scholarly journals Energy Efficiency Measurement: A VO TFEE Approach and Its Application

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1605
Author(s):  
Shuangjie Li ◽  
Hongyu Diao ◽  
Liming Wang ◽  
Chunqi Li

Energy efficiency is crucial to the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but its widely measured indicator, energy intensity, is still insufficient. For this reason, in 2006, total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) was proposed with capital, labor, and energy as inputs and GDP as the desirable output. The later TFEE approach further incorporated pollution as the undesirable output. However, it is problematic to regard GDP (the total value of final products) as the desirable output, because GDP does not include the intermediate consumption, which accounts for a large part of the production activities and may even be larger than the value of GDP. GDP is more suitable for measuring distribution, while VO (value of output) is more appropriate for sustainable production analysis. Therefore, we propose a VO TFEE approach that takes VO as the desirable output instead and correspondingly incorporates the other intermediate materials and services except energy into inputs. Finally, the empirical analysis of the textile industry of EU member states during 2011–2017 indicates that the VO TFEE approach is more stable and convergent in measuring energy efficiency, and is more suitable for helping policymakers achieve the SDGs of energy saving, emissions reduction, and sustainable economic development.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7675
Author(s):  
Guillaume Lafortune ◽  
Grayson Fuller ◽  
Guido Schmidt-Traub ◽  
Christian Kroll

Evidence-based policymaking must be rooted in sound data to inform policy priorities, budget allocations, and tracking of progress. This is especially true in the case of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they provide the policy framework that all 193 UN member states have pledged to achieve by 2030. Good data and clear metrics are critical for each country to take stock of where it stands, devise pathways for achieving the goals, and track progress. Current assessments of the EU’s performance on the SDGs, however, tend to reach different findings and policy conclusions on where the priorities for further action lie, which can be confusing for researchers and policymakers. In order to demystify the drivers of such differences and make them transparent, this paper compares and contrasts the results obtained by four SDG monitoring approaches. We identify three main elements that are responsible for most of the differences: (i) the use of pre-defined targets for calculating baseline assessments and countries’ trajectories; (ii) the inclusion of measures that track not only domestic performance, but also the EU’s transboundary impacts on the rest of the world; and (iii) the use of non-official statistics to bridge data gaps, especially for biodiversity goals. This paper concludes that there is not one “correct” way of providing an assessment of whether the EU and EU member states are on track to achieve the goals, but we illustrate how the different results are the outcomes of certain methodological choices. More “forward-looking” policy trackers are needed to assess implementation efforts on key SDG transformations.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 2330
Author(s):  
Ángeles Verdejo Espinosa ◽  
José Luis Lopez Ruiz ◽  
Francisco Mata Mata ◽  
Macarena Espinilla Estevez

We live in complex times in the health, social, political, and energy spheres, and we must be aware of and implement new trends in intelligent social health systems powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). Sustainable development, energy efficiency, and public health are interrelated parameters that can transform a system or an environment for the benefit of people and the planet. The integration of sensors and smart devices should promote energy efficiency and ensure that sustainable development goals are met. This work is carried out according to a mixed approach, with a literature review and an analysis of the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on the applications of the Internet of Things and smart systems. In the analysis of results, the following questions are answered about these systems and applications: (a) Are IoT applications key to the improvement of people’s health and the environment? (b) Are there research and case studies implemented in cities or territories that demonstrate the effectiveness of IoT applications and their benefits to public health? (c) What sustainable development indicators and objectives can be assessed in the applications and projects analyzed?


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 134-140
Author(s):  
Leonardo Serfert Junior ◽  
Thiago B. Muraria ◽  
Lilian Lefol Nani Guarieiro

The 21st century brings countless social, economic, environmental, and technological challenges to humanity and, to face them, the United Nations (UN) created the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The auto industry, which is part of the private sector, aims to reach them. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the consumption and emissions of pollutants by using an automatic transmission of the CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) type concerning the automatic transmission of the "Planetary" type. This study will be based on the Consumption/Energy Efficiency tables, published annually by INMETRO (National Institute of Metrology, Quality, and Technology) and whose data will be processed and evaluated using the Quik Sense Software. Thus, the work aims to appraise the advantages of vehicles with automatic transmission of the CVT type about fuel consumption, energy efficiency and emissions, in markets such as Brazil, where these vehicles use ethanol or a mixture of gasoline with up to 27 as fuel % Ethanol. This research can contribute to studies of emission control and approval, benefiting the automotive industry in general, government agencies, the environment, the economy, and society, contributing to the UN's SDGs achievement.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097300522199160
Author(s):  
Manas Ranjan Bhowmik

The purpose of this study is to establish linkages between sustainable development goals, social responsibility, institutions and cooperatives by developing a comparison, both theoretically and empirically, between cooperatives and non-cooperatives. In order to develop the theoretical underpinnings, post-Williamsonian transaction cost economics (TCE) has been selected as the theoretical framework. For the empirical analysis, a primary survey has been conducted in two prominent handloom hubs of West Bengal spanning over two districts of the state. A binomial logistic regression has been performed in order to analyse the data collected from the weavers of two different institutions—a master weaver institution and a cooperative institution. Following the post-Williamsonian TCE framework, it has been theoretically shown that the cooperative institution is more efficient in implementing the government’s welfare schemes. The result of the empirical analysis shows that education and distance from the cooperative institution are significant variables that help in the effective implementation of the government’s welfare schemes.


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