Energy Efficiency In Industrial Sector Research Articles

The research of the impact of energy efficiency on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions at the national level

Improving energy efficiency is considered to be important and cost-effective strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is crucial in the face of global climate change. This study hypothesizes that there are significant differences in the impact of energy efficiency on economic and energy systems. Using quantile regression method, the impact of economic and energy characteristics on energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in 120 countries over the period 2010–2020 is investigated. Detailed analyses are conducted by dividing the countries into 12 groups based on gross national income per capita (Atlas method) and the share of resource rents in gross domestic product. A macro-level system of indicators for assessing energy efficiency is proposed, which can be linked to the economic and energy characteristics of the systems: National Energy Efficiency, Energy Intensity Ratio, Primary Energy Production Efficiency, Industrial Sector Energy Efficiency, Share of Low Carbon Energy, Population Energy Efficiency. The findings show that (1) global energy efficiency has remained largely unchanged over the decade; (2) there are differences in energy efficiency between fossil fuel producing and non-fossil fuel producing countries; (3) the factors that have an inverse effect on emissions in fossil fuels dependent countries include industrial energy efficiency and population energy efficiency, which are far from exhausting their potential; (4) despite the recognized importance of energy efficiency, its impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally has been unnoticeable. The study highlights that Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 on energy affordability and emission reductions are conflicting and require harmonization of mechanisms to achieve them, such as balancing climate change mitigation investments, identifying the potential for energy efficiency improvements across economy or improving energy saving practices. The overall conclusion suggests that there is an urgent need to review current decarbonization and energy efficiency initiatives, given the lack of significant global progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions or improving energy efficiency between 2010 and 2020.

Different types of environmental regulations and heterogeneous influence on energy efficiency in the industrial sector: Evidence from Chinese provincial data

Using China's provincial panel data during 2000–2017, this study attempts to research the impacts of different environmental regulatory instruments and relative stringency on total factor energy efficiency. A Super-SBM model with undesirable outputs is used to evaluate the energy efficiency of industrial sector for thirty provinces in China. The result indicates a relatively low energy efficiency of industrial sector and significant difference between provinces in China. The dynamic panel regression was employed to examine the heterogeneous effects and mechanisms on energy efficiency by different types of environmental regulations. We have two main findings: (1) At a certain stringency level, both command-and-control and market-based environmental regulations have positive effects on total factor energy efficiency. (2) There exist nonlinear relationships between environmental regulations and total factor energy efficiency. The current regulation level of command-and-control exceeds the optimal level, while the current regulation level of market-based is reasonable. Moreover, market-based environmental regulation is more effective based on China's reality. These findings provide new evidence in confirming the Porter effect and some policy implications for China to further improve energy efficiency.

Industrial energy efficiency and driving forces behind efficiency improvement: Evidence from the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration in China

Improving energy efficiency of industrial sectors is essential to achieve energy conservation in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration (PRDUA) in China. This study adopted stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to evaluate the industrial total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of nine cities in PRDUA during 2004–2016, and then to decompose the growth of TFEE into technical change (TC), technical efficiency change (TEC), and economies of scale (SC) effects. Results show that the TFEE of industrial sectors of PRDUA had an overall downward trend during the study period, and that technical change was the major driving force behind the growth of TFEE. The Tobit model was then adopted to further investigate the determinants of energy efficiency improvement and test the robustness of empirical results. The main contributions of this study to the existing literature lie in showing that (1) the degree of openness, local government spending, foreign direct investment, factor input structure, environmental regulation strength, and GDP per capita have positive impacts on the industrial TFEE; (2) enterprise scale and energy consumption structure have a negative impact on industrial energy efficiency. Finally, we address policy implications for energy management regarding their economic and environmental aspects in industrial sectors of the PRDUA.

Exploring the effects of influencing factors on energy efficiency in industrial sector using cluster analysis and panel regression model

The various industrial sub-sectors in China should require differentiated policy measures on energy conservation and emission reduction. The existing literature lack comprehensive and in-depth investigation on the influencing factors of energy efficiency at the level of industrial sub-sectors. We aim to examine the disparities in energy efficiency and the driving factors of the energy efficiency among industrial sub-sectors. Using super-SBM, cluster analysis and panel regression model, we explore the effects of influencing factors on energy efficiency across the industrial sub-sectors, and examines the entity effects and dynamic evolving characteristics of energy efficiency in various sub-sectors in China from 2005 to 2011. The results indicate that, there indeed exist significant disparities in energy efficiency across the sub-sectors. In the entire industry, technological progress, energy consumption structure and enterprise scale are the determining factors, but marketization degree and labor productivity do not have significant effects. Meanwhile, obvious variations are found in the effects of influencing factors across sub-sectors with different energy efficiency levels. The entity effects and evolving characteristics of energy efficiency across the industrial sub-sectors, and the dynamic effects of the influencing factors on energy efficiency all have distinct variances. Diverse policy implications are presented to the industrial sub-sectors with different energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency Estimation Based on Bayesian Method and Industrial Economic Transition: Taking Shandong as an Example

