Enhancemenent of the energy efficiency by means of the energy efficiency commitment system. Brief: Energy efficiency commitment system (EnEffVSYS); Steigerung der Energieeffizienz mit Hilfe von Energieeffizienz-Verpflichtungssystemen. Kurz: Energieeffizienz-Verpflichtungssysteme (EnEffVSys)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agricola, Annegret C.; Joest, Steffen; Czernie, Marc; Heuke, Reemt; Kalinowska, Dominika; Peters, Sebastian [Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH, Berlin (Germany); Perner, Jens; Bothe, David [Frontier Economics Ltd., Koeln (Germany)

2012-12-15

The origin of the contribution under consideration is the new EU energy efficiency regulation (EU-EnEff-RL) which is valid since 4th December 2012. This regulation emphasizes the increase of the energy efficiency in Europe. Under this aspect, the contribution under consideration reports on (a) the framework conditions for energy efficiency and energy consumption in Europe; (b) the development of the energy consumption and energy efficiency in the past; (c) the economic potentials of energy efficiency in Germany up to the year 2020; (d) whether the advancement of the German, market based approach or the implementation of the energy efficiency commitment system in Germany would be the better way in order to reach the energy efficiency targets derived from the EU energy efficiency regulation.

Advanced materials for energy storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Chang; Li, Feng; Ma, Lai-Peng; Cheng, Hui-Ming [Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016 (China)

2010-02-23

Popularization of portable electronics and electric vehicles worldwide stimulates the development of energy storage devices, such as batteries and supercapacitors, toward higher power density and energy density, which significantly depends upon the advancement of new materials used in these devices. Moreover, energy storage materials play a key role in efficient, clean, and versatile use of energy, and are crucial for the exploitation of renewable energy. Therefore, energy storage materials cover a wide range of materials and have been receiving intensive attention from research and development to industrialization. In this review, firstly a general introduction is given to several typical energy storage systems, including thermal, mechanical, electromagnetic, hydrogen, and electrochemical energy storage. Then the current status of high-performance hydrogen storage materials for on-board applications and electrochemical energy storage materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors is introduced in detail. The strategies for developing these advanced energy storage materials, including nanostructuring, nano-/microcombination, hybridization, pore-structure control, configuration design, surface modification, and composition optimization, are discussed. Finally, the future trends and prospects in the development of advanced energy storage materials are highlighted. (Abstract Copyright [2010], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Measuring energy efficiency: Is energy intensity a good evidence base?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Proskuryakova, L.; Kovalev, A.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Energy intensity measure reflects consumption, not energy efficiency. • Thermodynamic indicators should describe energy efficiency at all levels. • These indicators should have no reference to economic or financial parameters. • A set of energy efficiency indicators should satisfy several basic principles. • There are trade-offs between energy efficiency, power and costs. - Abstract: There is a widespread assumption in energy statistics and econometrics that energy intensity and energy efficiency are equivalent measures of energy performance of economies. The paper points to the discrepancy between the engineering concept of energy efficiency and the energy intensity as it is understood in macroeconomic statistics. This double discrepancy concerns definitions (while engineering concept of energy efficiency is based on the thermodynamic definition, energy intensity includes economic measures) and use. With regard to the latter, the authors conclude that energy intensity can only provide indirect and delayed evidence of technological and engineering energy efficiency of energy conversion processes, which entails shortcomings for management and policymaking. Therefore, we suggest to stop considering subsectoral, sectoral and other levels of energy intensities as aggregates of lower-level energy efficiency. It is suggested that the insufficiency of energy intensity indicators can be compensated with the introduction of thermodynamic indicators describing energy efficiency at the physical, technological, enterprise, sub-sector, sectoral and national levels without references to any economic or financial parameters. Structured statistical data on thermodynamic efficiency is offered as a better option for identifying break-through technologies and technological bottle-necks that constrain efficiency advancements. It is also suggested that macro-level thermodynamic indicators should be based on the thermodynamic first law efficiency and the energy

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program. Bibliography, 1993 edition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vaughan, K.H.

1993-06-01

The Bibliography contains listings of publicly available reports, journal articles, and published conference papers sponsored by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and published between 1987 and mid-1993. The topics of Bibliography include: analysis and evaluation; building equipment research; building thermal envelope systems and materials; district heating; residential and commercial conservation program; weatherization assistance program; existing buildings research program; ceramic technology project; alternative fuels and propulsion technology; microemulsion fuels; industrial chemical heat pumps; materials for advanced industrial heat exchangers; advanced industrial materials; tribology; energy-related inventions program; electric energy systems; superconducting technology program for electric energy systems; thermal energy storage; biofuels feedstock development; biotechnology; continuous chromatography in multicomponent separations; sensors for electrolytic cells; hydropower environmental mitigation; environmental control technology; continuous fiber ceramic composite technology.

Energy efficiency in industry and transportation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruscoe, J.

1990-01-01

The discussion of energy issues has changed since the 1970s as improvements have been made in energy efficiency. The present capacity for surplus energy production in economically advanced countries reflects a decrease in energy requirements as well as new production sources. At the same time, the energy crisis can be seen as having discouraged improvements in energy efficiency because of its negative impact on growth. And the centrally planned economies remain highly inefficient energy users. Economic growth encourages the use of new technologies which are likely to be less energy-intensive than those they replace. Permanent gains in energy efficiency are derived from structural changes in the economy and from the introduction of energy-efficient technologies. This article addresses the prospect of increased energy conservation, particularly in industry (the end-use which consumes the most energy) and transportation. Although investments in projects to promote energy conservation are more cost-effective and environment-friendly than investments in energy supply, there is still widespread support for the latter. Developing countries naturally give preference to quantitative growth, with an increasing consumption of energy, but in these countries, too, more efficient use of energy could greatly reduce demand. The policies of international development agencies which still favour increasing energy supply over conservation need to change. Awareness of the need to reduce energy demand is, however, growing worldwide. (author)

Advanced DC/AC inverters applications in renewable energy

CERN Document Server

Luo, Fang Lin

2013-01-01

DC/AC inversion technology is of vital importance for industrial applications, including electrical vehicles and renewable energy systems, which require a large number of inverters. In recent years, inversion technology has developed rapidly, with new topologies improving the power factor and increasing power efficiency. Proposing many novel approaches, Advanced DC/AC Inverters: Applications in Renewable Energy describes advanced DC/AC inverters that can be used for renewable energy systems. The book introduces more than 100 topologies of advanced inverters originally developed by the authors,

High thermal efficiency, radiation-based advanced fusion reactors. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taussig, R.T.

1977-04-01

A new energy conversion scheme is explored in this study which has the potential of achieving thermal cycle efficiencies high enough (e.g., 60 to 70 percent) to make advanced fuel fusion reactors attractive net power producers. In this scheme, a radiation boiler admits a large fraction of the x-ray energy from the fusion plasma through a low-Z first wall into a high-Z working fluid where the energy is absorbed at temperatures of 2000 0 K to 3000 0 K. The hot working fluid expands in an energy exchanger against a cooler, light gas, transferring most of the work of expansion from one gas to the other. By operating the radiation/boiler/energy exchanger as a combined cycle, full advantage of the high temperatures can be taken to achieve high thermal efficiency. The existence of a mature combined cycle technology from the development of space power plants gives the advanced fuel fusion reactor application a firm engineering base from which it can grow rapidly, if need be. What is more important, the energy exchanger essentially removes the peak temperature limitations previously set by heat engine inlet conditions, so that much higher combined cycle efficiencies can be reached. This scheme is applied to the case of an advanced fuel proton-boron 11 fusion reactor using a single reheat topping and bottoming cycle. A wide variety of possible working fluid combinations are considered and particular cycle calculations for the thermal efficiency are presented. The operation of the radiation boiler and energy exchanger are both described. Material compatibility, x-ray absorption, thermal hydraulics, structural integrity, and other technical features of these components are analyzed to make a preliminary assessment of the feasibility of this concept

EPP Energy Efficiency Calculation and Influencing Factor Analysis: Cases in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingmin Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Efficiency power plant (EPP promotes the use of energy efficiency power plant technology and energy efficient equipment, coupled with its low-input, zero pollution, zero emissions, and other advantages, having an important role in the control of energy consumption and energy saving. In order to carry out scientific EPP investment decisions, the level of energy efficiency is an important basis for investment decisions. This paper introduces total factor energy efficiency (TFEE in energy efficiency calculation of EPP, constructs energy efficiency calculation model considering environmental benefits, and takes the micro and macro cases in China for analysis; the results show that the TFEE of both single energy efficiency project and EPP are at a relatively high level (above 0.7, and there is a huge gap between calculation results considering and without considering the environmental benefit. In order to discuss energy efficiency influencing factors, the paper analyzes generalized technological advances variation feature of China typical provinces implementing EPP based on generalized technological advances decomposition model by Malmquist index, finding that the steady growth of M index in these provinces is derived from the management level of implementation of EPP and the large-scale production capacity of formation and management. We hope the models and conclusions could provide some references on EPP energy efficiency calculation and decision.

Downtown Detroit Energy Efficient Street Lighting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goodwin, Malik [Detroit Economic Growth Corp, Detroit, MI (United States)

2013-11-29

Reliable public lighting remains a critically important and valuable public service in Detroit, Michigan. The Downtown Detroit Energy Efficiency Lighting Program (the, “Program”) was designed and implemented to bring the latest advancements in lighting technology, energy efficiency, public safety and reliability to Detroit’s Central Business District, and the Program accomplished those goals successfully. Downtown’s nighttime atmosphere has been upgraded as a result of the installation of over 1000 new LED roadway lighting fixtures that were installed as part of the Program. The reliability of the lighting system has also improved.

Using energy efficiency and alternative energy to extend fossil resources or what if tomorrow actually comes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, M.C.

2003-01-01

This PowerPoint presentation outlined the role of energy in maintaining and advancing society, and what happens if we run out of energy. The author provided a glimpse into the energy world through the display of a series of graphs depicting world energy consumption, world energy production, world population distribution, growth rates in Asia, coal use per capita, the United States energy consumption by source, percent of air emissions in the United States from fossil fuel use, and others. It was argued that alternative energy and energy efficiency diminish growth in demand and peak load, supports portfolio diversity, lowers cost, and diminishes environmental impacts. The advances in wind power and solar power were reviewed, as well as advances in bioenergy and hydrogen. The author also argued the case for energy efficiency and conservation. A discussion of various pricing schemes was offered. The first option examined was time of use price, defined as 3 time blocks published in advance for entire seasons. The second option was critical peak pricing, involving a high price imposed for a few days per year when system conditions are critical or near critical. The third option discussed was real-time prices, implying an hourly real-time marginal cost of a kilowatt hour. It was suggested that the system should be changed, since subsidizing energy consumption distorts demand. Energy efficiency and renewables extend fossil energy availability, helping in the transition to a more sustainable world. refs., tabs., figs

Southern Energy Efficiency Center (SEEC)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vieira, Robin; Sonne, Jeffrey; Withers, Charles; Cummings, James; Verdict, Malcolm; Roberts, Sydney

2009-09-30

The Southern Energy Efficiency Center (SEEC) builds collaborative partnerships with: state and local governments and their program support offices, the building delivery industry (designers, contractors, realtors and commissioning agents), product manufacturers and their supply chains, utilities and their program implementers, consumers and other stakeholders in order to forge a strong regional network of building energy efficiency allies. Through a project Steering Committee composed of the state energy offices and building industry stakeholders, the SEEC works to establish consensus-based goals, priorities and strategies at the regional, state and local levels that will materially advance the deployment of high-performance “beyond code” buildings. In its first Phase, SEEC will provide limited technical and policy support assistance, training, certification and education to a wide spectrum of the building construction, codes and standards, and the consumer marketplace.

Sustaining high energy efficiency in existing processes with advanced process integration technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Nan; Smith, Robin; Bulatov, Igor; Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Process integration with better modelling and more advanced solution methods. ► Operational changes for better environmental performance through optimisation. ► Identification of process integration technology for operational optimisation. ► Systematic implementation procedure of process integration technology. ► A case study with crude oil distillation to demonstrate the operational flexibility. -- Abstract: To reduce emissions in the process industry, much emphasis has been put on making step changes in emission reduction, by developing new process technology and making renewable energy more affordable. However, the energy saving potential of existing systems cannot be simply ignored. In recent years, there have been significant advances in process integration technology with better modelling techniques and more advanced solution methods. These methods have been applied to the new design and retrofit studies in the process industry. Here attempts are made to apply these technologies to improve the environmental performance of existing facilities with operational changes. An industrial project was carried out to demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of exploiting the operational flexibility for energy conservation. By applying advanced optimisation technique to integrate the operation of distillation and heat recovery in a crude oil distillation unit, the energy consumption was reduced by 8% without capital expenditure. It shows that with correctly identified technology and the proper execution procedure, significant energy savings and emission reduction can be achieved very quickly without major capital expenditure. This allows the industry to improve its economic and environment performance at the same time.

Advanced energy efficient windows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Kirsten Engelund

2007-01-01

Windows should be paid special attention as they contribute a significant part of the total heat-loss coefficient of the building. Contrary to other parts of the thermal envelope the windows are not only heat loosers, but may gain heat in the day-time. Therefore there are possibilities for large...... energy savings. In terms of energy, windows occupy a special position compared with other thermal envelope structures due to their many functions: 1) windows let daylight into the building and provide occupants with visual contact with their surroundings 2) windows protect against the outdoor climate 3......) windows transmit solar energy that may contribute to a reduction of energy consumption, but which may also lead to unpleasant overheating. In the following paragraphs the current use of windows is reviewed with an emphasis on energy, while special products like solar protection glazing and security...

Emerging Energy-Efficient Technologies in Buildings Technology Characterizations for Energy Modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hadley, SW

2004-10-11

The energy use in America's commercial and residential building sectors is large and growing. Over 38 quadrillion Btus (Quads) of primary energy were consumed in 2002, representing 39% of total U.S. energy consumption. While the energy use in buildings is expected to grow to 52 Quads by 2025, a large number of energy-related technologies exist that could curtail this increase. In recent years, improvements in such items as high efficiency refrigerators, compact fluorescent lights, high-SEER air conditioners, and improved building shells have all contributed to reducing energy use. Hundreds of other technology improvements have and will continue to improve the energy use in buildings. While many technologies are well understood and are gradually penetrating the market, more advanced technologies will be introduced in the future. The pace and extent of these advances can be improved through state and federal R&D. This report focuses on the long-term potential for energy-efficiency improvement in buildings. Five promising technologies have been selected for description to give an idea of the wide range of possibilities. They address the major areas of energy use in buildings: space conditioning (33% of building use), water heating (9%), and lighting (16%). Besides describing energy-using technologies (solid-state lighting and geothermal heat pumps), the report also discusses energy-saving building shell improvements (smart roofs) and the integration of multiple energy service technologies (CHP packaged systems and triple function heat pumps) to create synergistic savings. Finally, information technologies that can improve the efficiency of building operations are discussed. The report demonstrates that the United States is not running out of technologies to improve energy efficiency and economic and environmental performance, and will not run out in the future. The five technology areas alone can potentially result in total primary energy savings of between 2 and

Closing the Energy Efficiency Gap—A Systematic Review of Empirical Articles on Drivers to Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Firms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mette Talseth Solnørdal

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Research has identified an extensive potential for energy efficiency within the manufacturing sector, which is responsible for a substantial share of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this study is to enhance the knowledge of vital drivers for energy efficiency in this sector by providing a critical and systematic review of the empirical literature on drivers to energy efficiency in manufacturing firms at the firm level. The systematic literature review (SLR is based on peer-reviewed articles published between 1998 and 2016. The findings reveal that organizational and economic drivers are, from the firms’ perspective, the most prominent stimulus for energy efficiency and that they consider policy instruments and market drivers to be less important. Secondly, firm size has a positive effect on the firms’ energy efficiency, while the literature is inconclusive considering sectorial impact. Third, the studies are mainly conducted in the US and Western European countries, despite the fact that future increase in energy demand is expected outside these regions. These findings imply a potential mismatch between energy policy-makers’ and firm mangers’ understanding of which factors are most important for achieving increased energy efficiency in manufacturing firms. Energy policies should target the stimulation of management, competence, and organizational structure in addition to the provision of economic incentives. Further understanding about which and how internal resources, organizational capabilities, and management practices impact energy efficiency in manufacturing firms is needed. Future energy efficiency scholars should advance our theoretical understanding of the relationship between energy efficiency improvements in firms, the related change processes, and the drivers that affect these processes.

