Heterogenous Energy Consumption Behavior by Firm Size: Evidence from Korean Environmental Regulations

We analyze the interdependencies between energy usage, energy costs, renewable energy shares, economic growth, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Korean industrial sector by employing a time-series panel vector model. Although the topic itself about has been classic one, our research to investigate diverse dynamics between large and small-mid size businesses using micro-firm level data is the first study in literature. Since firms with different sizes are put in different policy circumstances, the aggregate-level data analysis could possibly disregard the effectiveness of environmental & renewable policies and underestimate the policy sensitivity of firms. Our findings demonstrate that the increase in energy consumption in larger firms has a greater impact on their energy costs and GHG emissions than for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, it has a significant effect on GDP. Also, the increase in renewable energy shares only has a significant influence on the energy consumption and GHG emission levels of large firms.

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Energy Efficiency Retrofits in Commercial Buildings: An Environmental, Financial, and Technical Analysis of Case Studies in Thailand

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14092571 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (9) ◽

pp. 2571

Author(s):

Christopher Charles Seeley ◽

Shobhakar Dhakal

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Case Studies ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Industrial Sector ◽

Commercial Buildings ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Energy Costs ◽

The Past ◽

Financial Characteristics

In the rapidly growing economies of Southeast Asia, energy consumption and energy costs in buildings continue to increase. Over the past decade, energy consumption from the commercial building sector in Thailand has increased at an average of 4% per annum and currently represents over 30% of total electricity consumption, second only to the industrial sector. Buildings that exist today will continue to represent most of both energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the built environment, with newly constructed buildings representing only a small additional portion. This paper analyzes the environmental, technical, and financial characteristics of energy efficiency retrofit activities in commercial buildings in Thailand through detailed case studies of forty-two projects undertaken over the past 8 years. Our findings suggest that retrofits provide significant opportunities to reduce energy use, energy costs, and GHG emissions while also validating the economic feasibility of investments into such retrofit activities. Through this detailed analysis of past retrofit projects in Thailand, we found that the marginal abatement costs (MAC) relating to the key energy conservation measures (ECM) implemented within these retrofit projects all have negative costs. However, although these findings demonstrate positive economics and should be sufficient to instigate widespread adoption, in reality, this is not taking place. It is evident that greater public policy and leadership are needed to stimulate growth in the building retrofit sector to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits that building retrofits offer.

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Technowomen: Women’s Autonomy and Its Impact on Environmental Quality

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041611 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1611

Author(s):

Saima Mujeed ◽

Shuangyan Li ◽

Musarrat Jabeen ◽

Abdelmohsen A. Nassani ◽

Sameh E. Askar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Renewable Energy Consumption ◽

Women’S Autonomy ◽

Women's Autonomy ◽

Role Of Women

The role of women in economic development and the global environment is vital for progressing them towards the United Nations sustainable development goal (SDG-5) that emphasized the need to empower women in every walk of life. The study examines women’s autonomy in the sustainable development agenda under China’s open innovation system from 1975 to 2019. The study employed an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, vector autoregressive (VAR) Granger causality, and innovation accounting matrix to estimate parameters. The existing data are summarized and collated in the context of China to explain as a correlational study. The results show that women’s autonomy moderated with technology spills over to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and substantiate the hump-shaped relationship between them. The increased spending on research and development (R&D) activities, patent publications, and renewable energy consumption empowers women to be equipped with the latest sustainable technologies to improve environmental quality. The pollution haven hypothesis verifies a given country, where trade liberalization policies tend to increase polluting industries to set up their plants that engaged in dirty production that exacerbate GHG emissions. The causality estimates confirmed that technological innovations and renewable energy consumption leads to women’s autonomy. In contrast, females’ share in the labor force participation rate leads to an increase in renewable energy consumption. Thus, it is evident that there is a positive role of women in the country’s sustainable development.

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The Relationship between Economic Growth and Pollution in Some New European Union Member States: A Dynamic Panel ARDL Approach

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14092363 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (9) ◽

pp. 2363

Author(s):

Mihaela Simionescu ◽

Carmen Beatrice Păuna ◽

Mihaela-Daniela Vornicescu Niculescu

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Kuznets Curve ◽

Renewable Energy Consumption ◽

Panel Ardl ◽

Domestic Credit ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

Considering the necessity of achieving economic development by keeping the quality of the environment, the aim of this paper is to study the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions in a sample of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (V4 countries, Bulgaria and Romania) in the period of 1996–2019. In the context of dynamic ARDL panel and environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), the relationship between GHG and GDP is N-shaped. A U-shaped relationship was obtained in the renewable Kuznets curve (RKC). Energy consumption, domestic credit to the private sector, and labor productivity contribute to pollution, while renewable energy consumption reduces the GHG emissions. However, more efforts are required for promoting renewable energy in the analyzed countries.

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How Much Energy Efficient are Renewable Energy Sources Cooperatives’ Initiatives?

