Per-capita Energy Research Articles

Food security and nutrition in the Russian Federation – a health policy analysis

BackgroundIn the Russian Federation (Russia), an elevated burden of premature mortality attributable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been observed since the country's economic transition. NCDs are largely related to preventable risk factors such as unhealthy diets.ObjectiveThis health policy study's aim was to analyze past and current food production and nutritional trends in Russia and their policy implications for Russia's NCD burden.DesignWe examined food security and nutrition in Russia using an analytical framework of food availability, access to food, and consumption.ResultsAgricultural production declined during the period of economic transition, and nutritional habits changed from high-fat animal products to starches. However, per-capita energy consumption remained stable due to increased private expenditures on food and use of private land. Paradoxically, the prevalence of obesity still increased because of an excess consumption of unsaturated fat, sugar, and salt on one side, and insufficient intake of fruit and vegetables on the other.ConclusionsPolicy and economic reforms in Russia were not accompanied by a food security crisis or macronutrient deprivation of the population. Yet, unhealthy diets in contemporary Russia contribute to the burden of NCDs and related avoidable mortality. Food and nutrition policies in Russia need to specifically address nutritional shortcomings and food-insecure vulnerable populations. Appropriate, evidence-informed food and nutrition policies might help address Russia's burden of NCDs on a population level.

Urban form and life-cycle energy consumption: Case studies at the city scale

By combining daily (operations) and embodied energy demands, this work estimates life-cycle energy demands for residents and workers in different city settings. Using life-cycle analyses (LCAs) of different neighborhood types in Austin, Texas, this analysis fabricates five different city types, reflecting actual accessibility and resident and employment density profiles. Five residential and three commercial neighborhood types are distributed across 16-kilometer (10-mile) radius regions, with demographics held constant, for comparability. As expected, per-capita daily energy demands decrease with increased resident and employment density. Interestingly, embodied energy savings via increases in density are substantial. Though embodied energy makes up only 10-20 percent of total life-cycle energy, per-capita savings via density suggest it should be included in planning analyses. Overall, average life-cycle per-capita energy use ranges from 140 gigajoule (GJ)/ year/capita in the least dense Orlando-style setting to around 90 GJ/ year/capita in the maximum-density scenario, corresponding to a 35 percent reduction in per-capita energy demand. Energy reductions for Phoenix, Austin, and Seattle settings (relative to an Orlando-based de- sign) are 18, 22, and 24 percent per-capita, respectively. Results provide a rare view of how total annual energy demands in both residential and commercial sectors are affected by density.

Embodied energy evaluation for the Hong Kong MTR South Island Line

Over the past two decades, research on embodied energy has been associated with construction projects in an effort to tackle sustainability issues. In this study, the embodied energy of two types of tunnels of the South Island Line (East) contract 904 in Hong Kong were evaluated. The results show that the cut-and-cover tunnel has a higher embodied energy than the drill-and-blast tunnel, at 243 and 157 GJ/m, respectively. By breaking down the analysis of embodied energy consumption into different categories (i.e. materials, transportation and construction), it is shown that, in both tunnels, materials dominate approximately 63% of the total embodied energy, as steel has the highest embodied energy intensity among all construction materials. Tunnels require direct energy-intensive construction, as transportation and construction can collectively account for as much as 37% of the total embodied energy. The total embodied energy of both tunnels is equivalent to approximately 4700 per-capita annual energy consumption and almost one 40-storey residential building of embodied energy in Hong Kong.