Ohio Advanced Energy Manufacturing Center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kimberly Gibson; Mark Norfolk

2012-07-30

The program goal of the Ohio Advanced Energy Manufacturing Center (OAEMC) is to support advanced energy manufacturing and to create responsive manufacturing clusters that will support the production of advanced energy and energy-efficient products to help ensure the nation's energy and environmental security. This goal cuts across a number of existing industry segments critical to the nation's future. Many of the advanced energy businesses are starting to make the transition from technology development to commercial production. Historically, this transition from laboratory prototypes through initial production for early adopters to full production for mass markets has taken several years. Developing and implementing manufacturing technology to enable production at a price point the market will accept is a key step. Since these start-up operations are configured to advance the technology readiness of the core energy technology, they have neither the expertise nor the resources to address manufacturing readiness issues they encounter as the technology advances toward market entry. Given the economic realities of today's business environment, finding ways to accelerate this transition can make the difference between success and failure for a new product or business. The advanced energy industry touches a wide range of industry segments that are not accustomed to working together in complex supply chains to serve large markets such as automotive and construction. During its first three years, the Center has catalyzed the communication between companies and industry groups that serve the wide range of advanced energy markets. The Center has also found areas of common concern, and worked to help companies address these concerns on a segment or industry basis rather than having each company work to solve common problems individually. EWI worked with three industries through public-private partnerships to sew together disparate segments helping to promote

Smart Microgrid Energy Management Controls for Improved Energy Efficiency and Renewables Integration at DoD Installations

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; 2. Increased energy efficiency; and 3. Increased energy surety. This demonstration will also directly impact ...megawatt (MW), as well as a gas-fired cogeneration plant in excess of 7 MW. In the future, additional solar PV, fuel cells and advanced energy storage... Energy Management Controls for Improved Energy Efficiency and Renewables Integration at DoD Installations May 2013 Report Documentation Page Form

Energy efficiency as an opportunity for the natural gas industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Love, P.

2003-01-01

Energy conservation, energy efficiency and demand side management are defined and the role played in the promotion and advancement of energy efficiency objectives by the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance are explained. Direct and indirect economic and environmental benefits and the potential impacts in terms of savings and jobs are discussed, with examples of successful greenhouse gas emission reduction programs by industry. The total potential for energy efficiency in Canada is estimated at 18 per cent lower energy use by 2010, and 33 per cent by 2020, assuming that specific policy recommendations and other cost effective efficiency measures are implemented. Overall conclusions are that there is a large potential for cost-effective energy savings over and above of what has been done already. Furthermore, utilities can play a leading role in realizing these efficiencies, and in the process achieve substantial benefits for themselves

Energy efficiency as an opportunity for the natural gas industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Love, P. [Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (Canada)

2003-07-01

Energy conservation, energy efficiency and demand side management are defined and the role played in the promotion and advancement of energy efficiency objectives by the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance are explained. Direct and indirect economic and environmental benefits and the potential impacts in terms of savings and jobs are discussed, with examples of successful greenhouse gas emission reduction programs by industry. The total potential for energy efficiency in Canada is estimated at 18 per cent lower energy use by 2010, and 33 per cent by 2020, assuming that specific policy recommendations and other cost effective efficiency measures are implemented. Overall conclusions are that there is a large potential for cost-effective energy savings over and above of what has been done already. Furthermore, utilities can play a leading role in realizing these efficiencies, and in the process achieve substantial benefits for themselves.

Energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

After a speech of the CEA's (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) general administrator about energy efficiency as a first rank challenge for the planet and for France, this publications proposes several contributions: a discussion of the efficiency of nuclear energy, an economic analysis of R and D's value in the field of fourth generation fast reactors, discussions about biofuels and the relationship between energy efficiency and economic competitiveness, and a discussion about solar photovoltaic efficiency

Optimal design of advanced distillation configuration for enhanced energy efficiency of waste solvent recovery process in semiconductor industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chaniago, Yus Donald; Minh, Le Quang; Khan, Mohd Shariq; Koo, Kee-Kahb; Bahadori, Alireza; Lee, Moonyong

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Thermally coupled distillation process is proposed for waste solvent recovery. • A systematic optimization procedure is used to optimize distillation columns. • Response surface methodology is applied to optimal design of distillation column. • Proposed advanced distillation allows energy efficient waste solvent recovery. - Abstract: The semiconductor industry is one of the largest industries in the world. On the other hand, the huge amount of solvent used in the industry results in high production cost and potential environmental damage because most of the valuable chemicals discharged from the process are incinerated at high temperatures. A distillation process is used to recover waste solvent, reduce the production-related costs and protect the environment from the semiconductor industrial waste. Therefore, in this study, a distillation process was used to recover the valuable chemicals from semiconductor industry discharge, which otherwise would have been lost to the environment. The conventional sequence of distillation columns, which was optimized using the Box and sequential quadratic programming method for minimum energy objectives, was used. The energy demands of a distillation problem may have a substantial influence on the profitability of a process. A thermally coupled distillation and heat pump-assisted distillation sequence was implemented to further improve the distillation performance. Finally, a comparison was made between the conventional and advanced distillation sequences, and the optimal conditions for enhancing recovery were determined. The proposed advanced distillation configuration achieved a significant energy saving of 40.5% compared to the conventional column sequence

Energy Efficiency Plan 2009-2012; Energie Efficiency Plan 2009-2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meulen, M.M.W. (ed.)

2009-02-15

The aim of the Energy Efficiency Plan is to give an overview of the energy conservation plans of the Eindhoven University of Technology in Eindhoven, Netherlands, which must result in efficient use of energy conform the long-range agreements between businesses, industry and organizations and the Dutch government to improve energy efficiency (MJA3) [Dutch] Het doel van het EEP (Energie Efficiency Plan) is het in beeld brengen van de energiebesparingsplannen die leiden tot een efficienter gebruik van energie conform de MJA-3 afspraak (de derde Meerjaren Afspraak)

Advanced energy projects FY 1994 research summaries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-09-01

The Division of Advanced Energy Projects (AEP) provides support to explore the feasibility of novel, energy-related concepts that evolve from advances in basic research. These concepts are typically at an early stage of scientific definition and, therefore, are premature for consideration by applied research or technology development programs. The AEP also supports high-risk, exploratory concepts that do not readily fit into a program area but could have several applications that may span scientific disciplines or technical areas. Projects supported by the Division arise from unsolicited ideas and concepts submitted by researchers. The portfolio of projects is dynamic and reflects the broad role of the Department in supporting research and development for improving the Nation's energy outlook. FY 1994 projects include the following topical areas: novel materials for energy technology; renewable and biodegradable materials; exploring uses of new scientific discoveries; alternate pathways to energy efficiency; alternative energy sources; and innovative approaches to waste treatment and reduction. Summaries are given for 66 projects

Energy efficiency improvements in electric motors and drives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bertoldi, P. [Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate General for Energy; Ameida, A.T. de [Coimbra Univ. (Portugal). Dept. de Engenharia Electrotecnica; Falkner, H. [eds.] [AEA Technolgy, Harwell (United Kingdom). ETSU

2000-07-01

This book covers the state of the art of energy-efficient electric motor technologies, which can be used now and in the near future to achieve significant and cost-effective energy savings. Recent developments in advanced motor technologies by some of the largest manufacturers of motors and drives are also presented. Although energy-efficient motor technologies can save a huge amount of electricity, they still have not been widely adopted. The barriers which can hinder the adoption of those technologies are presented. Policies and programmes to promote the large scale penetration of energy-efficient technologies and the market transformation are featured in the book, describing the experiences carried out in different parts of the world. This extensive coverage includes contributions from relevant institutions in the European Union, North America, Latin America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. (orig.)

Energy balance and efficiency of power stations with a pulsed Tokamak reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davenport, P.A.; Mitchell, J.T.D.; Darvas, J.; Foerster, S.; Sack, B.

1976-06-01

The energy balance of a fusion power station based on the TOKAMAK concept is examined with the aid of a model comprising three distinct elements: the reactor, the energy converter and the reactor operation equipment. The efficiency of each element is expressed in terms of the various energy flows and the product of these efficiencies gives the net station efficiency. The analysis takes account of pulsed operation and has general applicability. Numerical values for the net station efficiency are derived from detailed estimates of the energy flows for a TOKAMAK reactor and its auxiliary equipment operating with advanced energy converters. The derivation of these estimates is given in eleven appendices. The calculated station efficiencies span ranges similar to those quoted for the current generation of fission reactors, though lower than those predicted for HTGR and LMFBR stations. Credible parameter domains for pulsed TOKAMAK operation are firmly delineated and factors inimical to improved performance are indicated. It is concluded that the net thermal efficiency of a TOKAMAK reactor power station based on present designs and using advanced thermal converters will be approximately 0.3 and is unlikely to exceed 0.33. (orig.) [de

Energy Efficiency Roadmap for Uganda, Making Energy Efficiency Count. Executive Summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

de la Rue du Can, Stephane; Pudleiner, David; Jones, David; Khan, Aleisha

2017-06-15

Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has focused its energy sector investments largely on increasing energy access by increasing energy supply. The links between energy efficiency and energy access, the importance of energy efficiency in new energy supply, and the multiple benefits of energy efficiency for the level and quality of energy available, have been largely overlooked. Implementing energy efficiency in parallel with expanding both the electricity grid and new clean energy generation reduces electricity demand and helps optimize the power supply so that it can serve more customers reliably at minimum cost. Ensuring efficient appliances are incorporated into energy access efforts provides improved energy services to customers. Energy efficiency is an important contributor to access to modern energy. This Energy Efficiency Roadmap for Uganda (Roadmap) is a response to the important role that electrical energy efficiency can play in meeting Uganda’s energy goals. Power Africa and the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) initiatives collaborated with more than 24 stakeholders in Uganda to develop this document. The document estimates that if the most efficient technologies on the market were adopted, 2,224 gigawatt hours could be saved in 2030 across all sectors, representing 31% of the projected load. This translates into 341 megawatts of peak demand reductions, energy access to an additional 6 million rural customers and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 10.6 million tonnes in 2030. The Roadmap also finds that 91% of this technical potential is cost-effective, and 47% is achievable under conservative assumptions. The Roadmap prioritizes recommendations for implementing energy efficiency and maximizing benefits to meet the goals and priorities established in Uganda’s 2015 SEforALL Action Agenda. One important step is to create and increase demand for efficiency through long-term enabling policies and financial incentives

Intercity passenger transportation: energy efficiency and conservation case study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khan, A.M.

1981-01-01

To demonstrate a methodology for energy analysis and to advance technical knowledge on the energy conservation potential in intercity passenger transportation, this paper reports findings of a case study of the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal multimodal system. From a total (direct and indirect) energy perspective for origin-destination travel, energy efficiency and conservation potential of technological improvements, modal shifts and increased load factors are reported. 11 refs.

Data Center Energy Efficiency Standards in India: Preliminary Findings from Global Practices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raje, Sanyukta; Maan, Hermant; Ganguly, Suprotim; Singh, Tanvin; Jayaram, Nisha; Ghatikar, Girish; Greenberg, Steve; Kumar, Satish; Sartor, Dale

2015-06-01

Global data center energy consumption is growing rapidly. In India, information technology industry growth, fossil-fuel generation, and rising energy prices add significant operational costs and carbon emissions from energy-intensive data centers. Adoption of energy-efficient practices can improve the global competitiveness and sustainability of data centers in India. Previous studies have concluded that advancement of energy efficiency standards through policy and regulatory mechanisms is the fastest path to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient practices in the Indian data centers. In this study, we reviewed data center energy efficiency practices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Using evaluation metrics, we identified an initial set of energy efficiency standards applicable to the Indian context using the existing policy mechanisms. These preliminary findings support next steps to recommend energy efficiency standards and inform policy makers on strategies to adopt energy-efficient technologies and practices in Indian data centers.

Development of a new energy efficiency rating system for existing residential buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Choongwan; Hong, Taehoon; Lee, Minhyun; Seon Park, Hyo

2014-01-01

Building energy efficiency rating systems have been established worldwide to systematically manage the energy consumption of existing buildings. This study aimed to develop a new energy efficiency rating system for existing residential buildings from two perspectives: (i) establishment of reasonable and fair criteria for the building energy efficiency rating system; and (ii) establishment of comparative incentive and penalty programs to encourage the voluntary participation of all residents in the energy saving campaign. Based on the analysis of the conventional energy efficiency rating system for existing residential buildings, this study was conducted in five steps: (i) data collection and analysis; (ii) correlation analysis between the household size and the CO 2 emission density (i.e., CO 2 emission per unit area); (iii) cluster formation based on results of the correlation analysis using a decision tree; (iv) establishment of a new energy efficiency rating system for existing buildings; and (v) establishment of incentive and penalty programs using advanced case-based reasoning. The proposed system can allow a policymaker to establish a reasonable and fair energy efficiency rating system for existing residential buildings and can encourage the voluntary participation of all residents in the energy saving campaign. - Highlights: • A new energy efficiency rating system for the residential building was developed. • The incentive and penalty programs were established using an advanced CBR model. • The new system was established using reasonable and fair standards. • It allows all residents to voluntarily participate in the energy saving campaign. • It can be applied to any country or sector in the global environment

Towards energy efficient operation of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems via advanced supervisory control design

Science.gov (United States)

Oswiecinska, A.; Hibbs, J.; Zajic, I.; Burnham, K. J.

2015-11-01

This paper presents conceptual control solution for reliable and energy efficient operation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems used in large volume building applications, e.g. warehouse facilities or exhibition centres. Advanced two-level scalable control solution, designed to extend capabilities of the existing low-level control strategies via remote internet connection, is presented. The high-level, supervisory controller is based on Model Predictive Control (MPC) architecture, which is the state-of-the-art for indoor climate control systems. The innovative approach benefits from using passive heating and cooling control strategies for reducing the HVAC system operational costs, while ensuring that required environmental conditions are met.

