Impact Of Energy Use Research Articles

Analyzing extended STIRPAT model of urbanization and CO2 emissions in Asian countries.

CO2 emissions tend to increase more rapidly in underdeveloped economies as compared to developed countries mainly in China, India, and Asia. One of the aspects that accounts for the increasing CO2 emissions is urbanization (UR) and it is increasing all over the world particularly in Asian and African regions. The present study examines the impact of energy use and UR on carbon emissions over the period 1995 to 2018 while using the extended STIRPAT model for Asian countries. Panel co-integration techniques and Granger causality test are applied on selected variables. FMOLS and DOLS methods are also applied to check for robustness. Findings confirm the presence of long-run co-integration among variables. The outcomes propose that energy consumption and UR have positive impact on CO2 emissions and output. Outcomes also reveal that financial development (FD) has negative effect on emissions of CO2 but positive effect on economic growth. Results of Granger causality technique indicate that long-run causality association exists among emissions of CO2, economic growth, and UR. In the short run (SR), bidirectional causal relationship has been found between trade openness and FD.

How Behavioral Interventions Can Reduce the Climate Impact of Energy Use

Kristian S. Nielsen is a research associate in the Department of Zoology at University of Cambridge. He received a PhD from Copenhagen Business School in 2019 with a dissertation focused on the role of self-regulation in environmental behavior change. His current research focuses on bridging research in behavioral science and biodiversity conservation as part of an interdisciplinary project called Nudging for Nature. His other research interests revolve around behavior change as a climate change mitigation strategy, the dynamics of the behavior change process, self-regulation and self-control, and sustainable clothing consumption. Sander van der Linden is Reader in Social Psychology in Society and director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. He is also a fellow in Psychological and Behavioral Sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Environmental Psychology. His research on the psychology of human judgment and decision-making, especially in the context of climate change, has received numerous awards including the Rising Star award from the Association for Psychological Science and the Sage Early Career Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology . Paul C. Stern is president of the Social and Environmental Research institute and was previously a principal staff officer at the US National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine where he directed its Board on Environmental Change and Society. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Psychological Association. His research interests include the integration of social science into research and practice for governing environmental change and into risk assessment and management. Among his publications are Environmental Problems and Human Behavior (coauthor) and Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society (coeditor).

The impact of intra-industry trade on carbon dioxide emissions: The case of the European Union

The reductions of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions are an essential objective of the European Union (EU) to achieving the reduction target by 20% by 2020. Along with energy consumption and agriculture, trade has a diverse impact on climate change. International trade usually negatively affects the environment, while the influence of intra-industry trade is more favourable. The paper investigates the impact of energy use, agriculture, and intra-industry trade on environmental pollution in EU countries using panel data for the period 2000–2014. The research frames the theoretical hypothesis that describing the relationship between agricultural intra-industry trade and climate change. The assumptions are confirmed by panel fixed effects, and Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimations, and the panel cointegration test. The empirical results have supported by the literature, and all variables used in this study are stationary applying panel unit root test. Results show that agricultural intra-industry trade, renewable energy is negatively correlated with climate change, confirming the less pollutant hypothesis, while economic growth and agricultural productivity induce environmental problems. This study confirms the theoretical hypotheses explaining the effect of intra-industry trade for agricultural products as well as the impacts of renewable energy use, agricultural land productivity, and economic growth on CO2 emissions.

Health impact of energy use in buildings: Radiation propagation assessment in indoor environment

Energy has become an essential part of today’s lifestyle, especially for using the electronic appliances in homes, offices and other built environments in a daily basis. Although in modern life, electronic devices have become ubiquitous, the excessive electromagnetic radiations from these appliances may cause potential health effects. Realizing this significance, a systemic and comprehensive assessment was performed to study the radiation propagation generating from the energy based electric appliances. Along with measuring the radiation exposure in buildings, this study examined how the radiation propagation varies with different construction materials. Moreover, radiation associated human health impacts were also investigated. Evaluation of five building environment demonstrated that drywall acted as the best shielding object (transmission coefficient: 18% electric field strength) whereas lumber and glass wall acted as the poor shielding material (96% and 97% electric field strength respectively). Comparison with the standard values specified by international authorities showed lower field strength values for some regulatory institute, although these values were higher compared to some more restricted safety levels in some countries, indicating the possible human health impacts in the assessed built environment. Hence, this study recommends utilization of proper shielding materials, maintaining exposure distance along with exposure duration reduction.

