Long-term Energy Savings Research Articles

Energy Performance in Residential Buildings as a Property Market Efficiency Driver

Energy consumption plays an important role in contemporary economies. Its significance extends beyond utilitarian value, impacting economic robustness, environmental protection, and residents’ well-being. The escalating global energy requisites necessitate efficient energy utilization and a shift towards renewable sources to address climate change and strengthen energy independence. Developing accurate predictive models to forecast long-term energy costs and savings remains a complex problem. This paper aims to provide a methodology to identify the influence of building energy performance on real estate market efficiency, focusing on property maintenance costs. Real estate plays a crucial role in human life, serving both as a fundamental need and as a vehicle for achieving personal aspirations and secure financial investments, particularly during times of economic and social instability. Through interdisciplinary methodological architecture, this study addresses three key issues: the impact of rising energy costs on market efficiency, the responsiveness of the real estate market to energy price fluctuations, and the significance of property maintenance costs on market value. The research approach includes creating and applying AI algorithms capable of evaluating extensive datasets pertaining to real estate features. Utilizing machine learning methods, the algorithm determines the importance of energy efficiency measures as well as various other inherent and external attributes of properties. The suggested methodology provides a novel approach to improve the effectiveness of market efficiency analysis.

Integrated sustainability assessment of construction waste-based shading devices for the refurbishment of obsolete educational public building stock

Buildings and the construction sector are responsible for a considerable share of human environmental impacts, and have high economic and social costs. This project aims to contribute to advancing towards circular economy-based construction techniques, to improve the sector's sustainability performance. Specifically, the project developed a tool to assess the sustainability of waste-based shading devices for public school building stock. The tool combines a multi-criteria decision-making method with the Delphi interview technique to reduce possible biases to a minimum. It is a flexible instrument for holistic sustainability assessment of initial designs. The tool was validated by assessing six initial designs created in three cross-disciplinary university courses. The resulting high economic satisfaction indexes – up to 0.93 on a 0 to 1 scale – and low sustainability indexes – from 0.39 to 0.53 – confirm that four alternatives are economically feasible. However, the environmental and social parameters could be improved. In this first application of the tool, the comparison of recycled and reused construction materials versus new building materials allowed informed trade-offs to be made between the associated embodied and operational carbon, to compare the long-term operational energy and carbon savings of the higher-performing solution with new materials versus the upfront lower embodied carbon of sourcing and applying reused and recycled materials for similar alternatives. Findings on the contribution of reusing materials, with reductions in environmental impacts up to 45%, prove that this project is contributing to defining more sustainable facades.

Effects of mixed normative feedback strategies on residents' energy conservation in shared spaces

Normative feedback has been shown to be effective in reducing energy use, but its impact is often temporary rather than sustained. To address this issue, mixed normative feedback strategies have been proposed as a potential solution for achieving more effective and lasting energy savings. However, the effectiveness of these strategies can vary significantly depending on the combinatory choices and social contexts in which they are implemented. Despite the potential benefits of mixed normative feedback strategies, it is currently unclear which mixed normative feedback strategies can effectively and sustainably promote energy conservation among residents in shared spaces. To address this gap, this study designed three mixed normative feedback strategies and conducted a 28-week field-controlled experiment to assess their effectiveness in motivating residents in shared dorms to save electricity. The Difference-in-Difference analysis was employed to evaluate their effectiveness. The results showed that the strategy mixing normative feedback with group-contrast feedback exhibited the greatest energy savings, with an average of 12.93 % after 5 weeks and 8.75 % after 12 weeks. The strategy combining normative feedback and instruction-based information failed to generate significant energy savings in the short term, but the inclusion of self-contrast feedback resulted in a significant 7.73 % reduction in energy consumption. Compared with single normative feedback, the mixed normative feedback strategies exhibited a more sustained energy savings after they were withdrawn. However, the sustained energy-saving effect was also found to decrease over time but at a slower rate than the single normative feedback. Therefore, further investigation is necessary to ensure long-term energy savings. These findings provide valuable insights and recommendations on how to use mixed normative feedback strategies to motivate residents to conserve energy in shared spaces, including the need to consider combinatory choices, intervention duration, and social contexts.