A structural equation model of energy consumption in the United States: Untangling the complexity of per-capita residential energy use

Globally, about 20–30% of total energy demand is for residential use. Yet, our understanding of household energy consumption remains obscure. Due to methodological issues, conventional residential energy research has often failed to untangle the complexities of household energy use. In addition, theoretical deficiencies have led to underestimation of the complexities of households’ role (vs. buildings’ role) in residential energy use processes. This research hypothesizes that households have an indirect effect on energy use – through their housing choice behaviors – that can be untangled from buildings’ effect. Using data from the latest Residential Energy Consumption Survey, this paper develops a Structural Equation Model to estimate the direct, indirect, and total effects of household and housing characteristics on per-capita residential energy use in the U.S. Outcomes support the research hypothesis and recommend that, when incorporating the housing choice effect, households’ overall effect on energy use is larger than what has been perceived conventionally. Findings of this study provide a new approach to understanding residential energy use by highlighting the role of households and their housing choices in shaping residential energy consumption patterns. Policy makers can incorporate housing policy into energy policy and reduce residential energy consumption more effectively.

Energy demand and CO2 emissions from urban on-road transport in Delhi: current and future projections under various policy measures

This work presents an analysis of road transportation in Delhi region with focus on energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The study has considered five scenarios for the year 2021; one business as usual, and four future alternative scenarios, with 2007 as the reference year. The alternative scenarios have been developed by considering the introduction of six policy interventions, namely; construction of integrated mass rapid transit system (IMRTS), fixed bus speed, hike in parking fees, fuel efficiency, stringent emission norms, and increase in the occupancy of private vehicles. An integrated Activity-Structure-EnergyIntensity-Fuel Mix (ASIF) framework has been used to model, energy demand and CO2 emissions. The outcome from the study shows that 2021-ALT-IV scenario gives the best-estimate results, which translated to ∼32% reduction in annual energy demand than projected in 2021-BAU scenario. This reduces the daily per-capita energy requirement to 5.3 MJ in 2021-ALT-IV scenario, contributing to about 2.9 million tons of CO2 emissions. This scenario further reduces fossil fuel demand by ∼48% compared to 2021-BAU scenario; however, Delhi Metro will require a huge amount of electrical energy by the year 2021 making it inevitable to adopt cleaner electricity generation options in the near future. Therefore, the current study shows that shift to public transport use would not will merely be sufficient to reduce energy demand, oil use and carbon emissions from passenger transport in urban areas of developing countries.

Changes of energy-related GHG emissions in China: An empirical analysis from sectoral perspective

In order to better understand sectoral greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in China, this study utilized a logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition analysis to study emission changes from a sectoral perspective. Based on the decomposition results, recently implemented policies and measures for emissions mitigation in China were evaluated. The results show that for the economic sectors, economic growth was the dominant factor in increasing emissions from 1996 to 2011, whereas the decline in energy intensity was primarily responsible for the emission decrease. As a result of the expansion of industrial development, economic structure change also contributed to growth in emissions. For the residential sector, increased emissions were primarily driven by an increase in per-capita energy use, which is partially confirmed by population migration. For all sectors, the shift in energy mix and variation in emission coefficient only contributed marginally to the emissions changes. The decomposition results imply that energy efficiency policy in China has been successful during the past decade, i.e., Top 1000 Priorities, Ten-Key Projects programs, the establishment of fuel consumption limits and vehicle emission standards, and encouragement of efficient appliances. Moreover, the results also indicate that readjusting economic structure and promoting clean and renewable energy is urgently required in order to further mitigate emissions in China.

Impacts of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) on Food Security: A Case of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement

Discriminatory trade liberalization policies are becoming more popular among world economies. Countries are motivated to enter for regional trade agreements to capture faster economic growth for alleviating poverty. In developing economies like most of the member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a sizeable portion of people are suffering from poverty by exposing them to food insecurity. Low level of income and low productivity of agricultural sector have augmented the severity of food insecurity of those people. Discriminatory trade liberalization policies are expected to reduce poverty and strengthen the food security. The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) on food security of its member countries. The multiple regression analysis in panel data was employed to disentangle the impacts of trade liberalization on food securit y with use of regional trade agreement dummy variable. The finding of the study supports that AFTA has influenced positively on food security of its member nations. After the formation of AFTA, the level of per-capita daily dietary energy supply of the member countries has been increased moderately over time.

