Domestic Electricity Research Articles

Civic engagement and energy transition in the Nordic-Baltic Sea Region: Parametric and nonparametric inquiries

The role of civic participation in issues directly or indirectly related to environmental quality is reputed to be on the rise globally. Bottom-up grassroots movements can be conducive to powering socially acceptable, smooth, and hence, more efficient transitions toward low-carbon energy futures. This factor can also unlock the potential of communities, improving the adaptation and social acceptability towards major changes and providing possible policy instruments. On contrary, bottom-up grassroots movements are unfavorable to the extension of renewable energy capacities, especially in the case of wind energy, if this causes costs for the local communities, which outweigh the corresponding benefits. Determining these dynamics is pivotal for addressing public ecological concerns and calls for quantitative regional studies. This paper addresses the nexus between civic engagement and energy transition in 11 countries of the Nordic-Baltic Sea Region. The study detects a strong positive relationship between civic engagement within environmental organizations and the share of renewable energy sources in the domestic electricity mixes of the countries of the Nordic-Baltic Sea Region. Nonparametric panel estimator with fixed effects reveals that the impact of civic engagement has been continuously rising – i.e. the significance of civic engagement as a factor in the energy transition has risen. Nevertheless, the study also finds that the magnitude of civic engagement over the years has been relatively stable in most countries of the region since 1981. In a few of them, civic engagement has been declining. The work argues that this decline could be attributed to the fact that politics, especially since 2005, deemed environmental issues as an important aspect of public policy – a factor that contributed to mainstreaming the phenomenon.

Does living alone increase the consumption of social resources?

China's living arrangement has changed as the economy grows and society makes progress. More and more people prefer to live alone. In 2018, a total of 240 million people chose to live alone in China, with an annual growth of 0.53% per year. How will the growing number of people living alone affect the resources consumption and the ecological environment? Based on the data from 1998 to 2017 at provincial level, this paper selects domestic water and electricity consumption to represent resources consumption, and household garbage generation to represent ecological environment, taking the proportion of single-person households in the total households as the explanatory variable and age, education, and household appliances as the control variables. This paper aims to apply dynamic panel models to analyze the impact of solitary population on resources consumption (water and electricity resources as representatives) and on waste generation. The results show that (1) people living alone consume more resources and generate more garbage, while household waste is influenced most, followed by household electricity consumption and household water consumption, (2) positive relations between age and resources consumption and waste generation have been identified, and (3) the energy-saving technology of home appliances is conducive to resources conservation and emission reduction.

Relevance of Optimized Low-Scale Green H2 Systems in a French Context: Two Case Studies

Hydrogen has been identified as a very promising vector for energy storage, especially for heavy mobility applications. For this reason, France is making significant investments in this field, and use cases need to be evaluated as they are sprouting. In this paper, the relevance of H2 in two storage applications is studied: a domestic renewable electricity production system connected to the grid and a collective hydrogen production for the daily bus refill. The investigation consists of the sizing of the system and then the evaluation of its performance according to several criteria depending on case. Optimizations are made using Bayesian and gradient-based methods. Several variations around a central case are explored for both cases to give insights on the impact of the different parameters (location, pricing, objective, etc.) on the performance of the system.Our results show that domestic power-to-power applications (case 1) do not seem to be competitive with electrochemical storage. Meanwhile, without any subsidies or incentives, such configuration does not allow prosumers to save money (+16% spendings compared to non-equipped dwelling). It remains interesting when self-sufficiency is the main objective (up to 68% of energy is not exchanged). The power-to-gas application (case 2, central case), with a direct use of hydrogen for mobility, seems to be more relevant according to our case study, we could reach a production cost of green H2 around 5 €/kg, similar to the 3–10 $/kg found in literature, for 182 houses involved. In both cases, H2 follows a yearly cycle, charging in summer and discharging in winter (long term storage) due to low conversion efficiency.

