Reducing Energy Intensity Research Articles

Driving Factors and Peak Forecasting of Carbon Emissions from Public Buildings Based on LMDI‐SD

Public buildings, with the increasing level of energy consumption, are a key area of energy conservation and emission reduction in China’s construction industry. In order to reduce carbon emissions of public buildings, realize the targets of energy conservation and emission reduction, the LMDI method is used to construct China’s public building macrocarbon factor decomposition model, identify the main driving factors affecting the change of carbon emissions from public buildings, and build a system dynamics model based on the decomposition results to predict China’s public building carbon emissions peak. The results show that reducing carbon emission coefficient and reducing energy intensity are the main driving factors to restrain the growth of carbon emission from public buildings. Under the base scenario, carbon emissions from public buildings will peak at 1.242 billion tons in 2041. Under the comprehensive regulation of energy structure, economic growth rate, investment level of scientific research and education, and carbon sink capacity, the carbon emissions of public buildings will reach the peak in 2030, and the adjustment of energy structure has a significant impact on the peak and peak time of carbon emissions of public buildings.

ВЛИЯНИЕ ЗАМЕДЛЕНИЯ РОСТА ЭКОНОМИКИ НА ЕЕ ЭНЕРГОЕМКОСТЬ

The link between economic growth and energy intensity of an economy plays a vital role in providing insight into the specifics of the development of the variety of economies. It is generally assumed that economic growth slowing down is coupled with the decrease of the progress of technological development of the production of goods, investments in energy projects also experience a decrease. The energy intensity of the economy increases, its energy efficiency decreases. Conditionally fixed energy costs in projects also do not contribute to reducing energy intensity. Macrofactors, with increasingly dire impacts on the economy, overshadow the reduction of energy intensity. The paper reviews the contradictions between generally accepted trends and trends experienced by a particular economy (with the example of the Chinese economy). Despite the fact that a large number of foreign and domestic studies examine that link, it would be inappropriate to draw unequivocal conclusions. The author comes to the conclusion that the specifics of economic development have an overwhelming influence on the dynamics of energy intensity. The policy of the Chinese authorities uses rather adaptive mechanisms to adjust the future energy policy, which makes it possible to reduce energy intensity during the period of economic growth and when it slows down.

Can China's Energy Use Rights Trading Policy Reduce Energy Intensity in Pilot Areas?

Can China's Energy Use Rights Trading Policy Reduce Energy Intensity in Pilot Areas?

Can China's carbon trading policy help achieve Carbon Neutrality? — A study of policy effects from the Five-sphere Integrated Plan perspective

The carbon trading policy seeks to control carbon emissions by putting a price on carbon emissions and establishing a corresponding carbon market for trading. It is a significant move by China to address climate issues and achieve its Carbon Neutrality target. Therefore, assessing the policy effects of carbon trading is fundamental to its implementation nationwide. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2008 to 2018, this paper uses the Synthetic Control Method and Differences-in-Differences method to assess the effects of carbon trading policy on achieving Carbon Neutrality. By measuring the net carbon emissions, this research explores the level of Carbon Neutrality in each region. Based on the Five-sphere Integrated Plan (which covers the economy, politics, culture, social and ecological civilization), this research further verifies the impact paths of carbon trading policy on Carbon Neutrality. The results show that: First, carbon trading policy has a significant and sustainable effect on Carbon Neutrality. Second, from the perspective of the Five-sphere Integrated Plan, the carbon trading policy can help to reduce carbon sources and increase carbon sinks by adjusting the industrial structure, coordinating low-carbon policies, promoting cultural dissemination, increasing green space construction, and reducing energy intensity to achieve Carbon Neutrality. Third, cultural construction plays the most significant role in mediating carbon trading and Carbon Neutrality, followed by political construction.