A design guide for energy-efficient research laboratories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wishner, N.; Chen, A.; Cook, L. [eds.; Bell, G.C.; Mills, E.; Sartor, D.; Avery, D.; Siminovitch, M.; Piette, M.A.

1996-09-24

This document--A Design Guide for Energy-Efficient Research Laboratories--provides a detailed and holistic framework to assist designers and energy managers in identifying and applying advanced energy-efficiency features in laboratory-type environments. The Guide fills an important void in the general literature and compliments existing in-depth technical manuals. Considerable information is available pertaining to overall laboratory design issues, but no single document focuses comprehensively on energy issues in these highly specialized environments. Furthermore, practitioners may utilize many antiquated rules of thumb, which often inadvertently cause energy inefficiency. The Guide helps its user to: introduce energy decision-making into the earliest phases of the design process, access the literature of pertinent issues, and become aware of debates and issues on related topics. The Guide does focus on individual technologies, as well as control systems, and important operational factors such as building commissioning. However, most importantly, the Guide is intended to foster a systems perspective (e.g. right sizing) and to present current leading-edge, energy-efficient design practices and principles.

2017 Publications Demonstrate Advancements in Wind Energy Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2018-01-17

In 2017, wind energy experts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made significant strides to advance wind energy. Many of these achievements were presented in articles published in scientific and engineering journals and technical reports that detailed research accomplishments in new and progressing wind energy technologies. During fiscal year 2017, NREL wind energy thought leaders shared knowledge and insights through 45 journal articles and 25 technical reports, benefiting academic and national-lab research communities; industry stakeholders; and local, state, and federal decision makers. Such publications serve as important outreach, informing the public of how NREL wind research, analysis, and deployment activities complement advanced energy growth in the United States and around the world. The publications also illustrate some of the noteworthy outcomes of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and Laboratory Directed Research and Development funding, as well as funding and facilities leveraged through strategic partnerships and other collaborations.

Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Commercial Lawn Equipment (Spanish version); Clean Cities, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelson, Erik

2015-06-01

Powering commercial lawn equipment with alternative fuels or advanced engine technology is an effective way to reduce U.S. dependence on petroleum, reduce harmful emissions, and lessen the environmental impacts of commercial lawn mowing. Numerous alternative fuel and fuel-efficient advanced technology mowers are available. Owners turn to these mowers because they may save on fuel and maintenance costs, extend mower life, reduce fuel spillage and fuel theft, and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

“Achieving Regional Energy Efficiency Potential in the Northeast”

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Angelo, Laura

2018-05-01

With this grant, NEEP sought to accelerate the adoption of energy efficiency in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region through regional partnership projects that bring together leadership and staff from state and local government, utilities, industry, environmental and consumer groups, and other related interests to make efficiency visible and understood, reduce energy use in buildings, speed the adoption of high efficiency products, and advance knowledge and best practices. At the time of this grant, the NEEP region included the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Advanced energy utilization MHD power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The 'Technical Committee on Advanced Energy Utilization MHD Power Generation' was started to establish advanced energy utilization technologies in Japan, and has been working for three years from June 2004 to May 2007. This committee investigated closed cycle MHD, open cycle MHD, and liquid metal MHD power generation as high-efficiency power generation systems on the earth. Then, aero-space application and deep space exploration technologies were investigated as applications of MHD technology. The spin-off from research and development on MHD power generation such as acceleration and deceleration of supersonic flows was expected to solve unstart phenomena in scramjet engine and also to solve abnormal heating of aircrafts by shock wave. In addition, this committee investigated researches on fuel cells, on secondary batteries, on connection of wind power system to power grid, and on direct energy conversion system from nuclear fusion reactor for future. The present technical report described results of investigations by the committee. (author)

Improved energy efficiency in the process industries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pilavachi, P A [Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium)

1992-12-31

The European Commission, through the JOULE Programme, is promoting energy efficient technologies in the process industries; the topics of the various R and D activities are: heat exchangers (enhanced evaporation, shell and tube heat exchangers including distribution of fluids, and fouling), low energy separation processes (adsorption, melt-crystallization and supercritical extraction), chemical reactors (methanol synthesis and reactors with integral heat exchangers), other unit operations (evaporators, glass-melting furnaces, cement kilns and baking ovens, dryers and packed columns and replacements for R12 in refrigeration), energy and system process models (batch processes, simulation and control of transients and energy synthesis), development of advanced sensors.

Towards Efficient Energy Management: Defining HEMS, AMI and Smart Grid Objectives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rossello Busquet, Ana; Kardaras, Georgios; Soler, José

2011-01-01

electricity in the grid will also help to reduce the increase of energy consumption in the future. In order to reduce energy consumption in home environments, researches have been designing Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). In addition, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and smart grids are also...... being developed to distribute and produce electricity efficiently. This paper presents the high level goals and requirements of HEMS. Additionally, it gives an overview of Advanced Metering Infrastructure benefits and smart grids objectives....

A Study on intensifying efficiency for international collaborative development of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Moon Hee; Kim, H. R.; Kim, H. J.

2009-08-01

The objective of the study was to participate the GIF for the efficient propulsion of future nuclear system development. For achieving the objective of this study, the followings were carried out. · Investigation and analysis of the international and domestic trends related to future nuclear system · To maximize the national interests by the strategic participation of GIF meeting - To participate of GIF meeting and to support of relative work - To investigate the System R and D Arrangement and to inform its progress situation · To maximize the propulsion results of Korea/U.S nuclear energy joint research(I-NERI) - To support a delegation by the review of agenda in aspect of the technical/legal point - To participate of BINERIC meeting and to support of relative work · Streamline the nuclear energy R and D due to the effective connection between domestic R and D and international collaboration The result of this study may be used for 1) contribution to establishing the effective foundation and broadening the cooperation activities between the advanced countries and Korea and 2) contribution effective management of Gen IV international collaboration by technical/legal supporting

A Foundation of Energy Efficiency in South Carolina: Weatherization Assistance Close-Up Fact Sheet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D& R International

2001-10-10

South Carolina demonstrates its commitment to technology and efficiency through the Weatherization Program. Weatherization uses advanced technologies and techniques to reduce energy costs for low-income families by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.

Energy Efficiency Analysis of Discharge Modes of an Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage System

OpenAIRE

Shane D. Inder; Mehrdad Khamooshi

2017-01-01

Efficient energy storage is a crucial factor in facilitating the uptake of renewable energy resources. Among the many options available for energy storage systems required to balance imbalanced supply and demand cycles, compressed air energy storage (CAES) is a proven technology in grid-scale applications. This paper reviews the current state of micro scale CAES technology and describes a micro-scale advanced adiabatic CAES (A-CAES) system, where heat generated during compression is stored fo...

Energy efficiency through energy audit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esan, A. A.

2000-08-01

Energy is an essential factor to economic and social development and improved standards of living in developing countries. Nigeria in particular. There is a strong need for greater energy efficiency in every sector of economy in order to reduce costs. enhance competitiveness, conserve energy resources and reduce environmental impacts associated with production, distribution and use of energy. Energy auditing and monitoring has a significant role in any energy management and conservation project. Energy auditing as an important part of industrial energy management on plant level, represents a complex of activities aiming at the efficient use of energy. The activities are undertaken by a team of experts who use a set of measuring instruments to monitor and evaluate all the necessary data to elaborate a package of recommendations on improvements in the field of energy efficiency and possible product quality. The inefficient conversion and use of energy have been identified as a central problem for all developing countries, Nigeria inclusive, since they all consume significantly higher amounts of energy per unit of GDP than OECD countries. This aggravates energy-related environmental problems and is also a burden on domestic resources and foreign exchange. Energy prices have risen drastically in many developing countries, while energy intensities remain high. Price changes alone are not rapidly translating energy efficiency improvements. Identifying and removing the obstacles to greater energy efficiency should be priority for government in developing countries. This is why the Energy Commission, an apex organ of government on Energy matters in all its ramifications is out to encourage relatively low-cost energy audits for the Textile industries - such audits can identify ''good house-keeping's' measures, such as simply process improvements, that reduce energy consumption and operating costs. This will be followed by the training of plant workers/energy managers

Energy efficiency in the British housing stock: Energy demand and the Homes Energy Efficiency Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, Ian G.; Steadman, Philip J.; Bruhns, Harry; Summerfield, Alex J.; Lowe, Robert

2013-01-01

The UK Government has unveiled an ambitious retrofit programme that seeks significant improvement to the energy efficiency of the housing stock. High quality data on the energy efficiency of buildings and their related energy demand is critical to supporting and targeting investment in energy efficiency. Using existing home improvement programmes over the past 15 years, the UK Government has brought together data on energy efficiency retrofits in approximately 13 million homes into the Homes Energy Efficiency Database (HEED), along with annual metered gas and electricity use for the period of 2004–2007. This paper describes the HEED sample and assesses its representativeness in terms of dwelling characteristics, the energy demand of different energy performance levels using linked gas and electricity meter data, along with an analysis of the impact retrofit measures has on energy demand. Energy savings are shown to be associated with the installation of loft and cavity insulation, and glazing and boiler replacement. The analysis illustrates this source of ‘in-action’ data can be used to provide empirical estimates of impacts of energy efficiency retrofit on energy demand and provides a source of empirical data from which to support the development of national housing energy efficiency retrofit policies. - Highlights: • The energy efficiency level for 50% of the British housing stock is described. • Energy demand is influenced by size and age and energy performance. • Housing retrofits (e.g. cavity insulation, glazing and boiler replacements) save energy. • Historic differences in energy performance show persistent long-term energy savings

Long-term energy efficiency analysis requires solid energy statistics: The case of the German basic chemical industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saygin, D.; Worrell, E.; Tam, C.; Trudeau, N.; Gielen, D.J.; Weiss, M.; Patel, M.K.

2012-01-01

Analyzing the chemical industry’s energy use is challenging because of the sector’s complexity and the prevailing uncertainty in energy use and production data. We develop an advanced bottom-up model (PIE-Plus) which encompasses the energy use of the 139 most important chemical processes. We apply this model in a case study to analyze the German basic chemical industry’s energy use and energy efficiency improvements in the period between 1995 and 2008. We compare our results with data from the German Energy Balances and with data published by the International Energy Agency (IEA). We find that our model covers 88% of the basic chemical industry’s total final energy use (including non-energy use) as reported in the German Energy Balances. The observed energy efficiency improvements range between 2.2 and 3.5% per year, i.e., they are on the higher side of the values typically reported in literature. Our results point to uncertainties in the basic chemical industry’s final energy use as reported in the energy statistics and the specific energy consumption values. More efforts are required to improve the quality of the national and international energy statistics to make them useable for reliable monitoring of energy efficiency improvements of the chemical industry. -- Highlights: ► An advanced model was developed to estimate German chemical industry’s energy use. ► For the base year (2000), model covers 88% of the sector’s total final energy use. ► Sector’s energy efficiency improved between 2.2 and 3.5%/yr between 1995 and 2008. ► Improved energy statistics are required for accurate monitoring of improvements.

Renewable energy sources: Energy Efficiency Agency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bulgarensky, Mihael

2004-01-01

The paper presents the activities of the Energy Efficiency Agency, its main functions, as well as the new legislation stimulating the use of RES, stipulated in the new Energy Law of Bulgaria. The second part of the paper describes the potential of renewable energy in i.e. wind energy; solar energy; biomass energy; hydro energy; geothermal energy; draft of a National Program on RES 2005-2015. The third part describes the main issues of the new ENERGY EFFICIENCY LAW and the established Energy efficiency fund. (Author)

Energy Efficiency Collaboratives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Michael [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Bryson, Joe [US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States)

2015-09-01

Collaboratives for energy efficiency have a long and successful history and are currently used, in some form, in more than half of the states. Historically, many state utility commissions have used some form of collaborative group process to resolve complex issues that emerge during a rate proceeding. Rather than debate the issues through the formality of a commission proceeding, disagreeing parties are sent to discuss issues in a less-formal setting and bring back resolutions to the commission. Energy efficiency collaboratives take this concept and apply it specifically to energy efficiency programs—often in anticipation of future issues as opposed to reacting to a present disagreement. Energy efficiency collaboratives can operate long term and can address the full suite of issues associated with designing, implementing, and improving energy efficiency programs. Collaboratives can be useful to gather stakeholder input on changing program budgets and program changes in response to performance or market shifts, as well as to provide continuity while regulators come and go, identify additional energy efficiency opportunities and innovations, assess the role of energy efficiency in new regulatory contexts, and draw on lessons learned and best practices from a diverse group. Details about specific collaboratives in the United States are in the appendix to this guide. Collectively, they demonstrate the value of collaborative stakeholder processes in producing successful energy efficiency programs.

Proceedings of the Canadian District Energy Association's 9. annual conference and exhibition in association with the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance : Create, conserve, connect : District energy and energy efficiency for Canadian communities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

This conference provided an opportunity to demonstrate the latest developments in the supply and delivery of clean and efficient power, heating and cooling, with particular attention to proven energy solutions based on district energy and cogeneration technologies. Opportunities for distributed generation in Canada were presented, along with their associated risks and the impacts they have on business efficiency, communities and the environment. Topics of discussion focused on financing local energy projects, emission reduction implications, developing partnerships, best practices for energy systems, strategies for delivering energy efficiency, and policies that support energy solutions. The latest technological advances in research and development were also reviewed. District energy provides heating and cooling from a central plant to multiple users using piped steam through a series of supply and return pipes. Industrial cogeneration takes advantage of excess thermal capacity and reuses it to generate high-value electric power. Both district energy and cogeneration can save money for users, conserve resources, reduce pollution and offer sustainable energy solutions for the future. The conference featured 32 presentations, all of which were indexed separately for inclusion in this database. tabs., figs

Barriers and opportunities for labels for highly energy-efficient houses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mlecnik, Erwin; Visscher, Henk; Van Hal, Anke

2010-01-01

Promoting energy efficiency in the building sector is essential if the agreements of the Kyoto Protocol are to be honoured. Different initiatives for energy labelling of highly energy-efficient residential buildings have emerged throughout Europe as an essential method to stimulate market demand, to control grants or to ensure the quality of demonstration projects with excellent energy performance. The paper identifies the barriers and opportunities for the further diffusion of labels for highly energy-efficient houses. A model based on the theory of the diffusion of innovation is developed to analyse perceived attributes of existing European labels. The paper investigates the innovation characteristics of existing labels in Europe, with a focus on advanced countries. The question of compatibility with the development of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is examined in detail. We found that the diffusion of emerging and already existing voluntary European labels for highly energy-efficient houses is needed. Their complexity can be lowered and relative advantage, trialability, observability, and compatibility can be increased. EPBD calculation procedures should be able to receive highly energy-efficient houses. In the framework of the recast of the EPBD, official recognition of existing voluntary labels is recommended. (author)

Energy and exergy utilization efficiencies in the Japanese residential/commercial sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kondo, Kumiko

2009-01-01

Unlike the manufacturing sector, the residential/commercial sectors of Japan struggle to meet their environmental requirements. For instance, their CO 2 emission levels have increased tremendously since 1990. This research estimates energy and 'exergy (available energy)' efficiencies in Japan's residential/commercial sectors during the period 1990-2006. Since an exergy analysis reveals 'available energy losses', it is an effective tool to achieve sustainable societies. The primary objective of this paper is to examine the potential for advancing the 'true' energy efficiency in Japan's residential/commercial sectors-by observing energy and exergy efficiency disparities. The results show large differences between the overall energy and exergy efficiencies in the residential (60.12%, 6.33%)/commercial sectors (51.78%, 5.74%) in 2006. This implies great potential for energy savings in both sectors. Furthermore, this research suggests that the residential sector may face more difficulties than the commercial sector, although the latter appears to be less energy-efficient, according to recent statistics. This is because the disparity between energy and exergy efficiencies has expanded in the residential sector since 2000. This study illustrates the importance of exergy analyses in promoting sustainable energy policies and new adaptation strategies.

