Measured Energy Usage Research Articles

Fighting Alone or Mutual Benefit and Win? A Study on Forestry Embodied Energy Competition Network Based on MRIO

Abstract Measuring energy usage in the forestry trade is a topic of great significance. In this article, we use the World Input–Output Database and the multiregional input–output model to establish an embodied energy competition network and assess the influence of global value chain (GVC) integration on competition. The results show that (1) the intensity of competition for embodied energy in forestry is higher for exports compared with imports. Additionally, the import competition network exhibits lower connectivity and overall efficiency. (2) The core regions of the competitive network are primarily found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The United States consistently maintains a competitive advantage. However, forestry policies have led to a decline in the status of the United States, (3) The hierarchical structure of export competition is more pronounced. When the weighting degree exceeds 200, this phenomenon becomes more pronounced. (4) From the perspective of GVC, positive embedding in the GVC is negatively correlated with import competition. Backward GVC embedding is positively correlated with import and export competition. On the basis of the above results, this article proposes that countries where backward embedding is the main method should actively participate in building appropriate export international associations, participating in international organizations, and building a relatively harmonious and stable export competition market, thereby helping to maintain economic development and energy environment management.

Design and Construction of a Multi-User Prepaid Meter

The Nigerian government has used prepaid metering for nearly two decades to eliminate post-paid and estimated billing system. There is no doubt that this billing system has benefited house owners who do not have renters as well as a few persons who have the advantage of knowing the exact number of prepaid meters for their apartments. Those living in rental apartments, on the other hand, experience the identical problem with postpaid when a single prepaid meter is divided among inhabitants. Sharing a single prepayment frequently violates the aim of prepaid metering because individual use cannot be reliably tracked. To address the issue of sharing, a unique type of prepaid meter that can handle multiple users on a single prepaid is required. As a result, this study proposes a multi-user prepaid meter that completely prevent conflicts that arise from the sharing of prepaid meters. A prototype for four users was planned and built around Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for individual user identification; a quasi-current sensor to measure energy usage and an Arduino Uno microcontroller ATmega 328p to manage the activities of the system. From the process of recharging to the display unit and other aspects that permit remote transaction of the device, the designed multi-user prepaid energy monitoring system functions well. To address the demand for unmetered houses across the country, the prepaid meter could be mass produced. Considering the different obstacles people have as a result of the low distribution of prepaid meters, this multi-user prepaid meter will undoubtedly be a promising technology to suit Nigerians' demands while also eliminating potential problems with prepaid meter sharing.

Reducing Energy Use in Light Industrial Buildings in Southeast Asia: A Singaporean Case Study

Abstract In recent years, there has been an increased interest in improving the energy efficiency of the Southeast Asian building sector. However, much of this work has focused on residential and commercial buildings rather than industrial buildings. Therefore, this work undertook a case study of the energy used in a Singaporean industrial building complex typical of those used in the light manufacturing sector in the region. A building energy simulation analysis was performed on the “as built” building and was validated using measured energy usage data. Subsequently, a parametric analysis was utilized to identify opportunities for reducing energy use on the site. The results indicate that energy savings of over 15% could be achieved by improving the performance of the industrial equipment, HVAC system, lighting, and building thermal envelope. Of these factors, improving the energy efficiency of the equipment and relaxing the HVAC setpoint temperature accounted for over 10%. Given the typical nature of the building, it is believed that the results are indicative of what may be achievable in other light manufacturing complexes in Southeast Asia, and similar locations more generally.

IoT Smart Energy Meter Monitoring with Web and Blynk App

Electricity is a crucial innovation that would render life on Earth impossible. As a result, there is a clear requirement to track the amount of power used. The wattmeter does this, but a GEB representative must visit each customer's home to evaluate power use and estimate the bill amount. As a result, it entails a lot of physical labor and takes time. We planned to build an IoT-based energy meter for each of GEB's customers. As a result, the suggested energy meter monitors the amount of power utilized and uploads it to the Thingspeak cloud, where the reading may be viewed by the person concerned. ESP 8266, a Wi-Fi module, can be used to send the power reading to the cloud. The opt coupler analyzes the power reading from the digital wattmeter and feeds it digitally to the Arduino. As a way, it uses IoT to automate the process of measuring energy usage at households, allowing remote access and digitalization for each GEB subscriber.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ENERGY INTENSITY INEQUALITY