Environmental and energy performance of integrated passenger–freight transport

The first-last mile (FLM) transport of passengers and freight accounts for a significant share of total transport costs, pollution, and energy consumption. According to recent scientific literature and institutional inputs at the European level, operational innovations such as the combination of passenger and freight flows may be an effective approach for promoting sustainable and energy-efficient FLM transport. In this study, the energy and environmental performances of an integrated passenger and freight transport system based on the bus network of Zrenjanin (Serbia) were investigated with different future energy mix and transport policy scenarios. The operational aspects of the integrated system were designed through collaboration with territorial stakeholders and an analysis of local planning documents. The performance was evaluated and compared with current public transport and freight schemes considering vehicle fuel and technology, total mileage, and other relevant endogenous and exogenous factors. The results of our analysis indicate operational benefits and energy savings, mainly due to reduced total mileage and the predisposition to shift to the active modes for the last mile. However, most expected long-term energy savings are the result of technological development of vehicles and modal shifts induced by policy strategies.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Domestic Building Energy Efficiency Value Using VIKOR Method

"What is a room's energy efficiency?" A facility's energy efficiency is determined by comparing its power usage per square meter to the energy demand standards set for that particular type of structure in a given climate. To evaluate the floor space of each room on each floor of your building in the warmest areas, measure the area of each room precisely and then sum those measurements to get the overall floor area. The more precise the measurement, the more accurately your energy waste will be displayed as oil used per square meter. The research significance is fairly long-term energy and expense savings. Buildings that use less energy and water also have lower maintenance expenses. They also have a lower total social impact since energy-efficient structures that do not use natural gas produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions. House efficiency, in general, refers to how effectively resources like electricity and freshwater are used to operate systems and equipment placed or used in the building, as well as to provide services like heating, cooling, and lighting. Alternative factors to consider include occupant density, lighting loads, computer equipment, and additional equipment. The assessment options are open plan offices, small offices, laboratories, open computer labs, meeting rooms, and circulation. The results based on circulation show that it has the highest rank, while the laboratories have the lowest rank. The value of the dataset for building energy efficiency in the VIKOR method shows that the circulation has the top ranking.

A computationally efficient heuristic approach for solving a new sophisticated arrangement of cogeneration combined heat and power cycle

Cogeneration combined heat and power cycle components are continually optimized using new methods and solutions. Due to the interconnection of two different power generation cycles, the design of the cogeneration cycle is extremely complex and any changes in the structure directly affect the power, efficiency, costs, and other variables. To address this issue, a new arrangement of the cogeneration combined heat and power cycle is presented in this study, as well as a suitable fit function for exergy analysis and evolutionary algorithms used for model optimization. Several objectives are considered when optimizing, such as reducing costs, increasing profitability, etc. Optimization algorithms increased energy efficiency by 2.7% and exergy efficiency by 8.6%, indicating substantial long-term energy savings. A significant improvement was made in all desired parameters as well. Therefore, we can conclude that the upgraded algorithm considered in this study is effective in designing power generation cycles due to the particular importance of optimal design in power generation cycles.

Long Term Energy Savings Through User Behavior Modeling in Smart Homes

The Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled real-time monitoring of energy consumption in smart homes through sensors embedded in the surrounding environment. In the post-pandemic world, domestic energy management has gained importance due to increased work-from-home consumption, making data collection in a smart home a relevant IoT application with many potential energy savings. However, this information is difficult for most users to understand, and existing monitoring systems’ savings results degrade over time. To address these challenges, this study presents a novel approach for domestic energy consumption, production, and comfort perception using color-based dashboards enhanced for user feedback interaction. The approach includes the management of in-home appliances and comfort levels according to user preferences to attain long-term energy savings. The approach includes multiple appealing strategies such as 3D representation, mobile connectivity, utility integration, and dynamic information, to increase long-term engagement and provides quantitative data on energy savings achieved for one year, where the average energy consumption was reduced by 19%. It was found that the approach sustained user engagement over time, with users actively participating in energy conservation efforts. A community survey with 208 participants was also developed and studied where 69% of the enquired considered our approach more attractive than existing market solutions, and 79% considered it more useful than existing solutions. Regarding the real-time information presented on our approach, 81% of the participants strongly or totally agree that it can change users’ behaviors.

