scholarly journals Mind the gap when implementing technologies intended to reduce or shift energy consumption in blocks-of-buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Breukers ◽  
Tracey Crosbie ◽  
Luc van Summeren
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Demand Response ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Four Blocks ◽  
Design Logic

If the designers of technologies intended to reduce or shift energy consumption are not sensitive to how people live and work in buildings, a gap occurs between the expected and actual performance of those technologies. This paper explores this problem using the concepts of ‘design logic’ (designers’ ideas, values, intentions and user representations) and the ‘user logic’ (related in this case to how building occupants currently live and work in a building). The research presented unpacks the ‘design logic’ embedded in DR approaches planned for implementation at four blocks of buildings in a Horizon 2020 funded project, called “Demand Response in Blocks of Buildings” (DR-BoB). It discusses how the ‘user logic’ may differ from the ‘design logic’ and the potential impact of this on the performance of the technologies being implemented to reduce or shift energy consumption. The data analysed includes technical working documents describing the implementation scenarios of DR at four pilot sites, interviews and workshops conducted with the project team and building occupants during the first phases of the project. The analysis presented identifies how expectations about building occupants and their behaviours are built into the DR scenarios (to be tested during the project demonstrations). Initial findings suggest that building occupants’ energy use practices and routines may be different from those expectations. The paper illustrates how the concepts of ‘design logic’ and ‘user logic’ can be used to identify mismatches before technologies are implemented. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the design and implementation of DR.

Indoor environmental quality and energy use evaluation of a three-star green office building in China with field study

2020 ◽  
pp. 174425912094460
Author(s):  
Yan Zhou ◽  
Jianmin Cai ◽  
Yiwen Xu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
Chinese Standard

In order to get more comprehensive operation performance on indoor environment quality (IEQ) and energy consumption, a long-time measurement and a field occupants’ satisfaction survey on IEQ performance of the first three-star-operation-certified green office building in Ningbo city of China have been conducted, and environmental energy efficiency (EEE) also has been analyzed. Moreover, IEQ and energy consumption of the green case office building are compared with other green office example buildings of the same climate zone in other literatures. The results show that the actual indoor thermal environment of the green case office building isn’t quite achieving the design goals with the Chinese standard of thermal comfort level II (GB 50736). Although indoor air quality of CO2 concentration and visual environment are consistent with the design goals, the indoor relative humidity doesn’t reach the design goal in most of the year. The questionnaire survey results illustrate that the green case building has a high occupants’ satisfaction on IEQ. The comparison results show that there is no obvious difference in indoor temperature and visual environment between the green case building and the green office example buildings in other studies. The results of occupant’s satisfaction and CO2 concentration of the green case building are better than in other studies. However, the indoor relative humidity of the green case building in every season is much higher than in other researches. Energy use intensity (EUI) of the green case building is about 56.5 kWh/m2·a, which is much lower than the constraint value of the Chinese standard. The actual performance of the green case building is also evaluated by the indicator of EEE. The results of this article can provide useful reference for green building operational performance promotion and feedback for design phase optimization.

scholarly journals Assessing the Value of Demand Response in Microgrids

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5848
Author(s):  
Isaías Gomes ◽  
Rui Melicio ◽  
Victor M. F. Mendes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Demand Response ◽  
Storage Systems ◽  
Computer Application ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Proper Formulation ◽  
Operation Case

This paper presents a computer application to assist in decisions about sustainability enhancement due to the effect of shifting demand from less favorable periods to periods that are more convenient for the operation of a microgrid. Specifically, assessing how the decisions affect the economic participation of the aggregating agent of the microgrid bidding in an electricity day-ahead market. The aggregating agent must manage microturbines, wind systems, photovoltaic systems, energy storage systems, and loads, facing load uncertainty and further uncertainties due to the use of renewable sources of energy and participation in the day-ahead market. These uncertainties cannot be removed from the decision making, and, therefore, require proper formulation, and the proposed approach customizes a stochastic programming problem for this operation. Case studies show that under these uncertainties and the shifting of demand to convenient periods, there are opportunities to make decisions that lead to significant enhancements of the expected profit. These enhancements are due to better bidding in the day-ahead market and shifting energy consumption in periods of favorable market prices for exporting energy. Through the case studies it is concluded that the proposed approach is useful for the operation of a microgrid.

scholarly journals DRIvE Project Unlocks Demand Response Potential with Digital Twins

