Analysing the interactions between renewable energy promotion and energy efficiency support schemes: The impact of different instruments and design elements

Abstract Economic and population growth is leading to increased energy demand across all sectors – buildings, transportation, and industry. Adoption of new energy consumers such as electric vehicles could further increase this growth. Sensible utilization of clean renewable energy resources is necessary to sustain this growth. Thermal needs in a building pose a significant challenge to the energy infrastructure. Supporting the current and future building thermal energy needs to offset the total electric demand while lowering the carbon footprint and enhancing the grid flexibility is presented in this study. Performance assessment of heat pumps, renewable energy, non-fossil fuel-based cogeneration systems, and their hybrid configurations was conducted. The impact of design configuration, coefficient of performance (COP), electric grid's primary energy efficiency on the key attributes of total carbon footprint, life cycle costs, operational energy savings, and site-specific primary energy efficiency are analyzed and discussed in detail.

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THE IMPACT OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY ON RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS

Renewable Energy, Technology and the Environment ◽

10.1016/b978-0-08-041268-9.50048-1 ◽

1992 ◽

pp. 2654-2664 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bent Sørensen

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Options ◽

The Impact

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The impact of renewable energy technologies on global energy efficiency

UN Chronicle ◽

10.18356/f00277f1-en ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 14-16

Author(s):

Christine Lins ◽

Hannah E. Murdock

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Global Energy ◽

Renewable Energy Technologies ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

The Impact

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Dynamic Linkages Among Energy Consumption, Environment and Health Sustainability: Evidence from the Different Income Level Countries

INQUIRY The Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing ◽

10.1177/0046958020975220 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 57 ◽

pp. 004695802097522

Author(s):

Yongqi Feng ◽

Ren Liu ◽

Yung-ho Chiu ◽

Tzu-Han Chang

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Income Level ◽

High Income ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

The Impact ◽

Health Efficiency

Environment pollution was closely related to human health. The energy consumption is one of the important sources of environmental pollution in the development of economy. This paper used undesirable two-stage meta-frontier DDF (distance difference function) data envelopment analysis model to explore the impact of environment pollutants from energy consumption on the mortality of children and the aged, survival rate of 65 years old and health expenditure efficiency in 27 high income countries, 21 upper middle income countries, and 16 lower middle income countries from 2010 to 2014. High income countries had higher efficiency of energy and health than middle income countries in general. But whether in high income or middle income countries, the efficiency of non-renewable energy is higher than renewable energy. There was much room for both high income countries and middle income countries to improve renewable energy efficiency. Besides, middle income countries need to improve the efficiency of non-renewable energy and reduce pollutant emissions per unit of GDP. In terms of health efficiency, upper middle income countries performed worse than lower income countries. This phenomenon might indicate there was a U-shaped relationship between health efficiency and income level. Upper income countries should pay more attention to the environmental and health problems and cross the U-shaped turning point. The contribution of this article was to consider the heterogeneous performance of energy efficiency, environmental efficiency, and health efficiency under the influence of income level differences, and found that there might be a U-shaped relationship between health efficiency and income level.

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World Energy Resources and New Technologies

Papers on Global Change IGBP ◽

10.1515/igbp-2016-0003 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 21-35

Author(s):

Janusz S. Szmyd

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Natural Resources ◽

Social Transformation ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Primary Energy ◽

Energy Resources ◽

Energy Sources ◽

The Impact

Abstract The development of civilisation is linked inextricably with growing demand for electricity. Thus, the still-rapid increase in the level of utilisation of natural resources, including fossil fuels, leaves it more and more urgent that conventional energy technologies and the potential of the renewable energy sources be made subject to re-evaluation. It is estimated that last 200 years have seen use made of more than 50% of the available natural resources. Equally, if economic forecasts prove accurate, for at least several more decades, oil, natural gas and coal will go on being the basic primary energy sources. The alternative solution represented by nuclear energy remains a cause of considerable public concern, while the potential for use to be made of renewable energy sources is seen to be very much dependent on local environmental conditions. For this reason, it is necessary to emphasise the impact of research that focuses on the further sharpening-up of energy efficiency, as well as actions aimed at increasing society’s awareness of the relevant issues. The history of recent centuries has shown that rapid economic and social transformation followed on from the industrial and technological revolutions, which is to say revolutions made possible by the development of power-supply technologies. While the 19th century was “the age of steam” or of coal, and the 20th century the era of oil and gas, the question now concerns the name that will at some point come to be associated with the 21st century. In this paper, the subjects of discussion are primary energy consumption and energy resources, though three international projects on the global scale are also presented, i.e. ITER, Hydrates and DESERTEC. These projects demonstrate new scientific and technical possibilities, though it is unlikely that commercialisation would prove feasible before 2050. Research should thus be focused on raising energy efficiency. The development of high-efficiency technologies that reinforce energy security is presented, with it being assumed that these new high-efficiency technologies are capable of being applied globally in the near future.

