Total Primary Energy Requirement Research Articles

Passive house design—An efficient solution for residential buildings in Romania

In a temperate climate such as that of Romania, due to the high differences between comfort parameters and temperate environmental conditions, energy is needed in order to achieve a comfortable indoor environment in both winter and summer. Yet, due to the higher initial investment cost, in Romania, the new solutions for highly energy efficient buildings are rarely used. In order to increase the awareness of the investors on the long-term advantages of these solutions, pilot projects are necessary that provide real-time monitoring on the energy performance and behaviour of energy efficient buildings.At the Politehnica University of Timisoara, an experimental programme was developed to demonstrate that applying passive house design principles could be an alternative solution for energy-efficient buildings, reflecting the Romanian local climate conditions, materials, and construction techniques. An energy-efficient house was built following the passive house design principles and was subjected to extensive monitoring. In the design phase, the discussed house is compared to a reference house designed following the energy efficiency requirements in Romania, in order to emphasise the differences in terms of energy demand and life-cycle cost. The life-cycle cost analysis results are dependent on the future growth of energy prices. The study contains the results from the monitoring campaign of the energy efficient house, including the monitoring of the energy consumption as well as of the indoor parameters. The monitoring results indicate that the studied house is meeting the passive house design target of total primary energy requirement of less than 120kWh/m2 year.

Evaluation of Energy Payback and CO2 Emission of Solar Home Systems in Bangladesh

Around 1.4 million solar home systems are already installed by February 2013 in Bangladesh. In this paper, the energy and emission of solar home systems installed in Bangladesh are analyzed based on the field visit at the six different districts in Bangladesh. Study has been conducted for 40∼85 Wp systems as these systems are mostly used in the rural user level. Total primary energy requirement including energy requirement for manufacturing and energy required to replace its components in the estimated project life 20 years are calculated. On the other hand, energy supply by a SHS in its entire life time is also evaluated based on monitoring of selected SHSs. Energy payback period for 40, 50, 65, 75 and 85 systems are found to be 6.94, 7.47, 7.80, 7.32 and 6.91 years respectively. It is also revealed from the study that 1.4 million solar home systems in Bangladesh can mitigate 0.8 million ton of CO2 per year.

Demand-supply mismatch, energy security and sustainable development in India

The objective of this paper is to analyze the trend and pattern of energy use, demand-supply mismatch, energy challenges, the cause and effect relationship between energy and economic development, and it’s sustainability in India. The study is based on secondary data collected from energy policy reports, economic survey of India and reports of oil corporations of India. The study has used methods of compound growth rate and energy elasticity to analyse the present and future energy challenge in India. In terms of primary energy consumption, India ranks fifth in the world and accounts for about 3.5 per cent of the world’s commercial energy demand. But the country lacks sufficient domestic energy resources, particularly of petroleum and natural gas and must import much of its growing requirements. Currently, about 35% of India’s commercial energy needs are imported. Energy security and sustainable development are critical issues to ensure India’s economic growth. The trend of the primary commercial energy consumption in India shows that electricity and coal are the major sources of energy consumed in India. The demand for coal and electricity increased at 8 % to 9 % during last 3 years. Coal is essential source of energy in India and three-fourth of electricity is generated from coal in thermal plants. The oil and natural gas reserve in India is very low. Total coal energy requirement is projected to increase from 283MT in 2011-12 to 937 MT in 2031-32 which is four times rise in 20 years. The projected oil energy requirement increases almost at 20 % per year whereas GDP growth rate is only 8% to 9 % per year. Natural gas requirement is projected to rise from 48MT in 2011-12 to 197 MT in 2031-32 which is more than four times in 20 years. During 10 years from 2011-12 to 2021-22, the total coal demand will increase from 627 MT to 1131 MT. The per capita primary energy consumption in India is a low 305 kg against the world average of 1,487 kg. Accordingly, with a total primary energy consumption of 314.7 million metric tones of oil equivalent (MMTOE), India accounts for just 3.4% of the total world primary energy consumption. The share of primary energy consumption is projected to increase from 72.2% to 90.4% during the same period. The share of non-commercial energy will significantly reduce to 9.1% in 2031-32. The projected compound annual growth rate of total primary energy requirement from 2006 to 2032 is 5.4 % where as it is only 0.76 % in case of Non-commercial Energy. The paper focuses on the projections, growth rates and GDP elasticity of total energy requirements. During fifteen year period from 1995 to 2010, the compound growth rate of total primary energy is 2.9 % and for total primary commercial energy is 4.9%. In order to deliver a sustained growth of 8% through 2031, India would at least need to grow it’s primary energy supply by 3 to 4 times whereas the electricity supply needs to grow at the rate of 5 to 7 times the present consumption.

