scholarly journals Estimating the Rebound Effect of the U.S. Road Freight Transport

Author(s):  
A. Latif Patwary ◽  
T. Edward Yu ◽  
Burton C. English ◽  
David W. Hughes ◽  
Seong-Hoon Cho

The United States (U.S.) road freight sector has continued to grow over recent decades. Growth in road freight could result in more fuel consumption and hence increased greenhouse gas emissions. Policymakers have attempted to manage the growth of energy usage through improved fuel economy based on technological advances. However, such improvements may not lead to anticipated goals because of the rebound effect, where improvements in energy efficiency trigger more travel and energy consumption that offsets energy savings. Thus, this study aims to determine the potential rebound effect from improved energy efficiency in the U.S. road freight sector. Eight fuel cost models are applied and asymmetric price response is incorporated in estimating the U.S. road freight sector’s rebound effect from 1980 to 2016. In addition, a recently developed data envelopment analysis is applied to determine the annual rebound effect in the road freight sector. The results suggest that, after accounting for the asymmetric price response, the average rebound effect of the U.S. road freight sector ranges from 6.9% to 8.8%, a level considerably less than that found for several industrialized countries and emerging economies. However, a considerable increase in the rebound effect has been seen in more recent years. The findings suggest that overlooking the rebound effect in environmental policies could impede the goal of reducing total energy consumption and accompanying emissions. Policymakers should incorporate the rebound effect from efficiency enhancement in policy development and utilize some potential programs to reduce the adverse influence of rebound effect in related policies.

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Nan Wang ◽  
Thi-Duong Nguyen ◽  
Min-Chun Yu

Despite the many benefits that energy consumption brings to the economy, consuming energy also leads nations to expend more resources on environmental pollution. Therefore, energy efficiency has been proposed as a solution to improve national economic competitiveness and sustainability. However, the growth in energy demand is accelerating while policy efforts to boost energy efficiency are slowing. To solve this problem, the efficiency gains in countries where energy consumption efficiency is of the greatest concern such as China, India, the United States, and Europe, especially, emerging economies, is central. Additionally, governments must take greater policy actions. Therefore, this paper studied 25 countries from Asia, the Americas, and Europe to develop a method combining the grey method (GM) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) slack-based measure model (SMB) to measure and forecast the energy efficiency, so that detailed energy efficiency evaluation can be made from the past to the future; moreover, this method can be extended to more countries around the world. The results of this study reveal that European countries have a higher energy efficiency than countries in Americas (except the United States) and Asian countries. Our findings also show that an excess of total energy consumption is the main reason causing the energy inefficiency in most countries. This study contributes to policymaking and strategy makers by sharing the understanding of the status of energy efficiency and providing insights for the future.


A brief review and interpretation of regional and world-wide trends in total energy consumption and its composition since the end of World War II is given. A review of energy-consumption projections into the 1980s — world-wide and regional — focuses on the role of international trade in oil in achieving supply—demand balances. The prospective position of the U.S. as a major oil importer is emphasized. An analysis of the sensitivity of world supply prospects to alternative assumptions concerning the growth of indigenous sources of supply in the United States of America and Western Europe is presented. The post-war growth rate in world energy consumption averaged out to over 5% per annum. Marked shifts in regional shares and variations in regional growth rates have occurred, but regional differences in the level of per capita energy use, while narrowing, remain conspicuously wide. The sharp relative decline of coal during this period was accompanied by a dramatic relative increase in both oil and gas. The rapid growth of world energy consumption as a whole, the continued shift toward oil and the rising volume of U.S. oil imports all failed to be adequately anticipated in past energy projections. A standard projection to the mid-1980s shows: world-wide energy growth of between 5-J- and 6% ; an even faster growth rate for oil, resulting in about 115x10® barrels (18.3 x 10® m3)/day in 1985 (compared to 53 x 102 b (8.4 x 104 m3)/d in 1972); and the addition of the U.S. to the ranks of the major oil importers. The Middle East, along with areas of lesser reserve holdings, is in all likelihood physically capable of accommodating expected oil demand to the mid-1980s. But the acute degree of dependence that this would pose for major consuming regions prompts the question of how a greatly expanded indigenous producing capability in the U.S. could blunt the one-sidedness of the demand-supply picture. Recently completed research suggests that, within an appropriate policy setting, the U.S. could probably meet all but 20% of its oil and gas internally by 1985 - and do so at real prices no higher than the $6/barrel ($38/m3>) delivered price rapidly being approached by Persian Gulf crude. Such a development, along with whatever contribution can be made by Western Europe’s own petroleum-producing capability, can perhaps introduce a stabilizing element of major importance into world energy flows.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Bawaneh ◽  
Farnaz Ghazi Nezami ◽  
Md. Rasheduzzaman ◽  
Brad Deken

Healthcare facilities in the United States account for 4.8% of the total area in the commercial sector and are responsible for 10.3% of total energy consumption in this sector. The number of healthcare facilities increased by 22% since 2003, leading to a 21% rise in energy consumption and an 8% reduction in energy intensity per unit of area (544.8 kWh/m2). This study provides an analytical overview of the end-use energy consumption data in healthcare systems for hospitals in the United States. The energy intensity of the U.S. hospitals ranges from 640.7 kWh/m2 in Zone 5 (very hot) to 781.1 kWh/m2 in Zone 1 (very cold), with an average of 738.5 kWh/m2. This is approximately 2.6 times higher than that of other commercial buildings. High energy intensity in the healthcare facilities, particularly in hospitals, along with energy costs and associated environmental concerns make energy analysis crucial for this type of facility. The proposed analysis shows that U.S. healthcare facilities have higher energy intensity than those of most other countries, especially the European ones. This necessitates the adoption of more energy-efficient approaches to the infrastructure and the management of healthcare facilities in the United States.