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Energy Security Assessment of Emerging Economies under Global and Local Challenges

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14185860 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (18) ◽

pp. 5860

Author(s):

Iryna Sotnyk ◽

Tetiana Kurbatova ◽

Oleksandr Kubatko ◽

Olha Prokopenko ◽

Gunnar Prause ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Emerging Economies ◽

Energy Security ◽

Smart Grids ◽

Electricity Generation ◽

Financial Burden ◽

Green Energy ◽

Decoupling Index ◽

The Impact

This paper proposes methodological approaches to assessing the impact of renewable energy and energy efficiency development on emerging economies’ energy security. It is suggested to supplement the current methodology for assessing energy security with the decoupling index of the renewable energy financial burden on the state budget, the energy efficiency decoupling index, the households’ energy poverty indicator, the index of capacity development for balancing electricity generation volumes, and the energy fluctuations indicator. These indices provide a comprehensive assessment of energy security under the latest challenges. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic in the Ukrainian energy sector led to the “green and coal paradox”, when the government decided to keep green electricity generation but limit nuclear generation. It required increased flexible capacities (thermal generation) and led to a rise in electricity prices and environmental pollution. Forecasting energy fluctuations with Butterworth filters allows minimizing the risks of maximum peak loads on the grid and timely prevention of emergencies. The energy fluctuations within the 20% range guarantee energy security and optimal energy companies’ operation. It is proposed to smooth out energy consumption fluctuations through green energy development, smart grids formation, energy efficiency improvements, and energy capacities balancing to ensure energy and economic sustainability.

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Energy security and implementation of renewable energy in the European Union

10.31338/1641-2478pe.4.20.11 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 139-145

Author(s):

Magdalena Tkaczyk

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Security ◽

The European Union ◽

Gradual Reduction ◽

Global Challenges ◽

Climate Crisis ◽

The Impact ◽

The Eu

In the light of the deepening climate crisis and global challenges, the issue of energy security is discussed more broadly. The growing fears of the European Union characterised as a region that is highly dependent on energy import from non-EU countries, lead to the modernisation of the European energy sector. The EU is actively promoting the implementation of renewable energy and investments in a sustainable economyto ensure energy security. In this essay, the author analyses a research on the impact of renewable energy efficiency on the gradual reduction of dependence on energy supplies, that was carried out by Turkish scientists, F. Gökgöz and M.T. Güvercin, in 2018. In order to obtain a comprehensive perspective on this issue, the author confronts this publication with other scientific articles in the field of EU energy security.

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University of Turin performance in UI GreenMetric Energy and Climate Change

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/20184803003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 ◽

pp. 03003 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marcello Baricco ◽

Andrea Tartaglino ◽

Paolo Gambino ◽

Egidio Dansero ◽

Dario Cottafava ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Distribution System ◽

Energy Production ◽

Action Plan ◽

Primary Energy ◽

University Policy ◽

Design Elements ◽

The University

At the University of Turin (UniTo) the first attempt to reduce the ecological footprint dates back to 2006. In 2013 UniTo participated, for the first time, to the GreenMetric World University Rankings and it launched its most ambitious sustainable initiatives by publishing the first annual University Sustainability Report. Since 2013, several efforts have been made to reduce carbon emissions, to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as for reducing water consumption, improving waste management, promoting sustainable mobility, and increasing ecological purchases. The most recent achievement was in 2016, when the University Green Office (UniToGO) was established. Concerning the energy management, UniTo may be considered as a “city within a city”: it counts about 70,000 students and 4,000 academic and administrative-technical staff studying and working in about 120 buildings, with an annual primary energy cost of over 10 M€. Thanks to UniToGO, UniTo adopted an Energy Plan with the aim to reduce primary energy consumption, to improve buildings energy efficiency and to increase the energy production from renewable energy. As a result, several actions relevant for GreenMetric were performed: the renovation of old chiller and substitution of new energy efficient LED, the implementation of Smart Building Systems (BEMS) for HVAC plants and the adoption of an OpenData policy for energy consumption, the increase of renewable energy production, mainly due to three cogeneration plants, and the adoption of a university policy in order to buy only renewable energy from the current Distribution System Operator. Moreover, UniTo took several efforts to improve or to design elements of green buildings in a partecipatory way. Finally, during 2017, the Environmental Sustainability Action Plan was set-up to plan future actions related to five sustainability fields: Energy, Food, Green Public Procurement, Mobility and Waste.

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