Energy Efficiency Improvement Policies Research Articles

Green Technological Development and Deployment in the Association of Southeast Asian Economies (ASEAN)—At Crossroads or Roundabout?

Southeast Asia faces one of the fastest growths in electricity demand in the world, driven by increasing incomes, urbanization and industrialization. Development and deployment of green energy technologies offer a natural conduit to meet the growing electricity needs of the Association of Southeast Asian Economies (ASEAN) region while also serving as a viable strategy to adapt to climate change. The aim of this study is to formulate the policy lessons for the ASEAN economies and governments in facilitating the development and deployment of green technologies and alternatives energy options based on a specific case review of the ASEAN. The ASEAN economic region is prioritizing sustainable economic growth while minimizing the regional impacts of climate change through decarbonization. The study undertakes a case-specific analysis in reviewing green energy deployment in the context of green growth and energy transition using secondary data sources and discusses the current status and future options of renewable energy development in the ASEAN. We find that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies will allow the ASEAN to continue to use fossil fuels while achieving sustainable economic growth as coal demand increases in the region. The deployment of CCS technologies will also act as an enabler of hydrogen energy as a green energy solution in the region in the longer term. Boosting public acceptance to nuclear energy, implementing energy efficiency improvement policies and eliminating fossil fuels consumption subsidies are feasible short-term and medium-term policies. Increasing both the public and private sector energy investments and development of CCS technologies in the longer term are necessary complementary policies to maximize the benefits of greater deployment of renewable energy sources in the region and combat climate change.

Towards energy conservation by improving energy efficiency? Evidence from China’s metallurgical industry

Traditionally, improving the energy efficiency is considered to be essential to energy saving. However, it may not be as effective as expected due to the rebound effect. Focusing on China’s metallurgical industry, this study is targeted to measure the energy rebound effect and investigate whether improving energy efficiency can promote energy saving. A dynamic energy efficiency index, which can take both technological progress and energy utilization efficiency into account is first calculated. Then, the energy rebound effect of China’s metallurgical industry from the substitution and output channels is measured, and a better understanding of the energy rebound effect is thus provided. Finally, the influence of energy rebound effect on energy conservation potential is explored. Three main findings are obtained: First, the rebound effect through the substitution channel and output channel in the metallurgical industry are 12.34% and 25.4%, respectively. Second, the energy rebound effect in Eastern China is the largest, followed by Central and Western China. Third, the physical quantities of energy being offset by the rebound effect in China’s metallurgical industry are estimated to be 275.7 million tons of standard coal. These results demonstrate that additional measures should be taken in conjunction with energy efficiency improvement policies.

The Identification and Rebound Effect Evaluation of Equipment Energy Efficiency Improvement Policy: A Case Study on Japan’s Top Runner Policy

The equipment energy efficiency improvement policy (EEEIP) is one of the important measures of energy conservation and emission reduction in various countries. However, due to the simultaneous implementation of variety policies, the effect of the single policy cannot be clearly reflected. In this paper, a method of identification and evaluation of EEEIP was proposed, and the application was verified by analyzing the example of EEEIP in Japan (Top Runner policy, TRP). Firstly, through the factor decomposition model, this paper studied the energy conservation and emission reduction potential of this policy area in Japan. Then, the TRP was identified by using moving windows and correlation analysis, and the impact of specific equipment in TRP was analyzed. Finally, through the calculation of the rebound effect of the carbon footprint (REC), this paper analyzed the energy consumption and emission reduction effects of TRP in the short-term and whole life cycle. It showed that the policy has a good effect in tertiary industry and transportation, while the effect in residential is poor. For life cycle, the TRP of air conditioning and passenger car can bring better CO2 emission reduction effect, but the emission reduction effect of lighting is basically offset.