Optimizing the Power Usage of Anti-Sweat Heaters in Glass-Door Refrigerators According to the Dew Point

Putting glass doors on the display cases of refrigerators is one of the most efficient ways to reduce the energy consumption of supermarkets. However, the glass fogs up when opening the door because of the difference in air temperature inside and outside of the refrigerator, thereby obscuring the view. To defog the glass, anti-sweat heaters (ASHs) are used. In this paper, the power usage of ASHs according to changes in the dew point (DP) inside a supermarket were evaluated for two types of ASH, i.e., the door-frame ASH and the glass ASH. The evaluation was based on measurements of the condensation on the glass doors of vertical display cases, used for the preservation of frozen foodstuffs. A mathematical model of the correlation between the ASH’s power usage and the DP was developed and used for predicting the long-term energy savings. The savings were calculated based on the measured DPs inside the supermarket, which were extrapolated over a longer time period based on their correlation with the outside DPs. Regulating the door-frame ASH according to the DP resulted in an 84.6% reduction in energy consumption and a 90.1% reduction in the case of the glass ASH, compared to the current state. The correlation between the DPs inside and outside the supermarket served as a basis for the proposed implementation of the power usage regulation of the ASH according to the DP.

Adaptive thermal comfort model based on field studies in five climate zones across India

Indian residences are vulnerable to heat-driven discomfort amid the mounting prevalence of weather extremes, residential design and construction practices, and densifying urbanscapes. Therefore, it is vital to understand the thermal comfort characteristics of nationwide residences. This study proposes an adaptive thermal comfort model based on yearlong field surveys in eight cities located across five climate zones of India – the India Model for Adaptive Comfort - Residential (IMAC-R). The model prescribes the operative temperature bands for 80% and 90% thermal acceptability in correlation with the outdoor reference temperature, applicable to mixed-mode (MM) and naturally ventilated (NV) residences.More than 80% of the Indian residential occupants experienced a neutral thermal sensation in the indoor operative range of 16.3–35 °C in response to a 5.5–33 °C variation in the 30-day outdoor running mean temperature. Comparing the proposed model with the PMV model revealed that the latter underpredicts the thermal adaptivity of Indian occupants. The model was also compared against its predecessor – India Model for Adaptive Comfort for Commercial Buildings (IMAC MM and NV), along with relevant global and regional thermal comfort models. On average, the neutral temperature prescribed by IMAC-R was warmer than the temperatures prescribed by IMAC MM and NV by 2.9 °C and 2.1 °C, respectively; it was also warmer than the temperature prescribed by the recent ASHRAE-55 and EN 16798-1 models by 2 °C and 0.3 °C, respectively. IMAC-R reserves the prospect of addressing the thermal comfort needs of the national population while paving the way for long-term energy savings and climate action.

Energy efficient large-scale storage of liquid hydrogen

The world’s largest liquid hydrogen storage tanks were constructed in the mid-1960s at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. These two vacuum-jacketed, perlite powder insulated tanks, still in service today, have 3,200 m3 of useable capacity. In 2018, construction began on an additional storage tank at Launch Complex 39B. This new tank will give an additional storage capacity of 4,700 m3 for a total on-site storage capacity of roughly 8,000 m3. NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) heavy lift rocket for the Artemis program includes an LH2 tank that makes up the bulk of the vehicle, holding 2,033 m3 of LH2 in its 8.4-m diameter by 40-m height. The new storage tank includes two new energy-efficient technologies: a glass bubbles insulation system in lieu of perlite, and an Integrated Refrigeration and Storage (IRAS) heat exchanger for controlled storage capability. The evacuated glass bubbles insulation system is based on the prior two decades of research to prove the thermal performance benefits as well as the mechanical and vacuum integrity; and has been shown to reduce LH2 boiloff by 46% versus perlite in field demonstrations. The IRAS capability is centered on a heat exchanger system that is built within the inner vessel to reject heat from the bulk liquid through the future implementation of an external helium refrigerator. Controlled storage via IRAS, when fully implemented, will provide full control of the ullage pressure, zero boiloff, and even production of densified LH2 pending its adoption on future launch vehicles. The design basics are described along with main construction and testing processes involved. The key features of the new technology items and implications on simplified operations and long-term energy savings are addressed.