Performance-based potential for residential energy efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Performance-based potential for residential energy efficiency

2013-01-15

Energy performance contracts (EPCs) have proven an effective mechanism for increasing energy efficiency in nearly all sectors of the economy since their introduction nearly 30 years ago. In the modern form, activities undertaken as part of an EPC are scoped and implemented by experts with specialized technical knowledge, financed by commercial lenders, and enable a facility owner to limit risk and investment of time and resources while receiving the rewards of improved energy performance. This report provides a review of the experiences of the US with EPCs and discusses the possibilities for the residential sector to utilize EPCs. Notably absent from the EPC market is the residential segment. Historically, research has shown that the residential sector varies in several key ways from markets segments where EPCs have proven successful, including: high degree of heterogeneity of energy use characteristics among and within households, comparatively small quantity of energy consumed per residence, limited access to information about energy consumption and savings potential, and market inefficiencies that constrain the value of efficiency measures. However, the combination of recent technological advances in automated metering infrastructure, flexible financing options, and the expansion of competitive wholesale electricity markets to include energy efficiency as a biddable supply-side resource present an opportunity for EPC-like efforts to successfully engage the residential sector, albeit following a different model than has been used in EPCs traditionally.(Author)

Immediate challenge of combating climate change: Effective implementation of energy efficiency policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morvaj, Zoran; Bukarica, Vesna

2010-09-15

Energy efficiency is the most readily available, rapid and cost-effective way to achieve desired greenhouse gases reductions. Therefore, it is the focus of energy and climate change policies world wide. The results of these policies are still missing in the desired extent, even in the EU, which has the most advanced energy efficiency policy. The main reason behind this policy failure is a complete lack of focus on implementing capacities that would ensure full policy uptake. Embracing full-scale energy management systems in public and business sectors and mobilisation of and cooperation between all stakeholders are the way towards higher efficiency.

Reconsidering energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldoni, Giovanni

2007-01-01

Energy and environmental policies are reconsidering energy efficiency. In a perfect market, rational and well informed consumers reach economic efficiency which, at the given prices of energy and capital, corresponds to physical efficiency. In the real world, market failures and cognitive frictions distort the consumers from perfectly rational and informed choices. Green incentive schemes aim at balancing market failures and directing consumers toward more efficient goods and services. The problem is to fine tune the incentive schemes [it

Exploring the energy benefits of advanced water metering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berger, Michael A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Hans, Liesel [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Piscopo, Kate [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Sohn, Michael D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2016-08-01

Recent improvements to advanced water metering and communications technologies have the potential to improve the management of water resources and utility infrastructure, benefiting both utilities and ratepayers. The highly granular, near-real-time data and opportunity for automated control provided by these advanced systems may yield operational benefits similar to those afforded by similar technologies in the energy sector. While significant progress has been made in quantifying the water-related benefits of these technologies, the research on quantifying the energy benefits of improved water metering is underdeveloped. Some studies have quantified the embedded energy in water in California, however these findings are based on data more than a decade old, and unanimously assert that more research is needed to further explore how topography, climate, water source, and other factors impact their findings. In this report, we show how water-related advanced metering systems may present a broader and more significant set of energy-related benefits. We review the open literature of water-related advanced metering technologies and their applications, discuss common themes with a series of water and energy experts, and perform a preliminary scoping analysis of advanced water metering deployment and use in California. We find that the open literature provides very little discussion of the energy savings potential of advanced water metering, despite the substantial energy necessary for water’s extraction, conveyance, treatment, distribution, and eventual end use. We also find that water AMI has the potential to provide water-energy co-efficiencies through improved water systems management, with benefits including improved customer education, automated leak detection, water measurement and verification, optimized system operation, and inherent water and energy conservation. Our findings also suggest that the adoption of these technologies in the water sector has been slow

Moving forward on energy efficiency in Canada : a foundation for action

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

In addition to having diverse sources of energy, Canada recognizes its potential to minimize wasted energy. Governments can play a vital role in advancing energy efficiency, as investors in programs that stimulate actions, and as policymakers and regulators who help shape the marketplace and reduce barriers to action. This document represented the collaborative efforts of provincial and territorial governments and the federal government, with important input from a wide cross-section of representatives from outside government, including non-governmental organizations and industry. Major energy-using sectors of the Canadian economy were examined, including industry, transportation and the built environment. The report also described many technologies and best practices available for all stakeholders, and highlighted the important roles that other organizations play in promoting energy efficiency in all sectors of the Canadian economy. The report provided an overview of supply and demand and discussed Canada's commitment to energy efficiency. Energy efficiency and conservation, fuel switching and renewable fuels were also discussed. 37 refs., 1 tab., 1 appendix

The Global Experience of Deployment of Energy-Efficient Technologies in High-Rise Construction

Science.gov (United States)

Potienko, Natalia D.; Kuznetsova, Anna A.; Solyakova, Darya N.; Klyueva, Yulia E.

2018-03-01

The objective of this research is to examine issues related to the increasing importance of energy-efficient technologies in high-rise construction. The aim of the paper is to investigate modern approaches to building design that involve implementation of various energy-saving technologies in diverse climates and at different structural levels, including the levels of urban development, functionality, planning, construction and engineering. The research methodology is based on the comprehensive analysis of the advanced global expertise in the design and construction of energy-efficient high-rise buildings, with the examination of their positive and negative features. The research also defines the basic principles of energy-efficient architecture. Besides, it draws parallels between the climate characteristics of countries that lead in the field of energy-efficient high-rise construction, on the one hand, and the climate in Russia, on the other, which makes it possible to use the vast experience of many countries, wholly or partially. The paper also gives an analytical review of the results arrived at by implementing energy efficiency principles into high-rise architecture. The study findings determine the impact of energy-efficient technologies on high-rise architecture and planning solutions. In conclusion, the research states that, apart from aesthetic and compositional interpretation of architectural forms, an architect nowadays has to address the task of finding a synthesis between technological and architectural solutions, which requires knowledge of advanced technologies. The study findings reveal that the implementation of modern energy-efficient technologies into high-rise construction is of immediate interest and is sure to bring long-term benefits.

Aerodynamics/ACEE: Aircraft energy efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

1981-01-01

An overview is presented of a 10 year program managed by NASA which seeks to make possible the most efficient use of energy for aircraft propulsion and lift as well as provide a technology that can be used by U.S. manufacturers of air transports and engines. Supercritical wings, winglets, vortex drag reduction, high lift, active control, laminar flow control, and aerodynamics by computer are among the topics discussed. Wind tunnel models in flight verification of advanced technology, and the design, construction and testing of various aircraft structures are also described.

Advanced FeCrAl ODS steels for high-temperature structural applications in energy generation systems

OpenAIRE

Pimentel, G.; Capdevila, Carlos; Bartolomé, Mª. J.; Chao, Jesús; Serrano, M.; García-Junceda, A.; Campos, M.; Torralba Castelló, José Manuel; Aldazabal, J.

2012-01-01

Technologies and means for developing biomass plant with higher energy conversion efficiencies are essential in order to implement the commitment to renewable biomass energy generation. Advanced, indirect Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) systems offer overall biomass energy conversion efficiencies of 45 % and above, compared with the 35 % efficiency of conventional biomass steam plant. However to attain this efficiency in CCGT operation it will be necessary to develop a heat exchanger capabl...

Energy Efficiency, Building Productivity and the Commercial Buildings Market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, D.W.

2002-05-16

The energy-efficiency gap literature suggests that building buyers are often short-sighted in their failure to apply life-cycle costing principles to energy efficient building technologies, with the result that under investment in these advanced technology occurs. This study examines the reasons this behavior may occur, by analyzing the pressures that market forces place on purchasers of buildings. Our basic conclusion is that the fundamental manner in which the buildings sector does business creates pressures to reduce initial capital outlays and to hedge against a variety of risks, including the ability of building owners to capture benefits from energy efficiency. Starting from the position that building buyers' willingness to pay drives choices over building attributes, we examine basic market principles, the structure of the buildings market, including the role of lenders, and policies that promote penetration of energy efficient technologies. We conclude that greater attention to buyers, and to the incentives and constraints they face, would promote a better understanding of building investment choices and contribute to better policies to promote the penetration of these technologies into markets.

Energy efficient non-road hybrid electric vehicles advanced modeling and control

CERN Document Server

Unger, Johannes; Jakubek, Stefan

2016-01-01

Analyzing the main problems in the real-time control of parallel hybrid electric powertrains in non-road applications, which work in continuous high dynamic operation, this book gives practical insight in to how to maximize the energetic efficiency and drivability of such powertrains. The book addresses an energy management control structure, which considers all constraints of the physical powertrain and uses novel methodologies for the prediction of the future load requirements to optimize the controller output in terms of an entire work cycle of a non-road vehicle. The load prediction includes a methodology for short term loads as well as for an entire load cycle by means of a cycle detection. A maximization of the energetic efficiency can so be achieved, which is simultaneously a reduction in fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Readers will gain a deep insight into the necessary topics to be considered in designing an energy and battery management system for non-road vehicles and that only a combinatio...

Energy efficient design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

Solar Applications and Energy Efficiency in Building Design and Town Planning (RER/87/006) is a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project of the Governments of Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, The Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, France, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Turkey, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia. The project began in 1988 and comes to a conclusion at the end of 1991. It is to enhance the professional skills of practicing architects, engineers and town planners in European countries to design energy efficient buildings which reduce energy consumption and make greater use of passive solar heating and natural cooling techniques. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) is the Executing Agency of the project which is implemented under the auspices of the Committee on Energy, General Energy Programme of Work for 1990-1994, sub-programme 5 Energy Conservation and Efficiency (ECE/ENERGY/15). The project has five main outputs or results: an international network of institutions for low energy building design; a state-of-the-art survey of energy use in the built environment of European IPF countries; a simple computer program for energy efficient building design; a design guide and computer program operators' manual; and a series of international training courses in participating European IPF countries. Energy Efficient Design is the fourth output of the project. It comprises the design guide for practicing architects and engineers, for use mainly in mid-career training courses, and the operators' manual for the project's computer program

Sustainable Transportation: Accelerating Widespread Adoption of Energy Efficient Vehicles & Fuels (Brochure)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2014-12-01

While energy efficient transportation strategies have the potential to simultaneously slash oil consumption and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a truly sustainable solution will require more than just putting drivers behind the wheels of new fuel-efficient cars. As the only national laboratory dedicated 100% to renewable energy and energy efficiency, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) accelerates widespread adoption of high-performance, low-emission, energy-efficient passenger and freight vehicles, as well as alternative fuels and related infrastructure. Researchers collaborate closely with industry, government, and research partners, using a whole-systems approach to design better batteries, drivetrains, and engines, as well as thermal management, energy storage, power electronic, climate control, alternative fuel, combustion, and emission systems. NREL's sustainable transportation research, development, and deployment (RD&D) efforts are not limited to vehicles, roads, and fueling stations. The lab also explores ways to save energy and reduce GHGs by integrating transportation technology advancements with renewable energy generation, power grids and building systems, urban planning and policy, and fleet operations.

Transport Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Transport is the sector with the highest final energy consumption and, without any significant policy changes, is forecast to remain so. In 2008, the IEA published 25 energy efficiency recommendations, among which four are for the transport sector. The recommendations focus on road transport and include policies on improving tyre energy efficiency, fuel economy standards for both light-duty vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles, and eco-driving. Implementation of the recommendations has been weaker in the transport sector than others. This paper updates the progress that has been made in implementing the transport energy efficiency recommendations in IEA countries since March 2009. Many countries have in the last year moved from 'planning to implement' to 'implementation underway', but none have fully implemented all transport energy efficiency recommendations. The IEA calls therefore for full and immediate implementation of the recommendations.

Kalaeloa Energy System Redevelopment Options Including Advanced Microgrids.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hightower, Marion Michael [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Baca, Michael J. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); VanderMey, Carissa [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-03-01

In June 2016, the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in collaboration with the Renewable Energy Branch for the Hawaii State Energy Office (HSEO), the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA), the United States Navy (Navy), and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) established a project to 1) assess the current functionality of the energy infrastructure at the Kalaeloa Community Development District, and 2) evaluate options to use both existing and new distributed and renewable energy generation and storage resources within advanced microgrid frameworks to cost-effectively enhance energy security and reliability for critical stakeholder needs during both short-term and extended electric power outages. This report discusses the results of a stakeholder workshop and associated site visits conducted by Sandia in October 2016 to identify major Kalaeloa stakeholder and tenant energy issues, concerns, and priorities. The report also documents information on the performance and cost benefits of a range of possible energy system improvement options including traditional electric grid upgrade approaches, advanced microgrid upgrades, and combined grid/microgrid improvements. The costs and benefits of the different improvement options are presented, comparing options to see how well they address the energy system reliability, sustainability, and resiliency priorities identified by the Kalaeloa stakeholders.

Energy efficient policy impact in India: case study of investment in industrial energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, M.

2006-01-01

The objective of this paper is to identify the effectiveness of energy policy and capital investment in energy efficiency technologies in the industrial sector in India. Indian energy policies relating to industrial energy efficiency over the past 25 years are briefly reviewed, and a comparison study of these energy efficiency policies and strategies in India and China has been carried out. Interviews were conducted with a number of government policy-making institutions and a national industrial development bank. The accounts of 26 industrial enterprises which applied and used a loan of the Asian Development Bank were audited for data collection. Field-visits to seven industrial entrepreneurs were undertaken in a case study. Methodologies used in this study include documentation, cross-country reviews on energy policies, questionnaire design and distribution in the industrial sector, and on-site auditing of energy efficiency technologies. This paper concludes that current energy policies and strategies in India need further improvement to promote energy efficiency investment and energy efficiency technology development in the industrial sector. This paper will interest those policy makers and industrial entrepreneurs who are willing to finance energy efficiency projects and improve energy efficiency in the industrial sector. (author)

Energy efficiency policy impact in India: case study of investment in industrial energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Ming

2006-01-01

The objective of this paper is to identify the effectiveness of energy policy and capital investment in energy efficiency technologies in the industrial sector in India. Indian energy policies relating to industrial energy efficiency over the past 25 years are briefly reviewed, and a comparison study of these energy efficiency policies and strategies in India and China has been carried out. Interviews were conducted with a number of government policy-making institutions and a national industrial development bank. The accounts of 26 industrial enterprises which applied and used a loan of the Asian Development Bank were audited for data collection. Field-visits to seven industrial entrepreneurs were undertaken in a case study. Methodologies used in this study include documentation, cross-country reviews on energy policies, questionnaire design and distribution in the industrial sector, and on-site auditing of energy efficiency technologies. This paper concludes that current energy policies and strategies in India need further improvement to promote energy efficiency investment and energy efficiency technology development in the industrial sector. This paper will interest those policy makers and industrial entrepreneurs who are willing to finance energy efficiency projects and improve energy efficiency in the industrial sector

Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide: Practical Ways to Improve Energy Performance; Grocery Stores (Revised) (Book)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hendron, B.

