Investments In Energy-efficient Technologies Research Articles

Chinese Household Carbon Footprint: Structural Differences, Influencing Factors, and Emission Reduction Strategies Analysis

The wide variation in household characteristics, such as household size, income, and age, can lead to significant differences in carbon footprints. Based on data from 1132 Chinese households in 2021, this study examines the structural differences, multiple influencing factors, and mitigation strategies of household carbon footprints (HCFs) in China. The results indicate that indirect emissions, primarily from energy and food consumption, account for the largest share of household carbon footprints, making up over 65% of total emissions. Households with lower carbon footprints are characterized by a per capita living area of less than 20 square meters, rural residences, and shared living arrangements. Carbon footprints for the elderly and minors are lower than adults, while households with higher monthly incomes have the highest carbon footprints. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) reveals that the main factors influencing HCF include household size, income, and single status, with a more pronounced impact on affluent households than on average households. High-income households have the potential to reduce their carbon footprints through investments in energy-efficient technologies, whereas low-income households are more susceptible to the effects of household size and geographic location. It is recommended that policymakers adopt differentiated measures, such as setting higher reduction targets for larger and wealthier households while providing incentives and technical support to low-income households to achieve meaningful carbon reductions. More effective and equitable low-carbon policies can be formulated by addressing these structural disparities and leveraging the unique characteristics of different household types.

Assessing the Economic Viability of Prolonged Fuel Cycles in the Agricultural Sector: Impacts on Productivity and Sustainability

The prolonged fuel cycles in agriculture present a critical challenge for maintaining sustainable productivity, especially in the context of global energy scarcity and rising operational costs. The agricultural sector in China, which heavily relies on consistent energy supplies, faces growing pressure to adopt more efficient fuel cycles to ensure long-term economic viability. This paper aims to assess the economic viability of prolonged fuel cycles within China's agricultural sector by utilizing a comprehensive econometric model that evaluates the impacts on productivity, cost efficiency, and environmental sustainability. The study specifically examines how extended fuel cycles influence agricultural output and the overall financial stability of farming operations. Results indicate that prolonged fuel cycles significantly reduce operational costs by improving energy utilization efficiency, increase agricultural productivity by up to 12%, and mitigate carbon emissions by approximately 15% due to more efficient fuel use. Furthermore, the analysis shows that regions with higher fuel dependency face greater economic benefits from transitioning to extended fuel cycles. Policy implications suggest that the government should prioritize investments in energy-efficient technologies and provide subsidies for the adoption of prolonged fuel cycles to ensure sustainable growth in the agricultural sector while mitigating environmental impacts.

Behavioral and socio-economic determinants of urban households’ investment in energy efficient technologies: evidence from Ethiopia

Wide uses of energy-efficient technologies have the potential to save a significant amount of electricity, which may allow deferral of construction of new power plants. However, in low-income countries, there is low use of energy-efficient technologies. This paper studies the behavioral and socio-economic determinants of urban households’ investment in energy efficiency improvements in Ethiopia. It considers multiple technologies and uses a multivariate probit model to take into account the sequential or simultaneous adoption of energy-efficient technologies. Using a random sample of 1,400 urban households from nine regions in Ethiopia, the study finds that most households (86%) adopt energy-efficient technologies and other energy conservation activities mainly to reduce energy expenditure. Interestingly, at least 12% of the respondents adopt these activities out of concern for the environment and future generations, which is encouraging. The multivariate probit regression result shows that households’ educational status, income or occupational status, access to credit, and age are significant determinants of households’ investment in energy-efficient technologies. The results illustrate there is a need for policies that incentivize or promote firms to sell energy-efficient products, for example, using installment (credit) and also a policy on the language of product specifications–using local language.