An Adaptive Model Predictive Control Scheme for Energy-Efficient Control of Building HVAC Systems

Abstract An autonomous adaptive model predictive control (MPC) architecture is presented for control of heating, ventilation, and air condition (HVAC) systems to maintain indoor temperature while reducing energy use. Although equipment use and occupant changes with time, existing MPC methods are not capable of automatically relearning models and computing control decisions reliably for extended periods without intervention from a human expert. We seek to address this weakness. Two major features are embedded in the proposed architecture to enable autonomy: (i) a system identification algorithm from our prior work that periodically re-learns building dynamics and unmeasured internal heat loads from data without requiring re-tuning by experts. The estimated model is guaranteed to be stable and has desirable physical properties irrespective of the data; (ii) an MPC planner with a convex approximation of the original nonconvex problem. The planner uses a descent and convergent method, with the underlying optimization problem being feasible and convex. A yearlong simulation with a realistic plant shows that both of the features of the proposed architecture—periodic model and disturbance update and convexification of the planning problem—are essential to get performance improvement over a commonly used baseline controller. Without these features, long-term energy savings from MPC can be small while with them, the savings from MPC become substantial.

“Green Fingerprint” Project: Evaluation of the Power Consumption of Reporting Stations in a Radiology Department

To quantify the power or energy consumption of reporting stations in a radiology department and to consider a hypothetical scenario to reduce energy waste. We measured the energy consumption of 36 radiology reporting stations over a mean time frame of about 194 days and then extrapolated results to 1 year. Reporting stations were configured (by default) to enter a stand-by mode after 4 hours of inactivity. A hypothetical scenario was calculated in which stand-by was skipped and the reporting stations were shut down after 1 hour of inactivity. Data from four stations was corrupted. The overall power consumption of the 32 remaining reporting stations was 53,170 kWh/a, equivalent to 12 family households (4500 kWh/a per household in Switzerland in 2014) or 97.2 barrels of oil. We identified three main power consumption patterns of the reporting stations: mainly off, mainly on, and always off. The on-mode consumption per year was 40,763 kWh/a, the stand-by consumption was 10,010 kWh/a, and the off-mode consumption was 2397 kWh/a. The reporting stations spent half of their on-mode time awaiting the initiation of stand-by, resulting in a wait-time consumption of 18,243 kWh/a. With the hypothetical scenario, we achieved an energy consumption saving of 23,692 kWh/a, a reduction of about 45% of the initial energy consumption, equivalent to 5 households or 40.8 barrels of oil consumed. The power consumption of the reporting stations is not negligible. Reducing energy waste in the radiology department can be established through simple changes in device configuration which will simultaneously promote energywise habits. Minor changes to the settings of the reporting stations in a radiology department can result in significant long-term energy savings and promote energy-wise habits.

Conservation voltage reduction and VAr management considering urban distribution system operation with solar-PV

Modern distribution systems are mainly characterized by the behavior of non-linear consumer loads and their stochasticity, intermittency of renewable energy resources; and recurrent operation of Volt/VAr control devices. Conservation voltage reduction (CVR) has been adopted by most of the distribution utilities around the world as a viable technique for peak load shaving and long-term energy savings. Due to the diversified and inherent characteristics associated with the modern distribution systems with high levels of solar-PV penetration, achieving significant voltage reduction, high power factor, minimum number of tap changer operations and low power losses could be challenging. This paper has addressed the issue of VAr management in urban distribution systems while implementing CVR in the presence of highly intermittent solar-PV. Three conventional Volt/VAr control strategies were used to identify the specific technical aspects associated with CVR and VAr management in distribution systems in the presence of high solar-PV penetration. A case study on an urban distribution system with high penetration of solar-PV has been conducted in this paper. It is revealed that a carefully designed Volt/VAr control strategy is required for successful implementation of CVR under high penetration of solar-PV.

A long-term meta-frontier analysis of energy and emission efficiencies between G7 and BRICS

The current concern over energy utilization and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can be surveyed by investigating potential energy savings and potential emissions reduction in order to emit less greenhouse gases (GHG), thus allowing countries to create economic growth while at the same time preventing global warming and mitigating climate change. The main objective of this paper is to analyze long-term potential energy savings, potential emissions reduction, and long-term technology gaps on energy utilization and CO2 emissions in G7 and BRICS during 2000–2014. The paper also sets up an index to measure convergence or divergence in the technology gaps on energy utilization and CO2 emissions. The results conclude that the UK, Italy, and France have the smallest overall technology gap, while the largest overall technology gap appears in South Africa, Russia, and the USA. To this end, the technology gap on energy utilization in BRICS is improving in recent years.