Global 1 km × 1 km gridded revised real gross domestic product and electricity consumption during 1992–2019 based on calibrated nighttime light data

As fundamental data, gross domestic product (GDP) and electricity consumption can be used to effectively evaluate economic status and living standards of residents. Some scholars have estimated gridded GDP and electricity consumption. However, such gridded data have shortcomings, including overestimating real GDP growth, ignoring the heterogeneity of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the grid, and limited time-span. Simultaneously, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) and National Polar-orbiting Partnership’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer (NPP/VIIRS) nighttime light data, adopted in these studies as a proxy tool, still facing shortcomings, such as imperfect matching results, discontinuity in temporal and spatial changes. In this study, we employed a series of methods, such as a particle swarm optimization-back propagation (PSO-BP) algorithm, to unify the scales of DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS images and obtain continuous 1 km × 1 km gridded nighttime light data during 1992–2019. Subsequently, from a revised real growth perspective, we employed a top-down method to calculate global 1 km × 1 km gridded revised real GDP and electricity consumption during 1992–2019 based on our calibrated nighttime light data.

Designing a District Energy Infrastructure - a Case-Study in Lisbon

The paper describes a case study on the design of district energy infrastructure for the green-field project of the Vale de Santo António (Lisbon, Portugal). The methodology is based on a novel framework built on the sequential integration of three software tools: QGIS, City Energy Analyst (CEA) and Urbio. QGIS is used to define the building database (construction solutions, uses and schedules); CEA is used to model the neighborhood energy services (heating, cooling, domestic hot water and electricity, including for EVs); and Urbio is used to design the energy infrastructure to supply the neighborhood in an optimal manner. The study illustrates the high impact of building renovation on heat demand and the existing potential for a two-layout network to minimize pumping demand and heat distribution loss. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis with regard to future carbon tax changes and electricity greening concludes that an electricity-based heating mix is optimal.

Delivering net-zero carbon heat: Technoeconomic and whole-system comparisons of domestic electricity- and hydrogen-driven technologies in the UK

Proposed sustainable transition pathways for moving away from natural gas in domestic heating focus on two main energy vectors: electricity and hydrogen. Electrification would be implemented by using vapour-compression heat pumps, which are currently experiencing market growth in many countries. On the other hand, hydrogen could substitute natural gas in boilers or be used in thermally–driven absorption heat pumps. In this paper, a consistent thermodynamic and economic methodology is developed to assess the competitiveness of these options. The three technologies, along with the option of district heating, are for the first time compared for different weather/ambient conditions and fuel-price scenarios, first from a homeowner’s and then from a whole-energy system perspective. For the former, two-dimensional decision maps are generated to identify the most cost-effective technologies for different combinations of fuel prices. It is shown that, in the UK, hydrogen technologies are economically favourable if hydrogen is supplied to domestic end-users at a price below half of the electricity price. Otherwise, electrification and the use of conventional electric heat pumps will be preferred. From a whole-energy system perspective, the total system cost per household (which accounts for upstream generation and storage, as well as technology investment, installation and maintenance) associated with electric heat pumps varies between 790 and 880 £/year for different scenarios, making it the least-cost decarbonisation pathway. If hydrogen is produced by electrolysis, the total system cost associated with hydrogen technologies is notably higher, varying between 1410 and 1880 £/year. However, this total system cost drops to 1150£/year with hydrogen produced cost-effectively by methane reforming and carbon capture and storage, thus reducing the gap between electricity- and hydrogen-driven technologies.

Public transportation and energy utilisation during Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria

New public transport planning requirements are developed as many countries start to navigate their return to normality after the COVID-19 lockdown. This study combines key developments regarding public transportation and effect of the lockdown on energy utilization during the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Data were sourced from the National Bureau of Statistic and Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) on distribution of Fuel and gas energies which thematically analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on transportation systems in Lagos Nigeria. The decline in vehicular density on roads which leads to reduced fuel consumption coupled with infection risk in public transportation in the so-called post-lockdown phase. Domestic gas consumption and electricity generation were slightly affected during this period. Changes in travel demands; Financial sustainability; Increased cost of transportation and Loss of revenue were revealed as significant impact of the pandemic. Lastly, this study identifies maintenance of key principles in mitigating the spreading of the virus, probable energy utilization, policy recommendations and future management of resources that are most inclined to the development objectives of developing nations in the time of COVID-19 and beyond.

