Energy Transition in Rural Areas – Supporting Local Energy Planning by the Development of an Online-Tool for Identification and Promotion of Energy-Efficiency and the Use of Renewables.

Social Media platforms are increasingly receiving attention from scholars, as they are presumed to be both useful tools for undertaking professional assignments and a medium for engaging with large audiences and communities, within and outside academia. Additionally, these novel practices online need proper assessment and evaluation procedures. This paper aims to address the possibilities and challenges for niche research and development (R&D) projects in communicating their research via social media. The authors applied a seven-step social media strategy to an ongoing energy efficiency case study and discuss an online tool for monitoring the respective impact on social media.

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Lessons for low-carbon energy transition: Experience from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP)

Energy for Sustainable Development ◽

10.1016/j.esd.2010.04.003 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 83-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Binu Parthan ◽

Marianne Osterkorn ◽

Matthew Kennedy ◽

St. John Hoskyns ◽

Morgan Bazilian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Transition Experience ◽

Low Carbon Energy

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An inter-disciplinary approach to the energy transition in South Africa

Discover Sustainability ◽

10.1007/s43621-021-00043-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Iain Todd ◽

Darren McCauley

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Transition Process ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Key Issues ◽

Static Approach ◽

Tackle Climate Change ◽

Fossil Fuel Industry ◽

Energy Justice

AbstractThe compelling need to tackle climate change is well-established. It is a challenge which is being faced by all nations. This requires an approach which is truly inter-disciplinary in nature, drawing on the expertise of politicians, social scientists, and technologists. We report how the pace of the energy transition can be influenced significantly by both the operation of societal barriers, and by policy actions aimed at reducing these effects. Using the case study of South Africa, a suite of interviews has been conducted with diverse energy interests, to develop and analyse four key issues pertinent to the energy transition there. We do so primarily through the lens of delivering energy justice to that society. In doing so, we emphasise the need to monitor, model, and modify the dynamic characteristic of the energy transition process and the delivery of energy justice; a static approach which ignores the fluid nature of transition will be insufficient. We conclude that the South African fossil fuel industry is still impeding the development of the country’s renewable resources, and the price of doing so is being met by those living in townships and in rural areas.

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Study of power transformer loading in rural power supply systems

Safety and Reliability of Power Industry ◽

10.24223/1999-5555-2020-13-4-282-289 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 282-289

Author(s):

I. V. Naumov ◽

D. N. Karamov ◽

A. N. Tretyakov ◽

M. A. Yakupova ◽

E. S. Fedorinovа

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Power Supply ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Power Transformer ◽

Electric Energy ◽

Power Transformers ◽

Electric Networks ◽

Load Factors ◽

Optimal Load ◽

Supply Systems

The purpose of this study is to study the effect of loading power transformers (PT) in their continuous use on their energy efficiency on a real-life example of existing rural electric networks. It is noted that the vast majority of PT in rural areas have a very low load factor, which leads to an increase in specific losses of electric energy when this is transmitted to various consumers. It is planned to optimize the existing synchronized power supply systems in rural areas by creating new power supply projects in such a way as to integrate existing power sources and ensure the most efficient loading of power transformers for the subsequent transfer of these systems to isolated ones that receive power from distributed generation facilities. As an example, we use data from an electric grid company on loading power transformers in one of the districts of the Irkutsk region. Issues related to the determination of electric energy losses in rural PT at different numerical values of their load factors are considered. A computing device was developed using modern programming tools in the MATLAB system, which has been used to calculate and plot the dependence of power losses in transformers of various capacities on the actual and recommended load factors, as well as the dependence of specific losses during the transit of 1 kVA of power through a power transformer at the actual, recommended and optimal load factors. The analysis of specific losses of electric energy at the actual, recommended and optimal load factors of PT is made. Based on the analysis, the intervals of optimal load factors for different rated power of PT of rural distribution electric networks are proposed. It is noted that to increase the energy efficiency of PT, it is necessary to reduce idling losses by increasing the load of these transformers, which can be achieved by reducing the number of transformers while changing the configuration of 0.38 kV distribution networks.

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Implications of the Energy Transition on Employment: Today’s Results, Tomorrow’s Needs

10.18235/0003765 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Pauline Ravillard ◽

J. Enrique Chueca ◽

Mariana Weiss ◽

Michelle Carvalho Metanias Hallack

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Labor Market ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Demand Management ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Recovery Phase ◽

Employment Creation ◽

Firm Level ◽

Market Structures ◽

And Training

As countries progress in their energy transitions, new investments have the potential to create employment. This is crucial, as countries enter their post-pandemic recovery phase. An opportunity also arises to close the gender gap in the energy sector. However, how much will need to be invested, how many jobs will be created, and for whom, remain empirical questions. Little is also known about the needs of each country and their sectors in terms of future skills and training. The present work sheds light on these questions by carrying out a harmonized firm-level survey on employment in Chile, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Findings are manifold. First, firms in emerging sectors such as energy efficiency, electric mobility, battery, storage, hydrogen, and demand management, create more direct jobs than generation firms, including renewables. Second, these firms also have the potential to create employment that is local, permanent, and direct. Finally, they can contribute to closing the gender gap. However, this employment creation will not come on its own and will not be equal between countries. It will require improving the workforces qualifications and considering each countrys labor market and market structures specificities.