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13051136 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 1136 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nikolaos Sifakis ◽

Tryfon Daras ◽

Theocharis Tsoutsos

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Smart Meters ◽

Green Consumption ◽

Consumption Behavior ◽

The Difference ◽

Actual Energy Consumption

In this paper is provided a systematic, in-depth, behavioral analysis of renewable energy sources cooperatives’ members. The analysis proved that in, on hand, there was a noticeable difference in the portion of affection of each proposed intervention on the actual energy consumption, which may be to even ten times more in some cases, and on the other hand, the difference in energy consumption between the analyzed groups was noticeable as well. So, implementing energy efficiency interventions of various types, such as technical support, special tariffs, energy generation schemes, and smart meters, seems to lead to substantial energy reductions to even more than 10%, cumulatively, and reduces the environmental footprint. Additionally, the majority of energy efficiency interventions applied by the renewable energy sources cooperatives are proved to be effective in achieving their primary goal, sensitizing members, and leading them to a more efficient energy consumption behavior (“greener”). The results of the analysis showed that each proposed intervention had played a different but nonetheless significant role in the diminishing of the energy consumption of the members and that there was a noticeable difference in energy consumption between the analyzed groups. The results of the analysis demonstrated more than 22 GWh totally in green consumption, and almost 4500 tons of CO2 saved.

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Renewable Energy and EU 2020 Target for Energy Efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13040965 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 965 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jacek Brożyna ◽

Wadim Strielkowski ◽

Alena Fomina ◽

Natalya Nikitina

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Energy Efficiency ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Czech Republic ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

The Eu

Our paper focuses on the renewable energy and EU 2020 target for energy efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We study the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in these two EU Member States through the prism of the Europe 2020 strategy and the 3 × 20 climate and energy package and economic growth (represented by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that allows to measure the national dynamics and provide cross-country comparisons) without attributing specific attention to issues such as the electrification of transport or heating, and thence leaving them outside the scope of this paper. Both Czech Republic and Slovakia are two post-Communist countries that still face the consequences of economic transformation and struggle with the optimal management of natural resources. Both countries encountered profound system transformation after 1989 that are apparent in all three measures of sustainable development used in our study. We show that it is unlikely that the planned increase in renewable energy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia will reach its targets, but they might succeed in reducing their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Our findings show that the energy intensity of Czech and Slovak economies increased in the early 2000s and then stabilized at a level about twice of the EU average. It appears that this value is likely to remain the same in the forthcoming years. However, implementation of GHG emissions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia may be at risk in case the proper energy policy is not maintained. Moreover, our results show how the increase in the share of renewable energy and improvement in energy efficiency go hand-in-hand with mining and exploiting the energy sources that is notorious for the transition economies. We also demonstrate that a proper energy policy is required for effectively reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need for commitments made by relevant stakeholders and policymakers targeted at achieving sustainable economic growth and energy efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a need for maintaining a proper balance between economic development and environmental protection, which is a must for the EU sustainable energy development agenda and all its accompanying targets for all its Member States.

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Revised Environmental Kuznets Curve for V4 Countries and Baltic States

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14113302 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (11) ◽

pp. 3302

Author(s):

Mihaela Simionescu ◽

Adam Wojciechowski ◽

Arkadiusz Tomczyk ◽

Marcin Rabe

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Labour Productivity ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Kuznets Curve ◽

Baltic States ◽

Renewable Energy Consumption

Sustainable development can be achieved when economic development does not produce environmental deterioration. In this context, the aim of the paper is to evaluate the effects of economic development on GHG emissions in the Baltic States (Latvia, Letonia, and Lithuania), and in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland (the Visegrád Group or V4 countries) in the period of 1996–2019. The study introduces dynamic ARDL panels in the context of the traditional environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and renewable Kuznets curve (RKC). The results indicated an inverse-N-shaped and a U-shaped pattern. Energy consumption and labour productivity enhanced pollution, while domestic credit to the private sector, as a share of GDP, and renewable energy consumption supported environmental protection. The implications of these results might help these countries to achieve the targets of the European Green Deal related to the reduction of pollution and the attainment of net zero emissions by 2050. However, national regulations should further promote the use of renewable energy sources.

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Implementation of the ISO 50001 standard to sustainable energy and economic saving the industrial sector

Scientia et technica ◽

10.22517/23447214.23541 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 261-268

Author(s):

Guillermo Valencia ◽

Katherin Nahomy Rodriguez ◽

Gloria Raquel Torregroza Matos ◽

Carlos Acevedo ◽

Jorge Duarte Forero

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Fossil Fuels ◽

Gap Analysis ◽

Energy Performance ◽

Industrial Sector ◽

Energy Costs ◽

Working Pressure ◽

Economic Saving ◽

Save Energy

Given the growth in energy demand, the limited energy resources, and the high environmental impact of energy generation from fossil fuels, it is vital to find methods to obtain save energy costs in different sectors, such as residential, industrial, transportation sector, and domestic. This paper presents a methodology that allows the implementation of an energy management system following the guidelines of the ISO 50001 standard. A gap analysis was performed to determine the position of the organization with respect to the requirements of the standard, and the next step was the inspection of the plant to find opportunities for improvement that would lead to energy optimization. From the results, six equipment was the cause of the 82% of the energy consumption in the production process, and some recommendation was proposed with the aim to optimize energy consumption. A methodology is proposed for the standard implementation, which can be implemented by different organizations from different fields to achieve savings in energy costs in the plant. Some relevant actions to improve the energy performance of the plant were proposed, such as the optimization of the compressed air system, the reduction of potential numbers of leakage, and the reduction of the working pressure of the system.