Риски неплатежей в обеспечении экономической безопасности электроэнергетической отрасли Российской Федерации

The article examines the key aspects of the problem of non-payments in the domestic electric power industry, shows the impact of non-payments on the general state and level of economic security of economic entities engaged in the generation, transportation and distribution of electricity between end consumers, and also notes the relationship existing between the low level of payment discipline at different levels of the industry and its systemic difficulties. Based on the authors' assessment of the trends observed with respect to the volume and quality of debt in the domestic retail electricity market of the Russian Federation, a conclusion is made about the consistent deterioration of the situation and the need for urgent implementation of measures aimed at its normalization. It also highlights the main risk factors of non-payments for electricity from utilities, shows the reasons for the low efficiency of measures traditionally used to reduce the amount of debt and suggests alternative solutions, the most important of which, according to the authors, may be the creation of centers of competence for debt management in the electric power industry.

Performance evaluation of a residential building-based hydroelectric system driven by wastewater

• Building-based wastewater hydroelectric systems can offset pumping energy by 36%. • Electricity rate is the largest driver of economic value for these systems. • Annual energy generation and cost-effectiveness increase as building size increases. • These systems can act as a valuable city-scale distributed energy resource. Electricity is consumed in high-rise buildings for pumping domestic water from municipal supply lines to end users located several floors above ground level. Currently, the potential energy contained in this water is unutilized prior to being drained as wastewater to the sewer. This study assesses the potential techno-economic benefits of using a tank and turbine-generator system to recover energy from building wastewater systems. A numerical model is developed of the proposed system in the Matlab/Simscape™ environment, and simulations are conducted using measured water consumption data from a case study building located in Ottawa, Canada. An additional 2400 model scenarios are developed that correspond to buildings of varying size. Results show that the system can generate up to 1.3 megawatt hours of electricity annually; a quantity that is roughly equivalent to 36% of the building's annual domestic pumping electricity load. Additionally, the proposed system is found to be cost-effective when installed in buildings that have a minimum of 35 floors and at least 47 units per floor. However, this result is highly sensitive to the average rate of electricity charged in the building's jurisdiction. This study is novel as it is the first analysis of its kind to evaluate the techno-economic viability of building-based wastewater hydroelectric systems as a function of building size. Furthermore, the findings are important as they may be used as a tool for developers and/or policymakers for determining the viability of implementing a building-based wastewater hydroelectric system based on the building's height and unit distribution.

Exploring the Relevance of Crude Oil Prices and Installed Generation Capacity in Prognosticating the NIFTY Energy Index

The article brings a new approach with a proficient rendition of the existing literature emphasizing the stock and oil prices (OP) nexus, and it uniquely incorporates the demand-side impact of the domestic electricity installed capacity (IC) on India’s benchmark NIFTY Energy Index (NEI). The study undertakes a multivariate time series analysis consisting of a dual-cointegration exercise with the Johansen test and the Bounds test followed by a comprehensive residual analysis. From the multivariate analysis, the study found that the underlying variables are having a significant long-run association among them, while with Granger causality test, it detects a bidirectional causality in the case of IC and energy index pair, and no significant causality in the case of crude OP and energy stock returns pair. After this, the study proceeds with a univariate analysis of a long time series and establishes that the NEI can be foreseen with a suitable ARMA model and residual heteroscedasticity EGARCH analysis even in the presence of exogenous shocks.

