will be higher than that of the scenario without data empowerment.

Knowledge Management in Households about Energy Saving as Part of the Awareness of Sustainable Development

Energy conservation is a popular topic in scientific research today, despite the specific effects of energy conservation awareness still being investigated. Significant research about this topic has been performed in different countries. However, the research conducted so far concerns methods of energy saving, a building’s energy efficiency and new technologies; however, a significant part of society will live in technologically old buildings for a long time, which requires the involvement of consumers to save energy. To explain how energy-saving awareness plays a role in energy-saving behavior, this study will take city dwellers as a research facility and integrate relevant literature and disciplines, such as information and knowledge management, with the mechanistic study of how energy-saving awareness influences behavior that conserves energy and establishes a sensible behavior model. The survey was conducted in Poland, Portugal and Italy with over 18,000 people who declared that they are responsible for managing the household. In addition to the quantitative and qualitative research defining the percentage of behavior, the research group gave answers to the assessment of energy management, both assessing itself and the activities carried out in its own households on the Likert scale. The SERVPERF method was used for this. The results of the study clearly show that not only do economic factors affect energy saving, but also an informed society that cares about resource management. The research carried out presents the measures undertaken to save energy, and also identifies the level of knowledge and behavior that reflect pro-ecological trends and care for the sustainable development of the city, country and one’s own household.

Analysis on Optimal Design Scheme of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger with Given Heat Transfer Temperature Difference

In industrial production and processing, the use of heat exchange equipment can realize the heat transfer between materials and achieve the goal of energy saving. At present, heat exchange equipment is used in many industrial production fields. In recent years, in China’s social production and life, the awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection has been continuously strengthened, which has also promoted the development and application of relevant energy-saving technologies. Relevant heat exchange equipment can effectively recycle high-temperature and low-temperature heat energy, with remarkable economic benefits. Shell and tube heat exchanger is the most widely used of all kinds of heat exchangers at present. This kind of heat exchanger has simple structure, good stability, wide practicability, low cost, convenient cleaning of heat exchange surface, and can meet the working environment of high strength and temperature. However, in the design of shell and tube heat exchanger, given the heat transfer temperature difference, some problems are easy to appear in the design of heat exchanger. Therefore, it is necessary to try to solve the problems through the idea of optimal design and improve the utilization efficiency of heat exchanger.

Improving awareness of energy conservation: Rocky Mountain City

Purpose The purpose of this research project was to improve public awareness to improve public awareness of the importance of energy conservation and to improve the use of simple conservation strategies. A thorough evaluation of the net gain from the numerous energy campaigns rolled out to the public every year is lacking. This study conducted pre- and post-campaign surveys and focus groups to evaluate one campaign’s impact on self-reported energy behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The campaign used television public service announcements and a website to improve awareness of the city’s efforts to conserve energy and to increase individual energy conservation practices. Focus groups (n = 40) were used to identify common barriers to conservation, and pre- and post-surveys (n = 533, 479) were conducted to evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness. Findings Results indicated that the campaign increased positive changes in changing light bulbs and confidence in taking action to turn down thermostats, unplug devices and turn off lights. While follow-up research is needed on the precise mechanism of the psychological process at work, the findings are consistent with the concepts of self and response efficacy as needed components of any behavior change. The authors advocate the adoption of research-informed message design to maximize communication campaign effects. Originality/value This paper demonstrates how the combination of three prominent persuasion theories can be used to develop behavior change campaigns. Also, it is one of the few studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the Energy Star campaign.

Ink-Jet Printing of Wool/Acrylic Blend Fabrics with Cationic Reactive Dyes

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection and energy conservation, ink-jet printing technology has attracted much attention in recent years. In this work, attempts have been made to prepare novel dye-based inks for printing wool/acrylic blend fabrics using cationic reactive dyes in ink’s formulation. After the dyes were milled, various auxiliaries were added into dye dispersion solution. The effect of dispersant, polyols, surfactants, and pH regulator on ink properties has been investigated to obtain the optimum condition of each ink. The stability of inks was also measured. Then the wool/acrylic blend fabrics were digitally printed and the color performance as well as color fastness of printed fabrics were also studied. Experimental results showed that all the auxiliaries had significant impact on properties of inks. The optimal formulations for inks as following: cationic reactive dyes were 10 % w/w, dispersant (dispersant IW) was 25 % w/w, polyols (ethylene glycol) was 15 % w/w, surfactant (XP-70) was 1.5 % w/w, and pH regulator (triethanolamine) was 0.02 % w/w. Except for Dye 3 (D3)-based ink, the other three inks showed satisfactory storing stability in 90 days. Additionally, the wool/acrylic blend fabrics printed with Dye 1 (D1), Dye 2 (D2), Dye 4 (D4)-based inks exhibited excellent union color properties and color fastness.

