Consequences Of Energy Use Research Articles

Evaluating the Effect of Framing Energy Consumption in Terms of Losses versus Gains on Air-Conditioner Use: A Field Experiment in a Student Dormitory in Japan

Promoting energy conservation in university dormitories is challenging because student residents are typically charged a flat utility fee. One possibility to curb excessive energy use in the absence of monetary incentives is to highlight the environmental consequences of energy use. However, it is still largely unknown how these consequences should be communicated to effectively change people’s behavior. In the present study, we analyzed the effect of framing the environmental consequences of energy use in terms of losses versus gains on the air-conditioner use of student residents of a Japanese university dormitory. A total of 330 students were provided with stickers to attach to the air-conditioner remote control in their dormitory room during the winter term. The stickers conveyed that increasing the temperature will hurt the environment (loss frame), that reducing the temperature will protect the environment (gain frame), or that changing the temperature will affect the environment (neutral frame). Day-to-day variations in objective air-conditioner use data were analyzed as a function of experimental condition to examine the effect of message framing. The change in air-conditioner use from pre-intervention to intervention period did not differ between experimental groups and neither did the change from pre-intervention period to a period after the intervention.

Patterns of residential heat demand in rural Switzerland

Heat demand reduction mitigates the negative consequences of energy use. Recent reduction potential analyses have focused on city or country levels, yet European rural areas also show considerable heat consumption, although they have rarely been investigated. This paper locates the major residential heat consumers in rural areas and identifies the related building types. The case of the rural, pre-alpine Swiss canton (state) of Appenzell Ausserrhoden with 20 municipalities is used for analysis. Its current demand patterns are examined with respect to buildings' construction periods, heating system types and energy carriers. Spatial differences, especially between nucleated (densely settled) villages and dispersed settlements, are observed. Specific final heat demand per heated area and occupant is similar in both settlement types, equalling 0.5 GJ/m2/year and 32 GJ/cap/year. In terms of specific useful heat demand, buildings in nucleated villages consume one-tenth more than in dispersed settlements, and in nucleated villages up to 86% of that heat stems from fossil fuels. Thus, to increase import independence and demand equality, and mitigate climate change, these buildings should be primary targets. The results provide a foundation for creating efficient, evidence-based policy for heat demand reduction in rural municipalities but should be coupled with investigating socio-economic, epistemic and cultural aspects of heat demand. La réduction de la demande de chauffage atténue les conséquences négatives de l'utilisation de l'énergie. Les analyses récentes sur le potentiel de réduction ont surtout porté sur la consommation de chauffage au niveau des villes ou au niveau des pays. Les zones rurales européennes représentent pourtant également une consommation de chauffage considérable, bien qu'elles aient rarement été étudiées. Cet article localise les principaux consommateurs résidentiels de chauffage des zones rurales et identifie les types de bâtiments concernés. Le cas du canton suisse rural préalpin d'Appenzell Rhodes-Extérieures [Appenzell Ausserrhoden], qui comprend 20 municipalités, est utilisé pour l'analyse. Ses schémas actuels en matière de demande sont examinés sous l'angle des périodes de construction, des types de systèmes de chauffage et des vecteurs énergétiques des bâtiments. Des différences spatiales sont observées, en particulier entre les villages à habitat groupé (densément peuplés) et les habitats dispersés. La demande de chauffage spécifique finale par superficie chauffée et par occupant est similaire dans les deux types d'habitat, équivalant à 0,5 GJ/m2/an et à 32 GJ/habitant/an. En termes de demande de chauffage utile spécifique, les bâtiments des villages à habitat groupé consomment un dixième de plus que ceux des habitats dispersés, et dans les villages à habitat groupé jusqu'à 86 % de ce chauffage provient de combustibles fossiles. Par conséquent, pour accroître l'indépendance à l'égard des importations et l'égalité de la demande, et pour atténuer le changement climatique, ces bâtiments devraient être les cibles principales. Les résultats obtenus posent les bases d'une politique efficace, fondée sur des données probantes, de réduction de la demande de chauffage dans les municipalités rurales, mais devraient êtres combinés avec une analyse des aspects socio-économiques, épistémologiques et culturels de la demande de chauffage. parcs bâtis habitats dispersés réduction de la consommation d'énergie des ménages réduction de la demande de chauffage parc de logements zone rurale villages à habitat groupé