Young energy savers: Exploring the role of parents, peers, media and schools in saving energy among children in Belgium

Climate change is one of the biggest threats our world is facing. Therefore, reducing energy consumption and energy waste are of significant importance. Although children are the main beneficiaries of all efforts done to impact climate change, not much is known about young children's energy curtailment literacy, which refers to children's knowledge, attitudes and moral reflections related to reducing energy waste by performing curtailment behavior, and the impact different socialization agents might have on the development of energy curtailment literacy. In this paper, 29 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in Belgium with children between the age of 6 and 12 to get better insights in their energy curtailment literacy and in how this is impacted by different socialization agents. Results show that children have strong self-efficacy beliefs toward curtailment behavior. They experience negative emotions when talking about the consequences of climate change and the fact that energy is often wasted. Energy waste was also evaluated as immoral behavior. Especially older children have some basic understanding of climate change and energy while the impact of energy use on the environment stays unclear. Most children perform energy curtailment out of personal preference or their willingness to conform to a set norm instead of its environmental impact. Parents and teachers appear to have the biggest impact on the formation of children's energy curtailment literacy and are therefore considered to be the main socialization agents. The influence of media and peers appears to be less strong among these young children.

A drain or drench on biocapacity? Environmental account of fertility, marriage, and ICT in the USA and Canada.

In either case of ecological and biocapacity surplus or deficit, the precautionary effort toward optimizing the natural capital posits a potential framework for environmental sustainability. In studying the environmental account of fertility, marriage, and technological advancement in the USA and Canada, the autoregressive distributed lad-bound testing is employed over the experimental period 1990-2014. Importantly, the study revealed that the interaction of fertility and marriage exerts a significant and negative impact of biocapacity in both the USA and Canada and in short run and long run. Moreover, while the impact of energy use in both countries is significant and positive in both the short and long run, the magnitude of the impact is almost negligible. Similarly, an improvement in technological advancement in the countries is empirically observed to cause a decline in the biocapacity in both the long and short term. These posit that both energy use and technological advancement in Canada and the USA do not necessarily improve the productive capacity of the countries ecosystems. In general, the study provides policy frameworks for stakeholders toward addressing the environmental peculiarity of the USA (a biocapacity debtor) and Canada (a biocapacity creditor).

Sustainability issues in maritime transport and main challenges of the shipping industry

Considering the rapid development of oceanic logistics, the maritime traffic is one of the worst offenders for air and water pollution. This paper primarily aims to explore the key concepts and terms applied to denote the sustainability issues in maritime transport and main challenges for the shipping industry. The present study investigates the existing sustainability frameworks on the relationship between sustainability and maritime industry. Also the author proposes to use modelling approaches to measure the relationship between oil prices, exchange rate, services export and ocean transport value added. The empirical findings indicate that growth rate of the crude oil prices has negative impact on ocean transport value added growth, and it can be traced that the oil industry has a strong influence on value creation in maritime clusters and their competitiveness, especially on the shipping sector. The analysis also sheds light on the impacts of relationship between environmental pollution and maritime cluster activity (through the validation of the EKC hypothesis in Norway). The current paper reveals that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions. The empirical evidences show that the links between CO2 emissions and ocean transport value added are more significant than with energy consumption indicator. It can be assumed that, due to the energy efficiency policy and technological leadership in the shipping industry, the environmental impact of energy use (renewable energy) has improved.

Economic progression of ASEAN - a comparative analysis of selected ASEAN economies

This study investigates the association of macroeconomic variables with economic growth of ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines) using annual time series data over the period of 1971 to 2017. We applied Johansen co-integration and vector error correction framework to investigate the impact of energy use, trade openness, financial and infrastructure development on growth. Our empirical evidence validates energy lead growth hypothesis in all five economies. Infrastructure development impacts economic growth positively in all countries excluding Malaysia in the long-run. The impact of financial development on economic growth of Singapore was relatively greater than the rest of the ASEAN-5 countries. The association of trade openness was positive with the economic growth of Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand in the long-run. The maximum speed of adjustment to long-run equilibrium was recorded for Thailand.