The drivers of energy intensity changes in Chinese cities: A production-theoretical decomposition analysis

Quantifying the drivers of energy intensity change could provide valuable information for policy analysis and making. This study applied production-theoretical decomposition analysis to investigate the driving forces behind the energy intensity changes in Chinese cities between 2006 and 2017. The empirical results show that technological change and capital-energy substitutions were responsible for 6% and 4% of the fall in energy intensity on average, respectively, while technical efficiency contributed to about 2% of the increase in energy intensity, with significantly different magnitude across various cities. We further classified the sample cities based on the simultaneous effect of decomposition results, identifying the effective combinations of drivers on energy intensity reduction for different types of cities. The classification reveals that double-drivers and triple-drivers of energy intensity change prevail, which explains why energy intensity significantly fell in eastern and central regions but increased in the western region. Furthermore, the cities were categorized into four groups based on the differences in changes in energy intensity and energy efficiency. It reveals the key measures used to reduce energy intensity, and identifies that over a half of the cities with similar changing trends of energy intensity might be misjudged by policymakers with respect to energy efficiency performance.

An investigation of the determinants of energy intensity in emerging market countries

With the rapid economic growth in most Emerging Market Countries, the energy intensity showed a striking decline. To explore this energy puzzle, we evaluated energy intensity reduction in 30 Emerging Market Countries, which were referred to as E30 in this paper. A combined conceptual analysis framework was proposed and two main procedures were involved: 1) the aggregate energy intensity of E30 was decomposed into activity mix and national intensity, applying the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) approach; 2) regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between energy price and national intensity following Cobb–Douglas cost function, where the energy price of each country was measured using energy depletion and Brent oil price (as a robust check). The results indicated that national intensity was the main factor of aggregate energy intensity reduction with a contribution share of more than 100%, whether in 27 countries from 1971 to 2016 or 30 countries from 1990 to 2016. With respect to the impact of energy price on national intensity, we concluded that the relative energy price increased by more than 170% between 1971 and 2016. But the corresponding average decrease in national intensity was limited because the absolute value of negative elasticity between energy price and national intensity was less than 0.07. So, some energy-saving policies can also be used to achieve energy efficiency goals.

Energy intensity and energy-specific technological progress: A case study in Guangdong province of China

Examining the dynamics of technological progress in determining energy intensity not only helps in assessing the relative strength of contributing factors, but also beneficial in designing effective energy policies. The effect of technology on energy intensity was widely discussed, as a whole, without narrowing down to the energy field and considering the technological absorption capacity as well as the heterogeneity. In view of the importance of sustainability in Guangdong province to the Greater Bay Area, this study focused on energy-specific technological progress and investigated the effect of energy-specific technology on energy intensity using a panel dataset covering cities in Guangdong Province for 2005–2017. The empirical evidence shows that energy-specific technology is beneficial in reducing the energy intensity. However, the energy intensity reduction effect is primarily from energy-saving technology rather than the alternative energy technology. From the sources of energy technology, enterprises, rather than from higher education institutions and independent research institutions, are more effective in cutting the energy intensity. In addition, utility-type energy-specific technology shows a stronger reduction effect on energy intensity compared to creation-type. Finally, the study concludes that technological absorption capacity is an important determinant for the effectiveness of energy-specific technology in reducing energy intensity.

ISLAMIC FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT IMPACT ON ENERGY INTENSITY: EVIDENCE FROM ISLAMIC BANKS

The relationship between financial development and energy intensity is yet firmly established as the literature is emerging, and the few empirical studies that have been done provide conflicting results. Whereas some conclude a U-shaped relationship between financial development and energy intensity, others show a linear relationship between the two variables. This study investigates the relationship between financial development and energy intensity by focusing on the role of Islamic financial development. The study covers 30 countries where Islamic banks are present. Using the fixed-effects panel model, the empirical results suggest that Islamic banking development significantly increases energy intensity in the sample countries. We also identify other important factors that increase energy intensity. These include carbon emissions, renewable energy use and energy imports. The findings point to the importance of designing policies to incentivize Islamic banks and Shari'ah-compliant investors to finance clean energy technologies as a potent tool for reducing energy intensity, achieving sustainable development, and greening Islamic finance.