2013-07-01

The U.S. Department of Energy developed the Advanced Energy Retrofit Guides (AERGs) to provide specific methodologies, information, and guidance to help energy managers and other stakeholders successfully plan and execute energy efficiency improvements. Detailed technical discussion is fairly limited in these guides. Instead, we emphasize actionable information, practical methodologies, diverse case studies, and unbiased evaluations of the most promising retrofit measures for each building type. A series of AERGs is under development, addressing key segments of the commercial building stock. Grocery stores were selected as one of the highest priority sectors, because they represent one of the most energy-intensive market segments.

A study on intensifying efficiency for international collaborative development of advanced nuclear energy technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, J. H.; Hahn, D. H.; Song, K. C.; Chang, J. H.; Kim, H. J.; Kim, H. J.; Lim, C. Y.; Lee, D. S.; Lee, Y. J. [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2011-03-15

The objective of the study was to participate the GIF for the efficient propulsion of future nuclear system development. For achieving the objective of this study, the followings were carried out. {Omicron} Analyze the international/domestic trends in the future nuclear energy system {Omicron} Analyze the domestic long-term R and D program for the future nuclear system and assist its implementation - Review the agenda of the executive committee, the technical committee, and sub-technical committee - Assist the committee meetings and workshops related to the future nuclear energy system {Omicron} Develop the participation strategy for the collaborative development of Gen-IV technology and conducting the international cooperation activities - Support the delegation by reviewing the agenda of GIF meetings in the technical and legal perspective - Research the system R and D arrangement and report its progress - Participate in the SFR SIA PA negotiation meeting and report its progress {Omicron} Support the activities related to I-NERI between Korea and U.S. - Support a delegation by reviewing the agenda in the technical/legal point of view - Participate in the BINERIC meetings and Support the related activities The result of this study may be used for 1) contribution to establishing the effective foundation and broadening the cooperation activities between the advanced countries and Korea and 2) contribution effective management of Gen IV international collaboration by technical/legal supporting

A study on intensifying efficiency for international collaborative development of advanced nuclear energy technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J. H.; Hahn, D. H.; Song, K. C.; Chang, J. H.; Kim, H. J.; Kim, H. J.; Lim, C. Y.; Lee, D. S.; Lee, Y. J.

2011-03-01

The objective of the study was to participate the GIF for the efficient propulsion of future nuclear system development. For achieving the objective of this study, the followings were carried out. Ο Analyze the international/domestic trends in the future nuclear energy system Ο Analyze the domestic long-term R and D program for the future nuclear system and assist its implementation - Review the agenda of the executive committee, the technical committee, and sub-technical committee - Assist the committee meetings and workshops related to the future nuclear energy system Ο Develop the participation strategy for the collaborative development of Gen-IV technology and conducting the international cooperation activities - Support the delegation by reviewing the agenda of GIF meetings in the technical and legal perspective - Research the system R and D arrangement and report its progress - Participate in the SFR SIA PA negotiation meeting and report its progress Ο Support the activities related to I-NERI between Korea and U.S. - Support a delegation by reviewing the agenda in the technical/legal point of view - Participate in the BINERIC meetings and Support the related activities The result of this study may be used for 1) contribution to establishing the effective foundation and broadening the cooperation activities between the advanced countries and Korea and 2) contribution effective management of Gen IV international collaboration by technical/legal supporting

Energy efficiency: 2004 world overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

Since 1992 the World Energy Council (WEC) has been collaborating with ADEME (Agency for Environment and Energy Efficiency, France) on a joint project 'Energy Efficiency Policies and Indicators'. APERC (Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre) and OLADE (Latin American Energy Organisation) have also participated in the study, which has been monitoring and evaluating energy efficiency policies and their impacts around the world. WEC Member Committees have been providing data and information and ENERDATA (France) has provided technical assistance. This report, published in August 2004, presents and evaluates energy efficiency policies in 63 countries, with a specific focus on five policy measures, for which in-depth case studies were prepared by selected experts: - Minimum energy efficiency standards for household electrical appliances; - Innovative energy efficiency funds; - Voluntary/negotiated agreements on energy efficiency/ CO 2 ; - Local energy information centres; - Packages of measures. In particular, the report identifies the policy measures, which have proven to be the most effective, and can be recommended to countries which have recently embarked on the development and implementation of energy demand management policies. During the past ten years, the Kyoto Protocol and, more recently, emerging concerns about security of supply have raised, both the public and the political profile of energy efficiency. Almost all OECD countries and an increasing number of other countries are implementing energy efficiency policies adapted to their national circumstances. In addition to the market instruments (voluntary agreements, labels, information, etc.), regulatory measures are widely introduced where the market fails to give the right signals (buildings, appliances). In developing countries, energy efficiency is equally important, even if the drivers are different compared to industrialized countries. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution often have a

Energy efficiency; Energieffektivisering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2009-06-15

The Low Energy Panel will halve the consumption in buildings. The Panel has proposed a halving of consumption in the construction within 2040 and 20 percent reduction in the consumption in the industry within 2020. The Panel consider it as possible to gradually reduce consumption in buildings from the current level of 80 TWh with 10 TWh in 2020, 25 TWh in 2030 and 40 TWh in 2040. According the committee one such halving can be reached by significant efforts relating to energy efficiency, by greater rehabilitations, energy efficiency in consisting building stock and stricter requirements for new construction. For the industry field the Panel recommend a political goal to be set at least 20 percent reduction in specific energy consumption in the industry and primary industry beyond general technological development by the end of 2020. This is equivalent to approximately 17 TWh based on current level of activity. The Panel believes that a 5 percent reduction should be achieved by the end of 2012 by carrying out simple measures. The Low Energy Panel has since March 2009 considered possibilities to strengthen the authorities' work with energy efficiency in Norway. The wide complex panel adds up proposals for a comprehensive approach for increased energy efficiency in particular in the building- and industry field. The Panel has looked into the potential for energy efficiency, barriers for energy efficiency, assessment of strengths and weaknesses in the existing policy instruments and members of the Panel's recommendations. In addition the report contains a review of theoretical principles for effects of instruments together with an extensive background. One of the committee members have chosen to take special notes on the main recommendations in the report. (AG)

Energy Efficiency Center - Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obryk, E.

2000-01-01

Full text: The Energy Efficiency Center (EEC) activities have been concentrated on Energy Efficiency Network (SEGE), education and training of energy auditors. EEC has started studies related to renewable fuels (bio fuel, wastes) and other topics related to environment protection. EEC has continued close collaboration with Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, Norway. It has been organized and conducted Seminar and Workshop on ''How to Reduce Energy and Water Cost in Higher Education Buildings'' for general and technical managers of the higher education institutions. This Seminar was proceeded by the working meeting on energy efficiency strategy in higher education at the Ministry of National Education. EEC has worked out proposal for activities of Cracow Regional Agency for Energy Efficiency and Environment and has made offer to provide services for this Agency in the field of training, education and consulting. The vast knowledge and experiences in the field of energy audits have been used by the members of EEC in lecturing at energy auditors courses authorized by the National Energy Efficiency Agency (KAPE). Altogether 20 lectures have been delivered. (author)

Energy efficiency; Efficacite energetique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-06-15

This road-map proposes by the Group Total aims to inform the public on the energy efficiency. It presents the energy efficiency and intensity around the world with a particular focus on Europe, the energy efficiency in industry and Total commitment. (A.L.B.)

Projected Benefits of Federal Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs: FY 2006 Budget Request

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Norland, D.; Jenkin, T.

2005-05-01

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) leads the Federal Government's efforts to provide reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound energy for America, through its 11 research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) programs. EERE invests in high-risk, high-value research and development (R&D) that, conducted in partnership with the private sector and other government agencies, accelerates the development and facilitates the deployment of advanced clean energy technologies and practices. EERE designs its RDD&D activities to improve the Nation's readiness for addressing current and future energy needs. This document summarizes the results of the benefits analysis of EERE's programs, as described in the FY 2006 Budget Request. EERE has adopted a benefits framework developed by the National Research Council (NRC) to represent the various types of benefits resulting from the energy efficiency technology improvements and renewable energy technology development supported by EERE programs. Specifically, EERE's benefits analysis focuses on three main categories of energy-linked benefits--economic, environmental, and security.

Energy efficiency in Swedish industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Shanshan; Lundgren, Tommy; Zhou, Wenchao

2016-01-01

This paper assesses energy efficiency in Swedish industry. Using unique firm-level panel data covering the years 2001–2008, the efficiency estimates are obtained for firms in 14 industrial sectors by using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The analysis accounts for multi-output technologies where undesirable outputs are produced alongside with the desirable output. The results show that there was potential to improve energy efficiency in all the sectors and relatively large energy inefficiencies existed in small energy-use industries in the sample period. Also, we assess how the EU ETS, the carbon dioxide (CO_2) tax and the energy tax affect energy efficiency by conducting a second-stage regression analysis. To obtain consistent estimates for the regression model, we apply a modified, input-oriented version of the double bootstrap procedure of Simar and Wilson (2007). The results of the regression analysis reveal that the EU ETS and the CO_2 tax did not have significant influences on energy efficiency in the sample period. However, the energy tax had a positive relation with the energy efficiency. - Highlights: • We use DEA to estimate firm-level energy efficiency in Swedish industry. • We examine impacts of climate and energy policies on energy efficiency. • The analyzed policies are Swedish carbon and energy taxes and the EU ETS. • Carbon tax and EU ETS did not have significant influences on energy efficiency. • The energy tax had a positive relation with energy efficiency.

A Bottom-up Energy Efficiency Improvement Roadmap for China’s Iron and Steel Industry up to 2050

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Qi [Northeastern Univ., Shenyang (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Hasanbeigi, Ali [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Price, Lynn [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lu, Hongyou [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Arens, Marlene [Fraunhofer Inst. for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany)

2016-09-01

Iron and steel manufacturing is energy intensive in China and in the world. China is the world largest steel producer accounting for around half of the world steel production. In this study, we use a bottom-up energy consumption model to analyze four steel-production and energy-efficiency scenarios and evaluate the potential for energy savings from energy-efficient technologies in China’s iron and steel industry between 2010 and 2050. The results show that China’s steel production will rise and peak in the year 2020 at 860 million tons (Mt) per year for the base-case scenario and 680 Mt for the advanced energy-efficiency scenario. From 2020 on, production will gradually decrease to about 510 Mt and 400 Mt in 2050, for the base-case and advanced scenarios, respectively. Energy intensity will decrease from 21.2 gigajoules per ton (G/t) in 2010 to 12.2 GJ/t and 9.9 GJ/t in 2050 for the base-case and advanced scenarios, respectively. In the near term, decreases in iron and steel industry energy intensity will come from adoption of energy-efficient technologies. In the long term, a shift in the production structure of China’s iron and steel industry, reducing the share of blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace production and increasing the share of electric-arc furnace production while reducing the use of pig iron as a feedstock to electric-arc furnaces will continue to reduce the sector’s energy consumption. We discuss barriers to achieving these energy-efficiency gains and make policy recommendations to support improved energy efficiency and a shift in the nature of iron and steel production in China.

Advanced Energy Design Guide K-12: Next Generation of School Design and Operation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torcellini, Paul A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Pless, Shanti [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-01-01

Driven by energy efficiency advances and renewable energy cost reductions, zero energy buildings are popping up all around the country. Although zero energy represents a bold paradigm shift - from buildings that consume energy to buildings that produce enough energy to meet their energy needs on an annual basis - it isn't a sudden shift. Zero energy buildings are the result of steady, incremental progress by researchers and building professionals working together to improve building energy performance. ASHRAE is taking the lead by publishing - in partnership with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) - a new series of advanced energy design guides (AEDGs) focused on zero energy buildings. The recently completed Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings: Achieving Zero Energy (K-12 ZE AEDG) is the first in this series.

Energy efficiency networks; Energieeffizienz-Netzwerke

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gruber, Anna [Forschungsgesellschaft fuer Energiewirtschaft mbH (FfE GmbH), Muenchen (Germany)

2011-07-01

Energy efficiency networks are an attractive method to increase the energy efficiency and to reduce the costs and CO{sub 2} emissions of the companies operating in this network. A special feature of the energy efficiency networks is the exchange of experiences and training of the energy managers. Energy efficiency networks consist of about ten to fifteen locally domiciled companies. During the project period of three to four years, there are two main phases. In the first phase, the initial consultation phase, the actual state of a company is captured, and measures to increase the efficiency and energy conservation are identified. Parallel to this, in the second phase every three months a meeting with the participating companies takes place. Experience exchange and implementation of energy efficiency measures are the focus of these meetings. Initial studies show that the increase of the energy efficiency during participating in the energy efficiency network almost can be doubled in comparison to the average of the industry.

USE Efficiency -- Universities and Students for Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melandri, Daniela

2010-09-15

Universities and Student for Energy Efficiency is a European Project within the Intelligent Energy Programme. It intends to create a common stream for energy efficiency systems in university buildings. Universities and students are proposed as shining examples for energy efficiency solutions and behaviour. The Project involves 10 countries and has the aim to improve energy efficiency in university buildings. Students are the main actors of the project together with professors and technicians. To act on students means to act on direct future market players in diffusion of public opinions. A strong communication action supports the succeeding of the action.

Energy-Efficiency and Air-Pollutant Emissions-Reduction Opportunities for the Ammonia Industry in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Ding [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Hasanbeigi, Ali [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Chen, Wenying [Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)

2015-06-01

As one of the most energy-intensive and polluting industries, ammonia production is responsible for significant carbon dioxide (CO₂) and air-pollutant emissions. Although many energy-efficiency measures have been proposed by the Chinese government to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, lack of understanding of the cost-effectiveness of such improvements has been a barrier to implementing these measures. Assessing the costs, benefits, and cost-effectiveness of different energy-efficiency measures is essential to advancing this understanding. In this study, a bottom-up energy conservation supply curve model is developed to estimate the potential for energy savings and emissions reductions from 26 energy-efficiency measures that could be applied in China’s ammonia industry. Cost-effective implementation of these measures saves a potential 271.5 petajoules/year for fuel and 5,443 gigawatt-hours/year for electricity, equal to 14% of fuel and 14% of electricity consumed in China’s ammonia industry in 2012. These reductions could mitigate 26.7 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. This study also quantifies the co-benefits of reducing air-pollutant emissions and water use that would result from saving energy in China’s ammonia industry. This quantitative analysis advances our understanding of the cost-effectiveness of energy-efficiency measures and can be used to augment efforts to reduce energy use and environmental impacts.