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Laura Pérez ◽  
Juan Espeche ◽  
Tatiana Loureiro ◽  
Aleksandar Kavgić
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Demand Response ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Distribution Grid ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Digital Twins ◽  
Future Workshop ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Innovation Project

DRIvE (Demand Response Integration Technologies) is a research and innovation project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program, whose main objective is unlocking the demand response potential in the distribution grid. DRIvE presented how the use of digital twins de-risks the implementation of demand response applications at the “Flexibility 2.0: Demand response and self-consumption based on the prosumer of Europe’s low carbon future” workshop within the conference “Sustainable Places 2020”. This workshop was organized to cluster and foster knowledge transfer between several EU projects, each developing innovative solutions within the field of demand response, energy flexibility, and optimized synergies between actors of the built environment and the power grid.

scholarly journals Evaluation of CO2 emissions and energy use with different container terminal layouts

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Arif Budiyanto ◽  
Muhammad Hanzalah Huzaifi ◽  
Simon Juanda Sirait ◽  
Putu Hangga Nan Prayoga
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Container Terminal ◽  
Container Terminals ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Container Handling

AbstractSustainable development of container terminals is based on energy efficiency and reduction in CO2 emissions. This study estimated the energy consumption and CO2 emissions in container terminals according to their layouts. Energy consumption was calculated based on utility data as well as fuel and electricity consumptions for each container-handling equipment in the container terminal. CO2 emissions were estimated using movement modality based on the number of movements of and distance travelled by each container-handling equipment. A case study involving two types of container terminal layouts i.e. parallel and perpendicular layouts, was conducted. The contributions of each container-handling equipment to the energy consumption and CO2 emissions were estimated and evaluated using statistical analysis. The results of the case study indicated that on the CO2 emissions in parallel and perpendicular layouts were relatively similar (within the range of 16–19 kg/TEUs). These results indicate that both parallel and perpendicular layouts are suitable for future ports based on sustainable development. The results can also be used for future planning of operating patterns and layout selection in container terminals.

scholarly journals Towards Sustainable Energy Retrofitting, a Simulation for Potential Energy Use Reduction in Residential Buildings in Palestine

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3876
Author(s):  
Sameh Monna ◽  
Adel Juaidi ◽  
Ramez Abdallah ◽  
Aiman Albatayneh ◽  
Patrick Dutournie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Water Heating ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Space Cooling ◽  
Cooling Loads

Since buildings are one of the major contributors to global warming, efforts should be intensified to make them more energy-efficient, particularly existing buildings. This research intends to analyze the energy savings from a suggested retrofitting program using energy simulation for typical existing residential buildings. For the assessment of the energy retrofitting program using computer simulation, the most commonly utilized residential building types were selected. The energy consumption of those selected residential buildings was assessed, and a baseline for evaluating energy retrofitting was established. Three levels of retrofitting programs were implemented. These levels were ordered by cost, with the first level being the least costly and the third level is the most expensive. The simulation models were created for two different types of buildings in three different climatic zones in Palestine. The findings suggest that water heating, space heating, space cooling, and electric lighting are the highest energy consumers in ordinary houses. Level one measures resulted in a 19–24 percent decrease in energy consumption due to reduced heating and cooling loads. The use of a combination of levels one and two resulted in a decrease of energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting by 50–57%. The use of the three levels resulted in a decrease of 71–80% in total energy usage for heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, and air conditioning.

scholarly journals A Decomposition Analysis of the Korean Manufacturing Sector: Monetary vs. Physical Outputs

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6192
Author(s):  
Junghwan Lee ◽  
Jinsoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Intensity Effect ◽  
Activity Effect ◽  
Index Decomposition ◽  
Output Indicator

This study analyzes the changes in energy consumption of the Korean manufacturing sector using the index decomposition analysis (IDA) method. To capture the production effect based on actual physical activities, we applied the activity revaluation (AR) approach in the analysis. We also developed energy consumption data in terms of primary energy supply to consider conversion loss in the energy sector to avoid any distortions in the intensity effect. The analysis covers every manufacturing subsector in Korea over the period between 2006 and 2018. Combining two distinctive approaches from the previous literature, the AR approach and primary energy-based analysis gives us helpful findings for a climate policy. First, the overall activity effect estimated from the physical output indicator is lower than that from the monetary output indicator. The monetary indicator shows that the share of energy-intensive industries decreases, whereas the physical indicator shows the opposite. Second, in terms of energy efficiency, the intensity effect is estimated as an increasing factor of energy use, whereas inversed results are shown when we use the monetary indicator. Lastly, unlike the previous studies, the AR approach results indicate that Korean manufacturing sectors have been shifting toward an energy-intensive, so it is hard to anticipate positive intensity effects, which means decreasing energy consumption factor, for a while. These results support why analyzing the driving forces of energy consumption through the AR approach and primary energy base is highly recommended.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Patterns and Influencing Mechanism of Urban Residential Energy Consumption in China

