Increase In Energy Intensity Research Articles

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AS A WAY TO ECOLOGICAL SAFETY: EVIDENCE FROM RUSSIA

The paper proposes the link between effective use of energy and reduction of carbon emissions at the case of Russia. A number of energy efficiency indicators are reviewed and calculated. Deterministic analysis is conducted to identify what factors influence carbon intensity the most. The analysis has shown that increasing energy intensity causes a much greater increase in carbon intensity. This paper adopts the method of chain substitutions to calculate the contribution of each factor to the changes in the carbon intensity over a period of time. Therefore, it must be the ultimate goal to achieve a sustainable economy by consuming less energy which in its turn will lead to less CO2 emission. Keywords : energy consumption, energy efficiency, carbon intensity, method of chain substitutions. JEL Classifications: Q40, Q43, O44, O52 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.7903

Good for the environment, good for business: Foreign acquisitions and energy intensity

The link between foreign ownership and environmental performance remains a controversial issue. This paper contributes to our understanding of this subject by analyzing the impact of foreign acquisitions on plant-level energy intensity. The analysis applies a difference-in-differences approach combined with propensity score matching to the data from the Indonesian Manufacturing Census for the period 1983–2001 (or 1983–2008 in robustness checks). It covers 210 acquisition cases where an acquired plant is observed two years before and at least three years after an ownership change and for which a carefully selected control plant exists. The results suggest that while foreign ownership increases the overall energy usage due to expansion of output, it decreases the plant's energy intensity. Specifically, acquired plants reduce energy intensity by about 30% two years after acquisition, relative to the control plants. In contrast, foreign divestments tend to increase energy intensity. At the aggregate level, entry of foreign-owned plants is associated with industry-wide reduction in energy intensity.

Does urbanization increase pollutant emission and energy intensity? evidence from some Asian developing economies

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to investigate the effects of urbanization on pollutant emissions and energy intensity in selected Asian developing countries after controlling for the effects of disaggregated (renewable and non-renewable) energy consumption, trade liberalization, and economic growth. We use both linear and nonlinear panel data econometric techniques and employ recently introduced mean group estimation methods, allowing for heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. However, to check the robustness of our panel results, we also apply the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bound testing approach to country-level data. In addition, the relationship between affluence and CO2 emissions is examined in the context of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The estimation results identify the population, affluence, and non-renewable energy consumption as major factors in pollutant emissions in Asian countries. However, the results of the EKC hypothesis show that when countries achieve a certain level of economic growth, their emissions tend to decline. Whereas nonlinear results show that renewable energy, urbanization, and trade liberalization reduce emissions, linear estimations do not confirm these outcomes. Thus, substitution of non-renewable for renewable energy consumption, cautious and planned urbanization programs and more liberal trading regimes may be viable options for sustainable growth of these developing Asian economies.

The energy implication of China’s food system transformation

Food systems in developing countries are undergoing a dramatic transformation from traditional to more modernized forms. This paper examines the energy implications of the transformation of China’s food system based on a time-series multi-sectoral input–output model. Results reveal several trends. First, the estimated food-related energy consumption (excluding energy consumption related to in-home food preparation and storage) increased by 73% and 53% in total and per capita terms, respectively, between 2002 and 2012. Second, supply chain analysis shows changes in the distribution pattern of energy consumption along the supply chain; the share of farming declined, whereas the share of processing increased. Energy consumption tied to transportation grew rapidly. Third, food-related energy intensity declined during the study period. Decomposition analysis found that technological changes spurred a decline in energy intensity, whereas changes in diets increased energy intensity. Furthermore, the contribution of each supply chain stage was decomposed, and findings indicated that farming accounts for the largest contribution and packaging, storage, wholesale and retail and the food service sector (restaurants) contributed to decrease energy intensity. Processing and transportation increased energy intensity. Finally, the network analysis shows that electricity has been a major direct energy-consuming sector, of which the usage is induced by crop, fishing and aquaculture livestock, processed food and restaurant.

Explore the influence mechanism of carbon emissions decline on energy intensity with two-layer factor decomposition method in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Understanding the intrinsic mechanism behind changes on energy intensity provides insights about reducing carbon emissions and promoting the sustainable development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. Although various studies have found a causal relationship between energy intensity and energy-related carbon emissions, the internal mechanisms are still unclear. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of energy intensity on carbon emissions from 2005 to 2015. With an association established between logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) and generalized Fisher index (GFI), two-layer factor decomposition model is proposed to explore the factor analysis in-depth. (1) LMDI method proves that energy intensity is the main contributor that reduces carbon emissions in BTH. (2) GFI model further decomposes energy intensity into five effects, namely energy substitution, technology progress, labor productivity, capital substitution, and labor-capital resources allocation. (3) The results reveal that the effect of capital-energy substitution in declining energy intensity surpasses technology progress. (4) Energy-labor substitution has increased energy intensity, while energy-energy substitution is negligible. For the coordinate development of BTH, the government should aim at energy intensity and attach importance to encouraging entrepreneurship, accelerating the construction of carbon trading market, allocating resources rationally, and guiding the capital flow into energy-efficient direction.