The reHABITAT Guide: For Energy- and Resource-Efficient Retrofit Strategies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2004-07-01

This guide seeks to advance the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Existing Residential Buildings Program (ERBP): to develop approaches that will enable the housing retrofit industry to deliver energy-efficient housing improvements.

Renewable Energy Laboratory Development for Biofuels Advanced Combustion Studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soloiu, Valentin A. [Georgia Southern Univ., Statesboro, GA (United States)

2012-03-31

The research advanced fundamental science and applied engineering for increasing the efficiency of internal combustion engines and meeting emissions regulations with biofuels. The project developed a laboratory with new experiments and allowed investigation of new fuels and their combustion and emissions. This project supports a sustainable domestic biofuels and automotive industry creating economic opportunities across the nation, reducing the dependence on foreign oil, and enhancing U.S. energy security. The one year period of research developed fundamental knowledge and applied technology in advanced combustion, emissions and biofuels formulation to increase vehicle's efficiency. Biofuels combustion was investigated in a Compression Ignition Direct Injection (DI) to develop idling strategies with biofuels and an Indirect Diesel Injection (IDI) intended for auxiliary power unit.

Energy Efficiency Resources to Support State Energy Planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Office of Strategic Programs, Strategic Priorities and Impact Analysis Team

2017-06-01

An early step for most energy efficiency planning is to identify and quantify energy savings opportunities, and then to understand how to access this potential. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy offers resources that can help with both of these steps. This fact sheet presents those resources. The resources are also available on the DOE State and Local Solution Center on the "Energy Efficiency: Savings Opportunities and Benefits" page: https://energy.gov/eere/slsc/energy-efficiency-savings-opportunities-and-benefits.

Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide (AERG): Practical Ways to Improve Energy Performance; Healthcare Facilities (Book)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hendron, R.; Leach, M.; Bonnema, E.; Shekhar, D.; Pless, S.

2013-09-01

The Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide for Healthcare Facilities is part of a series of retrofit guides commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy. By presenting general project planning guidance as well as detailed descriptions and financial payback metrics for the most important and relevant energy efficiency measures (EEMs), the guides provide a practical roadmap for effectively planning and implementing performance improvements in existing buildings. The Advanced Energy Retrofit Guides (AERGs) are intended to address key segments of the U.S. commercial building stock: retail stores, office buildings, K-12 schools, grocery stores, and healthcare facilities. The guides' general project planning considerations are applicable nationwide; the energy and cost savings estimates for recommended EEMs were developed based on energy simulations and cost estimates for an example hospital tailored to five distinct climate regions. These results can be extrapolated to other U.S. climate zones. Analysis is presented for individual EEMs, and for packages of recommended EEMs for two project types: existing building commissioning projects that apply low-cost and no-cost measures, and whole-building retrofits involving more capital-intensive measures.

DTU International Energy Report 2012: Energy efficiency improvements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Increased energy efficiency can reduce global CO2 emissions over the period to 2050 with up to 25%. On the top of that large profits can be gained for very little investment. Energy efficiency improvements can save investment in new energy infrastructure, cut fuel costs, increase competitiveness...... and increase consumer welfare. Thus, it is natural for DTU International Energy Report 2012 to take up this issue and analyze the global, regional and national challenges in exploiting energy efficiency and promote research and development in energy efficiency....

National energy efficiency programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

This paper focusses on energy conservation and specifically on energy efficiency which includes efficiency in the production, delivery and utilisation of energy as part of the total energy system of the economy. A National Energy Efficiency Programme is being launched in the Eighth Plan that will take into account both macro level and policy and planning considerations as well as micro level responses for different category of users in the industry, agriculture, transport and domestic sectors. The need for such a National Energy Efficiency Programme after making an assessment of existing energy conservation activities in the country is discussed. The broad framework and contents of the National Energy Efficiency Programme have been outlined and the Eighth Plan targets for energy conservation and their break-up have been given. These targets, as per the Eighth Plan document are 5000 MW in electricity installed capacity and 6 million tonnes of petroleum products by the terminal year of the Eighth Plan. The issues that need to be examined for each sector for achieving the above targets for energy conservation in the Eighth Plan are discussed briefly. They are: (a) policy and planning, (b) implementation arrangements which include the institutional setup and selective legislation, (c) technological requirements, and (d) resource requirements which include human resources and financial resources. (author)

Biomass energy conversion: conventional and advanced technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Young, B C; Hauserman, W B [Energy and Environmental Research Center, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)

1995-12-01

Increasing interest in biomass energy conversion in recent years has focused attention on enhancing the efficiency of technologies converting biomass fuels into heat and power, their capital and operating costs and their environmental emissions. Conventional combustion systems, such as fixed-bed or grate units and entrainment units, deliver lower efficiencies (<25%) than modem coal-fired combustors (30-35%). The gasification of biomass will improve energy conversion efficiency and yield products useful for heat and power generation and chemical synthesis. Advanced biomass gasification technologies using pressurized fluidized-bed systems, including those incorporating hot-gas clean-up for feeding gas turbines or fuel cells, are being demonstrated. However, many biomass gasification processes are derivatives of coal gasification technologies and do not exploit the unique properties of biomass. This paper examines some existing and upcoming technologies for converting biomass into electric power or heat. Small-scale 1-30 MWe units are emphasized, but brief reference is made to larger and smaller systems, including those that bum coal-biomass mixtures and gasifiers that feed pilot-fuelled diesel engines. Promising advanced systems, such as a biomass integrated gasifier/gas turbine (BIG/GT) with combined-cycle operation and a biomass gasifier coupled to a fuel cell, giving cycle efficiencies approaching 50% are also described. These advanced gasifiers, typically fluid-bed designs, may be pressurized and can use a wide variety of biomass materials to generate electricity, process steam and chemical products such as methanol. Low-cost, disposable catalysts are becoming available for hot-gas clean-up (enhanced gas composition) for turbine and fuel cell systems. The advantages, limitations and relative costs of various biomass gasifier systems are briefly discussed. The paper identifies the best known biomass power projects and includes some information on proposed and

Biomass energy conversion: conventional and advanced technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, B.C.; Hauserman, W.B.

1995-01-01

Increasing interest in biomass energy conversion in recent years has focused attention on enhancing the efficiency of technologies converting biomass fuels into heat and power, their capital and operating costs and their environmental emissions. Conventional combustion systems, such as fixed-bed or grate units and entrainment units, deliver lower efficiencies (<25%) than modem coal-fired combustors (30-35%). The gasification of biomass will improve energy conversion efficiency and yield products useful for heat and power generation and chemical synthesis. Advanced biomass gasification technologies using pressurized fluidized-bed systems, including those incorporating hot-gas clean-up for feeding gas turbines or fuel cells, are being demonstrated. However, many biomass gasification processes are derivatives of coal gasification technologies and do not exploit the unique properties of biomass. This paper examines some existing and upcoming technologies for converting biomass into electric power or heat. Small-scale 1-30 MWe units are emphasized, but brief reference is made to larger and smaller systems, including those that bum coal-biomass mixtures and gasifiers that feed pilot-fuelled diesel engines. Promising advanced systems, such as a biomass integrated gasifier/gas turbine (BIG/GT) with combined-cycle operation and a biomass gasifier coupled to a fuel cell, giving cycle efficiencies approaching 50% are also described. These advanced gasifiers, typically fluid-bed designs, may be pressurized and can use a wide variety of biomass materials to generate electricity, process steam and chemical products such as methanol. Low-cost, disposable catalysts are becoming available for hot-gas clean-up (enhanced gas composition) for turbine and fuel cell systems. The advantages, limitations and relative costs of various biomass gasifier systems are briefly discussed. The paper identifies the best known biomass power projects and includes some information on proposed and

Projected Benefits of Federal Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs: FY 2005 Budget Request

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

2004-05-01

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) leads the Federal Government's efforts to provide reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound energy for America, through its 11 research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) programs. EERE invests in high-risk, high-value research and development (R&D) that, conducted in partnership with the private sector and other government agencies, accelerates the development and facilitates the deployment of advanced clean energy technologies and practices. This document summarizes the results of the benefits analysis of EERE's programs, as described in the FY 2005 Budget Request. EERE has adopted a benefits framework developed by the National Research Council (NRC) to represent the various types of benefits resulting from the energy efficiency technology improvements and renewable energy technology development prompted by EERE programs. EERE's benefits analysis focuses on three main categories of energy-linked benefits-economic, environmental, and security. These metrics are not a complete representation of the benefits or market roles of efficiency and renewable technologies, but provide an indication of the range of benefits provided. EERE has taken steps to more fully represent the NRC framework, including two key improvements to the FY 2005 analysis-adding an electricity security metric and extending the analysis through the year 2050.

Energy efficiency in the world and Turkey and investigation of energy efficiency in Turkish Industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kavak, K.

2005-09-01

The reserves of fossil fuels which currently respond to the major part of world energy requirements are being running out very fast. Because it is forecasted that reserves of some fossil fuels like oil and natural gas will come to an end in the second half of this century, exploiting all energy resources in an efficient manner has great importance. Throughout the world where the energy demand grows continuously but the resources decrease gradually, many types of programs are implemented to provide efficient energy use. In Turkey, although there have been some efforts in last two decades, the importance of the issue could not be undersood yet. Turkey'sgeneral energy policy still focuses on supply security and finding ways to meet the growing demand, rather than decreasing the demand by energy efficiency. In this study, the possible opportunities and benefits that Turkey would gain by energy efficiency is pointed out. The studies about energy efficiency which have been conducted in the world and Turkey are examined. The measurement that can be taken in the sectors such as industry, power plants, buildings, transportation and the utilities of these measures for energy economy are indicated. The successful practices of energy efficiency studies in various countries, the state of some countries which pioneer efficiency implementations. Turkey's situation in energy in the light of basic indicators such as energy consumption per capita and enrgy intensity, the energy efficiency studies that have been done and should be done in various sectors of Turkey are also discussed in this thesis. Turkish industry's energy comsumption is analyzed as a seperate chapter by taking into consideration energy efficiency, energy intensity and energy resources. The general energy consumption and energy intensity tendencies of main manufacturing industries between 1995 and 2002 are explored and resource utilization ratios are investigated. This chapter provides to find out what kind of

Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide: Practical Ways to Improve Energy Performance, K-12 Schools (Book)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2013-12-01

The U.S. Department of Energy developed the Advanced Energy Retrofit Guides (AERGs) to provide specific methodologies, information, and guidance to help energy managers and other stakeholders plan and execute energy efficiency improvements. Detailed technical discussion is fairly limited. Instead, we emphasize actionable information, practical methodologies, diverse case studies, and unbiased evaluations of the most promising retrofit energy efficiency measures for each building type. A series of AERGs is under development, addressing key segments of the commercial building stock. K-12 schools were selected as one of the highest priority building sectors, because schools affect the lives of most Americans. They also represent approximately 8% of the energy use and 10% of the floor area in commercial buildings nationwide. U.S. K-12 school districts spend more than $8 billion each year on energy - more than they spend on computers and textbooks combined. Most occupy older buildings that often have poor operational performance - more than 30% of schools were built before 1960. The average age of a school is about 42 years - which is nearly the expected serviceable lifespan of the building. K-12 schools offer unique opportunities for deep, cost-effective energy efficiency improvements, and this guide provides convenient and practical guidance for exploiting these opportunities in the context of public, private, and parochial schools.

Energy efficiency and behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carstensen, Trine Agervig; Kunnasvirta, Annika; Kiviluoto, Katariina

separate key aspects hinders strategic energy efficiency planning. For this reason, the PLEEC project – “Planning for Energy Efficient Cities” – funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme uses an integrative approach to achieve the sus‐ tainable, energy– efficient, smart city. By coordinating strategies...... to conduct behavioural interventions, to be presented in Deliverable 5.5., the final report. This report will also provide valuable information for the WP6 general model for an Energy-Smart City. Altogether 38 behavioural interventions are analysed in this report. Each collected and analysed case study...... of the European Union’s 20‐20‐20 plan is to improve energy efficiency by 20% in 2020. However, holistic knowledge about energy efficiency potentials in cities is far from complete. Currently, a WP4 location in PLEEC project page 3 variety of individual strategies and approaches by different stakeholders tackling...

From the lab to the marketplace: Making America`s buildings more energy efficient

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-01-01

Since the mid 1970s, DOE has invested some $70 million in research and development at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) for energy-efficiency studies of advanced building technologies. That investment has helped spawn a $2.4-billion US market for key products -- energy-efficient lighting and advanced window coatings -- and efficiency standards for residential equipment and computerized tools for more efficient building design. By 1993 DOE`s initial investment had reduced consumers` energy bills by an estimated $5 billion ($1.3 billion in 1993 alone). By 2015 the authors estimate that the products of that investment will save consumers $16 billion annually. But LBL research partnerships address a host of other building technology issues as well-building technology issues whose economic benefits are less easy to quantify but whose overall worth is equally important. They analyze public policy issues such as the role of efficiency options as a mitigation strategy for global climate change. They develop planning and demand-management methodologies for electric and gas utilities. They identify technologies and analytical methods for improving human comfort and the quality of indoor air. They contribute to the information superhighway. They focus on the special problems and opportunities presented by energy use in the public sector. And they do all these things at the local, national, and international levels. At LBL, they are part of the multi-laboratory, interdisciplinary approach to building technology research supported by DOE`s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. They also participate in buildings-related research supported by DOE`s Office of Health and Environmental Research, other federal agencies, and industry. This document describes LBL`s role within this wider effort.

From the lab to the marketplace: Making America`s buildings more energy efficient

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-06-01

Since the mid 1970s, DOE has invested some $70 million in research and development at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) for development of advanced energy-efficient building technologies, software, and standards. That investment has helped spawn a $2.4-billion U.S. market for key products-energy-efficient lighting and advanced window coatings-and efficiency standards for residential equipment and computerized tools for more efficient building design. By 1993 DOE`s initial investment had reduced consumers` energy bills by an estimated $5 billion ($1.3 billion in 1993 alone). By 2015 we estimate that the products of that investment will save consumers $16 billion annually. LBL research partnerships address a host of other building technology issues as well-building technology issues whose economic benefits are less easy to quantify but whose overall worth is equally important. We analyze public policy issues such as the role of efficiency options as a mitigation strategy for global climate change. We develop planning and demand-management methodologies for electric and gas utilities. We identify technologies and analytical methods for improving human comfort and the quality of indoor air. We contribute to the information superhighway. We focus on the special problems and opportunities presented by energy use in the public sector. And we do all these things at the local, national, and international levels. At LBL, we are part of the multi-laboratory, interdisciplinary approach to building technology research supported by DOE`s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. We also participate in buildings-related research supported by DOE`s Office of Health and Environmental Research, other federal agencies, and industry. This document describes LBL`s role within this wider effort.