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3864
Author(s):  
Qiucheng Li ◽  
Jiang Hu ◽  
Bolin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Theil Index ◽  
Residential Energy ◽  
Residential Energy Consumption ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Inequality Measures ◽  
Influencing Mechanism ◽  
Per Capita

The residential sector has become the second largest energy consumer in China. Urban residential energy consumption (URE) in China is growing rapidly in the process of urbanization. This paper aims to reveal the spatiotemporal dynamic evolution and influencing mechanism of URE in China. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of URE during 2007–2018 is explored through Kernel density estimation and inequality measures (i.e., Gini coefficient, Theil index, and mean logarithmic deviation). Then, with several advantages over traditional index decomposition analysis approaches, the Generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) decomposition is employed to investigate the impacts of eight driving factors on URE. Furthermore, the national and provincial decoupling relationships between URE and residential income increase are studied. It is found that different provinces’ URE present a significant agglomeration effect; the interprovincial inequality in URE increases and then decreases during the study period. The GDIM decomposition results indicate the income effect is the main positive factor driving URE. Besides, urban population, residential area, per capita energy use, and per unit area energy consumption positively influence URE. By contrast, per capita income, energy intensity, and residential density have negative effects on URE. There is evidence that only three decoupling states, i.e., weak decoupling, strong decoupling, and expansive negative decoupling, appear in China during 2007–2018. Specifically, weak decoupling is the dominant state among different regions. Finally, some suggestions are given to speed up the construction of energy-saving cities and promote the decoupling process of residential energy consumption in China. This paper fills some research gaps in urban residential energy research and is important for China’s policymakers.

scholarly journals Environmental Citizenship and Energy Efficiency in Four European Countries (Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Hungary)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1154
Author(s):  
Ibolya Czibere ◽  
Imre Kovách ◽  
Gergely Boldizsár Megyesi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Social

In our paper we aim at analysing the social factors influencing energy use and energy efficiency in four different European countries, using the data from the PENNY research (Psychological social and financial barriers to energy efficiency—Horizon 2020). As a part of the project, a survey was conducted in four European countries (Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Hungary) to compare environmental self-identity, values and attitudes toward the energy use of European citizens. Previous research has examined the effect of a number of factors that influence individuals’ energy efficiency, and attitudes to energy use. The novelty of our paper that presents four attitudes regarding energy use and environmental consciousness and compares them across four different regions of Europe. It analyses the differences between the four attitudes among the examined countries and tries to understand the factors explaining the differences using linear regression models of the most important socio-demographic variables. Finally, we present a typology of energy use attitudes: four groups, the members of which are basically characterised by essentially different attitudes regarding energy use. A better understanding of the diversity of energy use may assist in making more accurate policy decisions.

scholarly journals Investigating Primary Factors Affecting Electricity Consumption in Non-Residential Buildings Using a Data-Driven Approach

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 4046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sooyoun Cho ◽  
Jeehang Lee ◽  
Jumi Baek ◽  
Gi-Seok Kim ◽  
Seung-Bok Leigh
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
Measuring Instruments ◽  
Building Energy Consumption

Although the latest energy-efficient buildings use a large number of sensors and measuring instruments to predict consumption more accurately, it is generally not possible to identify which data are the most valuable or key for analysis among the tens of thousands of data points. This study selected the electric energy as a subset of total building energy consumption because it accounts for more than 65% of the total building energy consumption, and identified the variables that contribute to electric energy use. However, this study aimed to confirm data from a building using clustering in machine learning, instead of a calculation method from engineering simulation, to examine the variables that were identified and determine whether these variables had a strong correlation with energy consumption. Three different methods confirmed that the major variables related to electric energy consumption were significant. This research has significance because it was able to identify the factors in electric energy, accounting for more than half of the total building energy consumption, that had a major effect on energy consumption and revealed that these key variables alone, not the default values of many different items in simulation analysis, can ensure the reliable prediction of energy consumption.

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