Role of Energy and Exports in Economic Growth in Ghana

For many years, the quest for sustained economic growth has remained a paramount agenda for developing and emerging economies. However for many of these economies, this goal remains elusive as the myriad of reforms implemented have often failed to yield desired results. The literature is replete with many studies aimed at identifying the sources of growth. Yet the role of energy access and utilization has received little attention, likewise the role of exports. To fill this void and offer direction to policy in emerging economies, this study attempts to investigate the impact of energy use and exports in fostering economic growth and development using Ghanaian data. Findings from this paper reveal that energy consumption and exports are key drivers of economic growth in Ghana. Hence, development policy in the country and beyond must be designed to give careful consideration towards integrating energy policy and export-promotion in order to harness the growth potentials of other sectors of the economy.

Reduction of heat pump induced peak electricity use and required generation capacity through thermal energy storage and demand response

Shifting residential space heating from the use of gas boilers towards the use of heat pumps is recognized as a method to reduce green house gas emissions and increase energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy sources. Demand response of these systems could aid in reducing peak loads on the electricity grid. Extra flexibility can be added in the form of a thermal energy storage tank. This paper proposes a multi-objective model predictive control strategy for such a system, which takes into account the users energy cost, the environmental impact of energy use and the impact of expanding the electricity generation capacity. This control strategy is used in a case study inspired by the Belgian electricity generation park with 500,000 heat pumps to investigate the effect of the size of a space heating storage tank on consumer cost, energy use and required electricity generation capacity. Results indicate that the proposed demand response strategy reduces the required peak load capacity substantially with only a small increase in costs for the consumer. When adding a large hot water storage tank, the required additional capacity is nearly eliminated. Independently of the required capacity, the controller shifts energy use from peak to base generating plants. Increasing the storage tank size increases the amount of energy that is shifted. However, when demand response is applied by using a space heating storage tank, the costs for the consumer always increase relative to the case without demand response or storage tank. If demand response is desired by the grid operator, heat pump owners should be encouraged to participate by remunerating them for their additional expenses.

A valuation of the environmental performance of vehicles: an analysis and comparison of two methodologies

The European Clean Vehicle Directive was introduced in 2009 to create an obligation on public authorities to take into account the impact of energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and pollutant emissions into their purchasing decisions for road transport vehicles. This should stimulate the market for clean and energy-efficient vehicles and improve transport's impact on environment, climate change and energy use. Therefore the so-called ‘Operational Lifetime Cost’ of a vehicle is calculated, divided into the cost for energy consumption, CO2 and pollutant (nitrous oxide, particulate matter, non-methane hydrocarbons) emissions. In Belgium, a different methodology has been developed to calculate the environmental impact of a vehicle, called ‘Ecoscore’, based on a well-to-wheel approach. More pollutants are included compared to the Clean Vehicle methodology, but also indirect emissions are taken into account. In this paper, both methodologies are compared and used to analyze the environmental performance of passenger cars with different fuel types and from different vehicle segments. Similar rankings between both methodologies are obtained; however, the large impact of energy use (and CO2 emissions) in the Clean Vehicle methodology disadvantages compressed natural gas cars, as well as diesel cars equipped with particulate filters, compared to the Ecoscore methodology.