Energy efficiency: Lever for the Energy Transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-12-01

The Eco-electric industry group (FFIE, FGME, Gimelec, IGNES, SERCE) has conducted a study to evaluate the energy saving potential of active energy efficiency solutions in the residential and commercial building sectors. Based on field implementations and demonstrators, it has been demonstrated that active energy efficiency can sustainably achieve substantial savings for households, companies and public authorities. Energy Efficiency - Lever for the energy transition presents the results and conclusions of that study, alongside with recommendations for public authority in terms of building retrofit policy for putting France on the best possible 'trajectory' from a budgetary and environmental point of view. (author)

Energy technologies and energy efficiency in economic modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klinge Jacobsen, Henrik

1998-01-01

This paper discusses different approaches to incorporating energy technologies and technological development in energy-economic models. Technological development is a very important issue in long-term energy demand projections and in environmental analyses. Different assumptions on technological ...... of renewable energy and especially wind power will increase the rate of efficiency improvement. A technologically based model in this case indirectly makes the energy efficiency endogenous in the aggregate energy-economy model....... technological development. This paper examines the effect on aggregate energy efficiency of using technological models to describe a number of specific technologies and of incorporating these models in an economic model. Different effects from the technology representation are illustrated. Vintage effects...... illustrates the dependence of average efficiencies and productivity on capacity utilisation rates. In the long run regulation induced by environmental policies are also very important for the improvement of aggregate energy efficiency in the energy supply sector. A Danish policy to increase the share...

Design for energy efficiency: Energy efficient industrialized housing research program. Progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kellett, R.; Berg, R.; Paz, A.; Brown, G.Z.

1991-03-01

Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy has sponsored the Energy Efficient Industrialized Housing research program (EEIH) to improve the energy efficiency of industrialized housing. Two research centers share responsibility for this program: The Center for Housing Innovation at the University of Oregon and the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida. Additional funding is provided through the participation of private industry, state governments and utilities. The program is guided by a steering committee comprised of industry and government representatives. This report summarizes Fiscal Year (FY) 1990 activities and progress, and proposed activities for FY 1991 in Task 2.1 Design for Energy Efficiency. This task establishes a vision of energy conservation opportunities in critical regions, market segments, climate zones and manufacturing strategies significant to industrialized housing in the 21st Century. In early FY 1990, four problem statements were developed to define future housing demand scenarios inclusive of issues of energy efficiency, housing design and manufacturing. Literature surveys were completed to assess seven areas of influence for industrialized housing and energy conservation in the future. Fifty-five future trends were identified in computing and design process; manufacturing process; construction materials, components and systems; energy and environment; demographic context; economic context; and planning policy and regulatory context.

Decomposing Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Standards in the Energy Conversion Efficiency and Tractive Energy Domain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pannone, Greg [Novation Analytics; Thomas, John F [ORNL; Reale, Michael [Novation Analytics; Betz, Brian [Novation Analytics

2017-01-01

The three foundational elements that determine mobile source energy use and tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the tractive energy requirements of the vehicle, the on-cycle energy conversion efficiency of the propulsion system, and the energy source. The tractive energy requirements are determined by the vehicle's mass, aerodynamic drag, tire rolling resistance, and parasitic drag. Oncycle energy conversion of the propulsion system is dictated by the tractive efficiency, non-tractive energy use, kinetic energy recovery, and parasitic losses. The energy source determines the mobile source CO2 emissions. For current vehicles, tractive energy requirements and overall energy conversion efficiency are readily available from the decomposition of test data. For future applications, plausible levels of mass reduction, aerodynamic drag improvements, and tire rolling resistance can be transposed into the tractive energy domain. Similarly, by combining thermodynamic, mechanical efficiency, and kinetic energy recovery fundamentals with logical proxies, achievable levels of energy conversion efficiency can be established to allow for the evaluation of future powertrain requirements. Combining the plausible levels of tractive energy and on-cycle efficiency provides a means to compute sustainable vehicle and propulsion system scenarios that can achieve future regulations. Using these principles, the regulations established in the United States (U.S.) for fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are evaluated. Fleet-level scenarios are generated and compared to the technology deployment assumptions made during rule-making. When compared to the rule-making assumptions, the results indicate that a greater level of advanced vehicle and propulsion system technology deployment will be required to achieve the model year 2025 U.S. standards for fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

The Energy Efficient Enterprise

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmad, Bashir

2010-09-15

Since rising energy costs have become a crucial factor for the economy of production processes, the optimization of energy efficiency is of essential importance for industrial enterprises. Enterprises establish energy saving programs, specific to their needs. The most important elements of these energy efficiency programs are energy savings, energy controlling, energy optimization, and energy management. This article highlights the industrial enterprise approach to establish sustainable energy management programs based on the above elements. Globally, if organizations follow this approach, they can significantly reduce the overall energy consumption and cost.

The energy-efficiency business - Energy utility strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loebbe, S.

2009-01-01

This article takes a look at the energy-efficiency business and the advantages it offers. The author quotes that energy-efficiency can contribute to making savings in primary energy, minimise the economic impact of global warming, improve reliability of supply and protect the gross national product. The advantages of new products for the efficient use of energy are reviewed and the resulting advantages for power customers are noted. Also, possibilities for the positioning of electricity suppliers in the environmental niche is noted. The partial markets involved and estimates concerning the impact of energy-efficiency measures are reviewed. Climate protection, co-operation with energy agencies, consulting services and public relations aspects are also discussed. The prerequisites for successful marketing by the utilities are examined and new business models are discussed along with the clear strategies needed. The development from an electricity utility to a system-competence partner is reviewed

Energy efficiency: from principles to reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baudry, Paul; Ballot-Miguel, Benedicte; Binet, Guillaume; Bordigoni, Mathieu; Decellas, Fabrice; Hauser, Chantal; Hita, Laurent; Laurent, Marie-Helene; Osso, Dominique; Peureux, Jean-Louis; Pham Van Cang, Christian

2015-01-01

This collective publication proposes a comprehensive overview of issues related to energy efficiency: associated stakes, methods of assessment of energy savings and of their costs, methods of action for energy efficiency policies, application in the housing, office building and industry sectors based on energy consumption modes in these different sectors, and main technologies aimed at improving energy efficiency. The first chapter proposes an historical perspective on energy, outlines the crucial role of energy efficiency in today's and tomorrow's contexts, and discusses which are the different levers of action to increase this efficiency. The next chapters address methods of assessment of energy efficiency, identify and discuss the use of different potential sources of energy saving, propose an overview of the various objectives and instruments of policies for energy efficiency, and address the issue of energy efficiency in the housing sector, in the office building sector, and in the industry sector by indicating the current levels of energy consumption, by identifying the various potential sources of energy saving, and by indicating available technologies aimed at improving energy efficiency

Energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transportation sector, 1988-2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ediger, Volkan S.; Camdali, Unal

2007-01-01

This study aims at examining energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transportation sector. Unlike the previous studies, historical data is used to investigate the development of efficiencies of 17 years period from 1988 to 2004. The energy consumption values in tons-of-oil equivalent for eight transport modes of four transportation subsectors of the Turkish transportation sector, including hard coal, lignite, oil, and electricity for railways, oil for seaways and airways, and oil and natural gas for highways, are used. The weighted mean energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated for each mode of transport by multiplying weighting factors with efficiency values of that mode. They are then summed up to calculate the weighted mean overall efficiencies for a particular year. Although the energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transport sector are slightly improved from 1988 to 2004, the historical pattern is cyclic. The energy efficieny is found to range from 22.16% (2002) to 22.62% (1998 and 2004) with a mean of 22.42±0.14% and exergy efficiency to range from 22.39% (2002) to 22.85% (1998 and 2004) with a mean of 22.65±0.15%. Overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the transport sector consist mostly of energy and exergy efficiencies of the highways subsector in percentages varying from 81.5% in 2004 to 91.7% in 2002. The rest of them are consisted of other subsectors such as railways, seaways, and airways. The overall efficiency patterns are basically controlled by the fuel consumption in airways in spite of this subsector's consisting only a small fraction of total. The major reasons for this are that airways efficiencies and the rate of change in fuel consumption in airways are greater than those of the others. This study shows that airway transportation should be increased to improve the energy and exergy efficiencies of the Turkish transport sectors. However, it should also be noted that no innovations and other advances in transport technologies are

Energy Efficiency and Universal Design in Home Renovations - A Comparative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Kapedani, Ermal; Herssens, Jasmien; Verbeeck, Griet

2016-01-01

Policy and societal objectives indicate a large need for housing renovations that both accommodate lifelong living and significantly increase energy efficiency. However, these two areas of research are not yet examined in conjunction and this paper hypothesizes this as a missed opportunity to create better renovation concepts. The paper outlines a comparative review on research in Energy Efficiency and Universal Design in order to find the similarities and differences in both depth and breadth of knowledge. Scientific literature in the two fields reveals a disparate depth of knowledge in areas of theory, research approach, and degree of implementation in society. Universal Design and Energy Efficiency are part of a trajectory of expanding scope towards greater sustainability and, although social urgency has been a driver of the research intensity and approach in both fields, in energy efficiency there is an engineering, problem solving approach while Universal Design has a more sociological, user-focused one. These different approaches are reflected in the way home owners in Energy Efficiency research are viewed as consumers and decision makers whose drivers are studied, while Universal Design treats home owners as informants in the design process and studies their needs. There is an inherent difficulty in directly merging Universal Design and Energy Efficiency at a conceptual level because Energy Efficiency is understood as a set of measures, i.e. a product, while Universal Design is part of a (design) process. The conceptual difference is apparent in their implementation as well. Internationally energy efficiency in housing has been largely imposed through legislation, while legislation directly mandating Universal Design is either non-existent or it has an explicit focus on accessibility. However, Energy Efficiency and Universal Design can be complementary concepts and, even though it is more complex than expected, the combination offers possibilities to advance

Energy efficiency in Norway (1997). Cross Country Comparison on Energy Efficiency Indicators - Phase 5

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alm, Leif Kristian

2000-02-01

This is the national report for Norway in phase 5 of the SAVE project 'Cross country comparison of energy efficiency indicators'. The report deals with energy use and energy efficiency in Norway the last 20 years, with a special emphasis on the period after 1990. A detailed sector analysis has been done, applying Laspeyres indices to attribute changes in energy use to either activity, structure or intensity (efficiency). Aggregating sectors, we have found a total efficiency improvement of maximum 7-8 TWH from 1990 to 1997. This corresponds to a saving of 0.5% per year. In the same period, final energy use per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reduced by approx 2.4% per year. Thereby most of the reduction in final energy intensity can not be attributed to increased energy efficiency. Almost all data are taken from official Norwegian statistics (Statistics Norway). (author)

Point Climat no. 27 'Unlocking private investments in energy efficiency through carbon finance'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shishlov, Igor; Bellassen, Valentin

2013-01-01

Among the publications of CDC Climat Research, 'Climate Briefs' presents, in a few pages, hot topics in climate change policy. This issue addresses the following points: According to the latest IEA World Energy Outlook, energy efficiency is a 'key option' in transition to a low-carbon economy. A decade of experience with the CDM and JI demonstrates that carbon finance can be used as an effective tool to unlock private investments in energy efficiency. Capital investments in offset projects may significantly exceed the expected carbon revenues resulting in an average weighted leverage ratio of 4:1 and 9:1 for the CDM and JI respectively, which is comparable to other international financial instruments. So far carbon finance has been used mostly for large-scale industrial energy efficiency projects in advanced developing countries and economies in transition, although it is increasingly suited to tap into scattered household energy efficiency projects

Potential impacts of energy efficiency policies in the U.S. industry: Results from the clean energy futures study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Worrell, Ernst; Price, Lynn

2001-01-01

Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future (CEF) studied the role that efficient clean energy technologies can play in meeting the economic and environmental challenges for our future energy supply. The study describes a portfolio of policies that would motivate energy users and businesses to invest in innovative energy efficient technologies. On the basis of the portfolios, two policy scenarios have been developed, i.e. a moderate scenario and an advanced scenario. We focus on the industrial part of the CEF-study. The studied policies include a wide scope of activities, which are organized under the umbrella of voluntary industrial sector agreements. The policies for the policy scenarios have been modeled using the National Energy Modeling System (CEF-NEMS). Under the reference scenario industrial energy use would grow to 41 Quads in 2020, compared to 34.8 Quads in 1997, with an average improvement of the energy intensity by 1.1% per year. In the Moderate scenario the annual improvement is a bout 1.5%/year, leading to primary energy use of 37.8 Quads in 2020, resulting in 10% lower CO2 emissions by 2020 compared to the reference scenario. In the Advanced scenario the annual improvement increases to 1.8% per year, leading to primary energy use of 34.3 Quads in 2020, and 29% lower CO2 emissions. We report on the policies, assumptions and results for industry

Advanced technologies and atomic energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The expert committee on the research 'Application of advanced technologies to nuclear power' started the activities in fiscal year 1994 as one of the expert research committees of Atomic Energy Society of Japan. The objective of its foundation is to investigate the information on the advanced technologies related to atomic energy and to promote their practice. In this fiscal year, the advanced technologies in the fields of system and safety, materials and measurement were taken up. The second committee meeting was held in March, 1995. In this report, the contents of the lectures at the committee meeting and the symposium are compiled. The topics in the symposium were the meaning of advanced technologies, the advanced technologies and atomic energy, human factors and control and safety systems, robot technology and microtechnology, and functionally gradient materials. Lectures were given at two committee meetings on the development of atomic energy that has come to the turning point, the development of advanced technologies centering around ULSI, the present problems of structural fine ceramics and countermeasures of JFCC, the material analysis using laser plasma soft X-ray, and the fullerene research of advanced technology development in Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation. (K.I.)

Monitoring changes in economy-wide energy efficiency: From energy-GDP ratio to composite efficiency index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ang, B.W.

2006-01-01

Since the 1973 world oil crisis, monitoring trends in energy efficiency at the economy-wide level has been an important component of energy strategy in many countries. To support this effort, various energy efficiency-related indicators have been developed. We examine some classical indicators which are often found in national and international energy studies in the 1970s and 1980s. We then describe the recent developments in using the index decomposition analysis to give an economy-wide composite energy efficiency index based on a bottom-up approach. This composite index is superior to the classical indicators as an economy-wide energy efficiency measure and has lately been adopted by a growing number of countries for national energy efficiency trend monitoring

China Energy Group - Sustainable Growth Through EnergyEfficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, Mark; Fridley, David; Lin, Jiang; Sinton, Jonathan; Zhou,Nan; Aden, Nathaniel; Huang, Joe; Price, Lynn; McKane, Aimee T.