Stimulating green construction by influencing the decision-making of main players

Green buildings or Environmentally Friendly Buildings (EFBs) take into account conservation needs and use key resources more efficiently than conventional buildings. However, EFBs, often characterized by relatively high construction costs, may materialize benefits through long-term maintenance and energy savings. Therefore, it is essential to convince main players in the construction field, that investment in EFBs is justifiable. This paper explores factors influencing investment decisions of different interest groups – consumers, architects and building developers – in green building. We hypothesis that each interest group's different attitude towards EFBs may generate different responses to identical incentives. The study is based on internet panel and telephone surveys conducted in Israel. The findings reveals that requirements of building standards and improving professional image are main factors that affect architects’ willingness to design EFBs, while energy prices increase and striving for innovation are main forces behind developers' decisions to promote green construction. By contrast, potential energy and maintenance savings, and real estate values increase are main factors influencing consumers’ decisions to opt for EFBs, as opposed to a conventional one. We also find that greater familiarity of consumers with the green building concept increases their willingness to pay 30% more for EFBs.

Long-term energy savings and GHG mitigations in Thailand’s building sector: impacts of energy efficiency plan

Thailand’s final energy consumption has been continuously increasing in the building sector. In terms of electricity consumption, this sector is the largest electricity consuming sector, and accounted for 57.9% of total electricity consumption in 2013. The fossil fuel consumption is dominated by liquefied petroleum gas within these sectors. Therefore, the fossil fuel and electricity demand satisfying the end-user requirement substantially affect the climate change especially the contribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Changes of GHG emissions depend not only on the economic development but also on population growth. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to evaluate and provide the long-term energy saving potential and the GHG mitigation by the implementation of Thailand’s Energy Efficiency Plan 2015 (EEP2015) during 2010-2036. The energy saving potential and environmental impacts are analyzed by using the Long-range Energy Alternative Planning system (LEAP). The evaluation of energy saving potential and environmental impacts, the residential sector is divided into three areas namely; Greater Bangkok, municipal, and rural areas. The commercial sector is divided into eight building types including offices, hotels, hospitals, department stores, schools, hypermarkets, condominiums, and miscellaneous. The business-as-usual (BAU) scenario is excluded the energy efficiency improvement. While, alternative (AL) scenario includes all existing measures in the EEP2015. In the residential sector, the highest energy consuming and GHG emission area is the rural area. In the commercial sector, offices contribute the highest GHG emissions. Energy demand and GHG emissions in both sectors will increase from 12.8 Mtoe and 43.2 Mt-CO2eq in 2005 to 39.6 Mtoe and 131.1 Mt-CO2eq in 2036 in the BAU scenario. The study discloses that EEP2015 can reduce the energy demand and the GHG emissions in both sectors by 19.1% and 31.2% in 2036, respectively.

Gap analysis of green features in condominiums between potential homeowners and real estate agents

Purpose The building sector is one of the main contributors to carbon dioxide emissions in Singapore. Over 90 per cent of life-cycle carbon emissions are due to the operations phase of buildings, and 90 to 98 per cent of the building cost is associated with operation, maintenance and personnel costs. Hence, occupants have a major role in achieving environmental sustainability objectives. This study aims to understand the awareness level of potential homeowners and real estate agents concerning environmental sustainability issues in the built environment, to identify the types of green features required by potential homeowners and to understand real estate agents’ perceptions of the types of green features required by the homeowners in a green condominium. Design/methodology/approach The features of the Green Mark (GM)-awarded buildings, as well as the benefits derived by homeowners were identified from the literature. A survey of a group of potential homeowners and real estate agents was carried out in Singapore to analyse the gap, if any, between the potential homeowners’ needs and expectations and real estate agents’ perceptions of these needs and expectations with respect to the green features in the homes. Findings The results indicate that potential homeowners are more aware of environmental sustainability issues in the built environment than are real estate agents; potential homeowners seem to be more supportive of environmentally sustainable development than the real estate agents are aware of, despite the fact that the price of the apartment remains an important deciding factor; and potential homeowners are more concerned about the ease of maintaining green homes and paying greater attention to green features in the areas most heavily promoted by the government. However, green features do not constitute the main considerations of potential homeowners when making the decision to buy a green home. Research limitations/implications To close the gaps identified in the analysis, recommendations are suggested, including having public education and awareness campaigns to emphasize the long-term energy savings of green homes, conducting GM courses for real estate agents and involving real estate agents in the developers’ project consultancy team. Originality/value As there has been no prior research in this area, this study serves to provide fresh perspectives on how developers can better select the types of green features to be included in the green homes, so as to meet the potential homeowners’ needs and expectations and, at the same time, balance mandatory GM requirements with such demands. Choosing the right type of green features to incorporate in a residential development for homeowners to utilize increases the owners’ satisfaction level and allows them to reap the intended benefits of green features.