Impact of an Energy Monitoring System on the Energy Efficiency of an Automobile Factory: A Case Study

Energy-saving strategies cannot be implemented without having detailed and regular power consumption data of a facility. The installation of an energy monitoring and data logging system can help in planning energy efficiency improvement policies by providing daily, monthly, and yearly energy consumption reports and graphs. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the impact of an energy monitoring and management system on the improvement of energy efficiency in the industrial sector of developing countries. This study introduced an energy monitoring and data logging system installed in an automobile factory in Pakistan. Energy consumption data, which also included power quality data, were collected with the help of energy analyzers and transmitted to a centralized supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software for data logging and monitoring purposes. This system was developed by combining Modbus with industrial Ethernet to communicate real-time energy consumption data of the factory to multiple local and remote locations. Monitoring and logging the real-time energy consumption data helped the user to find the significant energy losses inside the factory and to implement various energy conservation policies inside the facility, resulting in energy efficiency improvement. The energy consumption results indicate that the proposed system can help achieve an approximately 8% improvement in energy efficiency.

Tracking the sources of rebound effect resulting from the efficiency improvement in petrol, diesel, natural gas and electricity consumption; A CGE analysis for Iran

Rebound Effect (RE) has been resulted in energy saving failing short of expectations from energy efficiency improvement (EEI) policy. Measuring RE resulting from the EEI has attracted the attention of many economists and politicians; however, tracking the factors sourcing RE has been addressed by a few studies. The main purpose of this study is to track and quantify the factors sourcing the RE resulting from 5%, 7%, and 10% EEI shocks at macro and sector levels in Iran. Using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, the economy-wide rebound effect (EWRE) was decomposed at a macro-level for 15 production sectors and final demand separately and the RE of production sectors has been decomposed for substitution and output effects separately. Findings show that the EEI shocks have resulted in positive growth in macroeconomic variables including investment, employment, and GDP. The results from the decomposition of RE at the macro-level show that, first, households are one of the main sectors sourcing RE, second, sectors that are the largest consumers of energy have the greatest RE. Other results indicate a non-linear variation in RE resulting from different EEI shocks and the dominant role of substitution effect on RE of production sectors in the short-term.

The Impact of an Energy Efficiency Improvement Policy on the Economic Performance of Electricity-Intensive Firms in Ghana

This paper investigates the economic impact of an energy efficiency improvement policy on electricity-intensive firms in Ghana. The policy imposed a penalty on these electricity-intensive firms, which are referred to as special load tariff (SLT) customers, when their power factor was below 90%. This paper applies the regression discontinuity design (RDD) to the panel data of these SLTs ranging from 1994 to 2012, excluding those years characterized by energy crisis. The results show adverse impacts of the policy on the employment and salary levels of the firms in the long run, in particular, the small- and medium–voltage firms. The results indicate that small- and medium–voltage firms are economically vulnerable to the penalty policy in the long run and recommend two policies to overcome this challenge. Firstly, the penalty for power factor improvement should not be imposed identically across firms with different voltage levels. Secondly, firms that satisfy the power factor standard should receive subsidies to improve their competitiveness in the market.

Evaluating the direct rebound effect of China’s urban household energy demand

Improving energy efficiency is the primary way to achieve the objective of energy policies. The size of rebound effect determines to what extent improvements on energy efficiency can achieve the intended goals. Therefore, measuring the rebound effect will play an important role in formulating a nation’s energy policy. Based on the panel data of 29 provinces in China during 1996-2014, and using the price elasticity of energy demand as a proxy variable, this study applied the error correction model to measure the long-term and short-term direct rebound effect of urban household energy use in China. The difference in rebound effects among different regions was also analyzed. The results show that the direct rebound effect of urban household energy use in China is 45% in the long term and 20% in the short term. In this perspective, the past energy efficiency improvement policies are effective. As for different regions, the direct rebound effects of urban household energy use in Eastern, Central and Western regions are 46%, 26% and 89%in the long term, 35%, 17% and 78% in the short term respectively. Therefore, energy efficiency policies should be firstly implemented in the Central provinces that are with relatively small rebound effects.