Author(s):  
Li-juan Qu ◽  
Li-nan Lei ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Jin-yuan Qian

In 2007, Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) carried out the Campus Resource Conservation Actions, in order to take full use of resources and to improve the energy efficiency. However, due to the large amounts of universities, the total energy consumption and the energy efficiency situation have no objective statistics. Taking modeling the energy consumption of university buildings as the starting point, this paper analyzes the characteristics of university buildings in China. Then, we do the prediction, trend and potential analysis of the total energy consumption in 2020. In addition, four strategies for energy efficiency management are carried out, which might be helpful for all the university managers and related departments.


2014 ◽  
Vol 953-954 ◽  
pp. 890-895
Author(s):  
Hui Min Li ◽  
Cun Bin Li ◽  
Zhan Xin Ma

In recent years, with the rapid economic growth, the demand on the amount of energy in China is increasing. So the problem of how to improve the energy utilization efficiency and save energy consumption has to be tackled. The traditional CCR model and BCC model used in the study of provincial energy efficiency do not take the impact of technological progress into consideration. Therefore, the paper uses the generalized DEA method to research the energy utilization efficiency of China’s 29 provinces, that is, to evaluate and analyze the energy utilization efficiency by selecting the capital stock, employment and total energy consumption of China’s provinces as input factors and GDP, per capital GDP as output factors, and then draw tables showing each province’s change of average annual overall efficiency and the pure technology changes, and finally analyze the regularities underlying these changes.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aniela Kaminska ◽  
Andrzej Ożadowicz

Energy used for lighting is one of the major components of total energy consumption in buildings. Nowadays, buildings have a great potential to reduce their energy consumption, but to achieve this purpose additional efforts are indispensable. In this study, the need for energy savings evaluation before the implementation of lighting control algorithms for a specified building is highlighted. Therefore, experimental tests have been carried out in a university building with laboratories and other rooms, equipped with KNX building automation system. A dimmable control strategy has been investigated, dependent on daylight illuminance. Moreover, a relationship between external and internal daylight illuminance levels has been evaluated as well. Based on the experimental results, the authors proposed a method for the rough estimation of electrical energy savings. Since, according to the EN 15232 standard, Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) play an important role in buildings’ energy efficiency improvements, the BACS efficiency factors from this standard have been used to verify the experimental results presented in the paper. The potential to reduce energy consumption from lighting in non-residential buildings by 28% for offices and 24% for educational buildings has been confirmed, but its dependence on specific building parameters has been discussed as well.


Author(s):  
W. C. Cromer ◽  
Mark J. Miller ◽  
X. J. Xin ◽  
Z. J. Pei ◽  
Karen A. Schmidt

Energy consumption by the dairy food industry in the United States constitutes 10% of all energy consumed by the U.S. food industry. Reducing energy consumption in cooling and refrigeration of foods plays an important role in meeting the challenge of the energy crisis. Hardening is an important and energy-intensive step in ice cream manufacturing. This work presents Finite Element Method (FEM) investigation of the ice cream hardening process, aiming to provide insight and guidance for energy savings in ice cream manufacturing. Effects of container shape and dimensions, container layers, and heat transfer boundary conditions on energy consumption for hardening of ice cream were investigated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Sándor Czeglédi

The present paper examines the link between language and cultural identity by exploring the language-related attitudes, policies and ideologies as reflected in the written records of the U.S. Federal Congress from 1789 until roughly the end of the “Second War of Independence” in 1815. The results are compared and contrasted with the findings of a previous study which examined the founding documents of the United States from a similar perspective. The most salient language policy development of the post-1789 period is the overall shift from the symbolic, general language-related remarks towards the formulation of more substantive and general policies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salah M Alabani ◽  
Ibrahim H Tawil

The residential sector in Libya has grown over the past decade in the construction of residential buildings due to the increase in the population. Moreover, the increase in the level of income has contributed to the increase in the purchase of household appliances, which leads to increased demand for energy. Energy consumption in the household sector accounted for 31% of total energy consumption during 2010, and the share of air conditioners in this sector consumed 18.35%. To reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency in this sector, policies should be considered to apply energy efficiency standards and markers to household electrical appliances, as they are considered one of the most successful programs used in the world. Countries are implementing such programs to reduce energy consumption in the domestic sector. This paper presents the possibility of implementing such programs to introduce the importance of energy efficiency standards and labeling programs for home appliances in Libya. The calculations required to design such programs show the energy savings that can be achieved during cooling loads in the summer period of 4 months July, August, September). A strategic plan has been developed during 10-year (2020-2030) to estimate the expected savings of energy consumed and to identify possible obstacles and difficulties by gradually increasing the energy efficiency ratio for comestic air conditioners in two stages, from EER10 to EER11 in the first stage is then raised to EER12 as the second stage.


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