This paper studied the total factor energy efficiency of industrial sector’s in Shandong. First, theoretical models of stochastic frontier approach on energy efficiency were structured, and then the referred parameters were estimated by using panel data of thirty-seven industries in Shandong from 2006 to 2013 and Bayesian estimation method. Finally Tobit model was applied to empirically study the influencing factors on energy efficiency of industrial sector’s. The study indicates that: (1) The input of capital and energy is notably positively correlative to output, while the input of labor quantity is negatively correlative to output. This means labor redundancy exist in industrial sectors. (2) Chemical industry, machinery industry, equipment manufacturing industry and food processing industry which have high energy efficiency should be further developed, especially marine chemical industry and marine biological medicine should be focused on to realize traditional industry upgrading. (3) Enterprise scale, international trade, the level of foreign investment and technology progress are notably positively relative to energy efficiency, while the proportion of state-owned economy have negative impact on energy efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary for further improvement in industrial energy efficiency in Shandong to decrease the proportion of stated-owned, encourage private capital entrance, extend opening up, and speed up the technical innovation.

Modeling Method of Building Energy Consumption & Conservation

With the accelerated urbanization process and the improving of peoples living standard, China's building energy consumption shows rigid growth trend. Under the promotion of industrialization, the level of energy efficiency of industrial sector goes up fast, while the energy conservation potential in industrial field declines, building energy efficiency turns out to be the key to accomplish this goal. This paper analyzes in depth building energy consumption data and brings up the methods of creating the building energy consumption and conservation models. Through measurement of building energy consumption in subentry, the data of building materials, construction, equipments and maintenance are collected, and the building management & control methods are investigated as well. Based on the data collected and investigation results, the linear regression model and decision tree model are created. The models can be used to forecast the building energy consumption and analyze the dependency between each statistic. Based on the dependency and the forecast, the energy saving model is created. With the ant colony algorithm being used, the best solution of the lowest energy consumption is found.

Energy in Perspective of Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Sustainable energy systems are necessary to save the natural resources avoiding environmental impacts which would compromise the development of future generations. Delivering sustainable energy will require an increased efficiency of the generation process including the demand side. This paper reviews the pattern of energy-use in Nigeria and makes a case for the implementation of an energy efficiency policy as a possible strategy to address the nation’s energy crisis. The study as well explores the role of industrial energy use in sustainable development in Nigeria and the potential sources to increase energy efficiency in industrial sector. The study showed that the pattern of electrical energy consumption in the industries reviewed was majorly from generating set while power supply from national grid compliment generating set if available; this is due to either low voltage or epileptic power supply from national grid. Direct and indirect sources that lead to electrical energy waste and in-efficient energy utilization in the industries were identified such as energy loss as a result of aging electric motor, worn out or slack / misaligned machine parts, excessive heating and cooling, use of low efficient lightings etc. The review paper shows that industrial energy efficiency in Nigeria is a readily achievable, cost effective and has potential of reduction in industrial consumption using good energy management practices and energy efficient equipment. This study will be of help to government, industrialists and industrial policy makers.

A review of energy efficiency policy and measures for industries in Latvia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate energy use and performance, as well as existing energy efficiency policy and measures in the Latvian industrial sector, in order to highlight possible scenarios for energy efficiency improvements in the future.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a literature review and data analysis.FindingsIt is concluded that the existing energy efficiency measures for the industrial sector in Latvia do not work effectively. Also, it is expected that the planned measures for energy efficiency improvements for the industrial sector will not reach the defined energy saving targets in the framework of the Latvian NEEAP. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a common strategy on energy efficiency in the industrial sector in Latvia. This should be accomplished by reviewing the existing literature and data, as well as drawing up new, well‐designed energy efficiency measures.Practical implicationsThe results of this study can be applied and used in the development of energy efficiency policy for the industrial sector in Latvia. The paper also points out the main weak points of existing policy measures that can be improved in order to meet the energy saving target for the Latvian industrial sector.Originality/valueIn this paper, the Latvian industrial sector's energy efficiency policy and related measures have been organized and evaluated for the first time. Also, the importance of energy efficiency improvements in the industrial sector has been highlighted. This is evident from the fact that, currently, almost no energy efficiency measure for the industrial sector in Latvia works sufficiently.

Regional total factor energy efficiency: An empirical analysis of industrial sector in China

The rapid growth of the Chinese economy has resulted in great pressure on energy consumption, especially the energy intensive sector – the industrial sector. To achieve sustainable development, China has to consider how to promote energy efficiency to meet the demand of Chinese rapid economic growth, as the energy efficiency of China is relatively low. Meanwhile, the appeal of energy saving and emission reduction has been made by the Chinese central government. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the energy efficiency of industrial sector in China and to assess efficiency development probabilities. The framework of total factor energy efficiency index is adopted to determine the discrepancy of energy efficiency in Chinese industrial sector based on the provincial statistical data of industrial enterprises above designated size in 30 provinces from 2005 to 2009, with gross industrial output as the output value and energy consumption, average remaining balance of capital assets and average amount of working force as the input values. Besides, in considerate of the regional divide of China, namely eastern, central, and western, and economic development differences in each region, energy efficiency of each region is also analysed in this paper. The results show that there is room for China to improve its energy efficiency, especially western provinces which have large amount of energy input excess. Generally speaking, insufficient technological investment and fail of reaching best scale of manufacture are two factors preventing China from energy efficiency promotion. Based on our findings, some policy implications on the improvement of energy efficiency, particularly for economically underdeveloped regions in China, are also discussed.