scholarly journals School Managers Perceptions towards Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-584
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Drosos ◽  
Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos ◽  
Stamatios Ntanos ◽  
Androniki Parissi

Global economic growth is accompanied by increased energy demand, thus conventional fuels such as coal, oil and gas, which are the primary energy sources, are gradually being depleted. At the same time, the combustion of conventional fuel for energy production causes serious adverse effects on the environment and contributes to climate change due to the emitted greenhouse gases. For the above reasons, most of the developed and developing countries especially during the last decades, have introduced various incentives for the greater penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in all sectors of the economy. Concerning the building sector, several measures have been adopted, including the promotion of energy efficiency and energy saving. A significant proportion of the building stock are the school buildings where students and teachers spend a significant proportion of their daily time. Teachers' attitudes and views, especially the school unit managers concerning the use of RES in schools, are important in the effort to rationalize and control energy use. This study was conducted through a structured questionnaire applied to a sample of 510 school managers in Greece's primary and secondary education. The school unit managerial role for the case of Greek schools is performed by the school principal who has both administrative and educational duties.  Statistical analysis included the application of Friedman's test and hypothesis test on questions concerning school manager environmental perceptions and energy-saving habits. According to the results, Greek school managers have a high degree of environmental sensitivity, since 97.6 % agreed or strongly agreed that the main concern should focus on energy saving. Furthermore, 71% of the respondent reported to have good knowledge on solar energy, followed by 64% on wind energy while only 34% are knowledgeable on biomass. Almost all the respondents (99%) agreed that it is important to provide more RES-orientated education through the taught curricula. Concerning energy saving behaviour, around 90% reported that they switch off the lights when leaving the classroom and they close the windows when the air-condition is operating. Hypothesis tests revealed a relationship between the school managers' ecological beliefs, the energy saving habits in the school environment, and the recognition of the importance of environmental education. Conclusions highlighted the need to intensify environmental education programs in the school environment concerning RES in schools. This will lead to a higher level of environmental awareness of both teachers and students and therefore to a more dynamic behaviour towards the effort to “greenify” the school environment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 02010
Author(s):  
Giada Romano ◽  
Elisa Pennacchia ◽  
Sofia Agostinelli

Buildings with architectural constraints and recognized historical values require a careful design process, aiming to combine the needs of conservation and the adaptation of the buildings to the modern use and its accessibility. The feasible interventions consist in improving the energy performance of the building envelope, in inserting efficient technological systems and using renewable energy sources where possible. The compatibility between the architectural constraints of the building and its more sustainable future use represents a crucial challenge. This work presents the interventions designed and realized on a small villa located in the Prati district, in Rome. Starting from the requests of the client, the primary objective was to create a comfortable house both in the winter and in the summer season, with widespread use of automation systems for managing the utilities. In line with the current energy scenario, the interventions were oriented to energy efficiency, the reduction of polluting emissions, the electrification of utilities and the use of renewable energy sources. The proposed solutions showed high gains in terms of energy saving even if the changes to the building envelope were limited by the desire to preserve the values of the cultural heritage. Therefore, a virtuous refurbishment can effectively respond to current energy efficiency goals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 147-168
Author(s):  
Yevheniia Ziabina ◽  
Tetyana Pimonenko

The industry attention to the environment has been reducing lately, leading to irreversible climate change, reaching the limit of mining, and critical indicators of СО2 emissions. That is why the EU has launched a new Green Policy which includes strategic directions for energy efficiency and which is expected to restore biodiversity and slow down the pace of climate change. Thus, on December 11, 2019, there was held the presentation of the “European Green Course”, the main targets of which are to increase the level of energy saving by creating closed cycles in the economy; to minimize greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; to form biodiversity and climate neutrality. Accordingly, countries that accept the terms of the green deal policy need to review all aspects of their economy, from energy production to food consumption, from industry to transport and construction. The purpose of the article is to analyse publications in order to identify public’s awareness of radical changes in economic and ecological spheres. The article provides a bibliometric analysis of research in the field of green deal policy, energy conservation and energy efficiency through the introduction of renewable energy sources. The authors selected 337 papers which were published in 1999-2019. Scopus provided the database for analysis. By means of VOSviewer the results of bibliometric analyses were visualized in a definitions map. It allowed identifying six clusters that combine 131 terms. As a result of the research, the connection between the terms – renewable energy sources and energy saving – was revealed with the help of the constructed bibliographic map.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (516) ◽  
pp. 65-76
Author(s):  
O. V. Klymchuk ◽  
◽  
S. V. Kozlovskyi ◽  
R. V. Lavrov ◽  
◽  
...  