Scenarios and policies for sustainable urban energy development based on LEAP model – A case study of a postindustrial city: Shenzhen China

Cities consume more than 67% of global primary energy, the production of which results in approximately three-quarters of global CO2 emissions, exacerbating the global warming trend and related extreme weather events and natural disasters. Therefore, it is critical for cities to use existing and new sources of energy efficiently and effectively. This paper introduces a methodology that can combine sustainable energy planning with economic analysis, proposing a form of sustainable urban energy planning that could reduce energy consumption with the minimum economic cost. Taking a postindustrial city (Shenzhen, China) as an example, this paper defines four scenarios by which to analyze future projections of energy generation and consumption from 2015 to 2030 based on the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System model. Also developed are Sankey maps for the energy flow from the energy supply to demand sectors for different scenarios. The results show that energy efficiency improvement and energy structure upgrade policies implemented in Shenzhen would have a significant impact on its energy system. Energy consumption is projected to increase steadily up to 2030 under each scenario except for the Peak Scenario, but with different growth rates. Electricity generation in all scenarios is supposed to expand by 2030 and sustainable electricity (such as distributed photovoltaic power, waste-to-energy power, and Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power) will play an important role in the Energy structure upgrade and Peak scenarios.

Re－prioritizing Policy Options for Achieving SDG Goals 7 in Korea

This paper attempts to review and reposition policy instruments in achieving SDG Goal 7 in Korea. It is necessary to flexibly re-prioritize current policies in response to new circumstances. As in detailed indicators of SDG Goal 7, the expansion of renewable energies and the energy efficiency improvement policies have been steadily strengthened in Korea, and the recent achievements of green growth and climate change are significant. This study analyzes the current state of energy-related sustainable development policies in Korea and suggests policy implications to improve the SDG Goal 7 targets. Incentive structures should be expanded in regulatory and monitoring frameworks, including subsidy and financial support. In addition, financial support should be extended to SMEs whose potential is not sufficiently managed due to institutional difficulties. The cooperation between large and small enterprises in the energy and greenhouse gas management is difficult to achieve due to the subcontracting structure and asymmetric bargaining structure in Korea. To improve this, it is required to enhance the system in which financial support for SMEs is strengthened. To improve energy efficiency and expand renewable energy, policy makers must maintain consistency in setting regulatory targets considering long-term goals.

Modeling on building sector’s carbon mitigation in China to achieve the 1.5 °C climate target

The ambitious goal of limiting end-of-century temperature rise relative to pre-industry level below 1.5 °C will offer both great challenges and opportunities in terms of curbing energy use and CO2 emissions for the building sector of China. This paper simulates the long-term trend (2010–2100) of energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the building sector in China, within the framework of 1.5 °C climate target, with application of GCAM-TU model. The impacts of energy efficiency improvement and carbon policy on energy savings and emission reductions are also explored. The results show that direct CO2 emissions from the building sector would have to peak around 2030, and cumulative emissions during 2015–2100 would be limited to 48.2 Gt CO2 in the 1.5 °C-consistent scenario. The share of electricity in building’s energy consumption by the mid-century would be 8.9% higher than that under 2 °C scenario. Accelerating efficiency improvement would create significant energy savings relative to the reference scenario, especially in space heating and cooling. However, the emission reductions required by the 1.5 °C temperature increase limit cannot be effectively achieved without the collaboration of economic-wide carbon policy, which would play important role in the deep decarbonization of the energy system. Finally, it is suggested that policy makers should further strengthen technological efficiency improvement in the building sector to help enhance energy performance, while carefully devising prospective carbon policies to facilitate fast and early mitigation.

Microsimulation of low carbon urban transport policies in Beijing

This study uses microsimulation modelling to simulate the carbon emissions from daily travel in Beijing and evaluate the effects of key low carbon transport polices in Beijing in 2025. Four key low carbon transport polices are selected, including the public transport improvement policy, public bike policy, energy efficiency improvement policy, and electric vehicle development policy. We found that under the combined effects of public transport improvement, public bike development, energy efficiency improvement, and electric vehicle development, the carbon emission in daily travel can be reduced by 43% in Beijing, which amounts to 4.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The public transport improvement and public bike development can be realized under the current technology status, and if these two policies are combined, the emission reduction is 24%, which is higher than the energy efficiency improvement scenario. Electric vehicle ownership in 2025 in Beijing will increase to 1.04 million under enhanced scenario, accounting for 18.4% of total vehicles. Compared with baseline scenario, under enhanced scenario not only consumers who want to purchase additional vehicles, but also consumers who want to replace existing vehicles are attracted to buy additional vehicles.