The effects of participation in global value chains on energy intensity: Evidence from international industry-level decomposition

This paper investigates how industries' participation in global value chains (GVCs) affects their own energy intensity. Both industries' GVCs position and GVCs participation degree are constructed to describe the characteristics of industries' participation in GVCs. We first provide a theoretical analysis on the impacting mechanism of industries' participation in GVCs on energy intensity. Then a panel data of 56 industries in 42 countries over the period 2000 to 2014 is used for empirical tests. The results show that the promotion of industries' GVCs position has significantly reduced their own energy intensity, while the effect of industries' GVCs participation degree on that is ambiguous. The improvement of the industrial internal structure and technology progress are the main channels through which the promotion of GVCs position reduces energy intensity. Compared to backward GVCs position, the change of forward GVCs position has a greater impact on energy intensity. Moreover, for developed countries, the deepening of GVCs participation degree reduces manufacturing industries' energy intensity, whereas for developing countries, the deepening of GVCs participation degree increases manufacturing industries’ energy intensity, which verifies the pollution haven hypothesis to some extent.

Inter-fuel substitution and decomposition analysis of energy intensity: Empirical evidence from Iran

Iran economy has high energy intensity and CO2 emission compared to other peer countries. This study adopts the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI-I) method to decompose the total energy intensity changes Δ(E/GDP) of the Iranian economy by considering inter-fuel substitution impacts of the economic sectors over the period of 2004–2017. Results show that the total energy intensity of Iran's economy increased by 43.59 barrels of oil equivalent to IRR 1000 (Iranian Rial at a constant price in 2011). Furthermore, results indicate that while inter-sector structural change, per capita GDP impact, and sectoral energy intensity impact lead to an increase in total energy intensity, household energy intensity impact leads to a decrease in total energy intensity during the research period. Extended findings from decomposition analysis demonstrate that household, services, and agriculture sectors have decreasing impact, while industry, power plant and transportation sectors have increasing impact on Δ(E⁄GDP). In addition, removing the consumption of kerosene in household sector and reducing its share in most economic sectors has caused decline, whereas high consumption of fuel oil, gasoline and gasoil compared to other energy carriers, has led to an increase in total energy intensity. As such, it is concluded that substituting various types of fuels in economic sectors couldn't reduce energy intensity. Besides, serious revisions are needed in the energy policies and energy efficiency programs. It is recommended that non-price policies along with price-based energy policies be implemented to reduce energy intensity and CO2 emission.

Технології та обладнання для внесення добрив з поливною водою дощувальними машинами

Summary. The article presents the results of research on the technology of compatible introduction of mineral fertilizers with irrigation water of sprinkling machines and testing equipment for fertigation. The purpose of research - technological analysis of various types of equipment for combining fertilizer, which is used in the production practice of S.-G. Manufacturers, definition of their basic operational and technological indicators and efficiency of using fertigation technology. Research methods: theoretical, empirical - analysis of information resources, analysis of the practice of using fertigation; laboratory-field tests for information data. using measurements and experiments. Research results. The traditional methods of fertilizing - superficial and local, in particular, the disadvantages of their use are analyzed. It was noted that one of the ways of intensifying irrigated agriculture, in which the requirements for the effective use of fertilizers and reducing resource costs are multipurpose use of irrigation equipment, namely combining irrigation with fertilizers along with irrigation water. The high efficacy of fertigation is established, which is determined by the fact that the fertilizers in an easily accessible form can be introduced at those stages of plant development when they are most required. In this case, a more uniform distribution of fertilizers in the area is provided, the coefficient of their use increases, improves the quality of products, increases yield. In Ukraine there is no production of appropriate equipment for fertimation and S.-G. Manufacturers have to use for this Equipment for foreign production. In 2017-2020, testing equipment for fertigation used by Ukrainian S.-G. Manufacturers: ITL SL, Spain, Inject-O-Mfg.S., Agri-Inject, Inc. » USA. The conducted studies on the introduction of liquid fertilizer CAS showed that the parameters of the dispenser pump and other components of the test equipment provide fertilizers with irrigation water according to their desired norm. The work of the pump-dispenser does not significantly affect the pressure-consuming characteristics of the rainy machine. The use of CAS increases the technological equipment of equipment, reduces energy intensity and labor intensity of its work due to the absence of a technological operation of the preparation of a mother liquor. Conclusions. The established effectiveness of the technological operation of fertility using test equipment allows a steadily process with the appointment indicators, the quality of work and reliability that satisfy the requirements for the technological process of fertilizing with irrigation water.

