scholarly journals Energy Efficiency Retrofits in Commercial Buildings: An Environmental, Financial, and Technical Analysis of Case Studies in Thailand

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2571
Author(s):  
Christopher Charles Seeley ◽  
Shobhakar Dhakal
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Energy Costs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Financial Characteristics

In the rapidly growing economies of Southeast Asia, energy consumption and energy costs in buildings continue to increase. Over the past decade, energy consumption from the commercial building sector in Thailand has increased at an average of 4% per annum and currently represents over 30% of total electricity consumption, second only to the industrial sector. Buildings that exist today will continue to represent most of both energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the built environment, with newly constructed buildings representing only a small additional portion. This paper analyzes the environmental, technical, and financial characteristics of energy efficiency retrofit activities in commercial buildings in Thailand through detailed case studies of forty-two projects undertaken over the past 8 years. Our findings suggest that retrofits provide significant opportunities to reduce energy use, energy costs, and GHG emissions while also validating the economic feasibility of investments into such retrofit activities. Through this detailed analysis of past retrofit projects in Thailand, we found that the marginal abatement costs (MAC) relating to the key energy conservation measures (ECM) implemented within these retrofit projects all have negative costs. However, although these findings demonstrate positive economics and should be sufficient to instigate widespread adoption, in reality, this is not taking place. It is evident that greater public policy and leadership are needed to stimulate growth in the building retrofit sector to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits that building retrofits offer.

scholarly journals Heterogenous Energy Consumption Behavior by Firm Size: Evidence from Korean Environmental Regulations

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3226
Author(s):  
Jaeseok Lee ◽  
Jongmin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Vector Model ◽  
Energy Costs ◽  
Energy Usage ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Consumption Behavior ◽  
Level Data

We analyze the interdependencies between energy usage, energy costs, renewable energy shares, economic growth, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Korean industrial sector by employing a time-series panel vector model. Although the topic itself about has been classic one, our research to investigate diverse dynamics between large and small-mid size businesses using micro-firm level data is the first study in literature. Since firms with different sizes are put in different policy circumstances, the aggregate-level data analysis could possibly disregard the effectiveness of environmental & renewable policies and underestimate the policy sensitivity of firms. Our findings demonstrate that the increase in energy consumption in larger firms has a greater impact on their energy costs and GHG emissions than for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, it has a significant effect on GDP. Also, the increase in renewable energy shares only has a significant influence on the energy consumption and GHG emission levels of large firms.

scholarly journals Analysis and Energy Certification of an Andalusian Public Health Center. Comparative between the General Option and Simplified Procedures

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier ◽  
Jesús ◽  
Julio ◽  
Paulo
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Health Center ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Royal Decree ◽  
The Public ◽  
Basic Procedure ◽  
Simplified Procedures

The requirements concerning the energy certification of buildings established in Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002, which was in turn modified by Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 19 May 2010, regarding the energy efficiency of buildings, were transposed into Spanish legislation through Royal Decree 47/2007, dated January 19, through which a Basic Procedure for certification was approved of energy efficiency of new buildings, which was consolidated by Royal Decree 235/2013, of April 5, which approves the basic procedure for the certification of the energy efficiency of buildings. In said Royal Decree, it is established that existing buildings or units of buildings occupied by a public authority, must obtain an energy efficiency certificate and will have the obligation to display their energy efficiency label, when their total useful area exceeds 250 m2, and are usually frequented by the public. The Basic Procedure is established that must comply with the methodology for calculating the energy efficiency rating, considering those factors that have the greatest impact on their energy consumption, as well as the technical and administrative conditions for the energy efficiency certifications of the buildings. For this purpose, three software programs were promoted from the competent Ministry, one corresponding to the general option (LIDER-CALENER “HULC” unified tool) and two others corresponding to the simplified option (simplified procedures CE3 and CE3X), which allow the energy qualification to be carried out of buildings according to three types of buildings (residential, small and medium-sized tertiary, and large tertiary) that are increasing the requirements of the energy certification of the building depending on the type of the same. This study identifies the possible alternatives for improving energy efficiency over the initial qualification of the building, within a context of technical and economic feasibility, optimizing energy demand, reducing CO2 emissions and building energy consumption, being The study also compares the results obtained in the energy rating, between the general option and the simplified procedures, on an Andalusian health center in 1957, which corresponds to the typology of the Grand Tertiary building (GT).