Empirical evidence of direct rebound effect in Indian two-wheeler sector

The transport sector is the main contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions in India. The rise in atmospheric pollution due to greenhouse gases has triggered the energy efficiency improvement policy in the Indian automotive sector. The extent of success of the energy efficiency improvement policy in any sector is substantially influenced by the phenomenon of “rebound effect”. The present study is aimed at seeking for the existence of direct rebound effect and its stability over time in two-wheeler transport sector in India using aggregate time series data. The study found out the presence of this effect in the two-wheeler sector, and it experiences a partial rebound of 25.5%. The direct rebound effect was found to be declining over time which is in line with the Greene (Energy Policy, 41, 14–28, 2012) and Small and Van Dender ( Energy Journal, 28(1), 25–51, 2007) models. The rebound effect existence in the two-wheeler sector should be considered during the development and implementation of energy efficiency related policies in the Indian transport sector in order to reap the maximum benefits out of these policies in the future.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Alternative Policies in Conjunction with Energy Efficiency Improvement Policy in India

Energy efficiency improvement is often advocated for fuel conservation and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in Indian personal transport sector. However, in the long run, this policy is found to induce direct rebound effects as it leads to more car trips and hence longer travels. Attempts have been made in this paper to test the effectiveness of alternative energy policies in conjunction with energy efficiency improvements in personal transport sector of India with the help of a system dynamics model. Four alternative energy policies considered in conjunction with the energy efficiency improvement policy are carbon tax imposition, car sharing, car scrappage, and a combination of all of these. Simulation results show that while the combined policy gave the best scenario in terms of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, the car sharing policy gave the best scenario in terms of direct rebound effect values.

Low Carbon Energy Policy Research

Case study of Korea, Low carbon energy efficiency labeling schemes (Energy Efficiency Label and Standard Program, High efficiency Appliance Certification Program, e-Standby Program) play a key role in carrying out the energy efficiency improvement policy in the appliances and equipment sector in Korea. Korea operates these Programs in an effort to improve energy efficiency in appliances and equipments. Mandatory energy efficiency standard which bans production and sales of low energy efficiency products which fall below the minimum energy performance standard. Ministry of Knowledge of Economy (MKE) and Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO) is the key organizations in implementing energy efficiency standards and labeling. National energy efficiency efforts can be realized through energy efficiency improvements with the successful implementation of an energy efficient appliances dissemination policy and the phase out of low efficiency appliances. Through the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Label and Standard Program (1992), High-efficiency Appliance Certification Program (1996) and e-Standby Program (1999), significant energy efficiency improvements have been achieved, and 1.37 billion USD worth of energy savings.

The effectiveness of energy efficiency improvement in a developing country: Rebound effect of residential electricity use in South Korea

The government of South Korea considers an energy efficiency improvement policy an effective economic measure for climate change like many other governments. But it is unaware of any ‘rebound effect’, the unexpected result of energy efficiency improvement. So the rebound effect of residential electricity use in South Korea was estimated using two different scales in this paper. At the macro level, the rebound effect was estimated indirectly by using price elasticity, and at the micro level, the rebound effect of individual home appliances was estimated directly by using a non-linear relationship between energy efficiency and energy use. At the macro level, the long- and short-term results of rebound effect were estimated at 30% and 38%, respectively. Also at the micro level, the rebound effect of air conditioners was 57–70%; while refrigerators showed only a composite of rebound and income effects. Finally, there was no backfire effect, and efficiency improvement brought energy reduction. In conclusion, these suggest that rebound effect is an important factor that the government of South Korea must consider when planning its energy efficiency improvement policy.