scholarly journals Beyond the City: Effects of Urbanization on Rural Residential Energy Intensity and CO2 Emissions

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiu Chen ◽  
Haoran Yang ◽  
Wenguo Wang ◽  
Tianbiao Liu

Trends of rural residential energy consumption and CO2 emission should be evaluated in a broader context of urbanization, especially in developing countries where urbanization is in its expanding stage. In this study, we use the STIRPAT model and various panel regression techniques to explore the impact of urbanization on rural residential energy consumption and CO2 emission by using data from Southwest China. The results show that a higher urbanization level contributes to higher total residential energy intensity. Increases in net income per capita can decrease the intensities of traditional biomass energy and non-biomass energy, while industrialization has a negative effect only on non-biomass energy intensity. Land use change driven by urbanization can also lower the intensities of total residential energy, traditional biomass energy and non-biomass energy. Moreover, the impact of total residential energy intensity on emissions is positive. Particularly, traditional biomass energy accounts for most of CO2 emissions derived from the use of residential energy. As urbanization is expected to increase in the developing world and lead to more CO2 emissions from rural areas, policies which intend to reduce the intensity of traditional biomass energy, promote biogas and industrialization, and raise net income of rural residents can be used as effective mitigation strategies.

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Ram Pandit ◽  
David Laband

Trees cast shade on homes and buildings, lowering the inside temperatures and thus reducing the demand for power to cool these buildings during hot times of the year. Drawing from a large sample of residences in Auburn, Alabama, U.S., a statistical model was developed to produce specific estimates of the electricity savings generated by shade-producing trees in a suburban environment. This empirical model links residential energy consumption to hedonic characteristics of the structures, characteristics/ behaviors of the occupants, and the extent and density of shade cast on the structures at different times of the day.


2021 ◽  
pp. 8-14
Author(s):  
Fredy Torres Mejía ◽  
Jhunior Marcía Fuentes ◽  
Juan Torres Mejía ◽  
Flavio Hernández Bonilla ◽  
Ricardo Santos Alemán ◽  
...  

The aim of this research work was to evaluate the methods of mechanical drying of coffee beans (Coffea arabica) from energy evaluations. The control variables were the drying of the grain and energy was used as the response variable, measured in Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (TEP), Barrels of Oil Equivalent (BEP), and Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (Ton CO2eq). The evaluations on the three methods of mechanical coffee drying indicate that the rotary dryer requires 1.0 TEP equivalent to 1.017 kg CO2eqkg-1 in dry parchment coffee (CPS), however, the vertical drying method requires 1.12 TEP (0.616 kg CO2eqkg-1 in CPS) and the static dryer requires 0.5 TEP (0.33 Kg CO2eqkg-1 in CPS). Furthermore, the biomass energy consumption in the rotary dryer is 12.60 MJkg-1, in the vertical dryer it is 7.46 MJkg-1, and the static dryer is 3.91 MJkg-1. These results indicate that the rotary dryer uses 91.95% of the biomass energy, the vertical dryer uses 90.31%, and the static dryer 90.68%. Concluding that rotary drying has a higher biomass energy consumption and reduces CO2 emissions kg-1 in dry parchment coffee, this method is also preferred by cuppers, as it preserves the sensory qualities of the coffee and contributes to reducing the impact. the environment in the consumption of electrical energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions. However, these predictors need more work to validate reliability.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2110023
Author(s):  
Seong-Hoon Cho ◽  
Moonwon Soh ◽  
Kihyun Park ◽  
Hyun Jae Kim

Demographic changes have a profound impact on residential energy consumption. The number of single-person households is rapidly increasing around the world and the percentages of elderly individuals in the populations of almost all countries are expanding. The objective of our research was to analyze how single-person households and elderly households impact residential energy intensity, defined as annual residential energy consumption per capita per unit of finished area of the household’s house, and how those impacts interact with each other using South Korea as a case study. Our findings suggest that the rise of solo living and an ageing population have overlapping effects on energy consumption and threaten future improvements in residential energy intensity. Specifically, an increase of single-person households results in a decline in energy intensity regardless of whether the household is elderly or non-elderly and the effect of an increase in elderly households on energy intensity depends on whether the household is single- or multiple-person. Given the similar average size of finished area for single-person households, the difference in per unit energy consumption between elderly versus non-elderly households likely comes from behavioral differences such as a greater use of energy-intensive appliances by non-elderly households than elderly households. However, for multiple-person households, the effect of such behavioral differences seems to be dominated by the effect of a house’s shared amenities. The common space and energy-consuming amenities of a house are shared by more individuals in non-elderly households, leading to more intensive energy consumption by non-elderly multiple-person households than by elderly multiple-person households.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 7523
Author(s):  
Minseok Jang ◽  
Hyun Cheol Jeong ◽  
Taegon Kim ◽  
Dong Hee Suh ◽  
Sung-Kwan Joo

Since January 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been impacting various aspects of people’s daily lives and the economy. The first case of COVID-19 in South Korea was identified on 20 January 2020. The Korean government implemented the first social distancing measures in the first week of March 2020. As a result, energy consumption in the industrial, commercial and educational sectors decreased. On the other hand, residential energy consumption increased as telecommuting work and remote online classes were encouraged. However, the impact of social distancing on residential energy consumption in Korea has not been systematically analyzed. This study attempts to analyze the impact of social distancing implemented as a result of COVID-19 on residential energy consumption with time-varying reproduction numbers of COVID-19. A two-way fixed effect model and demographic characteristics are used to account for the heterogeneity. The changes in household energy consumption by load shape group are also analyzed with the household energy consumption model. There some are key results of COVID-19 impact on household energy consumption. Based on the hourly smart meter data, an average increase of 0.3% in the hourly average energy consumption is caused by a unit increase in the time-varying reproduction number of COVID-19. For each income, mid-income groups show less impact on energy consumption compared to both low-income and high-income groups. In each family member, as the number of family members increases, the change in electricity consumption affected by social distancing tends to decrease. For area groups, large area consumers increase household energy consumption more than other area groups. Lastly, The COVID-19 impact on each load shape is influenced by their energy consumption patterns.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4634
Author(s):  
Hongguang Nie ◽  
René Kemp ◽  
Véronique Vasseur

This paper brings out some remarkable differences between China as a developing country experiencing high economic growth and the Netherlands as a developed country by examining the driving forces behind the evolution of residential energy consumption per capita (RECpc) in the two countries in the period from 2001 to 2015. The components we analysed are income, energy-intensity, weather and energy-mix effects. The most remarkable result is the changing effect of energy intensity in China: during 2001–2007 energy intensity increased, and decreased afterward. The changes reflected changes in material circumstances: the shift to relative energy intensive goods and of saturation of energy demand for heating and cooling. In the Netherlands, the declining energy intensity, warmer winters and the more diversified energy mix decreased RECpc by 511.39, 58.81 and 1.08 kgce, respectively. Although the income growth both increased RECpc in the two countries, the relatively high-speed increasing income in China narrowed the RECpc gap between the two countries. This study implies that the opposite changes in RECpc in developing and developed countries are due to the different development stages reached by the countries. Policy suggestions are being offered to deal with the different circumstances, as revealed through this study.


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