scholarly journals Total Factor Energy Efficiency, Carbon Emission Efficiency, and Technology Gap: Evidence from Sub-Industries of Anhui Province in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya Chen ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
Qian Zhou ◽  
Zhixiang Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Light Industry ◽  
Heavy Industry ◽  
Technology Gap ◽  
Emission Efficiency

The phenomena of “large energy consumption, high carbon emission, and serious environmental pollution” are against the goals of “low energy consumption, low emissions” in China’s industrial sector. The key to solving the problem lies in improving total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) and carbon emission efficiency (TFCE). Considering the heterogeneity of different sub-industries, this paper proposes a three-stage global meta-frontier slacks-based measure (GMSBM) method for measuring TFEE and TFCE, as well as the technology gap by combining meta-frontier technology with slacks-based measure (SBM) using data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA can effectively avoid the situation where the technology gap ratio (TGR) is larger than unity. This paper uses the three-stage method to empirically analyze TFEE and TFCE of Anhui’s 38 industrial sub-industries in China from 2012 to 2016. The main findings are as follows: (1) Anhui’s industrial sector has low TFEE and TFCE, which has great potential for improvement. (2) TFEE and TFCE of light industry are lower than those of heavy industry under group-frontier, while they are higher than those of heavy industry under meta-frontier. There is a big gap in TFEE and TFCE among sub-industries of light industry. Narrowing the gap among different sub-industries of light industry is conducive to the overall improvement in TFEE and TFCE. (3) The TGR of light industry is significantly higher than that of heavy industry, indicating that there are sub-industries with the most advanced energy use and carbon emission technologies in light industry. And there is a bigger carbon-emitting technology gap in heavy industry, so it needs to encourage technology spillover from light industry to heavy industry. (4) The total performance loss of industrial sub-industries in Anhui mainly comes from management inefficiency, so it is necessary to improve management and operational ability. Based on the findings, some policy implications are proposed.

scholarly journals Renewable Energy and EU 2020 Target for Energy Efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Brożyna ◽  
Wadim Strielkowski ◽  
Alena Fomina ◽  
Natalya Nikitina
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Eu

Our paper focuses on the renewable energy and EU 2020 target for energy efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We study the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in these two EU Member States through the prism of the Europe 2020 strategy and the 3 × 20 climate and energy package and economic growth (represented by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that allows to measure the national dynamics and provide cross-country comparisons) without attributing specific attention to issues such as the electrification of transport or heating, and thence leaving them outside the scope of this paper. Both Czech Republic and Slovakia are two post-Communist countries that still face the consequences of economic transformation and struggle with the optimal management of natural resources. Both countries encountered profound system transformation after 1989 that are apparent in all three measures of sustainable development used in our study. We show that it is unlikely that the planned increase in renewable energy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia will reach its targets, but they might succeed in reducing their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Our findings show that the energy intensity of Czech and Slovak economies increased in the early 2000s and then stabilized at a level about twice of the EU average. It appears that this value is likely to remain the same in the forthcoming years. However, implementation of GHG emissions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia may be at risk in case the proper energy policy is not maintained. Moreover, our results show how the increase in the share of renewable energy and improvement in energy efficiency go hand-in-hand with mining and exploiting the energy sources that is notorious for the transition economies. We also demonstrate that a proper energy policy is required for effectively reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need for commitments made by relevant stakeholders and policymakers targeted at achieving sustainable economic growth and energy efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a need for maintaining a proper balance between economic development and environmental protection, which is a must for the EU sustainable energy development agenda and all its accompanying targets for all its Member States.

scholarly journals Potential and Impacts of Cogeneration in Tropical Climate Countries: Ecuador as a Case Study