Analyzing driving forces of China's carbon emissions from 1997 to 2040 and the potential emission reduction path: through decomposition and scenario analysis.

Energy and environmental policies are important methods for the government to restrain carbon emissions growth. Identifying the potential dynamic trends of China's carbon emissions under different scenarios has important reference significance for the government's policy implementation. This paper firstly predicted China's carbon emissions from 2017 to 2040 based on three energy transition scenarios at the industrial level. Then, Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition model was applied to evaluate the driving forces of emissions changes during 1997–2040. Finally, the Spatial–Temporal Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model was used to explore the emissions reduction potential and the potential reduction path at provincial level. The results showed that (1) as the reduction in energy intensity cannot offset the growth of industrial scale, the carbon emissions of all industries have shown an increasing trend from 1997 to 2017; (2) In the current policies scenario, China's carbon emissions cannot reach the peak before 2040. And only in the sustainable development scenario, the carbon emissions of the three industries will all reach the peaks before 2030. And the development of non-fossil energy will reduce carbon emissions by more than 30%; (3) Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Heilongjiang are key provinces and improving energy efficiency of the secondary industry is a potential way to promote carbon emissions reduction.Graphical abstract The framework and main content of this paper.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10098-021-02240-7.

Renewable energy, energy intensity and carbon reduction: Experience of large emerging economies

High level of carbon emissions is still a policy agenda because of its detrimental effect on environment. CO2 emissions are growing quickly in emerging countries with the high energy consumption, industrial activities, and rapid globalization. So, it is important to examine the roles of emission-inducing factors in these countries. To this end, this research investigates the dynamic effects of energy intensity, renewable energy, industrialization, urbanization and international trade on carbon intensity in the 25 largest emerging economies of the world. The study is based on the data period of 1990–2018, where the Pool Mean Group (PMG) estimation technique of the panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach is used, along with different diagnostic tests. The findings are, in the long-run, carbon intensity is increased by energy intensity and industrialization, and decreased by renewable energy use and urbanization. An increase of one unit in energy intensity and industrialization increased carbon intensity by 2.616 unit and 0.002 unit, respectively. Conversely, carbon intensity reduced by 0.003 unit with an increase of one unit in renewable energy and urbanization. In the short-run, carbon intensity is positively associated with energy intensity only with a coefficient value of 0.811. Therefore, an increase in renewable energy production and use, and enhancement of green technology for industrial production can be viable options for carbon reduction.

An Empirical Study of Carbon Emission Impact Factors Based on the Vector Autoregression Model

It is important to effectively reduce carbon emissions and ensure the simultaneous adjustment of economic development and environmental protection. Therefore, we used Kaya identity to screen the factors influencing carbon emissions and conducted preliminary qualitative analyses, including grey relation analysis and linear regression analysis, on important variables to establish a vector autoregression (VAR) model based on their annual data to empirically analyze the influencing factors of carbon emissions. The results showed that economic growth effect, energy intensity effect and embodied carbon in foreign trade were the key factors affecting carbon emissions, among which the economic growth effect contributed the most. Accordingly, we propose countermeasures including technological innovation to reduce energy intensity, the development of new energy sources to improve energy structure, acceleration of industrial structure transfer, and optimization of trade structure.