Energy Sources and Gross Domestic Product: International Evidence

The relationship between energy consumption and economic growth received a significant amount of attention in energy economics literature [Al-Iraiani (2006)]. Rufael (2006) stated that different energy sources are a necessary requirement for economic and social development and no country in the world has progressed from subsistence economy without the use of energy. In this regard, four views have emerged over time about the relationship between energy consumption and output growth. One point of view is that energy is the prime source of value and other factors like labor and capital cannot do without energy. Many studies argue that the impact of energy use on growth depends on the structure of the economy and the stage of economic growth of the country concerned [Ghali and Sakka (2004)]. The bulk of the literature reports a uni-directional causality from energy consumption to economic growth. When the causality runs from energy consumption to economic growth, it is also called ‘growth hypothesis’. Table 1 provides a list of the studies, which show such results. It implies that an increase in energy consumption has a significant impact on economic growth and if it is positive, then energy conservation policies have a detrimental impact on economic growth. Alternatively, if an increase in energy consumption has significant negative impact on GDP, it implies that growing economy needs a less amount of energy consumption, may be due to shift towards less energy intensive sectors [Payne (2010)]. Second point of view is that economic growth has a positive influence on energy consumption. There may be uni–directional causality from economic growth to energy consumption. Table 1 displays a list of studies showing such results. When the causality runs from economic growth to energy consumption, it is often referred to as ‘conservation hypothesis’. It implies that energy conservation policies formulated to reduce energy consumption may not adversely affect economic growth. Third point of view is that the cost of energy use is very small compared to GDP and consequently its impact on economic growth is nonsignificant. There may be no causality between energy consumption and GDP; it is often referred to as ‘neutrality hypothesis”.

Energy prices, growth, and the channels in between: Theory and evidence

The paper presents stylized cross-country evidence for a negative relationship between energy use and economic growth. Based on this motivation it develops a multisector framework to derive the growth impact of energy from first principles. The structural model is empirically estimated for a sample of 37 developed countries with five-year average data over the period 1975–2009. Estimations of both separate equations and simultaneous systems of equations are performed. The empirical results show a negative impact of energy use on investments in physical capital and knowledge formation. The estimations of simultaneous equations exhibit a dynamic effect of energy use: decreasing energy input and increasing energy prices induce additional investments fostering long-run growth. The growth effect counteracts the negative static effects of lower energy use.

Towards a 3D Spatial Urban Energy Modelling Approach

Today's needs to reduce the environmental impact of energy use impose dramatic changes for energy infrastructure and existing demand patterns (e.g. buildings) corresponding to their specific context. In addition, future energy systems are expected to integrate a considerable share of fluctuating power sources and equally a high share of distributed generation of electricity. Energy system models capable of describing such future systems and allowing the simulation of the impact of these developments thus require a spatial representation in order to reflect the local context and the boundary conditions. This paper describes two recent research approaches developed at EIFER in the fields of (a) geo-localised simulation of heat energy demand in cities based on 3D morphological data and (b) spatially explicit Agent-Based Models (ABM) for the simulation of smart grids. 3D city models were used to assess solar potential and heat energy demand of residential buildings which enable cities to target the building refurbishment potentials. Distributed energy systems require innovative modelling techniques where individual components are represented and can interact. With this approach, several smart grid demonstrators were simulated, where heterogeneous models are spatially represented. Coupling 3D geodata with energy system ABMs holds different advantages for both approaches. On one hand, energy system models can be enhanced with high resolution data from 3D city models and their semantic relations. Furthermore, they allow for spatial analysis and visualisation of the results, with emphasis on spatially and structurally correlations among the different layers (e.g. infrastructure, buildings, administrative zones) to provide an integrated approach. On the other hand, 3D models can benefit from more detailed system description of energy infrastructure, representing dynamic phenomena and high resolution models for energy use at component level. The proposed modelling strategies conceptually and practically integrate urban spatial and energy planning approaches. The combined modelling approach that will be developed based on the described sectorial models holds the potential to represent hybrid energy systems coupling distributed generation of electricity with thermal conversion systems.