Indonesia comprises a vast geographic region where a noticeable imbalanced of resource allocations have been impacting a significant disparity amongst regions. Some research has been conducted to measure income inequality in Indonesia, however, there was no study has been done to measure energy usage disparities in Indonesian case, specifically in the provincial level. This study proposes to investigate the disparities of energy usage levels specifically in energy intensity amongst 33 provinces in Indonesia from 2010-2015 by employing several indicators including Kernel Density Estimator, Gini Coefficient, Theil Index, Atkinson Index, and the Coefficient of Variation. The results capture the existence of a convergence process in energy usage across the 33 provinces in Indonesia during 2010 and 2015. Overall, this study concludes that energy efficiency process in Indonesia has been improved over the study period.Keywords: Energy Efficiency, Disparities, Energy Intensity, Indonesia JEL Classifications: Q43, O13, O11DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.8808

Predicted and measured user-related energy usage in newly built low-energy schools in Sweden

Literature and experience show that the differences between calculated and measured building energy performance still exist. The literature shows that user-related parameters are significant with regard to energy performance in low-energy buildings and this means that the choice of parameters is one of the main factors leading to this difference. However, the parameters themselves are associated with uncertainty when predicting and calculating their effects. One of the identified research gaps is the lack of data on behavioral energy use and profiles. The aim of this study is to provide relevant feedback, which will help the building industry and research communities to predict more accurately the user-related impacts on energy performance and, subsequently, enable reduction of the differences between calculated and measured energy performance. This article analyses measured user-related parameters and building energy usage in seven recently built low-energy schools in Sweden. Regression analysis is applied when analysing the parameters and their influence on energy usage. With the help of the measurements carried out, all the studied schools were determined to be low-energy schools. The results show differences between calculated and measured building energy performances in the studied schools and these vary from –44 to +28%. At least 33% of measured energy usage depends on the user-related parameters. Ventilation rates and running times as well as space heating set points were found to be the user-related parameters that have the most significant effects on total energy usage. Finally, some important recommendations for good building operation practice and measurement methodology are presented.

Building Ownership, Renovation Investments, and Energy Performance—A Study of Multi-Family Dwellings in Gothenburg

The European building stock was renewed at a rapid pace during the period 1950–1975. In many European countries, the building stock from this time needs to be renovated, and there are opportunities to introduce energy efficiency measures in the renovation process. Information availability and increasingly available analysis tools make it possible to assess the impact of policy and regulation. This article describes methods developed for analyzing investments in renovation and energy performance based on building ownership and inhabitant socio-economic information developed for Swedish authorities, to be used for the Swedish national renovations strategy in 2019. This was done by analyzing measured energy usage and renovation investments made during the last 30 years, coupled with building specific official information of buildings and resident area characteristics, for multi-family dwellings in Gothenburg (N = 6319). The statistical analyses show that more costly renovations lead to decreasing energy usage for heating, but buildings that have been renovated during the last decades have a higher energy usage when accounting for current heating system, ownership, and resident socio-economic background. It is appropriate to include an affordability aspect in larger renovation projects since economically disadvantaged groups are over-represented in buildings with poorer energy performance.

Measuring energy usage and sustainability development in Asian nations by DEA intermediate approach

This study proposes a new use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for assessing economic success and environmental protection, so measuring the level of sustainability. The new approach is referred to as “DEA environmental assessment,” and it can measure the performance of various entities that use inputs to produce not only desirable outputs but also undesirable outputs. DEA models are generally classified into radial or non-radial category. This study proposes a new “intermediate” approach between them. As an illustrative application, this study is interested in empirical assessment on energy usage and social sustainability of 21 Asian nations from 2008 to 2014. The energy usage, usually classified into primal (e.g., oil and coal) and secondary (i.e., electricity) categories, is essential in developing the economy, but the development simultaneously produces various pollutions (e.g., carbon emission). They have been developing their economic prosperities in a short period, but simultaneously suffering from such pollutions. All Asian nations are classified into four or five groups based upon their unified efficiency measures under natural disposability, where economic performance is the first priority and environmental performance is the second, along with managerial disposability with the opposite priority to the natural disposability. An implication found in this study is that among Asian nations, Japan and New Zealand belong to the first tier in terms of developing their social sustainability. Japan’s economy started to turn down after 2012 and faced a pitfall in recent years. Meanwhile, New Zealand has developed its economy by exporting agriculture products and is surrounded by natural beauty. Thus, the two nations are ranked as the top tier under the four types of unified efficiency measures. Beside these expected findings, this study has found that large nations such as China and India have not badly performed if we consider the size of their economies. This is a surprising result because they are large carbon emitters in the world and thereby they have been often criticized by international communities. Their problem is that the living standard of people is low because of the size of population. The empirical findings are useful in developing the energy and industrial policies of Asian nations.