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5254
Author(s):  
Manuel Raul Pelaez-Samaniego ◽  
Juan L. Espinoza ◽  
José Jara-Alvear ◽  
Pablo Arias-Reyes ◽  
Fernando Maldonado-Arias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Increase Energy Efficiency ◽  
High Dependency ◽  
Generation Capacity ◽  
Tropical Climates

High dependency on fossil fuels, low energy efficiency, poor diversification of energy sources, and a low rate of access to electricity are challenges that need to be solved in many developing countries to make their energy systems more sustainable. Cogeneration has been identified as a key strategy for increasing energy generation capacity, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and improving energy efficiency in industry, one of the most energy-demanding sectors worldwide. However, more studies are necessary to define approaches for implementing cogeneration, particularly in countries with tropical climates (such as Ecuador). In Ecuador, the National Plan of Energy Efficiency includes cogeneration as one of the four routes for making energy use more sustainable in the industrial sector. The objective of this paper is two-fold: (1) to identify the potential of cogeneration in the Ecuadorian industry, and (2) to show the positive impacts of cogeneration on power generation capacity, GHG emissions reduction, energy efficiency, and the economy of the country. The study uses methodologies from works in specific types of industrial processes and puts them together to evaluate the potential and analyze the impacts of cogeneration at national level. The potential of cogeneration in Ecuador is ~600 MWel, which is 12% of Ecuador’s electricity generation capacity. This potential could save ~18.6 × 106 L/month of oil-derived fuels, avoiding up to 576,800 tCO2/year, and creating around 2600 direct jobs. Cogeneration could increase energy efficiency in the Ecuadorian industry by up to 40%.

scholarly journals Implementation of the ISO 50001 standard to sustainable energy and economic saving the industrial sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-268
Author(s):  
Guillermo Valencia ◽  
Katherin Nahomy Rodriguez ◽  
Gloria Raquel Torregroza Matos ◽  
Carlos Acevedo ◽  
Jorge Duarte Forero
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Gap Analysis ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Energy Costs ◽  
Working Pressure ◽  
Economic Saving ◽  
Save Energy

Given the growth in energy demand, the limited energy resources, and the high environmental impact of energy generation from fossil fuels, it is vital to find methods to obtain save energy costs in different sectors, such as residential, industrial, transportation sector, and domestic. This paper presents a methodology that allows the implementation of an energy management system following the guidelines of the ISO 50001 standard. A gap analysis was performed to determine the position of the organization with respect to the requirements of the standard, and the next step was the inspection of the plant to find opportunities for improvement that would lead to energy optimization. From the results, six equipment was the cause of the 82% of the energy consumption in the production process, and some recommendation was proposed with the aim to optimize energy consumption. A methodology is proposed for the standard implementation, which can be implemented by different organizations from different fields to achieve savings in energy costs in the plant. Some relevant actions to improve the energy performance of the plant were proposed, such as the optimization of the compressed air system, the reduction of potential numbers of leakage, and the reduction of the working pressure of the system.

scholarly journals Reducing GHG Emissions and Improving Cost Effectiveness via Energy Efficiency Enhancements: A Case Study in a Biscuit Industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Valentina Stojceska ◽  
Nicholas Parker ◽  
Savvas A. Tassou
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Automated Production ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Production Area

As the new climate change driven regulations are brought into the force and energy prices and sustainability awareness increased, many companies are looking for the most efficient way to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, the food industry as one of the main energy consumers within the industry sector plays a significant role. This paper analyses the current energy consumption in a biscuit manufacturing company and considers a number of possible solutions for the energy efficiency improvements. The company uses modern and automated production processes and has signed a Climate Change Agreement. The experimental part involves identification of the energy users, as well as analysis of the energy bills, operation times, production schedule and on-site measurements of energy consumption. The opportunities for energy efficiency improvements, GHG emissions and costs reduction are investigated and additional information about the investments and payback period of the proposed improvements discussed. A number of opportunities for improvement are identified within the production area with a potential savings of 23%, which corresponds to EUR 40,534.00 and 190 tCO2, annually. It was found that the significant savings could be achieved by better managing the production lines and reducing operational hours from equipment, with no impact on productivity and no capital investment required. Further savings can be achieved through technical improvements requiring capital investments. All those improvements and savings make a significant contribution in accomplishing environmental targets set out by the FDF1 agreement.