Integrated stochastic disassembly line balancing and planning problem with machine specificity

The disassembly is a fundamental basis in converting End-of-Life (EOL) products into useful components. Related research becomes popular recently due to the increasing awareness of environmental protection and energy conservation. Yet, there are many opening questions needed to be investigated, especially the efficient coordination of different-level decisions under uncertainty is a big challenge. In this paper, a novel integrated stochastic disassembly line balancing and planning problem is studied to minimise the system cost, where component yield ratios and demands are assumed to be uncertain. In this work, machine specificities are considered for task processing, such as price, ability, and capacity. For the problem, a two-stage non-linear stochastic programming model is first constructed. Then, it is further transformed into a linear formulation. Based on problem property analysis, a valid inequality is proposed to reduce the search space of optimal solutions. Finally, a sample average approximation (SAA) and an L-shaped algorithm are adopted to solve the problem. Numerical experiments on randomly generated instances demonstrate that the valid inequality can save around 11% of average computation time, and the L-shaped algorithm can save around 64% of average computation time compared with the SAA algorithm without a big sacrifice of the solution quality.

Energy efficiency measurement of arrowroot production of Vietnam

<abstract> Energy efficiency along with friendly agricultural production is becoming one of the priority concerns of many countries in the world including Vietnam. The objective of this study was to estimate energy indicators and to determine the number of optimum energy inputs of arrowroot farms in Backan province regarding different regions and farm categories by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique. Findings unveiled that arrowroot farms in Nari district had high energy indicators, i.e., energy ratio, energy productivity, net energy, as compared to other farms in Babe district. The technical and pure technical efficiency and the amount of potential GHG emission reduction found to be higher in Babe district than that in Nari district. Farms in Nari district had opportunities to reduce energy input with slightly higher than that in Babe district (54.54% and 53.61%, respectively). Regarding farm sizes, other than specific energy, small arrowroot farms had the highest energy indicators as compared to other farm size groups. Thus, small farms had the quantity of optimum energy input (392.76 MJ acre^-1), saving energy (509.70 MJ acre^-1) and amount of GHG emission reduction (4.26 kg CO_2-eq/acre) which were more than the others. Based on the results of this study, the suggested solutions to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the adverse effects of arrowroot production to the environment should focus on developing the extension activities as well as short technological training courses for farmers addressing on raising awareness of energy conservation when applying chemical fertilizer and other input factors. </abstract>

Energy Conservation Awareness of Chinese High School Students: Video Instruction Effects on Energy Education

Energy Conservation Awareness of Chinese High School Students: Video Instruction Effects on Energy Education

Has increasing block pricing policy been perceived in China? Evidence from residential electricity use

Consumers' policy cognition is often ignored in evaluating policy effects. Taking the increasing block electricity pricing (IBP) system implemented in China as an example, and based on 2917 micro-survey data of residents from four first-tier cities, this paper uses the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to investigate the impact of residents' policy cognition on electricity consumption. The results show that the treatment effect of the treatment group is −0.564, the treatment effect of the control group is −0.529. The average treatment effect is −0.549, which means that policy cognition can reduce electricity consumption by about 42.25%. The mechanism analysis results show that price cognitive bias is a crucial way for policy cognition to affect electricity consumption. Further analysis of heterogeneity shows that this energy-saving effect is larger among residents with low incomes, low electricity consumption, and residents over 50 years old. These results suggest that the government should increase the publicity of the block electricity price policy and strengthen energy conservation awareness education for price-insensitive residents to take the initiative and continue to save electricity.

Effectiveness of energy conservation awareness package on energy conservation behaviors of off-campus students in Nigerian universities

Poor energy conservation behaviors among off-campus students are a form of irrational behavior that often results in erratic power supply within the students' village. The present study, therefore, explored the effectiveness of energy conservation awareness package (ECAP) on energy conservation behaviors of off-campus students residing within students' villages of Nigerian Universities. A pretest-posttest experimental and waitlist control group which involved 328 participants were quantitatively assessed. Findings of the posttest depict that poor energy conservation behavior of off-campus students momentously weaken compared to a waitlist control group. This is evident where the mean difference of 33.35 on level of engaging in energy conservation behavior for students exposed to ECAP is greater than 1.20 for those not exposed to the therapy. Also, 27.97 mean difference on likelihood of engaging in energy conservation behavior is greater than 0.54 for those not exposed to the therapy. In extension, results of 2 and 4-months follow-up appraisal proved that the momentous decline in negative energy conservation behavior of ECAP participants was upheld. By implication, when off-campus students subscribe to the use of energy-saving bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs and switching off the unnecessary lightings among others as evident in this study would go a long way in conserving energy.

Current Status and Future Trend of Urban Low-Carbon Transportation in China

&lt;p&gt;The concept and connotation of urban low-carbon transportation are put forward and expounded. The status of energy consumption and carbon emission of urban transportation since 2000 in China is analyzed. The analysis shows that the total energy consumption and CO2 emission of urban transportation has increased rapidly, and public transportation has the lowest carbon emission intensity among all kinds of motor vehicles. The construction of urban low-carbon transportation in China faces the following problems: the development speed of public transportation lags behind; the non-motorization degree of residents’ travel structure has decreased greatly; the lack of effective demand management, weak awareness of energy conservation and emission reduction; and the urban transportation management system is incompatible with the construction of urban low-carbon transportation Based on the analysis of the present situation, this article puts forward three strategic directions and five main measures for the construction of low-carbon transportation in Chinese cities. Transportation industry is a basic service industry and a key area of urban energy conservation and emission reduction. Effective measures should be taken to accelerate the development of urban low-carbon transportation from the aspects of urban transportation planning, construction and operation.&lt;/p&gt;