Energy Demand Reduction in the Residential Building Sector: A Case Study of Korea

This study sought to examine ways of reducing energy demands in the residential building sector by measuring energy usage and associated factors in Bundang District. This District represents the first phase of new towns in the Seoul metropolitan region to implement current polices directed at climate change. The majority of residential buildings in this district were constructed between 1991 and 1995, prior to the announcement of the integrated building design criteria directed at saving energy and intensifying thermal transmittance. The proportion of small households was increased by almost 40% from 2000 to 2010. Further, a number of weather records have been broken in the last two decades. These changes are strongly related to energy consumption patterns and trends; however, current polices, acts, and regulations do not sufficiently address these issues. This study suggests building energy-saving strategies that: (i) improve energy performance in existing buildings; (ii) strengthen building design criteria to address climate change issues, especially in relation to design and construction; and (iii) offer a framework to revitalize Korea’s energy-savings policies.

Konstruksi Skala Kepedulian terhadap Penggunaan Energi

Using electricity and fuel oil might have some negative impact towards the national economy and the environment. Psychological scale for measuring awareness of energy usage has never been tested before. The main purpose of this study is to construct psychological scale for measuring energy usage. The concept of Amburgey (2012) has been used to describe of psychological concern that are perceived threat and desired change. Perceived threat is an evaluation of a person to a problem and desired change is one’s willingness to resolve that problem. Four hundred-thirty eight students were enrolled in this study with a mean of age 21 years old. The results of content item validation show that one item from perceived threat’s subscale has value of Aiken (V) less than .50 and all of items from desired change’s subscale have V value greater than .50. Result from item’s discrimination process show that 40% items from perceived threat’s subscale has low of discrimination power and desired change’s sub scale has 31%. Alpha value for perceived threat’s subscales is .76 and desired change’s sub scale is .78. The concern for energy usage scale has poor model fit.

Handling data uncertainties when using Swedish energy performance certificate data to describe energy usage in the building stock

The EU directive to create Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) for all buildings was implemented in Sweden as a tool to advise building owners on possible improvements and to give energy efficiency visible market value. The Swedish EPCs include measured energy usage. Currently 82% of the buildings have EPCs; this database makes it possible to create overview and to validate models of the building stock in an unprecedented high detail.However, the process of issuing Swedish EPCs has received criticism from real estate agents, real estate owners, Energy Experts, and Boverket, the national agency responsible for EPC data collection. In order to use the EPC data for describing the building stock it is necessary to assess and remediate the data quality. This has been done by merging the EPC data with databases of the Housing and Urban Development office and one of the larger real estate companies in Sweden, Riksbyggen. The Swedish EPC specific area measurement, Atemp, is found to vary according to methods of derivation. The method of estimating Atemp is improved using a stepwise regression model (R2=0.979). This method can be applied to subsets of EPCs depending on the intended way of describing the building stock.

A methodology for determining auxiliary and value-added electricity in manufacturing machines

A methodology was developed that accurately and flexibly determines the auxiliary (AU) and value-added electricity in manufacturing operations. A tool was developed for production engineers which allows for the verification of machine efficiency in relation to their energy consumption. Historical production and electricity consumption data were collected for a period of three months from four different machines in a value stream at a manufacturing facility. The data were examined using a methodology based on statistical analysis of the historical data collected and were verified using heuristic machines profiles. Results showed AU electricity consumption varied between 10 and 26% per machine. When weekend data (non-productive periods) were excluded from calculations, AU electricity consumption reduced. Past work focuses on optimising single machine, and the quantification of wasted electricity is not always clear. This research work can be applied to one or more machines, and to single or multiple products passing through the same machine. It places particular attention to AU electricity since potential energy and cost reduction of up to 20% could be achieved. Hence, this work can aid in developing key performance indicators to measure energy usage in manufacturing operations, particularly focused towards reducing AU electricity consumption.