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A method for energy efficiency assessment during urban energy planning

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment ◽

10.1108/sasbe-12-2013-0056 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 132-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Karin Regina de Casas Castro Marins

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Energy Use ◽

Energy Performance ◽

Urban Morphology ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Energy Planning ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Content Type ◽

Urban Energy

Purpose – Energy use in urban areas has turned a subject of local and worldwide interest over the last few years, especially emphasized by the correlated greenhouse gases emissions. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the overall energy efficiency potential and emissions resulting from integrated solutions in urban energy planning, in the scale of districts and neighbourhoods in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is based on the description and the application of a method to analyse energy performance of urban areas and support their planning. It is a quantitative bottom-up method and involves urban morphology, urban mobility, buildings and energy supply systems. Procedures are applied to the case study of Agua Branca urban development area, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Findings – In the case of Agua Branca area, energy efficiency measures in buildings have shown to be very important mostly for the buildings economies themselves. For the area as a whole, strategies in promoting public transport are more effective in terms of energy efficiency and also to decrease pollutant emissions. Originality/value – Literature review has shown there is a lack of approaches and procedures able to support urban energy planning at a community scale. The bottom-up method presented in this paper integrates a plenty of disaggregated and multisectoral parameters at the same stage in urban planning and shows that is possible to identify the most promising actions by building overall performance indexes.

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Photovoltaic greenhouses: evaluation of shading effect and its influence on agricultural performances

Journal of Agricultural Engineering ◽

10.4081/jae.2014.433 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 168 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Sergio Castellano

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Threshold Value ◽

Plant Production ◽

Photovoltaic Systems ◽

Scientific Evaluation ◽

Shading Effect ◽

Photovoltaic Panels ◽

Pv Modules ◽

San Rafael

During the last years, European government remuneration polices promoted the realisation of photovoltaic systems integrated with the structures instead of on ground photovoltaic (PV) plants. In this context, in rural areas, greenhouses covered with PV modules have been developed. In order to interdict the building of greenhouses with an amount of opaque panels on covering not coherent with the plant production, local laws assigned a threshold value, usually between 25% and 50%, of the projection on the soil of the roof. These ranges seem not to be based on scientific evaluation about the agricultural performances required to the building but only on empirical assessments. Purpose of this paper is to contribute to better understand the effect of different configurations of PV panels on the covering of a monospan duo-pitched roof greenhouse in terms of shading effect and energy efficiency during different periods of the year. At this aim, daylighting and insolation analysis were performed by means of the software Autodesk<sup>®</sup> Ecotect<sup>®</sup> Analysis (Autodesk, Inc., San Rafael, CA, USA) on greenhouse model with different covering ratio of polycrystalline photovoltaic panels on the roof.

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A new clustering and visualization method to evaluate urban energy planning scenarios

10.31224/osf.io/b9znk ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Sara Torabi Moghadam ◽

Silvia Coccolo ◽

Guglielmina Mutani ◽

Patrizia Lombardi ◽

Jean Louis Scartezzini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Planning Process ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Energy Planning ◽

Transition Strategies ◽

Urban Energy ◽

The City

The spatial visualization is a very useful tool to help decision-makers in the urban planning process to create future energy transition strategies, implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in the context of sustainable cities. Statistical methods are often used to understand the driving parameters of energy consumption but rarely used to evaluate future urban renovation scenarios. Simulating whole cities using energy demand softwares can be very extensive in terms of computer resources and data collection. A new methodology, using city archetypes is proposed, here, to simulate the energy consumption of urban areas including urban energy planning scenarios. The objective of this paper is to present an innovative solution for the computation and visualization of energy saving at the city scale.The energy demand of cities, as well as the micro-climatic conditions, are calculated by using a simplified 3D model designed as function of the city urban geometrical and physical characteristics. Data are extracted from a GIS database that was used in a previous study. In this paper, we showed how the number of buildings to be simulated can be drastically reduced without affecting the accuracy of the results. This model is then used to evaluate the influence of two set of renovation solutions. The energy consumption are then integrated back in the GIS to identify the areas in the city where refurbishment works are needed more rapidly. The city of Settimo Torinese (Italy) is used as a demonstrator for the proposed methodology, which can be applied to all cities worldwide with limited amount of information.

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