Studying the demand-side vis-à-vis the supply-side of urban water systems – case study of Oslo, Norway

The research focus of resource consumption and emissions from urban water services has, by and large, been restricted to what comes under the domain of the urban water utilities – the upstream sub-systems of water treatment and supply and the downstream sub-systems of wastewater collection, treatment and disposal. However, the material and energy flows necessitated by activities in the water demand sub-system (households, for instance) are by no means negligible. This paper studies the per-capita material and energy requirements, and the related emissions and life cycle environmental impacts, associated with water consumption in households of the city of Oslo for the year 2009. For example, the per-capita energy consumption in the household consumption phase, at 1.38 MWh per year, is eight times more than the corresponding consumption for the entire water-wastewater utility. All findings, taken together, clearly demonstrate the imperativeness of paying more attention to the demand-side management issues.

The Critical Challenge of Climate Change for Psychology

For many societies, the prime political strategy for mitigating climate change has been to improve the efficiency of technology (e.g., cars, light bulbs, and refrigerators). However, World Bank data suggest that the per-capita energy consumption of societies is leveling off rather than falling. Thus, all efficiency gains are apparently eaten up by rebound. In our psychological account of this ubiquitous rebound phenomenon, we argue that individual consumption is genuinely rational (i.e., benefit-oriented) and grounded in an unlimited number of personal ends (i.e., goals and desires). Behavior and technology – the latter as an amplifier of individual behavior – are means for satisfying personal ends. Predictably, any gains in efficiency as evidenced by savings of time and/or money will be reinvested in further as-yet-unmet personal ends of individuals. Consequently, rebound is the norm and not the exception. The challenge to psychologists is thus, as we argue in this article, to motivate individuals to act comparatively more irrationally (by generally forgoing personal benefits), and by doing so, to eventually reduce the overall energy consumption of societies. Only when people are intrinsically motivated to forgo commodities, convenience, and other personal benefits can rebound be avoided.

China tackles the health effects of air pollution

With fast economic growth over the past three decades, China became the world's second largest economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 and was the world's biggest energy consumer in 2009. In 2012, China's total energy consumption reached 2·43 billion tonnes oil equivalent, and its per-capita GDP energy consumption was 1·4 times higher than the world average. Coal is the main source of energy in China and accounts for 67% of the country's total energy consumption; in 2012, consumption of coal reached as high as 1·63 billion tonnes oil equivalent, accounting for 50% of the world's total coal consumption.

China's targets for reducing the intensity of CO2 emissions by 2020

This paper estimated CO2 emissions based on the IPCC reference approach under five scenarios that consider China's economic and energy development strategy. Based on the LDMI method, the contributions of per-capita production value, industrial structure, energy intensity, energy mix and coefficients of discharge to CO2 emissions were analyzed in nine carbon-intensive industries. The emission reduction target for nine industries and five influencing factors were allocated, using scenarios in which China's emission reduction target is not realized. The results show that the reduction target can be realized completely if energy intensity and the share of non-fossil fuel use in primary energy consumption can reach the objectives of China's mid and long-term strategic. There will be uncertainly if the share of non-fossil fuel use does not increase to 15%. And the task of reducing emissions in the industry of Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous Metals is the most arduous among the nine industries considered.

Residential Energy Use and the City-Suburb Dichotomy

Data from the 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) indicate suburbanites, compared with city dwellers, have on average higher per-capita residential energy consumption. However, it is not clear why suburbanites tend to consume more energy at home. Using a two-group structural equation modeling, I analyzed direct and total effects of household’s sociodemographic characteristics, income, and building’s characteristics on per-capita energy consumption for suburbanites and city-dwellers. Results show that while modeling results show that household’s sociodemographic characteristics have the largest total effect on energy consumption per-capita in both models, the difference between the magnitudes of effect is only marginal between cities and suburbs. The direct impact of income on energy consumption index is also identical between the two models; however, the total effect is bigger for the suburbanites. Impact of income on housing characteristics is also bigger for the suburbanites. Overall, the biggest difference between cities and suburbs appears to be the effect of building characteristics on per-capita energy consumption, with suburban homes being 19% more influential in increasing per-capita energy consumption. Such an increased impact also carries the indirect effect of households’ characteristics, implying an often-neglected hierarchy of effects and consequences between household characteristics, housing characteristics and residential energy outcomes.