Does Financial Development Affect the Quality of Environment? Evidence From Indonesia

This study aims to see the effect of financial development on carbon emissions. Using PCA to convert variables into small uncorrelated variables while maintaining the original data, this study uses five variables representing the financial sector converted into two components. The first component consists of variables Domestic credit to the private sector by banks and Domestic credit to the private sector. At the same time, the second component includes variables Domestic credit provided by the financial sector, Market capitalization of listed domestic companies, and Stock Traded. We can conclude from the estimation results that the first component is the banking-based financial sector while the second is the stock-based financial sector. While the results of the study using multiple linear regression to analyze the effect of the financial development on carbon emissions found that the financial bank-based industry had a negative relationship. In contrast, the stock-based financial sector had a significant positive relationship with affecting carbon emissions. There are many ways that the government can do to make the financial sector contribute to environmental safety, such as offering interest discounts to encourage investment in energy-efficient technologies and asking companies to do CSR in projects that are more environmentally friendly

Political governance, socioeconomics, and weather influence provincial GHG emissions in Canada

Quantifying the effects of political, socioeconomic, and weather factors on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is vital for successful climate change mitigation and adaptation. We modeled these effects on provincial per-capita GHG emissions across Canada from 1990 to 2019. The results showed the percentage of variation in GHG emissions explained by the models ranged from 75.3% to 98.8% across the ten Canadian provinces. Socioeconomics was associated with most of the emission variation (46.1%), followed by weather (1.4%). The effect of political governance on GHG emissions was minor (0.7%) and inconsistent but had a strong interaction with socioeconomic factors. Energy use efficiency was identified to be the most influential factor, contributing to lowering emissions in eight provinces. We conclude that socioeconomic factors are most important in causing GHG emissions across Canada, while the importance of political governance is trivial, much to the chagrin of those making election promises. Investment in energy efficient technologies should have the highest return in reducing emissions.

Modeling the dynamic nexus among CO2 emissions, fossil energy usage, and human development in East Africa: new insight from the novel DARDL simulation embeddedness

This study investigates the relationship among CO2 emissions, human development index, and fossil energy usage. Essentially, the study was informed by the Sustainable Development Goal 7, which stipulates universal access to renewable and contemporary energy technologies. We employed the novel dynamic autoregressive-distributed lag (DARDL) simulations with a dataset spanning between 1980 and 2020 from East Africa Community (EAC). The study revealed that human development, access to electricity, and trade have a strong correlation with carbon emissions in the long term, whereas fossil energy usage and economic growth have a negative connection with carbon emission. On the other hand, in the short run, human development and fossil energy usage have a positive correlation with carbon emission, while economic growth and foreign direct investment have a negative correlation with carbon emission. Thus, policies that are tailored to enhance the political environment in East Africa are crucial to ensuring realistic access to clean and modern electricity. In relation to the environmental policy of the East African Community; this study advocates for measures to increase the availability of less harmful and renewable energy sources, as well as investments in energy-efficient technologies.

Using Trusted Intermediaries to Communicate Environmental Issues Across Security Forces

ABSTRACT Militaries generate globally significant climate and biocapacity damage in both peacetime and wartime. This scenario is historically underpinned by organisational and socio-psychological barriers, resulting in military strategies that cancel out the gains borne of ongoing investments in energy efficient technologies. Yet, there are promising signs of a shift across various armed forces, with military personnel seeking greater knowledge and action on today's converging environmental crises. Targeted education represents a potentially significant pathway for supporting security personnel to drive evidence-based mitigation and adaptation initiatives leading to significant environmental gains. As this commentary highlights, the ability for experts across different disciplines and sectors to contribute to this process is becoming easier, due to a growing number of trusted intermediaries working to drive greater environmental awareness across the security sector.

Maybe tomorrow: How burdens and biases impede energy-efficiency investments

Investments in energy-efficient technologies can save money over time and reduce environmental impacts. Accordingly, governments worldwide provide grants to encourage household investments in clean, energy-efficient technologies at scale. Although many households state intentions to avail of these grants and to invest in energy-efficient technologies, uptake of the grants is low. This perspective suggests that administrative burden is one major reason for the low levels of economically beneficial investments. Using a theoretical model, and a simulation with building energy data, we illustrate that administrative burden can strongly reduce investments in energy-efficient technologies if present-biased preferences lead people to procrastinate over completing the administrative tasks. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of governments grants and recommend the reallocation of resources from grants to measures that explicitly reduce administrative burden to increase the effectiveness of these government policies.