scholarly journals Appraisal of CO2 Emission in Tunisia's Industrial Sector: A Dynamic Vector Autoregression Method

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Besma Talbi ◽  
Muhammad Ramzan ◽  
Hafiz Arslan Iqbal ◽  
Buhari Doğan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Additional Energy

Abstract The World is confronted with a slew of environmental issues, one of which is how to attenuate the detrimental impacts of CO2 emissions-induced climate change. The ever-increasing use of energy is eroding natural resources to the point that our economic future may be jeopardized. The Tunisian economic growth indicates the excellent performance in the industrial sector as the minimum required input for these developments necessitates additional energy consumption, resulting in increased CO2 emissions and environmental degradation. This study explores the role of energy efficiency, urbanization, economic growth, and natural gas energy usage in the industrial sector on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of Tunisia. The research mainly employs the Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR) to examine the factors driving the evolution of CO2 emissions through the industrial sector from 2000 to 2018. The findings assess that natural gas as an energy source and efficiency are crucial for reducing CO2 emissions. The study has shown the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), which demonstrates that economic development in Tunisia has an inverted U-shape connection with CO2 emissions. The results indicate that energy consumption and GDP significantly affect CO2 emissions due to large-scale population movements and industrial structure transformation. In contrast, energy efficiency plays a dominant role in decreasing CO2 emissions. The article will assist economic decision-makers and related authorities in formulating an appropriate energy policy for the industrial sector based on the study's outcomes to protect environmental degradation in the long run by reducing carbon emissions.

scholarly journals Economic Transition, Technology Change, and Energy Consumption in China: A Provincial-Level Analysis

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 2581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Liu ◽  
Jiang Lin ◽  
Junfeng Hu ◽  
Hongyou Lu ◽  
Jiaru Cai
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
National Level ◽  
Steel Production ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Tertiary Sector

This paper conducts panel analysis to evaluate the effects of a structural economic shift from the industrial to the tertiary sector, a reduction in industrial overcapacity, and improvements in energy efficiency on energy consumption using data for 30 Chinese provinces from 1995 to 2015. We find that, at the national level, the structural shift to the tertiary sector, the reduction in cement and steel production, and the increase in energy efficiency in the industrial sector all have statistically significantly negative effects. We also divide the sample into three geographic and economic regions to evaluate regional differences. We find that the gross domestic product (GDP) share of the tertiary sector shows its greatest impact on reducing energy consumption in the eastern region, a decline in heavy industry production would reduce energy demand more in the central region, and improvement in industrial electricity efficiency would also help reduce energy consumption the most in eastern China. We also forecast energy consumption in China will reach 4.8–4.9 billion tonnes of coal equivalent (tce) in 2020 and further grow to 5.0–5.4 billion tce in 2030.

Research on the Regional Low-Carbon Industrial Development: A Case of Tianjin Binhai New Area

2011 ◽  
Vol 219-220 ◽  
pp. 250-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Ying Cui ◽  
Hui Ming Li ◽  
Lei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Tianjin Binhai New Area

Energy consumption induced by industry sector is the main source of carbon emission. So it is important to the policy making that research on the low-carbon industrial development, which is aiming to establish an industry system with low-carbon character. There are four restrictive factors on low-carbon industrial development in Tianjin Binhai New Area of China: the rather large scale of the secondary industry, the heavy industrial structure which strongly caused the increasing energy consumption, the high-carbon energy structure of industrial sector, and the lower industrial energy efficiency which has certain gap compared with other regions. Several countermeasures are proposed to reduce carbon emission induced by industrial sector, such as improving energy efficiency, optimizing energy structure, establishing multiple-access financing mechanism to encourage R&D on low-carbon technology, enhancing the development of low carbon industry, participating in the international cooperation actively, and making strategic plan of low-carbon industrial development.

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