The impact of human behavior on ecological threshold: Positive or negative?—Grey relational analysis of ecological footprint, energy consumption and environmental protection

Human behavior has the positive and negative impact on ecosystem. To study the interaction between ecosystem and behavior system, per-capita energy ecological footprint (EEF) is selected as the ecosystem threshold. Elasticity coefficient of environmental investment (ECEI) and elasticity coefficient of energy consumption (ECEC) represent the positive and negative human impact on ecosystem, respectively. It takes Shanghai, China as the empirical area to implement grey relational analysis of per-capita EEF (consist of coal, coke, fuel oil, and electricity), ECEC and ECEI from 1978 to 2010. The grey correlation coefficients show that negative behavior of energy consumption has the closer influence on the ecosystem than positive behavior of environmental protection. Electricity is the most significant factor of the energy consumption and the highest sensitive indicator to the environmental capital input–output. From the perspective of government policy, “energy saving” is more efficient than “emission reduction”. Reducing the negative activities is imminent in the current process of development.

Temporal and spatial trends of residential energy consumption and air pollutant emissions in China

Residential energy consumptions of both electricity and fuels are associated with emissions of many air pollutants. Temporally and spatially resolved energy consumption data are scarce in China, which are critical for a better understanding of their environmental impacts. In this study, a space-for-time substitution method was proposed and two models for predicting fuel and electricity consumptions in residential sector of China were developed using provincial data. It was found that fuel consumption was not directly proportional to heating degree day and was also affected by heating day, defined as the number of days when heating is required in a year. The models were validated against a set of historical annual data and two sets of survey data on seasonal variations. The models were applied to predict spatial and temporal variations of residential energy consumptions and emissions of various pollutants and to predict net effects of climate warming on energy consumptions and pollutant emissions. The emissions of black carbon (BC), carbon monoxide (CO), and polycyclic aromatic carbons (PAHs) in winter were significantly higher than those in other seasons. For the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx), there were two peaks in winter and summer, with the latter increasing gradually over years. It was predicted that per-capita residential energy consumptions would reach 0.43, 0.33, and 0.26toe/cap in 2050 for IPCC scenarios of A1B, B1, and A2, respectively. Climate warming in the future would lead to less residential fuel but more electricity consumptions. Consequently, emissions of BC, CO, and PAHs would decrease mainly in cold climate zones, while emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOx would increase largely in southeast China.

Does Energy Efficiency Reduce Emissions and Peak Demand? A Case Study of 50 Years of Space Heating in Melbourne

This paper examines the relationship between space heating energy efficiency and two related but distinct measures; greenhouse mitigation, and peak demand. The historic role of Melbourne’s space heating provides an opportunity to assess whether improvements in energy efficiency lead to sustained reductions in energy consumption or whether rebound factors “take back” efficiency gains in the long run. Despite significant and sustained improvements in appliance efficiency, and the thermal efficiency of new building fabrics, the per-capita heating energy consumption has remained remarkably stable over the past 50 years. Space heating efficiency is bound up with notions of comfort, sufficiency and lifestyle, and the short-run gains from efficiency become incorporated into a new set of norms. It is this evolution of cultural norms that reconciles the contradiction between the short-run gains from efficiency measures, with the efficiency rebound that becomes evident over the long-term. The related, but distinct peak demand measure can be influenced by efficiency measures, but energy efficiency measures will not alter the requirement for large-scale conventional energy to provide affordable and reliable winter heating.