GHG emissions and fossil energy use as consequences of efforts of improving human well-being in Africa

This paper assesses the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, fossil energy use and economic development, arguing that human development is not responsible for carbon dioxide emissions. To address the mechanism through which the latter relationship operates, a recursive system of three equations is estimated. The empirical results for a sample of 41 Sub-Saharan African countries observed over the period from 1990 to 2013 support our reasoning. Specifically, contrary to causality analyses which imply economic growth causing pollution, our recursive analysis indicates that greenhouse gas emissions are direct consequences of fossil energy use. Thus, economic growth is not to blame for carbon dioxide emissions. In terms of environmental policy for African countries, this study encourages efforts towards less polluting and renewable energies supply as well as investments in energy efficient technologies.

ASSESSMENT OF HEAT LOSS IN THE PANEL BUILDING OF THE RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX "ART-QUARTER OF THE SPIVOCHE"

Maintenance of buildings in Ukraine consumes a significant amount of energy because of the low resistance to heat transfer of enclosing structures. The problem of improving the energy efficiency of buildings is not new for our country, but measures to improve their energy efficiency in some cities and regions have not become massive. First of all, this is due to the fact that the cost of energy resources was lower than market prices, which did not create the appropriate motivation for attracting investments in energy-efficient technologies in the construction industry. The current trend in the construction industry to reduce the cost of construction, due to the use of cheaper and less-quality materials and the violation of technological processes in the insulation and fitting of external fencing structures leads to a decrease in the quality of structures and increase the heat and energy during operation, especially for modern new buildings. The purpose of the work is to study heat flows and analysis of thermal losses through the enclosing structures of a panel house built in Kiev, the outer walls of which are insulated from the side of the facades and finished with thin-layer plaster. The article presents the main technical characteristics of the residential building of the Residential Complex "ART-Quarter of the Spivoche" analyzes its volumetric-planning and design solutions, performs the heat engineering calculations of the outer walls, conducts the thermal imaging examination of the external enclosing structures by the thermal imager, describes the main problems of heat loss through the outer shell and conclusions are made regarding the prospects for further research to improve the energy efficiency of the building.

Estimating employment from energy-efficiency investments

We develop a methodology for estimating the number and types of jobs that would result from investments in energy efficiency in homes, businesses, and industry. The methodology involves the development of input-output (I-O) bills of goods that characterize how energy-efficiency funds would be spent across sectors of the economy. The methodology builds on and adds greater articulation to the research conducted in prior studies of U.S. energy-efficiency policies.•The first two steps involve estimating the magnitude of investments in energy-efficient technologies and systems required to produce a unit of energy consumption reduction, and then identifying how these investments are expensed across the broad investment categories, which creates the preliminary “bills of goods” for investments in energy efficiency in homes, businesses, and industry.•The third step involves soliciting feedback on the preliminary bills of goods from experts in delivering and evaluating energy-efficiency programs, and then making necessary modifications.•In the final step we apply the input-output coefficients representing the bills of goods to estimate the direct, indirect and induced employment per million dollars of investment in energy efficiency.

Assurance of Efficiency and Environmental Improvement in a Cement Plant by using Hypothesis (Special Reference to Cement Industry in Satna District, M.P)

Cement industries are continuously growing from the past few decades and are constantly trying to improve the efficiency and trying to reduce bad emissions. Major technological enhancements in systems, processes and equipment design of cement plants are helping to enhance the productivity as well as reducing the emissions. From the literature review, it was found that efforts in enhancing efficiency help in reducing harmful emissions and thus reduce the awful impact on the environment. More the investments in energy-efficient technologies more would be a contribution to protecting the environment. This paper tries to analyze the technological improvements in the cement industry, cost-saving methods without affecting productivity and its impact on the environment. We analyzed energy-saving methods statistically by framing hypothesis. Hypothesis testing was done by one way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) method and results found that there is a significant impact of energy-saving on cost, efficiency, and environment. Our conclusion suggests that the industry should constantly work towards improvements and invest in energy-saving methods by which they would help in making the environment better. This will leads to the direct and indirect positive effect on health and workforce and it will also lead to the productivity of industry and progress of the country.

The positive impact of trade openness on consumption of energy: Fresh evidence from Andean community countries

The impact of trade openness on consumption of energy was investigated for a panel of four Andean community countries, over a period of forty-three years (from 1971 to 2014). The Arellano-Bond dynamic GMM model was used as method to realization of this investigation. The results demonstrate that the economic growth and trade openness have a positive effect on energy consumption, while the financial openness exerts a negative effect. These findings suggest that more energy conservations policies should be devised to reduce the consumption of energy by households and industries. Moreover, it is necessary more liberalization and deregulation policies that incentive the trade and economy liberalization with the intention of bring more investments in energy efficiency technologies, and access to products with high energy efficiency that reduces the consumption of energy from fossil fuels and the environmental degradation.