Design of a methodology for impact assessment of energy efficiency programs: measuring indirect effects in the Chilean case

Today, many countries are promoting energy efficiency (EE) measures as part of their energy strategy. Among the goals sought with these actions are producing a decoupling between economic growth and energy consumption, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels as a primary energy source, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Measuring direct, indirect, and co-benefit effects of EE programs is crucial. However, in the current literature and practice, assessments of EE programs have focused on direct impacts (i.e., impacts whose energy savings can be directly and instantaneously quantified) due to their objectivity and simplicity to put evaluations in a cost-effectiveness framework. Moreover, several assessment methodologies studying the indirect effects of EE programs only focus on identifying the effects and quantifying a proxy of the effects in terms of the number of activities developed or the number of people attending EE training or dissemination events. Some few existing methodologies correctly assess the indirect effects of EE measures, but they often require a significant budget. We propose a new methodology to assess the impacts of EE programs, especially focusing on indirect effects (i.e., long-term effects on energy use), that is suitable for low-budget programs. We focus on those indirect effects having the capability of mobilizing long-term energy savings through transformations in energy markets. We attempt to measure the potential future energy savings that are sustainable in the long term due to a behavioral transformation of energy markets. In order to measure these indirect effects, we use three axes: presence, valuation, and mobilizing capacity. This methodology was applied to 12 EE programs (implemented during 2011 and 2012 in Chile) in order to obtain their indirect impact assessment.

Durable Airtightness in Single-Family Dwellings - Field Measurementsand Analysis

Durability of the building envelope is important to new homes that are increasingly built with improved levels of airtightness. It is also important to weatherized homes such that energy savings from retrofit measures, such as air sealing, are persistent. This paper presents a comparison of air leakage measurements collected in November 2013 through March 2014, with two sets of prior data collected between 2001–2003 from 17 new homes located near Atlanta, GA, and 17 homes near Boise, ID that were weatherized in 2007–2008. The purpose of the comparison is to determine if there are changes to the airtightness of building envelopes over time. The air leakage increased in all but one of the new homes, with a mean increase of about 25%. The weatherized homes also showed an increase in the mean air leakage (12%). A regression analysis was performed to describe the relationship between prior and current measurements in terms of normalized leakage (NL). The best estimate of the ageing factor predicts a 15% increase in NL over ten years. Further analysis using ResDB data (LBNL’s Residential Diagnostic Database) showed the expected changes in air leakage if ageing were modelled. These results imply the need to examine the causes of increased leakage and methods to avoid them. This increase in leakage with time should be accounted for in long-term population-wide energy savings estimates, such as those used in ratings or energy savings programs.

Developing long-term strategies to reduce energy use and CO2 emissions—analysis of three mitigation scenarios for iron and steel production in China

We perform a scenario analysis of three strategies for long-term energy savings and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reductions in iron and steel production in China, using a linear optimization modeling framework industry sector energy efficiency modeling (ISEEM). The modeling includes annual projections for one base scenario representing business-as-usual (BAU) and three additional scenarios representing different strategies to reduce annual energy use and CO2 emissions from 2010 to 2050. Specifically, the three scenarios for cost-optimization modeling include changing the production share (PS), predefining emission reduction (ER) target, and stipulating carbon emission pricing (CP), respectively. While the three strategies are projected to result in similar annual energy savings by approximately 15 % compared to that of the BAU scenario in year 2050, the carbon emission pricing strategy brings about the highest annual energy savings in the medium term (e.g., 2025). In addition, adopting carbon emission pricing strategy will result in the highest emission reduction from BAU with much higher costs, i.e., by 20 % in 2025 and 41 % in 2050, while adopting either PS or ER strategies will result in a moderate level of emission reduction from BAU, i.e., by approximately 4 % in 2025 and 14 % in 2050. The analysis of China’s national strategies to reduce energy use and emissions provides important implications for global mitigation strategies.