Energy consumption, costs and environmental impacts for urban water cycle services: Case study of Oslo (Norway)

Energy consumption in the operation and maintenance phase of the urban water and wastewater network is directly related to both the quantity and the desired quality of the supplied water/treated wastewater – in other words, to the level of service provided to consumers. The level of service is dependent on not just the quantity and quality of the water but also the state of the infrastructure. Maintaining the infrastructure so as to be able to provide the required high level of service also demands energy. Apart from being a significant operational cost component, energy use also contributes to life-cycle environmental impacts. This paper studies the direct energy consumption in the operation and maintenance phase of the water and wastewater system in Oslo; and presents a break-up among the different components of the network, of quantities, costs and environmental impacts. Owing to the diversity in the periods of time for which comprehensive data for the whole system are available, the study period is restricted to years 2000–2006. The per-capita annual consumption of energy in the operational phase of the system varied between 220 and 260 kWh; and per-capita annual expenses on energy in inflation-adjusted year-2006-Euros ranged between 6.5 and 11 Euros. The energy consumed on the upstream, per unit volume water supplied was around 0.4 kWh on average, while the corresponding value for the downstream was 0.8 kWh per cubic metre wastewater treated. The upstream Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions ranged between 70 and 80 g per cubic metre of water supplied, about 22% greater on average than the corresponding specific GHG emissions on the downstream. ► Annual per-capita energy consumption in the Operation and Maintenance (O & M) phase of the system varied between 220 and 260 kWh. ► Annual per-capita annual expenses on energy in inflation-adjusted year-2006-Euros ranged between 6.5 and 11 Euros. ► Upstream O & M energy consumption per cubic metre of water supplied was 0.4 kWh on average, on the downstream, it was 0.8 kWh per cubic metre. ► Upstream GHG emissions ranged between 70 and 80 g/m 3 of water supplied, about 22% greater (on average) than the downstream. ► Consumption of biogas at Vestfjorden Avløpsselskap (VEAS) precludes the need for natural gas or electricity from the Nordic grid and in both cases, contributes to a reduction in GHG emissions.

Current Demographics Suggest Future Energy Supplies Will Be Inadequate to Slow Human Population Growth

Influential demographic projections suggest that the global human population will stabilize at about 9–10 billion people by mid-century. These projections rest on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that the energy needed to fuel development and the associated decline in fertility will keep pace with energy demand far into the future. The second is that the demographic transition is irreversible such that once countries start down the path to lower fertility they cannot reverse to higher fertility. Both of these assumptions are problematic and may have an effect on population projections. Here we examine these assumptions explicitly. Specifically, given the theoretical and empirical relation between energy-use and population growth rates, we ask how the availability of energy is likely to affect population growth through 2050. Using a cross-country data set, we show that human population growth rates are negatively related to per-capita energy consumption, with zero growth occurring at ∼13 kW, suggesting that the global human population will stop growing only if individuals have access to this amount of power. Further, we find that current projected future energy supply rates are far below the supply needed to fuel a global demographic transition to zero growth, suggesting that the predicted leveling-off of the global population by mid-century is unlikely to occur, in the absence of a transition to an alternative energy source. Direct consideration of the energetic constraints underlying the demographic transition results in a qualitatively different population projection than produced when the energetic constraints are ignored. We suggest that energetic constraints be incorporated into future population projections.