Farmers’ Adoption of Irrigation Technologies: Experimental Evidence from a Coordination Game with Positive Network Externalities in India

Abstract Electric irrigation contributes to food security in rural India, but deteriorating electrical infrastructures threaten the functioning of farmers’ pump sets. This problem could be solved through investments in energy-efficient technologies. However, network externalities create a coordination problem for farmers. We develop a framed field experiment to study the effects of group size, leading by example, and payoff structures on the ability to coordinate technology adoption investments. The experiment is based on a game that combines features of a step-level public goods game and a critical mass game. Our findings show that smaller groups more frequently coordinate on payoff- superior equilibria and that higher payoffs lead to more investments. Contrary to previous studies, leading by example reduces investments but has no effect on efficiency. Building on this analysis, we discuss possible bottom-up solutions to the energy crisis in rural India.

Analyzing the “energy-efficiency gap”

PurposeThe key purpose of this paper is to quantify the size of the energy-efficiency gap (EEG) for air conditioners at the household level in Delhi. Most of the studies in the EEG tradition broadly define EEG as the difference between the actual and optimal level of energy efficiency. The optimal level of energy efficiency is defined at the societal level (that weigh social costs against social benefits) and the private level (that weigh private costs against private benefits).Design/methodology/approachThe authors base the empirical results in this study on the basis of the primary data collected through in-person interviews of the high-income urban households in Delhi in 2014-2015. The sample of 101 households was collected through purposive random sampling. The survey data include information on type and number of AC possessed, hours of operations, socioeconomic characteristics and awareness and habits of households.FindingsUsing primary data of 101 high-income urban household, the paper finds that average EEG is about 10 per cent of total electricity demand of ACs at the household level. The maximum current saving potential measured as a difference between hypothetical energy consumption, if everyone adopts five star ACs, and actual energy consumption is estimated about 14 per cent of the total electricity demand of ACs. Results from the ordinary least squares regressions demonstrate that individual’s habits, attitude, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions significantly determine the size of the EEG. Among other things, authors’ empirical analysis shows that information can play a central role in guiding investment in energy-efficient technologies. From the analysis of improving access to understandable information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction, it is found that full information leads to the significant reduction in the size of the expected private energy-efficiency gap from 10 to 2.98 per cent at the household level.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the EEG. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.Originality/valueIn this study, authors try to estimate the size of the EEG of ACs for the high-income urban households in Delhi. The private energy-efficiency gap estimated at 10 per cent of the household demand for ACs indicates existing saving opportunity for the private households. It is found that provision of comprehensive information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction reduces the size of the EEG significantly from 10 to 2.72 per cent at the private level. This highlights the existence of limited and incomplete information in the market about the possible costs and benefits of energy-efficiency investments. This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the energy-efficiency gap. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.

Energy efficiency in U.S. residential rental housing: Adoption rates and impact on rent

For 118 million residential housing units in the U.S., there is currently a gap between the potential energy savings that can be achieved through the use of existing energy efficiency technologies, and the actual level of energy savings realized, particularly for the 37% of housing units that are considered residential rental properties. Additional quantifiable benefits are needed beyond energy savings to help further motivate residential property owners to invest in energy efficiency upgrades. This research focuses on assessing the adoption of energy efficient upgrades in U.S. residential housing and the impact on rental prices. Ten U.S. cities are chosen for analysis; these cities vary in size across multiple climate zones, and represent a diverse set of housing market conditions. Data was collected for over 159,000 rental property listings, their characteristics, and their energy efficiency measures listed in rental housing postings across each city. Following an extensive data quality control process, over thirty different types energy efficient features were identified. The level of adoption was determined for each city, ranging from 5.3% to 21.6%. Efficient lighting and appliances were among the most common, with many features doubling as energy efficient and other desirable aesthetic or comfort improvements. Then using propensity score matching and conditional mean comparison methods, the relative impact on rent charged in each city was calculated, which ranged from a 6% to 14.1% increase in rent for properties with energy efficient features, demonstrating a positive economic impact of these features, particularly for property owners. This was further subdivided into five types of energy efficiency upgrade and three housing types. Single family homes generally demanded higher premiums with energy efficient features, however there was not a consistent pattern across the types of efficient upgrades. The results of this work demonstrate that investment in energy efficient technologies has quantifiable benefits for rental property owners in the U.S. beyond just energy savings. This methodology and results can also be used in other cities and by property owners, utility companies, or others, ultimately encouraging further investment and positive economic impact in residential energy efficiency and in turn improving energy and resource conservation in the building sector.