Assessing green energy growth in Nepal with a hydropower-hydrogen integrated power grid model

The involvement of green hydrogen in energy transformation is getting global attention. This assessment examines the hydrogen production and its utilization potential in one of the hydropower-rich regions, Nepal under various demand growth and technology intervention scenarios by developing a power grid model of 52 nodes and 68 transmission lines operating at an hourly time-step. The model incorporates a grid-connected hydrogen storage system as well as charging stations for electric and hydrogen vehicles. The least-costly pathways for power grid expansion at the nodal and provincial levels are identified through optimization. The results show that 32 GW of installed capacity is required to meet domestic electricity demand and 14 GW more hydropower should be exploited to completely decarbonize the transport sector by 2050. For maintaining 50% shares of hydrogen vehicle in the transport sector and meet government electricity export targets, Nepal requires 5.7 GW, 12 GW and 23 GW of the additional electrolyzer, hydrogen storage tanks and storage-based hydropower capacities respectively. For a given electricity demand, introducing hydrogen systems can reduce the capacity requirements of hydro storage by storing surplus power generated from pondage run-of-the-river and run-of-the-river hydropower during the rainy season and using it in the dry season.

Examination of excess electricity generation patterns in South Korea under the renewable initiative for 2030

According to the Renewable Energy 3020 Implementation Plan announced in 2017 by the South Korean government, the electricity share of renewable energy will be expanded to 20% of the total electricity generation by 2030. Given the intermittency of electricity generation from renewable energy, realization of such a plan presents challenges to managing South Korea's isolated national electric grid and implies potentially large excess electricity generation in certain situations. The purpose of this study is: 1) to develop a model to accurately simulate the effects of excess electricity generation from renewables which would arise during the transition, and 2) to propose strategies to manage excess electricity generation through effective utilization of domestic electricity generating capabilities. Our results show that in periods of greater PV and wind power, namely the spring and fall seasons, the frequency of excess electricity generation increases, while electricity demand decreases. This being the case, flexible operation of coal and nuclear power plants along with LNG and pumped-storage hydroelectricity can be used to counterbalance the excess electricity generation from renewables. In addition, nuclear energy plays an important role in reducing CO2 emissions and electricity costs unlike the fossil fuel-based generation sources outlined in the 8th Basic Plan.

An assessment for the viability of recovering heat from a smoke extract system

Over the course of industrial manufacturing, additional heat within the extract systems is usually released into the atmosphere and its intrinsic energy is wasted. This paper investigated a cold abatement smoke extract system for a fire testing wall furnace to determine the viability in recovering heat from the hot smoke. Three scenarios were investigated: 1) the extract system was closed and only 300°C smoke was present; 2) the system took in ambient air around the furnace and heat recovery occurred at 80°C in smoky air; 3) the smoke had been removed from the air and the temperature was 60°C. It was found that there was a significant build-up of soot on Scenarios 1 & 2 with a build-up rate of 0.25 μm/s which totalled 2.7 mm of soot after a three-hour test. The soot had a low heat transfer rate and therefore acted as an insulator on the heat exchanger which reduced the efficiency significantly of it over time. Due to this loss in efficiency, it was more viable to recover heat in Scenario 3 at 60°C in clean air than it was to recover heat at 300°C or 80°C in smoky air. The results show that having clean air was more important than a higher temperature when it came from recovering heat from a cold abatement system for a fire testing furnace. This paper contributes to reveal the possibilities of harnessing the “waste heat” for use in other applications in the vicinity of the manufacturing processes, such as heating water within a central heating plant, domestic hot water or electricity generation, or re-cycled within the industrial plant itself.