Energy technology of conservation versus substitution and energy intensity in China

A major challenge for sustainable development is providing adequate energy services while mitigating adverse environmental effects, which unquestionably requires a reduction in the energy consumed per unit of real GDP (i.e. energy intensity) and novel energy technologies. However, our knowledge of how energy technologies influence energy intensity is incomplete. This paper thus empirically investigates the effects of energy technologies on energy intensity by dividing them into energy-conservation and energy-substitution technologies. Additionally, we classify energy technologies according to their executors, as having two purposes. Using a China's provincial dataset over 2000–2018, we find that energy-conservation technology plays a more important role in decreasing energy intensity compared to energy-substitution technology. In addition, from the purposes of these energy technologies, the energy technologies coming from utility-type enterprises exert the most significant effect on energy intensity reduction. Since the effect of energy technologies on energy intensity may be related to technology absorptive ability, an additional analysis based on the dynamic panel threshold model indicates that technology absorptive ability shows an important effect on energy intensity.

Exploring the Long-Term Development of the Ukrainian Energy System

This study analyses the Ukrainian energy system in the context of the Paris Agreement and the need for the world to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. Despite ~84% of greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine being energy- and process-related, there is very limited academic literature analysing long-term development of the Ukrainian energy system. This study utilises the TIMES-Ukraine model of the whole Ukrainian energy system to address this knowledge gap and to analyse how the energy system may develop until 2050, taking into current and future policies. The results show the development of the Ukrainian energy system based on energy efficiency improvements, electrification and renewable energy. The share of renewables in electricity production is predicted to reach between 45% and 57% in 2050 in the main scenarios with moderate emission reduction ambitions and ~80% in the ambitious alternative scenarios. The cost-optimal solution includes reduction of space heating demand in buildings by 20% in frozen policy and 70% in other scenarios, while electrification of industries leads to reductions in energy intensity of 26–36% in all scenarios except frozen policy. Energy efficiency improvements and emission reductions in the transport sector are achieved through increased use of electricity from 2020 in all scenarios except frozen policy, reaching 40–51% in 2050. The stated policies present a cost-efficient alternative for keeping Ukraine’s greenhouse gas emissions at today’s level.

Cryogenic Removal of CO2 by Frost Formation from Biogas

Removal of carbon dioxide to upgrading biogas is possible by cryogenics and frost formation. In this work, it is targeted removing carbon dioxide by frost deposition (physical transition from gas to solid state) at low pressure and temperature from biogas, as well as assessing the impact of mass flow rate, temperature and the initial CO2 content in biogas on the carbon dioxide removal process. The Solid-Gas phase equilibrium between CH4 and CO2 is presented. It is followed by a sensitivity study of CO2 deposition on a flat plate and the assessment of different geometries of the heat exchanger generating frost. The global process including CO2 removal and biomethane liquefaction is simulated in AspenTech tools that are linked to a specific module modelling frost formation phenomenon. This module is coded in Dymola (Modelica language). Different operating modes of the heat exchanger are compared: thermal inertia or by direct cooling by nitrogen gas obtained after liquefaction of the biomethane. The temperature of the heat exchanger increases as CO2 deposits. Results show that cryogenic CO2 frost formation can be used for simultaneous liquefaction and upgrading of methane at 97% vol. minimum of purity and a reduction of cooling cycles on site by cold recovery from frost. This implies a reduction of energy intensity to remove carbon dioxide compared to conventional cryogenic technologies.