Impacts of CO2 emission constraints on penetration of solar PV in the Bangladesh power sector

This paper examines the impacts of CO2 emission reduction targets and carbon tax on future technologies selection especially solar PV and energy use in Bangladesh power sector during 2005–2035. It also examines the co-benefits of energy security of the country. The analyses are based on a long-term energy system optimization model of Bangladesh using the MARKAL framework. The results of the study show that on a simple cost base, power generated from solar PV is not yet competitive with that of fossil fuel-based power plants. Alternative policies on CO2 emission constraints reduce the burden of imported fuel, improve energy security and reduce environmental impacts. The results show that the introduction of the CO2 emission reduction targets and carbon tax directly affect the shift of technologies from high carbon content fossil-based to low carbon content fossil-based and clean solar PV technologies compared to the base scenario. The cumulative net energy imports during 2005–2035 would be reduced in the range of 33–61% compared to the base scenario. The total primary energy requirement would be reduced in the range of 4.5–22.37% and the primary energy supply system would be diversified. Solar PV plays an important role in achieving reasonable energy security.

An energy balance and greenhouse gas profile for county Wexford, Ireland in 2006

In this paper an energy balance and a greenhouse gas profile has been formulated for the county of Wexford, situated in the south east of Ireland. The energy balance aims to aggregate all energy consumption in the county for the year 2006 across the following sectors; residential, agriculture, commerce and industry, and transport. The results of the energy balance are compared with the previous energy balance of 2001 where it is found that the residential sector is the biggest emitter of CO 2 with 38% of total emissions with the transport and industry/commerce sectors sharing second place on 28%. Consumption of oil is seen to have increased significantly in nearly all sectors, accounting for over 70% of the total final energy consumed (TFC) while the total primary energy requirement (TPER) sees oil consumption accounting for 91% of all fuels consumed. To take into account the contribution of agriculture in total GHG emissions the gases CH 4 and N 2O will be estimated from the agricultural and waste sectors. The results show that methane contributes 25% of total GHG emissions with agriculture being the primary contributor accounting for 36% of total emissions.

Impacts of CO 2 emission constraints on technology selection and energy resources for power generation in Bangladesh

This paper examines the impacts of CO 2 emission reduction target and carbon tax on future technologies selection and energy use in Bangladesh power sector during 2005–2035. The analyses are based on a long-term energy system model of Bangladesh using the MARKAL framework. The analysis shows that Bangladesh will not be able to meet the future energy demand without importing energy. However, alternative policies on CO 2 emission constraints reduce the burden of imported fuel, improve energy security and reduce environmental impacts. The results show that the introduction of the CO 2 emission reduction targets and carbon taxes directly affect the shift of technologies from high carbon content fossil-based to low carbon content fossil-based and clean renewable energy-based technologies compared to the base scenario. With the cumulative CO 2 emission reduction target of 10–20% and carbon tax of 2500 Taka/ton, the cumulative net energy imports during 2005–2035 would be reduced in the range of 39–65% and 37%, respectively, compared to the base scenario emission level. The total primary energy requirement would be reduced in the range of 4.5–22.3% in the CO 2 emission reduction targets and carbon tax 2500 Taka/ton scenarios and the primary energy supply system would be diversified compared to the base scenario.