The rebound effect: Microeconomic definitions, limitations and extensions

The rebound effect results in part from an increased consumption of energy services following an improvement in the technical efficiency of delivering those services. This increased consumption offsets the energy savings that may otherwise be achieved. If the rebound effect is sufficiently large it may undermine the rationale for policy measures to encourage energy efficiency. The nature and magnitude of the rebound effect is the focus of long-running dispute with energy economics. This paper brings together previous theoretical work to provide a rigorous definition of the rebound effect, to clarify key conceptual issues and to highlight the potential consequences of various assumptions for empirical estimates of the effect. The focus is on the direct rebound effect for a single energy service — indirect and economy-wide rebound effects are not discussed. Beginning with Khazzoom's original definition of the rebound effect, we expose the limitations of three simplifying assumptions on which this definition is based. First, we argue that capital costs form an important part of the total cost of providing energy services and that empirical studies that estimate rebound effects from variations in energy prices are prone to bias. Second, we argue that energy efficiency should be treated as an endogenous variable and that empirical estimates of the rebound effect may need to apply a simultaneous equation model to capture the joint determination of key variables. Third, we explore the implications of the opportunity costs of time in the production of energy services and highlight the consequences for energy use of improved ‘time efficiency’, the influence of time costs on the rebound effect and the existence of a parallel rebound effect with respect to time. Each of these considerations serves to highlight the difficulties in obtaining reliable estimates of the rebound effect and the different factors that need to be controlled for. We discuss the implications of these findings for econometric studies and argue that several existing studies may overestimate the magnitude of the effect.

Socio-ecological regime transitions in Austria and the United Kingdom

We employ the concepts of socio-ecological regime and regime transition to better understand the biophysical causes and consequences of industrialization. For two case studies, the United Kingdom and Austria we describe two steps in a major transition from an agrarian to an industrial socio-ecological regime and the resulting consequences for energy use, land use and labour organization. In a first step, the coal based industrial regime co-existed with an agricultural sector remaining within the bounds of the old regime. In a second step, the oil/electricity based industrial regime, agriculture was integrated into the new pattern and the socio-ecological transition had been completed. Industrialization offers an answer to the input and growth related sustainability problems of the agrarian regime but creates new sustainability problems of a larger scale. While today's industrial societies are stabilizing their resource use albeit at an unsustainable level large parts of the global society are in midst of the old industrial transition. This poses severe problems for global sustainability.

Cold or hot wash: Technological choices, cultural change, and their impact on clothes-washing energy use in China

Usage pattern of clothes washing (and clothes washers) are strongly related to local cultural practices. Such practices have led to the development of distinctive clothes-washing technologies in the US, Europe, and Japan. In emerging markets such as China, several types of technologies often co-exist. Some use less energy but more water (the impeller type), and some use more energy but less water (the horizontal axis type). The competition between different technologies is thought to lead to better consumer choices. However, it could also lead to changes in clothes-washing habits—from cold to hot wash, and therefore to much higher energy use. This paper examines the standard development process in China to illustrate that adoption of foreign technologies and technical standards, if not carefully calibrated to the local cultural practices, could have unintended consequences for energy use and environment.

Renewable energy strategy in Japan

Japan has few indigenous energy supplies, and imports the bulk of its energy, so it is hardly surprising that, following the oil crises of the mid 1970's, it has taken renewable energy seriously. Moreover, increasing constrains on energy and the environment, especially the global environmental consequences of energy use, are causing a rising concern world wide, giving a warning that such constraints may be limits to sustaining our future development. This paper, at first, introduce prospects of energy demand and supply in Japan, then, the author look at the real potential of domestic renewable energy resources, such as solar thermal energy, photovoltaics, wind power, hydro power, ocean energy, biomass, and geothermal energy. Finally, the renewable energy strategy in Japan is asserted.

Structural effects on energy use in the paper industry

Regression analysis is used to detect and quantify the gross consequences for energy use of structural differences in the pulp and paper industries of the OECD countries. It is shown that changes in the specific energy use with time are explicable in terms of the concentration of production. Size and learning effects on paper making machines are detected and quantified.

The active pursuit of comfort: Its consequences for energy use in the home

This paper argues that an implicit theory of user behaviour influences some policy choices concerning energy use in the home. This ‘theory’ is not the product of a study of the meanings of actions in real life, but is derived from a mixture of ‘common sense’ and experimental evidence. ‘Real life’ studies of the meaning of actions differ considerably from this implicit theory. These differences are examined in relation to the pursuit of comfort and economy and the users' understanding and use of controls. The policy implications of this alternative view of user behaviour are discussed.