Economic evaluation of energy-efficient engineering systems

The paper shows the aspects of introducing energy-efficient equipment for engineering systems within the context of productivity enhancement in general. The author as research relevance brings a thesis that each of production members reach after implementing possibility for increasing general effectiveness of business operation. The paper reveals the issues of factor and expert assessments for introducing innovations at the enterprise and economic evaluation of the place of energy-efficient technologies in the general medium of production enterprise modernization. The novelty of the study is an aspect that under conditions of energy products’ cost increase and significant energy intensity of present-day production, the issue of energy conservation and choice of priorities of investment into the project of energy efficiency increase at enterprises is a major concern. Reduction of production cost is one of the most important ways of effective competition and increasing of productiveness of an enterprise in the modern conditions. The authors offer to evaluate the process of energy conservation in a complex way, taking into account all investment consequences: economic, technical, ecological, organizational, commercial, and others. The prospect areas of research: cost-to-use analysis from the introduction of personally developed systems of energy conservation.

Revisiting the energy consumption–economic growth causal relationships in tails

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the energy consumption and the economic growth in the USA and in a sectoral level by using monthly data from January 1991 to May 2016.Design/methodology/approachWhile assessing the relationship at a country level, the authors also examine five sectors by using quantile causality.FindingsThe findings indicate the existence of a causality at the sectoral level in tails. More specifically, industrial and electric sectors cause the growth at the lower and higher levels. Residential, commercial and transportation sectors do not cause the growth in all levels. Total consumption causes the growth in the middle and low levels but not in the high level. Finally, the empirical evidence signifies an asymmetric relationship between the covariates.Practical implicationsThe results imply that when the consumption deals conditions with fluctuation, it is likely to be affected by growth. In such a case, energy policies gear toward reducing or increasing energy intensity, improving energy efficiency, encouraging the use of alternative sources and investing in the development of technology.Originality/valueThe authors use, for the first time, the quantile causality for the case of energy consumption and economic growth. The quantile test is useful for a thorough comprehension of the causal relationship for this area. Compared to the OLS, which is used for the majority of causality tests, the quantile investigates the causality at the sectoral level in the tails.

Energy intensity and energy conservation potential in China: A regional comparison perspective

Increasing energy demand and the associated environmental pressures have ignited the Chinese government's concerns regarding energy conservation. Using provincial-level panel data covering the period of 2000–2015, this study first identifies the drivers of energy intensity across China's regions, employing a series of econometric techniques allowing for cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity. Based on the estimation results and scenario analysis, this study forecasts the possible energy conservation potential at the regional level by 2030. The panel augmented mean group (AMG) estimator provides similar estimation results for the three regions: economic structure and urbanization rate are the deterministic factors increasing energy intensity, while R&D investment and relative energy price reduce it. The results of scenario analysis indicate that, under the advanced scenario, the energy conservation potential in the eastern, central, and western regions in 2030 will be 1,209.53 million tons of coal equivalent (tce), 664.23 million tce, and 774.48 million tce, respectively. At the national level, the advanced scenario can save 2,648.24 million tce of energy consumption by 2030, accounting for 43.3% of the energy demand under the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. Finally, these findings offer several targeted policy suggestions for reducing energy intensity and promoting energy conservation potential at the national and regional levels.

АГРОТЕХНИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ РАБОЧЕГО ОРГАНА ДЛЯ БЕЗОТВАЛЬНОЙ ОБРАБОТКИ ПОЧВЫ

Abstract. The subsoiling tillage is aimed at weakening the surface runoff of water and transferring it to the subsurface. The main methods of non-plowing treatment are subsoiling, flat and chisel processing, milling, chinking, deepening of the arable layer of the soil. However, the working units of existing tools for subsoiling tillage do not provide sufficient accumulation and preservation of moisture in the soil, its optimum density for the development of the root system of plants, and are characterized by increased energy intensity. This article presents the agrotechnical aspects of subsoiling, which contributes to a decrease in the development of erosion processes and an increase in moisture accumulation in the soil in conditions of a deficiency in soil moisture. The description of the soil-cultivating tool with working units of drive action is given. The results of the influence of the proposed treatment method on the agrotechnical indices of the soil are obtained.