Solar energy: renewable energy and the environment

The twenty-first century is rapidly becoming the “perfect energy storm”; modern society is faced with volatile energy prices and growing environmental concerns, as well as energy supply and security issues. Today’s society was founded on hydrocarbon fuel—a finite resource that already is one of the main catalysts for international conflicts, which is likely to intensify in the future. The global energy appetite is enormous, representing over $6 trillion per year, or about 13% of global gross domestic product (GDP). Unfortunately, the vast majority of this energy is not efficiently utilized for buildings, vehicles, or industry. This is especially true in the United States, which has about double the per-capita and GDP energy usage rates as compared to the European Union and Japan. The inefficient use of energy strongly exacerbates the global energy crisis. It is time to shed the outdated “burn, baby, burn” hydrocarbon energy thinking with a new energy vision; the time for clean energy solutions is here. Only through energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies can modern civilization extricate itself from the gathering perfect energy storm. The new global energy realities have brought the highest energy prices in history. Sustained price volatility will continue, with large spikes and drops of energy prices tracking global economic trends. Peak oil is predicted by many within the next decade. The North American energy infrastructure and workforce are aging. China and India are now new global energy customers causing major impacts on primary fuel prices. By 2030, China is projected to import as much oil as the United States does now. Trigger events such as blackouts, hurricanes, floods, and fires further increase volatility due to tight supplies. Food, metal, and transportation prices are rising as a result of increased energy demand. In addition to costs and availability of fossil fuels, a worse panorama results from counting the increase of the millions of tons per year of carbon dioxide emissions—the main gas precursor of the greenhouse effect. Future CO2 emission increments will be originated mainly in developing countries as population and industry grow. The current CO2 average concentration in the atmosphere is about 400 parts per million (ppm)—the highest ever experienced by the Earth. Maintaining as much reliance on fossil fuels as today, by 2050, such concentration may exceed 700 or 800 ppm. At higher concentration, the few degrees gained in Earth’s average temperature exert several grave impacts on food safety, water, the ecosystem, and the environment. Currently, only half a Celsius degree increase has been enough for catastrophic natural disasters to occur. To limit sea level rise to only 1 m and species loss to 20% by the end of this century, additional warming must be limited to 1°C. This means stabilizing atmospheric CO2 at about 450–500 ppm. The United States is the second largest emitter of CO2 emissions after China. The United States currently emits 23% of global CO2 and needs to reduce CO2 by 60 to 80% by midcentury. If the Greenland ice sheet melted, global sea level would rise 7 m; if East and West Antarctica ice sheets melt, sea levels would rise an additional 70 m. Through the widespread burning of fossil fuels, humanity is creating the largest ecological disaster since the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

Urban Structure and Energy—A Review

The nature and form of the urban environment is a critical determinant of the sustainability of our society, as it is responsible directly for a large proportion of consumed energy, and influences indirectly the patterns and modes of energy consumed in everyday activities. We examine the current state of research into the energy and greenhouse gas emissions attributable directly or indirectly to urban form. Specifically, we look at the embodied (construction) and operational energy attributable to the construction, maintenance and use of residential dwellings, and we review the literature on the relationship between urban structure and private travel behaviour. While there is clear evidence from both intra- and inter-city comparisons that higher density, transit-oriented cities have lower per-capita transport energy use, the effect of housing density on residential (in-house) energy use is less clear. More detailed research is needed to examine the relationships between urban form and overall energy use.

Soils as carbon sinks: the global context

Abstract. Soil carbon sequestration could meet at most about one‐third of the current yearly increase in atmospheric CO2‐carbon, but the duration of the effect would be limited, with significant impacts lasting only 20–50 years. Coupled with this limited duration, increases in population and per‐capita energy demand mean that soil carbon sequestration could play only a minor role in closing the difference between predicted and target carbon emissions by 2100. However, if atmospheric CO2 concentrations are to be stabilized at reasonable levels (450–650 ppm), drastic reductions in carbon emissions will be required over the next 20–30 years. Given this, carbon sequestration should form a central role in any portfolio of measures to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations over this crucial period, while new energy technologies are developed and implemented. International agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol, encourage soil carbon sequestration and could be used to formulate soil carbon sequestration polices. Such policies need to take account of other environmental impacts as well as political, economic and societal needs, so that they form part of a raft of measures encouraging sustainable development. Of the carbon sequestration options available, those of a ‘win–win’ nature, that is, those that increase carbon stocks at the same time as improving other aspects of the environment, and those that protect or enhance existing stocks (‘no regrets’ implementation) show the greatest promise in meeting these goals.