Mining Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The problem of processing sands from polymineral placer deposits of the Far Eastern region is a complex technical and technological process. The predominance of high-clay placers with high content of valuable components of small and thin fractions is noted. At the same time the content of fine gold fractions smaller than 0.5 mm reach more than 90 % at some sites with the predominance of fractions smaller than 0.3 mm. The necessity to improve the technologies and technical facilities for processing placer high-clay sands with a high content of fine and nanoscale particles of valuable components is substantiated. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to substantiate approaches to the construction of a phenomenological model for processing of placer high-clay sands by gravitational methods to ensure safety of crystals and reduce the loss of valuable components with reduced energy intensity. On the basis of the proposed exponential dependence of variation of specific interfacial surface of mineral particles on system thermodynamic potential, it has been found out that interdependence of hydraulic fluid efflux and flow rates plays a decisive role in microdesintegration of mineral particles under conditions of turbulization initiated by the jet falling on the flat surface of the cavitation reactor. The calculations performed allowed to estimate the growth of the specific interfacial surface of particles in the intervals of 1.8–3.3 times depending on regulation of hydraulic fluid flow rate, its density and initiation time. Presented mathematical dependencies will allow to control the process when testing cavitation reactor, assess installation quality and operation nature, as well as adjust the design and introduce necessary changes. We propose a general processing scheme for placers with the use of a number of innovative installations of a new type including those based on the combination of turbulence and cavitation at low energy intensity. The impact of hydrodynamic effects initiated by turbulent effects and cavitation on hydraulic fluid of high-clay sands is able to ensure reliable microdesintegration-dispersion and provide a significant reduction in technological losses of valuable components. The study results obtained can be used for further development of theoretical approaches to the description of cavitation processes modeled in proposed installations.

Applicable Smart City Strategies to Ensure Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Integration in Poor Cities: Kabul Case Study

A smart city is fundamentally intended to reduce the consumption of resources and optimize efficiencies. In almost any area, efficiency results in energy saving, reduced energy intensity, sustainable economic development, enhanced productivity, a protected environment, and most importantly, cooperation with the climate change battle. Although budget, technology, and the required infrastructure are major constraints for poor cities to achieve smart and sustainable city goals, the benefits of smart cities are multiple for poor cities compared to developing and developed cities. Poor cities achieve improved living environments, security, safety, economic development, governance, and quality of life in addition to achieving sustainable energy goals, and this study seeks to identify those smart renewable energy and energy efficiency strategies that are economically feasible and technically applicable in poor cities. The findings of this research would help poor and low-income, developing cities take the initial steps towards becoming smart cities by applying smart, innovative, and economically feasible sustainable energy projects and initiatives. As a result, these cities will be able to enhance their environment, economy, and employment by transitioning to smart ones.

The Effect Evaluation of China’s Energy-Consuming Right Trading Policy: Empirical Analysis Based on PSM-DID

Identifying the policy effect of Energy-Consuming Right Trading (ECRT), clarifying its mechanism of energy conservation and consumption reduction, is beneficial to realize the win–win situation of economic growth and emission reduction in China. This study first builds a Propensity Score Matching–Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model and empirically tests the impact of Energy-Consuming Right Trading policy on energy intensity in pilot areas based on inter-provincial panel data from 2010 to 2019. Then the policy mechanism was analyzed by further regression, and the spatial effects of the policy were explored by the Spatial Difference-in-Differences (SDID) model. The results show that: (1) The policy can reduce energy intensity by 6.4% to 10.2% in the pilot area. (2) The policy mainly achieves energy consumption reduction by optimizing the industrial structure and promoting scientific and technological input, while the resource tax intensity and the proportion of coal consumption also have synergistic and hindering effects on the policy. (3) There is a significant spatial spillover effect of the policy; it can reduce the energy intensity of the adjacent areas of the pilot by 5.3% and the areas with a high economic association with the pilot by 12%. The conclusion is that China’s Energy-Consuming Right Trading policy can effectively control energy consumption, and the policy shows an excellent positive external effect, worth nationwide implementation. Finally, some policy suggestions are put forward according to the results of the empirical analysis.