Do Trade Openness, Structure of the Economy and FDI Affect Energy Intensity in India? A Case for Including Energy Intensity as a Policy Parameter

This article examines the existence of a long-run relationship between energy intensity, trade openness, structure of the economy and FDI inflows in India from 1973 to 2013 using auto regressive distributive lag (ARDL) bounds test methodology. The results indicate that (a) there is a long-run cointegration among the analysed variables and (b) an increase in trade openness, share of services in gross domestic product (GDP) and share of FDI in domestic investments results in lowering energy intensity. The study also finds that the magnitude of impact of the share of industry in increasing energy intensity in India outweighs the combined energy intensity lowering impact of trade openness, share of services and share of FDI. The study validates tenets of the theory of heterogeneity of firms in international trade and pitches for including ‘energy intensity’ as a policy parameter in promoting ‘energy-frugal’ technologies via Make-in-India initiative, trade and FDI policies.

The Water Trade

This article discusses increasing use of energy water due to increasing unavailability of fresh water. There has been an increasing demand for energy and water even faster than population increase, driven by economic growth on top of the population growth. The increased energy intensity of water has several different components, including stricter water/wastewater treatment standards, deeper aquifer production, long-haul pipelines, and desalination. Each of those elements is more energy intensive than conventional piped water today, and seems to be a more common option moving forward. Rapid desalination growth is also occurring in China, where booming industrial activity is straining water supplies that serve the world’s largest population. While trading energy for water makes a lot of sense in places such as the Middle East or Libya, where there is an abundance of energy and a scarcity of freshwater, that trade-off is not obviously an excellent value in places such as the United Kingdom or the United States, where other cost-effective options such as water conservation, graywater capture, and water reuse might be available.

Understanding energy systems change in Canada: 1. Decomposition of total energy intensity

Between 1995 and 2010, the total energy intensity (E/GDP, PJ/Gross Domestic Product in 2002$) of the Canadian economy declined by 23% or −2.64MJ/$. To understand why, the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMD-I) method was used to decompose a large body of government statistical data supporting the observed E/GDP decline. The analysis shows that (a) 48% (1.27MJ/$) of the decline was associated with an inter-sector structural change in the economy (i.e. an increased contribution to the total GDP of the low energy-using commercial and institutional sector compared with the high energy-using manufacturing and heavy industry sectors); (b) 24% (0.62MJ/$) was attributed to the impact of the Canadian GDP growing faster than population; (c) 22% (0.58MJ/$) of the decline was associated with an overall decrease in business energy intensity. A deeper analysis of business sectors shows a positive impact of 0.4MJ/$ from increased energy intensity in the oil and gas sector, offset by a 0.98MJ/$ decline due to energy intensity declines in the other business sectors; (d) 6.3% (0.17MJ/$) of the decline was associated with an improvement in the energy intensity of households, mostly from residential energy use rather than personal transportation energy use. These results provide insights for policy makers regarding those aspects of the Canadian economy that contribute to, or work against, efforts to transform energy systems toward sustainability.

DRIVERS OF ENERGY INTENSITY IN PAKISTAN: AN ASSESSMENT USING INDEX DECOMPOSITION METHODS

We employ index decomposition techniques to decompose aggregate energy consumption into energy intensity, efficiency and structural change indices for Pakistan. Data suggests that energy inefficiencies play a prominent role in increasing energy intensity while structural changes cause small reduction in intensity index. Partial adjustment model was applied to investigate underlying forces of energy intensity and its components. Results illustrate that energy prices and capital-labor ratio have significant effect in reducing energy intensity through efficiency channel whereas; income predominantly increases energy intensity through inefficient energy use. Extensive policy intervention is required through implementing energy intensity reduction targets for efficient energy use.

Urbanization, openness, emissions, and energy intensity: A study of increasingly urbanized emerging economies

This paper analyses the impact of urbanization and trade openness on emissions and energy intensity in twenty-two increasingly urbanized emerging economies. We employ three second-generation heterogeneous linear panel models as well as recently developed nonlinear panel estimation techniques allowing for cross-sectional dependence. The empirical results show that population density and affluence increase emissions and energy intensity while renewable energy seems to be dormant in these emerging economies, but non-renewable energy increases both CO2 emissions and energy intensity. In addition, openness significantly reduces both pollutant emissions and energy intensity whereas urbanization significantly increases energy intensity, but it is insignificant in increasing emissions. This may be, in part, due to the recent increasing trend in adopting cleaner technologies in these increasingly urbanized developing economies.