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Effects of Increased Renewable Energy Consumption on Electricity Prices: Evidence for Six South American Countries

Energies ◽

10.3390/en15020620 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 620

Author(s):

Ronny Correa-Quezada ◽

María del Cisne Tituaña-Castillo ◽

María de la Cruz del Río-Rama ◽

José Álvarez-García

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Industrial Sector ◽

Renewable Energies ◽

Annual Data ◽

South American ◽

Energy Prices ◽

Electricity Prices ◽

Renewable Energy Consumption ◽

Services Sector

This research examines the relationship between renewable energy consumption and electricity prices in six South American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru). The methodology used is a panel econometric model with annual data for the period 1990–2015. The results show that the consumption of renewable energies influences the price of electricity paid by households, although its influence is very moderate. On the other hand, it was observed that the consumption of renewable energies has no relationship with the energy prices of the industrial sector and the commercial and services sector. In the countries analyzed, an increase in GDP causes an increase in the price of energy in the industrial sector. With more CO2 emissions and a rise in the international price of oil, the annual average price of the industrial sector decreases.

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Renewable Energy Generation and GHG Emission Reduction Potential of a Satellite Water Reuse Plant by Using Solar Photovoltaics and Anaerobic Digestion

Water ◽

10.3390/w13050635 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 635

Author(s):

Jonathan R. Bailey ◽

Saria Bukhary ◽

Jacimaria R. Batista ◽

Sajjad Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Total Energy ◽

Water Reuse ◽

Membrane Filtration ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Energy Generation ◽

Total Energy Consumption ◽

Solar Photovoltaics

Wastewater treatment is a very energy-intensive process. The growing population, increased demands for energy and water, and rising pollution levels caused by fossil-fuel-based energy generation, warrants the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This research explored the energy consumption offset of a satellite water reuse plant (WRP) by using solar photovoltaics (PVs) and anaerobic digestion. The analysis was performed for two types of WRPs: conventional (conventional activated sludge system (CAS) bioreactor with secondary clarifiers and dual media filtration) and advanced (bioreactor with membrane filtration (MBR)) treatment satellite WRPs. The associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were also evaluated. For conventional treatment, it was found that 28% and 31.1% of the WRP’s total energy consumption and for advanced treatment, 14.7% and 5.9% of the WRP’s total energy consumption could be generated by anaerobic digestion and solar PVs, respectively. When both energy-generating units are incorporated in the satellite WRPs, MBR WRPs were on average 1.86 times more energy intensive than CAS WRPs, translating to a cost savings in electricity of $7.4/1000 m3 and $13.3/1000 m3 treated, at MBR and CAS facilities, respectively. Further, it was found that solar PVs require on average 30% longer to pay back compared to anaerobic digestion. For GHG emissions, MBR WRPs without incorporating energy generating units were found to be 1.9 times more intensive than CAS WRPs and 2.9 times more intensive with energy generating units. This study successfully showed that the addition of renewable energy generating units reduced the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the WRP.

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On the Possibility of Using Renewable Energy Sources for Operation of Microwave Convective Drying of Grain

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202129504004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 295 ◽

pp. 04004

Author(s):

Dmitry Budnikov

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Electric Energy ◽

Convective Drying ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Energy Costs ◽

Agricultural Enterprises ◽

Installed Capacity ◽

Energy Equipment

Currently, the power supply of agricultural enterprises should be designed considering not only the required installed capacity but also the peculiarities of production. Thus, the presence of livestock operations implies waste, the disposal of which entails costs. At the same time, feed preparation, including drying of fodder grain is associated with significant energy costs. Thus, the availability of biogas equipment will allow the synthesis of utilization technologies in the form of processing into biogas and the energy supply of equipment to carry out drying. At the same time, attention should be paid to technologies with reduced energy consumption for technological processes. For example, microwave convective or infrared convective drying of grain. These technologies have a reduced energy consumption for moisture removal, but the installed capacity of the equipment is higher than in traditional technologies. This work is aimed at investigating the ratio of heat and electric energy expended in the process of microwave convective drying and the choice of possible renewable energy sources for the implementation of technological operations. Considering that drying of grain is mainly carried out during the harvesting period before storing, it allows considering energy equipment as a source of thermal energy in the cold period, when drying is not required.

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