Life Cycle Assessment of solar energy systems for the provision of heating, cooling and electricity in buildings: A comparative analysis

A detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) “from cradle to grave” is performed to a solar combined cooling, heating and power (S-CCHP) system that provides space heating, cooling, domestic hot water and electricity, following two different methodologies (the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint (H/A) v1.03 and the carbon footprint IPCC 2013 100 years). The innovative S-CCHP system is currently in operation in an industrial building located in Zaragoza (Spain), and the transient model developed to estimate the annual energy outputs has been validated. The system consists of hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collectors integrated via two parallel thermal storage tanks with an air-to-water reversible heat pump (rev-HP). Another contribution is that the detailed LCA analysis is also performed to a conventional PV-system and a grid-based system, viz building electricity consumption supplied from the grid (baseline configuration). The results show that the proposed S-CCHP system has half of the environmental impact of the grid-based system, according to the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint (H/A) and the IPCC GWP 100a methods (4.48 kPts vs 8.87 kPts, and 82.4 tons of CO2 eqvs 166.9 tons of CO2 eq, respectively). The PV-system has 30% less environmental impact than the grid-based system. Another novelty and contribution are the sensitivity analyses performed to assess the influence of the system lifetime, the solar irradiance and the power generation mix (also known as the electricity mix) on the LCA results. The results show that the proposed S-CCHP system appears as an up-and-coming alternative to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings in all the considered solar irradiance levels and electricity mix scenarios, even in climates with low irradiance levels or in countries with a highly decarbonised electricity supply.

Feasibility and Zoning of Establishing Solar Power Stations to Produce Sustainable Energy From the Environment in Northwestern Iran

Attention to climatic and environmental potentials for exploitation and meeting human needs has been considered for many years. But the optimal and correct use of this potential requires accurate knowledge and subsequent careful planning. Today, the use of climate and productive energy from the environment is more of a concern for researchers. This investigation aims to appraise the feasibility of establishing solar thermal power plants (solar panels) by examining eight climatic and atmospheric parameters in the environment based on fuzzy logic in northwestern Iran. In this study, the weather datum of 22 Urban Climate Synoptic stations were prepared to evaluate the climatic conditions for the feasibility of establishing a thermal solar power plant for sustainable development using fuzzy logic in the north-west of Iran for each synoptic station during a statistical period of 31 years (1990–2020). This research used eight climatic parameters: average max temperature, average temperature, average min relative moisture, mean relative moisture, total monthly precipitation, and a daily average of Sunny hours, altitude, and wind speed in this systemic model. MATLAB software was used to combine the input data from fuzzy logic and ANFIS Adaptive Neural Network. The climate zoning map for establishing a thermal solar power plant with the scores obtained for each of the parameters and finally the final map was drawn using the ArcGIS. The results show that the fuzzy logic method showed a great variety of options for the establishment of solar thermal power plants using climatic parameters. In total, after obtaining the final rating for each of the 22 stations, Bonab station, with a coefficient score of (0.544–0.589), and Miyaneh station with a score (0.543–0.577), located in East Azarbaijan Province, in the north-west of Iran are appropriate for the establishment of a solar power plant. The Northwest of Iran is suitable to meet the needs of various energies, including domestic electricity, due to the potential stemming from its favorable climatic conditions climate; therefore, it is necessary to take steady steps to develop this important industry. Also, the accuracy of MATLAB and ArcGIS software with a high level of 0.96% confidence in finding a suitable place for the establishment of solar power stations was confirmed. According to the final results obtained from the integration and fuzzification of 8 climatic parameters and zoning of suitable and unsuitable areas for prioritization, Ardabil station with a score of 0.345% in the priority of inconvenient location, and Bonab station with a score of 0.589% in the priority of where the best places were for the establishment of solar power stations. Considering the findings of the present study, the central region and distant locales in mountainous areas were suitable places for the establishment of solar panels. The valuable results of the present study can be given more attention by the sectors that use a lot of sustainable energy. The results of this research in the field of sustainable energy production from the environment are more in the spotlight.