Persistence of the effects of providing feedback alongside smart metering devices on household electricity demand

Using large-sample high temporal resolution data from a smart metering field trial, we econometrically estimate the effects of providing feedback in addition to smart metering devices. We compare consumption levels and patterns between a pilot group that received feedback in addition to smart metering devices and a control group with only smart metering devices. We investigate, in particular, the persistence of the effects and whether the effects differ between periods of high and low household occupancy, i.e. between morning and evening periods, and between weekdays and weekend days. The findings show that feedback is effective, leading to about 5% electricity consumption reduction that is persistent over an eleven month period. Furthermore, our results show that this reduction affects both low and high occupancy periods, suggesting that feedback is associated with rather permanent changes in habitual behavior and/or investments in energy-efficient technologies.

Energy efficiency barriers in commercial and industrial firms in Ukraine: An empirical analysis

Improvement in energy efficiency is one of the main options to reduce energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. However, large-scale deployment of energy-efficient technologies is constrained by several factors. Employing a survey of 509 industrial and commercial firms throughout Ukraine and a generalized ordered logit model, we quantified the economic, behavioral, and institutional barriers that may impede the deployment of energy-efficient technologies. Our analysis shows that behavioral barriers resulted from lack of information, knowledge, and awareness are major impediments to the adoption of energy-efficient technologies in Ukraine, and that financial barriers may further impede investments in these technologies especially for small firms. This suggests that carefully targeted information provisions and energy audits will enhance Ukrainian firms' investments in energy-efficient technologies to save energy consumption, improve productivity, and reduce carbon emissions from the productive sectors.

Drivers and barriers to the diffusion of energy-efficient technologies—a plant-level analysis of the German steel industry

The paper aims at explaining why large-scale energy-intensive industries—here the German iron and steel industry—had a period of slow uptake of major energy-efficient technologies from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s (Arens and Worrell, 2014) and why from the mid 2000s onwards these technologies are increasingly implemented again. We analyze the underlying factors and investment/innovation behavior of individual firms in the German iron and steel industry to better understand barriers and drivers for technological change. The paper gives insights on the decision-making process on energy efficiency in firms and helps to understand how policy affects decision-making. We use a mixed method approach. First, we analyze the diffusion of three energy-efficient technologies (EET) for primary steelmaking from their introduction until today (top-pressure recovery turbine (TRT), basic oxygen furnace gas recovery (BOFGR), and pulverized coal injection (PCI)). We derive the uptake of these technologies both at the national level and at the level of the individual firm. Second, we analyze the impact of drivers and barriers on the decision-making process of individual firms whether or not they want to implement these technologies. Economics and access to capital are the foremost barriers to the uptake of an EET. If the expected payback period exceeds a certain value or if the company lacks capital, investments in EET seem not to happen. But even if an EET is economically viable and the company has access to capital, investments in EET might not be realized. Policy-induced prices might have strengthened the recent diffusion of TRT. We found indications that in a limited number of cases, policy intervention was a driving factor. Technical risks and imperfect information are only marginal factors in our cases. Site-specific factors seem to be important, as site-specific factors shape the economics of the selected EET.

Producing the business case for investment in energy efficiency

One of the biggest obstacles to the uptake of low carbon technologies is the production of a poor business case. Unless the business case stacks up and can survive close scrutiny, the idea will be thrown out, no matter how good it is. One of the major disjoints that exist in organisations is that between the technical departments and the management board. Rarely do the benefits of energy savings alone justify investment in energy efficient technologies and energy management initiatives. However, this is starting to change due to 10 per cent year-on-year increases in energy prices. Energy is now a significant cost even in an office-based environment, especially with the ever-expanding use of IT and office equipment. However, reduced maintenance and increased productivity need to be factored in if the business case is to stack up.