Latest Research Trends and Prospects Among the Various Materials and Designs Used in Lithium-Based Batteries

Increasing energy consumption, shortages of fossil fuels, and concerns about the environmental impact of energy use, especially emissions of carbon dioxide, give fresh impetus to the development of renewable energy sources. However, many renewable energy sources, such as solar photovoltaic and wind are unavailable during extended periods of time. The generated power from these sources is always fluctuating due to the environmental status. Hence, with the advent of renewable energy, it is now indispensable that efficient energy storage systems are developed. One of the most promising storage systems to be employed in stationary energy storage applications are lithium-based batteries (LIB), mainly due to their high energy density, high power, and nearly 100% efficiency. The speed and scope of research and development of LIB make it critical for researchers to be aware of the progress in this field across different laboratories. Thus, in a first step, we aim at giving a general overview on the research activities in the field of LIB. To this end, we conduct a patent search on LIB and their main components. We identify the main fields of patent activity in LIB and give an overview on the state-of-the-art in LIB technology. In a second step and based on our first findings, we aim at forecasting possible future research trends among the various battery components, main materials, and dominant designs used in LIB.

TOWARDS A 3D SPATIAL URBAN ENERGY MODELLING APPROACH

Abstract. Today's needs to reduce the environmental impact of energy use impose dramatic changes for energy infrastructure and existing demand patterns (e.g. buildings) corresponding to their specific context. In addition, future energy systems are expected to integrate a considerable share of fluctuating power sources and equally a high share of distributed generation of electricity. Energy system models capable of describing such future systems and allowing the simulation of the impact of these developments thus require a spatial representation in order to reflect the local context and the boundary conditions. This paper describes two recent research approaches developed at EIFER in the fields of (a) geo-localised simulation of heat energy demand in cities based on 3D morphological data and (b) spatially explicit Agent-Based Models (ABM) for the simulation of smart grids. 3D city models were used to assess solar potential and heat energy demand of residential buildings which enable cities to target the building refurbishment potentials. Distributed energy systems require innovative modelling techniques where individual components are represented and can interact. With this approach, several smart grid demonstrators were simulated, where heterogeneous models are spatially represented. Coupling 3D geodata with energy system ABMs holds different advantages for both approaches. On one hand, energy system models can be enhanced with high resolution data from 3D city models and their semantic relations. Furthermore, they allow for spatial analysis and visualisation of the results, with emphasis on spatially and structurally correlations among the different layers (e.g. infrastructure, buildings, administrative zones) to provide an integrated approach. On the other hand, 3D models can benefit from more detailed system description of energy infrastructure, representing dynamic phenomena and high resolution models for energy use at component level. The proposed modelling strategies conceptually and practically integrate urban spatial and energy planning approaches. The combined modelling approach that will be developed based on the described sectorial models holds the potential to represent hybrid energy systems coupling distributed generation of electricity with thermal conversion systems.

Dealing with the paradox of energy efficiency promotion by electric utilities

Utility-based Demand-Side Management (DSM) programmes started after the oil crises of the 70's and were adopted by utilities as a standard practice. However, deregulation of the electricity industry threatened DSM. More recent concerns regarding energy dependence and environmental impact of energy use caused renewed attention on the utilities role in energy efficiency fostering. EE is presently a cross-cutting issue, influencing energy policy definition and regulatory activity worldwide. Some instruments for influencing the behaviour of electric utilities in the market are used by regulators, corresponding to both impositions and stimuli, such as defining savings targets or decoupling profits from energy sales. The paper addresses categories of regulatory instruments and refers to examples of countries and regions using these identified categories of instruments. Although some cases show voluntary involvement of utilities in EE promotion on the grounds of customer retention strategies, there is a clear prevalence of regulatory constrained markets where utilities rationally engage in energy efficiency promotion.

Current research trends and prospects among the various materials and designs used in lithium-based batteries

Increasing energy consumption, shortages of fossil fuels, and concerns about the environmental impact of energy use, especially emissions of carbon dioxide, give fresh impetus to the development of renewable energy sources. With the advent of renewable energy, it is now indispensable that efficient energy storage systems have to be developed. One of the most promising storage systems to be employed in stationary energy storage applications are lithium-based batteries (LIB), mainly due to their high energy density, high power, and nearly 100 % efficiency. Within the scope of this paper, we carry out a patent search using the patent database PatBase® to assess the development status of LIB technology. The analysis of the generated patent sample reveals disproportionately high growth rates in LIB patent applications over the last years compared to other selected energy-related technologies. Breaking down patent application growth by the different components of LIB shows the principal drivers of growth. The purpose of this paper is to provide current research trends and prospects for the main LIB materials and designs.