“EcoRadiology”—Pulling the Plug on Wasted Energy in the Radiology Department

We sought to evaluate the power consumption of various devices around the radiology department, audit our use of recycling, and review efforts by vendors to reduce the environmental impact of their products. Using a readily available power monitor, we calculated the power consumption of different devices around our department. In particular, we calculated the financial and environmental cost of leaving equipment on overnight and/or at weekends. When it was not possible to measure energy usage directly, we obtained and reviewed relevant technical manuals. We contacted vendors directly to document how the environmental impact of new technology and decommissioning aging technology is being tackled. We found that 29 of 43 desktop computers and 25 of 27 picture archiving and communications system (PACS) reporting stations were left on needlessly overnight and/or at weekends, resulting in estimated electrical running costs while not in use of approximately $7253 per year, and CO2 emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of over 10 passenger cars. We discovered that none of our PACS reporting stations supported energy-saving modes such as "sleep" or "hibernate." Despite encouraging staff to turn off computers when not in use, a reaudit found no improvement in results. Simple steps such as turning off computers and air-conditioning units can produce very significant financial and environmental savings. Radiology can lead the way in making hospitals more energy efficient.

The Trade‐off Between Environmental Impacts in Water Recycling Systems Using Industrial Effluent

SummaryA life cycle assessment was conducted on three industrial effluent water recycling options using a one‐, two‐, and three‐stage effluent treatment plant composed of clarification, aerobic treatment, and ultrafiltration processes. The impact categories dominated by energy use and the category of freshwater use were then further investigated and compared between each recycling system. A dual functional unit of recycled water delivered and effluent treated was identified to make the recycling options functionally equivalent. Three‐stage water recycling was the environmentally preferred option, with all three water recycling options investigated producing similar environmental impacts in most impact categories, with the exception of freshwater use, where the one‐ and two‐stage treatment options performed significantly worse than the three‐stage treatment. It was found that the impact categories of global warming potential and nonrenewable energy demand did not directly correlate with each other as a result of direct greenhouse gas emissions from sludge disposal.The construction of the equivalent systems shows that external systems required for functional equivalence are important in water recycling comparisons, and considering dual functional units is important for comparing water recycling options. With the increasing prevalence of industries utilizing biomass and other renewable fuels, it is becoming more apparent that measuring energy usage is not sufficient, and the specific impacts and damages associated with energy consumption need to be evaluated. This study provides a framework to identify opportunities in industrial wastewater management, which can be particularly important in industries with large effluent flows and high organic loadings.

A literature survey on measuring energy usage for miscellaneous electric loads in offices and commercial buildings

This paper presents the current state of the art regarding work performed related to the electric energy consumption for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Miscellaneous Electric Loads (MELs), in office and commercial buildings. Techniques used for measuring the energy consumption of office plug loads, and efforts for saving energy by using this equipment more rationally and efficiently are identified and categorized. Popular methods and techniques for energy metering are discussed, together with efforts to classify and benchmark office equipment. Our study reveals that many issues are still open in this domain, including more accurate, diverse and meaningful energy audits for longer time periods, taking into account device profiles, occupant behavior and environmental context. Finally, there is a need for a global consensus on benchmarking and performance metrics, as well as a need for a coordinated worldwide activity for gathering, sharing, analyzing, visualizing and exposing all the silos of information relating to plug loads in offices and commercial buildings.

에너지 성능지표 기계부문 항목에 따른 업무용 건물의 에너지 절감율 분석

<Income and Energy Consumption of Leading Industrialized Nations> released by IEA, 2010, indicated that Korea's GDP, of 8 countries surveyed-Korea, Frans, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the USA, and Australia-was the lowest, but the electric consumption per head was third, following America and Australia. Thus, our government has been striving to reduce energy usage and especially to lessen the energy used in buildings, proposing a variety of road maps such as 'building energy efficiency rating' and 'energy saving design standards of buildings'. Accordingly, this study investigated the effect of the items of machine part among EPI items on the energy saving rate. I measured energy usage by ECO2 program, for simulation program, that is used for the building energy efficiency rating. Result showed that items concerning control of pumps and fans had much more saving rate than the ones concerning efficiency of heater and cooler that had bigger scores assigned among EPI items. Result showed that items concerning control of pumps and fans had much more saving rate than the ones concerning efficiency of heater and cooler that had bigger scores assigned among EPI items. Therefore, I think that grades assigned to items in energy performance index need to be corrected.

Notes on progress in structuring a research project measuring energy inputs into New Zealand apple production—combining hard and soft systems methods

AbstractThese notes report progress in structuring a research project into New Zealand apple production. The broad objective of the research is to measure the energy inputs into New Zealand apple production. A subsidiary objective is to develop a robust methodology for measuring energy usage and carbon emissions at the farm level, and develop a strategy for reducing them. The production system under study is recognized as a complex system, and systems thinking models are appropriate for studying it. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.