Decomposition Analysis of Aggregate Energy Intensity Changes in Tunisia over the Period 1980–2007

The aim of this paper is to investigate the main factors that have contributed to the decline in aggregate energy intensity of the Tunisian economy, during the period 1980–2007. Using the Logarithmic Mean Division Index (LMDI) decomposition method, we decompose the total changes in energy intensity into inter-fuel substitution effects, technological effects, and structural effects. The decomposition analysis is carried out at two levels of sectoral disaggregation (3 sectors and 13 sub-sectors) and uses three energy sources: petroleum, natural gas, and electricity. Our results show that the main contributor to the decline in energy intensity of the Tunisian economy throughout the period studied is the technological effect. This result was confirmed when we decomposed the energy intensity changes in the industrial and service sectors. On the other hand, the inter-fuel substitution effect contributed to increasing energy intensity, but without affecting its general downward trend. Finally, for the structural effects, we observed a significant mutual effect of cancellation at sector and sub-sector levels.

Changing energy intensity in China: a decomposition analysis

This study proposed a decomposition method based on the normalized quadratic shadow unit cost function to explore the determinants of the change in energy intensity in China from 1985 to 2010. The decomposition analysis indicates that (1) the improvement in technical efficiency dramatically reduced the energy intensity, whereas technological change played only a minor role, which could be attributed to a rebound effect; (2) the aggregated allocation effect was small because the change in the allocative distortion between capital and energy significantly enhanced energy intensity but was partly offset by the effect stemming from the change in the allocative distortion between capital and energy; and (3) the substitution of energy for labor increased energy intensity, but the aggregated substitution effect significantly reduced energy intensity because the substitution of capital for energy reduced energy intensity to a great extent. These findings were obtained at the national level and varied at the regio...

Equipment and Energy Usage in a Large Teaching Hospital in Norway.

This article presents a study of how equipment is used in a Norwegian University hospital and suggests ways to reduce hospital energy consumption. Analysis of energy data from Norway's newest teaching hospital showed that electricity consumption was up to 50% of the whole-building energy consumption. Much of this is due to the increasing energy intensity of hospital-specific equipment. Measured power and reported usage patterns for equipment in the studied departments show daytime energy intensity of equipment at about 28.5 kBTU/ft2 per year (90 kWh/m2 per year), compared to building code standard value of only 14.9 kBTU/ft2 (47 kWh/m2 per year) for hospitals. This article intends to fill gaps in our understanding of how users and their equipment affect the energy balance in hospitals and suggests ways in which designers and equipment suppliers can help optimize energy performance while maintaining quality in the delivery of health services.

Evidence of an “Energy-Management Gap” in U.S. manufacturing: Spillovers from firm management practices to energy efficiency

In this paper we merge a well-cited survey of firm management practices into confidential plant level U.S. Census manufacturing data to examine whether generic, i.e. non-energy specific, firm management practices, “spillover” to enhance energy efficiency in the United States. For U.S. manufacturing plants we find this relationship to be more nuanced than prior research on UK plants. Most management techniques are shown to have beneficial spillovers to energy efficiency, but an emphasis on generic targets, conditional on other management practices, results in spillovers that increase energy intensity. Our specification controls for industry specific effects at a detailed 6-digit NAICS level and finds the relationship between management and energy use to be strongest for firms in energy intensive industries. We interpret the empirical result that generic management practices do not necessarily spillover to improved energy performance as evidence of an “energy management gap.”

The ecology of energy use: using the POET model to analyze consumption and intensity across nations 1970–2000

Many structural factors influence energy regimes at the national and international level, including development/affluence, population size, and oil prices. In this study, we use Duncan’s ecological complex (aka “POET” model) to theorize about the many structural factors that shape national energy usage. Employing one of the largest samples ever used for this purpose (from 1970 to 2000/N = 98/2,263 case-years), coupled with fixed effects to hold constant both unique temporal events and country attributes (e.g., oil embargoes, land area, climate), our pooled time-series analysis suggests that population, social organization, the external social environment (i.e., globalization), and specific technologies are all important dimensions in how the nations of the world use their energy resources. More specifically, while we found that population size, automotive dependence, and global trade increase both total use and energy intensity, other factors such as development, large-scale urbanization, and global oil prices usually lead to (relative) energy savings. We conclude with implications for public policy and further academic study.

Decomposition analysis of the change of energy intensity of manufacturing industries in Thailand

The study computes and analyses the sources of the change of energy intensity of the manufacturing industries in Thailand during the period (1991–2011) using the decomposition method. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index is computed and the results show that the energy intensity in the period (1991–2000) increased greatly from the increased energy intensity of each industry. In the more recent period (2000–2011) the energy intensity declined a little. However the decline was mainly from the structural change effect with negligible contribution from decreased energy intensity of each industry. The findings imply the need to balance industrial restructuring policies with efforts to reduce energy intensity for a sustainable economic development. Besides, there is much room for individual industries to improve their energy efficiency. Policies on restructuring energy prices and other non-price related measures should be devised to induce individual industries, particularly the highly energy intensive ones, to reduce their energy intensity.