Energy Economics and Policy

There are emerging concerns worldwide on management of energy resources and its development, such as control of the environmental impact of energy use, regulation and expedition of the commercialization of renewable energy, and reevaluation of the safety issue of nuclear power. As a result, theoretical and empirical studies on energy economics and relevant policies are of emergent need to assess the performance of previous efforts as well as to guide future development. Especially, investigations on the characters of energy market and governments' roles in it are of significant implication for decision makers concerning different aspects of energy management. 20 papers selected from 36 submissions are published in this issue, which cover many important topics in the field of energy economics and policy. At the macroscale, P. Massot and Z.-M. Chen review the history of global uranium market and discuss the potential coexistence between the rising market of China and the rest of the world. X. H. Xia and Y. Hu use China's subprovince and prefecture level data to analyze the determinants of electricity consumption intensity. B. Zhang et al. provide an overview of resources use and environmental impact of the Chinese industry during 1997–2006 based on an exergetic assessment. The fossil fuels inputs in China during 2000–2010 are estimated by S. Wang et al. in a material flow analysis which takes hidden flows into account. Acknowledging the importance of infrastructure investment for the Chinese economy, the embodied energy use in China's infrastructure investment during 1992–2007 is evaluated by H. Liu et al. based on an energy input-output model. S. Lee et al. analyze the potential economic and environmental effects of carbon tax in Japan using a global macroeconometric model. In the study by F. Tao et al., the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity index are applied to measure the industry efficiency and total factor productivity at the level of subindustry in China during 1999–2009. By employing an input-output model, S. Guo et al. construct an embodied greenhouse gases emissions inventory for Beijing. Fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, including nitrogen oxides and particulate matters, by China's auto industry are estimated and related mitigation policies are discussed by Wu et al. In P. Dai et al.'s paper, an integrate optimization model is proposed for mitigating carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector of China. Other efforts are devoted to energy systems at smaller scales. In the light of the concept of low-carbon community, S. Song et al. propose a life-cycle-based accounting framework for carbon dioxide emissions and employ it to a case in Beijing. As an efficient mode to organize modern production, the industrial park attracts special attentions not only for its important role in economic development but also for its highly concentrated energy use. Four papers in this issue discuss different aspects of the industrial park: the sustainability performance of the industrial park is evaluated based on a life-cycle multicriteria framework by J. Yang et al.; the carbon metabolism of the industrial park is simulated in an ecological network analysis by Y. Lu et al.; the greenhouse gas inventory and ecological-economic benefits of the industrial park are discussed in two papers by B. Chen and his colleagues. Another two papers in this issue focus on renewable energy systems: Y. Wang et al. compare the ecological-economic value of two different biogas plants by an emergy method; Q. Yang et al. assess the nonrenewable energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions of a “pig-biogas-fish” agricultural system based on a life-cycle assessment. To analyze the incentive mechanism of power plant efficiency retrofit, D. Yuan et al. calculate the internal rate of return of an ordinary steam turbine coal-fueled power plant in China under different scenarios. The price elasticity of residential electricity demand is estimated by G. Shi et al. to fill the gap between data requirement for policy making and scientific research outcome. In a more technical research, Z. Wang et al. focus on light extraction efficiency improvement of light-emitting diodes. In summary, economics analysis on energy systems and policies of their development is gaining more and more attention, and the papers presented in this special issue represent the current status of their research. Nevertheless, many problems remain unresolved, and more research is necessary. We look forward to new progress on the basis of and beyond the investigations reported in this issue. Zhan-Ming Chen Bin Chen Han-Song Tang

Sustainable Bioenergy Potentials for Europe and the Globe

Sustainable Bioenergy Potentials for Europe and the Globe In the framework of the EU FP7 project EnerGEO (Earth Observation for Monitoring and Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Energy Use) sustainable energy potentials for agricultural and forest areas were estimated by applying three different model approaches. The EPIC (Environmental Policy Including Climate) yield forecast model was used to estimate crop yields. The Global Forest Model (G4M) was applied to estimate global woody biomass growth.