The future choice of technologies and co-benefits of CO2 emission reduction in Bangladesh power sector

This paper examines the impacts of CO2 emission reduction on future technology selection and energy use in Bangladesh power sector up to 2035 considering the base year 2005. It also examines the implications of CO2 emission reduction targets on energy security of the country. The analysis is based on a long-term energy system model of Bangladesh using the MARKAL framework. The results show that the introduction of the CO2 emission reduction targets directly affect the shift of technologies from high carbon content fossil-based to low carbon content fossil-based as well as clean, renewable energy-based technologies compared to the base scenario. With the CO2 emission reduction target of 10–30%, the cumulative net energy imports during 2005–2035 would be reduced in the range of over 1400 PJ to 4898 PJ compared to the base scenario emission level. The total primary energy requirement would be reduced in the range of 5.5–15.2% in the CO2 emission reduction targets and the primary energy supply system would be diversified compared to the base scenario.

Vicissitudes in the Hong Kong oil market, 1980-97

Hong Kong, devoid of natural resources, has to import all the energy it consumes. Up to 1981, oil accounted for almost 100 per cent of the total primary energy requirement, of which about 59 per cent was used to generate electricity. Starting in 1982, the electricity sector switched to coal generation, leading to plummeting oil consumption. The conversion process was essentially completed by 1988. Local sales of oil products declined from 5.790 million kilolitres in 1981 to 3.470m kl in 1987, but climbed back to 5.157m kl in 1997: oil consumption stagnated between 1981 and 1997. This paper analyses the fluctuations in oil consumption during the period, covering use by the utility and non-utility sectors. Next, it deals with consumption of, and the factors involved in, the six major oil products, i.e. fuel oil, diesel, gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene and jet fuel. Interestingly, bunker sales, including air and sea transport, rose noticeably during these years, partly offsetting the effect of slumping oil sales to the power plants and helping boost total oil demand in the 1990s. Lastly, a glimpse into the future of the Hong Kong oil market is taken.

The US/Japan comparison of energy intensity. Estimating the real gap

Total primary energy requirement (TPER) divided by gross domestic product (GDP) is a commonly used indicator that measures national energy efficiency. However, this indicator is too approximate to represent actual efficiency and is misleading. This paper tries to estimate a ‘real and single’ indicator that can be used for international comparison of energy intensity directly. A case study between the US and Japan indicates that the US consumes only 23% more energy than Japan, while a comparison using TPER/GDP shows that the US consumes 72% more.

Energy use in flour production

AbstractEnergy use at three UK flour mills was studied. The primary energy required to provide the fuel and power used in milling averaged 1.16 GJ t−1 flour. Electricity accounted for approximately 80% of this value and was the sole energy source used directly in the milling process. Electricity consumption per tonne of flour showed no significant variation between a soft grist and a hard grist. The total primary energy requirement for the milling and transport of flour delivered in bulk was 1.43 GJ t−1 compared with 1.88 GJ t−1 for flour packed in 32‐kg bags, where transport and the provision of packaging material require additional energy use. Primary energy use in wheat growing was evaluated for Canada, USA, France and the UK but did not show marked differences, at about 4.4 GJ t−1 wheat. The primary energy requirement for fuel used in transporting wheat to UK flour mills was estimated to range from 1.46 GJ t−1 of Canadian wheat to 0.08 GJ t−1 of home grown wheat. In order to make available at a UK bakery flour milled from a grist of 30% Canadian, 40% French and 30% home grown wheat, the total primary energy requirement (including wheat growing, milling, transport of wheat and flour) was 6.41 GJ t−1 flour. However, flour production results in a nett production of food energy.

Entropy production, efficiency, and economics in the thermochemical generation of synthetic fuels: I. The hybrid sulfuric acid process

This paper describes the fundamental thermodynamic principles underlying processes which are meant to produce synthetic fuels from thermal energy. Process irreversibilities are determined in a stagewise fashion in terms of entropy production and a “heat penalty” which contributes to the total primary energy requirement. The heat penalties directly effect the overall process efficiency. The process equipment, which is required to accomplish a stage of the process and which induces the heat penalty, contributes directly to the overall costs. The technique presented here is based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics and clearly displays the interrelationship among the thermodynamics, the process efficiency, and the process cost. Application is made to the hybrid sulfuric acid process for the production of hydrogen from water being developed by Westinghouse. A preliminary design for this process focusing on efficiency and economics has recently become available and was used in the work reported here.