The article is aimed at developing strategic directions and introducing regulatory measures for the formation of Ukraine’s energy policy on the principles of energy saving and the development of renewable energy industry. On the basis of scientific works, the main organizational-economic vectors of energy industry sector development are systematized, which are associated with the formation of a favorable socio-political climate regarding the priority of using renewable energy sources in the fuel and energy complex; development of effective methods of both the State-based and the market-based regulation by the world community; coordination of the strategy of sustainable development of the world economy. It is determined that the energy saving policy should be based on a flexible combination of the State-based regulation and the market environment for the formation of the most acceptable stimulation mechanisms in the specific economic and political situations, which allows for the greatest economic benefit. It has been found out that the implementation of energy saving processes is impossible without the mass use of renewable energy carriers, which are a universal resource for processing to the right types of energy, are marked by energy independence related to obtaining economic benefits and contribute to the creation of an ecological friendly environment. In the perspective, the energy saving processes, the transition of the national economy to wide implementation in the production of high-tech technologies and the use of renewable energy sources should become the determining factors of Ukraine’s energy strategy.


10.23856/2705 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Lidiya Shergina ◽  
Alla Zhemba ◽  
Nataliia Revutska ◽  
Yulia Burma

The article is devoted to the issues of the functioning and development of energy in each country, caused mainly by the economic expediency of renewable energy and the requirements of energy independence. Also, the article examines the importance of replacing traditional fuels with alternative energy sources. The international experience of the countries in the field of efficient use of available natural resources of the fuel and energy complex and enhancement of the potential of the energy sector have been analyzed. A number of common characteristics and directions of energy efficiency improvement for European countries are highlighted. Alternative types of energy and measures necessary for their implementation have been offered. The potential resources of renewable energy sources have been analyzed. The article is devoted to the use of economical and ecological type of fuel - biofuel for Ukraine. On the basis of the analysis of the situation on the energy market, renewable energy is examine, which plays a compensatory role in global energy consumption in the conditions of growing exhaustion of non-renewable sources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 357-367
Author(s):  
Liva Asere ◽  
Andra Blumberga

AbstractThe energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma is well known and the main drawback to operate the mechanical ventilation is electricity costs as concluded from previous studies. Educational buildings are one of the places where future taxpayers spend a lot of time. This paper aims to study an alternative solution on how to reduce energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma in educational buildings by adopting systems that use renewable energy sources. A typical education building in Latvia is taken as a case study by changing it from a consumer to prosumer. This building type has a specific electricity usage profile that makes the choice of photovoltaics (PV) power quite challenging so the various power options have been analysed and used for an electricity solution. Also, the more decentralised preference is chosen – disconnect from a public heating provider and using a local system with a pellet boiler. Educational buildings using PV can reduce the electricity tariff, but the payback periods are still not very satisfactory without subsidies. The average electricity tariff per month varies between scenarios and the best one is for the scenario with 30 kW installed power. The educational building partly using 16 kW PV system reduces not only its bill for electricity but also reduces CO2 emissions by around 36 tons. The education buildings as energy prosumers using renewable energy sources are reducing GHG emissions by having high indoor air quality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Ana Radojevic ◽  
Danijela Nikolic ◽  
Jasna Radulovic ◽  
Jasmina Skerlic

The implementation of energy efficiency measures and use of renewable energy sources in educational buildings can significantly contribute to reducing energy consumption, but also to CO2 emissions in the entire public sector. The paper shows the comparison of energy consumption indicators for 61 elementary school buildings which have previously been divided in 12 groups, according to the period of construction and size, based on the national typology called TABULA, as the first step of further study on how to use the renewable energy sources. The aim of this paper is to use the energy benchmarking process to select representative facilities which are suitable for applying renewable energy sources, for their further energy efficiency improvement. Indicators of annual specific electricity consumption and CO2 emissions per unit area [kWh/m2] and per user [kWh/user] were calculated. After that, from two groups (in which the highest electricity consumption and CO2 emissions are 68.37% and 74.53% of the total consumption/ emissions), one representative facility was selected.


Originally, coal was the main source of energy. It remains so throughout the 18th century during the period of the rapid industry development. Later on, oil and naphtha began to be used as energy sources and their usage expanded especially in 19th century. A special feature of the above mentioned fossil fuels is their long creation period – requiring millennia. They are a result of rotting of different plant and animal kinds. In comparison to the period of their formation, the period of their utilization is far shorter. In accordance with a number of existing statistics about 2050 year it may be talked about a depletion of the liquid fossil fuels, also, the world coal supplies are considered to last within the next 200 years. Therefore, the development of nuclear power engineering is considered to be one of the alternatives to generate energy. Recently, the nuclear power energy generation has been denied in many countries because of the risks associated with its generation and because these risks have been confirmed by serious accidents throughout the World. The storage of worked nuclear waste is also a problem and risky. The renewable energy sources are another possibility to generate energy.


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