CAUSALITY ANALYSIS OF COAL CONSUMPTION AND BIOMASS CONSUMPTION TO INDONESIA ECONOMIC GROWTH

Coal is one of the fossil fuels that can be utilized in various industries including the electric power industry, cement industry, paper industry, steel industry, and other industries. It is Approximately 70 percent of Indonesian coal production utilized for the supply of domestic electricity, while 10 percent used for cement production, and the rest utilized for industrial fuel and metallurgical processes. In addition to coal, wood is also another source that is often used among certain communities as a biomass energy source. Coal and biomass can be used as energy sources, which can be one of the drivers of economic growth (Gross Domestic Product). Therefore, the shortage of these energy sources can be an obstructive factor for economic acceleration. The purpose of this study is to figure out the reciprocal relationship between the three variables. The method used in this study is Granger causality. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between GDP and coal consumption, meaning that the use of coal is influenced by GDP. On the other hand, economic growth may also increase coal consumption.

Dynamic simulation of hydrogen-based zero energy buildings with hydrogen energy storage for various climate conditions

Solar energy systems are an effective way to meet the needs of zone heating, cooling, electricity, and domestic hot water. However, to reach sustainability, and energy storage unit should be considered for installation. In this study, two combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems are simulated and studied using TRNSYS software; both using natural gas engine generators and photovoltaics as prime movers and a hydrogen fuel cell/electrolyzer storage unit, one with absorption chiller and another with compression chiller cooling. For the study, a residential building is modeled for three major populated climate zones of the United States of America, namely, Hot-humid, mixed-humid and cold using DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus software. The energy demand for its HVAC operation and domestic electricity is obtained and used for system simulation in TRNSYS software. Due to choosing actual equipment for the CCHP arrangement, precise economic and environmental models are designed to further evaluate the possibility of execution of the system. The results show that absorption chiller-equipped CCHP has better performance both environmentally and economically. In addition, the outcome shows that the suggested systems show less favorability to be utilized in hot humid climate zones.

Country-Specific Aspects of Operations of Wholesale Power and Capacity Markets

The modern energy sector, in both the Russian Federation and other countries, features the so-called “finer points,” the challenging issues addressed in many analytical documents as well as in published research. The paper discusses key electric power market developments in different countries, the dynamics of indicators measuring their performance, the results of actions taken to date, as well as the approaches to their regulation and influencing the quality of power supplied. We consider the main features of the adopted regulatory models and the basic principles adhered to by electric utilities as means of successful expansion planning and operation under given conditions. The purpose of this research is to study individual elements of operations of energy markets and the features of regulation as applied to the models originating from abroad and from domestic wholesale electricity and capacity markets. The study also takes into account the technology-related aspects such as the level of reliability of the power system. The study outlines the development vector for the effective operation of generating companies in a given context. The focus is on the areas with the highest potential in terms of contributing to growth. The scope of the paper also covers an overview of key trends of electricity market operations, both as practiced abroad and in this country. We present market models and discuss different approaches to determining the level of quality and reliability of electric power supply.

The Use of Renewable Energy Sources and Mainly Wind Energy for the Production of Electricity in Albania

Electricity production in Albania is dominated by hydropower plants, Vau i Dejës, Koman and Fierzë with a capacity of 1,350 MW. The total net domestic electricity production realized for 2021 was 8,962,699 MWh, of which: 5 343 974 MWh was produced by the power plants owned by the public company KESH sh.a.; 3 618 725 MWh was produced by other power plants (INSTAT, 2021). This production was realized by public hydropower plants to the extent of 59.6%, by private and concessionary hydropower plants to the extent of 39.9% and by other producers (Photovoltaics) to the extent of 0.5% of the net domestic electricity production. The gross import of electricity (energy in receipt) reached the value of 2,253 GWh from 3,239 GWh that was a year ago, marking a decrease of 30.4%. The gross export of electricity (energy in delivery) reached the value of 2,800 GWh from 963 GWh, marking an increase of 2.9 times. Wind energy is a renewable energy such as energy produced from water, solar and biomass. Thanks to the progress in the reconstruction of modern wind energy converters, wind energy is becoming one of the main factors in providing electricity from renewable energies.

Domestic Electricity Consumers and the Interactive Bill: Design Intervention for Improved Energy Literacy and Empowerment

Domestic Electricity Consumers and the Interactive Bill: Design Intervention for Improved Energy Literacy and Empowerment