2006-03-20

China is fueling its phenomenal economic growth with huge quantities of coal. The environmental consequences reach far beyond its borders--China is second only to the United States in greenhouse gas emissions. Expanding its supply of other energy sources, like nuclear power and imported oil, raises trade and security issues. Soaring electricity demand necessitates the construction of 40-70 GW of new capacity per year, creating sustained financing challenges. While daunting, the challenge of meeting China's energy needs presents a wealth of opportunities, particularly in meeting demand through improved energy efficiency and other clean energy technologies. The China Energy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is committed to understanding these opportunities, and to exploring their implications for policy and business. We work collaboratively with energy researchers, suppliers, regulators, and consumers in China and elsewhere to: better understand the dynamics of energy use in China. Our Research Focus Encompasses Three Major Areas: Buildings, Industry, and Cross-Cutting Activities. Buildings--working to promote energy-efficient buildings and energy-efficient equipment used in buildings. Current work includes promoting the design and use of minimum energy efficiency standards and energy labeling for appliances, and assisting in the development and implementation of building codes for energy-efficient residential and commercial/public buildings. Past work has included a China Residential Energy Consumption Survey and a study of the health impacts of rural household energy use. Industry--understanding China's industrial sector, responsible for the majority of energy consumption in China. Current work includes benchmarking China's major energy-consuming industries to world best practice, examining energy efficiency trends in China's steel and cement industries, implementing voluntary energy efficiency agreements in various

Simulation based energy-resource efficient manufacturing integrated with in-process virtual management

Science.gov (United States)

Katchasuwanmanee, Kanet; Cheng, Kai; Bateman, Richard

2016-09-01

As energy efficiency is one of the key essentials towards sustainability, the development of an energy-resource efficient manufacturing system is among the great challenges facing the current industry. Meanwhile, the availability of advanced technological innovation has created more complex manufacturing systems that involve a large variety of processes and machines serving different functions. To extend the limited knowledge on energy-efficient scheduling, the research presented in this paper attempts to model the production schedule at an operation process by considering the balance of energy consumption reduction in production, production work flow (productivity) and quality. An innovative systematic approach to manufacturing energy-resource efficiency is proposed with the virtual simulation as a predictive modelling enabler, which provides real-time manufacturing monitoring, virtual displays and decision-makings and consequentially an analytical and multidimensional correlation analysis on interdependent relationships among energy consumption, work flow and quality errors. The regression analysis results demonstrate positive relationships between the work flow and quality errors and the work flow and energy consumption. When production scheduling is controlled through optimization of work flow, quality errors and overall energy consumption, the energy-resource efficiency can be achieved in the production. Together, this proposed multidimensional modelling and analysis approach provides optimal conditions for the production scheduling at the manufacturing system by taking account of production quality, energy consumption and resource efficiency, which can lead to the key competitive advantages and sustainability of the system operations in the industry.

Energy Efficient Mobile Operating Systems

OpenAIRE

Muhammad Waseem

2013-01-01

Energy is an important resource in mobile computers now days. It is important to manage energy in efficient manner so that energy consumption will be reduced. Developers of operating system decided to increase the battery life time of mobile phones at operating system level. So, design of energy efficient mobile operating system is the best way to reduce the energy consumption in mobile devices. In this paper, currently used energy efficient mobile operating system is discussed and compared. ...

Energy efficiency analysis and implementation of AES on an FPGA

Science.gov (United States)

Kenney, David

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was developed by Joan Daemen and Vincent Rjimen and endorsed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2001. It was designed to replace the aging Data Encryption Standard (DES) and be useful for a wide range of applications with varying throughput, area, power dissipation and energy consumption requirements. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are flexible and reconfigurable integrated circuits that are useful for many different applications including the implementation of AES. Though they are highly flexible, FPGAs are often less efficient than Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs); they tend to operate slower, take up more space and dissipate more power. There have been many FPGA AES implementations that focus on obtaining high throughput or low area usage, but very little research done in the area of low power or energy efficient FPGA based AES; in fact, it is rare for estimates on power dissipation to be made at all. This thesis presents a methodology to evaluate the energy efficiency of FPGA based AES designs and proposes a novel FPGA AES implementation which is highly flexible and energy efficient. The proposed methodology is implemented as part of a novel scripting tool, the AES Energy Analyzer, which is able to fully characterize the power dissipation and energy efficiency of FPGA based AES designs. Additionally, this thesis introduces a new FPGA power reduction technique called Opportunistic Combinational Operand Gating (OCOG) which is used in the proposed energy efficient implementation. The AES Energy Analyzer was able to estimate the power dissipation and energy efficiency of the proposed AES design during its most commonly performed operations. It was found that the proposed implementation consumes less energy per operation than any previous FPGA based AES implementations that included power estimations. Finally, the use of Opportunistic Combinational Operand Gating on an AES cipher

Advanced, Energy-Efficient Hybrid Membrane System for Industrial Water Reuse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toy, Lora [RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States); Choi, Young Chul [RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States); Hendren, Zachary [RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States); Kim, Gyu Dong [RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)

2017-03-31

In the U.S. manufacturing sector, current industrial water use practices are energy-intensive and utilize and discharge high volumes of waters, rendering them not sustainable especially in light of the growing scarcity of suitable water supplies. To help address this problem, the goal of this project was to develop an advanced, cost-effective, hybrid membrane-based water treatment system that can improve the energy efficiency of industrial wastewater treatment while allowing at least 50% water reuse efficiency. This hybrid process would combine emerging Forward Osmosis (FO) and Membrane Distillation (MD) technology components into an integrated FO-MD system that can beneficially utilize low-grade waste heat (i.e., T < 450 °F) in industrial facilities to produce distilled-quality product water for reuse. In this project, laboratory-, bench-, and pilot-scale experiments on the hybrid FO-MD system were conducted for industrial wastewater treatment. It was demonstrated at laboratory, bench, and pilot scales that FO-MD membrane technology can concentrate brine to very high total dissolved solids (TDS) levels (>200,000 ppm) that are at least 2.5 times higher than the TDS level to which RO can achieve. In laboratory testing, currently available FO and MD membranes were tested to select for high-performing membranes with high salt rejection and high water flux. Multiple FO membrane/draw-salt solution combinations that gave high water flux with higher than 98% salt rejection were also identified. Reverse draw-salt fluxes were observed to be much lower for divalent salts than for monovalent salts. MD membranes were identified that had 99.9+% salt rejection and water flux as high as 50-90 L/(m²·h) for flat-sheet membranes and >20 L/(m²·h) for hollow fibers. In bench-scale testing, a single unit of commercially available FO and MD membrane modules were evaluated for continuous, integrated operation. Using the laboratory- and bench-scale test data

Efficiency Evaluation of Energy Systems

CERN Document Server

Kanoğlu, Mehmet; Dinçer, İbrahim

2012-01-01

Efficiency is one of the most frequently used terms in thermodynamics, and it indicates how well an energy conversion or process is accomplished. Efficiency is also one of the most frequently misused terms in thermodynamics and is often a source of misunderstanding. This is because efficiency is often used without being properly defined first. This book intends to provide a comprehensive evaluation of various efficiencies used for energy transfer and conversion systems including steady-flow energy devices (turbines, compressors, pumps, nozzles, heat exchangers, etc.), various power plants, cogeneration plants, and refrigeration systems. The book will cover first-law (energy based) and second-law (exergy based) efficiencies and provide a comprehensive understanding of their implications. It will help minimize the widespread misuse of efficiencies among students and researchers in energy field by using an intuitive and unified approach for defining efficiencies. The book will be particularly useful for a clear ...

The importance of advancing technology to America's energy goals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greene, D.L.; Boudreaux, P.R.; Dean, D.J.; Fulkerson, W.; Gaddis, A.L.; Graham, R.L.; Graves, R.L.; Hopson, J.L.; Hughes, P.; Lapsa, M.V.; Mason, T.E.; Standaert, R.F.; Wilbanks, T.J.; Zucker, A.

2010-01-01

A wide range of energy technologies appears to be needed for the United States to meet its energy goals. A method is developed that relates the uncertainty of technological progress in eleven technology areas to the achievement of CO 2 mitigation and reduced oil dependence. We conclude that to be confident of meeting both energy goals, each technology area must have a much better than 50/50 probability of success, that carbon capture and sequestration, biomass, battery electric or fuel cell vehicles, advanced fossil liquids, and energy efficiency technologies for buildings appear to be almost essential, and that the success of each one of the 11 technologies is important. These inferences are robust to moderate variations in assumptions.

Energy efficiency of mobile soft robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Shui, Langquan; Zhu, Liangliang; Yang, Zhe; Liu, Yilun; Chen, Xi

2017-11-15

The performance of mobile soft robots is usually characterized by their locomotion/velocity efficiency, whereas the energy efficiency is a more intrinsic and fundamental criterion for the performance evaluation of independent or integrated soft robots. In this work, a general framework is established to evaluate the energy efficiency of mobile soft robots by considering the efficiency of the energy source, actuator and locomotion, and some insights for improving the efficiency of soft robotic systems are presented. Proposed as the ratio of the desired locomotion kinetic energy to the input mechanical energy, the energy efficiency of locomotion is found to play a critical role in determining the overall energy efficiency of soft robots. Four key factors related to the locomotion energy efficiency are identified, that is, the locomotion modes, material properties, geometric sizes, and actuation states. It is found that the energy efficiency of most mobile soft robots reported in the literature is surprisingly low (mostly below 0.1%), due to the inefficient mechanical energy that essentially does not contribute to the desired locomotion. A comparison of the locomotion energy efficiency for several representative locomotion modes in the literature is presented, showing a descending ranking as: jumping ≫ fish-like swimming > snake-like slithering > rolling > rising/turning over > inchworm-like inching > quadruped gait > earthworm-like squirming. Besides, considering the same locomotion mode, soft robots with lower stiffness, higher density and larger size tend to have higher locomotion energy efficiency. Moreover, a periodic pulse actuation instead of a continuous actuation mode may significantly reduce the input mechanical energy, thus improving the locomotion energy efficiency, especially when the pulse actuation matches the resonant states of the soft robots. The results presented herein indicate a large and necessary space for improving the locomotion energy

State-level benefits of energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tonn, Bruce; Peretz, Jean H.

2007-01-01

This paper describes benefits attributable to state-level energy efficiency programs. Nationwide, state-level energy efficiency programs have targeted all sectors of the economy and have employed a wide range of methods to promote energy efficiency. Standard residential and industrial programs typically identify between 20% and 30% energy savings in homes and plants, respectively. Over a 20-year period of time, an average state that aggressively pursues even a limited array of energy efficiency programs can potentially reduce total state energy use by as much as 20%. Well-designed energy efficiency programs can be expected to help overcome numerous barriers to the market penetration of energy efficient technologies and accelerate the market penetration of the technologies. Energy efficiency programs are cost-effective; typical benefit-cost ratios exceed 3:1 and are much higher when non-energy and macroeconomic benefits are included. Indeed, energy efficiency and associated programs and investments can create significant numbers of new jobs and enhance state tax revenues. Several states have incorporated energy efficiency into their economic development programs. It should also be noted that increasing amounts of venture capital are being invested in the energy sector in general and in specific technologies like solar power in particular. (author)

State-Level Benefits of Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tonn, Bruce Edward [ORNL

2007-02-01

This report describes benefits attributable to state-level energy efficiency programs. Nationwide, state-level energy efficiency programs have targeted all sectors of the economy and have employed a wide range of methods to promote energy efficiency. Standard residential and industrial programs typically identify between 20 to 30% energy savings in homes and plants, respectively. Over a 20 year period of time, an average state that aggressively pursues even a limited array of energy efficiency programs can potentially reduce total state energy use by as much as 20%. Benefit-cost ratios of effective energy efficiency programs typically exceed 3 to 1 and are much higher when non-energy and macroeconomic benefits are included. Indeed, energy efficiency and associated programs and investments can create significant numbers of new jobs and enhance state tax revenues. Several states have incorporated energy efficiency into their economic development programs. It should also be noted that increasing amounts of venture capital are being invested in the energy sector in general and in specific technologies like solar power in particular. Well-designed energy efficiency programs can be expected to help overcome numerous barriers to the market penetration of energy efficient technologies and accelerate the market penetration of the technologies.

Market conditions affecting energy efficiency investments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seabright, J.

1996-01-01

The global energy efficiency market is growing, due in part to energy sector and macroeconomic reforms and increased awareness of the environmental benefits of energy efficiency. Many countries have promoted open, competitive markets, thereby stimulating economic growth. They have reduced or removed subsidies on energy prices, and governments have initiated energy conservation programs that have spurred the wider adoption of energy efficiency technologies. The market outlook for energy efficiency is quite positive. The global market for end-use energy efficiency in the industrial, residential and commercial sectors is now estimated to total more than $34 billion per year. There is still enormous technical potential to implement energy conservation measures and to upgrade to the best available technologies for new investments. For many technologies, energy-efficient designs now represent less than 10--20% of new product sales. Thus, creating favorable market conditions should be a priority. There are a number of actions that can be taken to create favorable market conditions for investing in energy efficiency. Fostering a market-oriented energy sector will lead to energy prices that reflect the true cost of supply. Policy initiatives should address known market failures and should support energy efficiency initiatives. And market transformation for energy efficiency products and services can be facilitated by creating an institutional and legal structure that favors commercially-oriented entities

Promotion of Efficient Use of Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harry Misuriello; DOE Project Officer - Keith Bennett

2006-01-25

The Department of Energy funded the Alliance to Save Energy to promote the efficient use of energy under a multiyear cooperative agreement. This funding allowed the Alliance to be innovative and flexible in its program development, and to initiate and enhance projects it would otherwise not have been able to pursue. The program period was 1999 through 2004. The mission of the Alliance to Save Energy is to promote energy efficiency domestically and worldwide. The Alliance followed this mission by working closely with consumers, government, policy makers, and energy efficient product and service providers. The projects that were initiated by the Alliance included communication and consumer education, policy analysis and research, the promotion of interaction among the energy efficiency industry, and international energy efficiency programs. The funding from the Department of Energy allowed the Alliance to study new issues in energy efficiency, draw public attention to those issues, and create targeted programs, such as the Efficient Windows Collaborative or the Green Schools program, which now function on their own to promote energy efficiency in important areas.

75 FR 69655 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-15

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC) AGENCY: Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and... Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory [[Page 69656

78 FR 20896 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-08

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... industry-specific teams--renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage and transmission, and biofuels...

78 FR 48855 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-12

... Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee AGENCY: International Trade... the international competitiveness of the U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. The... Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee, Attention: Ryan Mulholland, Office of Energy and...

Adoption of energy-efficient televisions for expanded off-grid electricity service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Won Young Park

Full Text Available Even though they dominate the global television (TV market, light-emitting diode backlit liquid crystal display (LED-LCD TVs have received little attention for use with off-grid household-scale renewable energy systems, primarily because of high up-front costs. However, technological advances and price declines mean that these TVs can now provide the same level of electricity service as standard LED-LCD TVs offer but at lower total energy cost. Moreover, LED-LCD TVs are inherently direct-current (DC-powered devices and therefore well suited for use with off-grid solar home systems. We estimate that DC-powered energy-efficient LED-LCD TVs can decrease the retail purchase price of solar home systems by about 25% by allowing use of 50% smaller photovoltaics and battery capacities than would be needed for the same energy system to power a standard LED-LCD TV. We recommend that policies such as awards, bulk procurement, incentives, and energy labels be considered to facilitate the adoption of these energy-efficient TVs in off-grid settings. Keywords: DC television, TV energy efficiency, Electricity access, Off-grid electricity service, Cost-benefit analysis

Is energy efficiency environmentally friendly?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Herring, H. [Open University, Milton Keynes (United Kingdom). Energy and Environment Research Unit

2000-07-01

The paper challenges the view that improving the efficiency of energy use will lead to a reduction in national energy consumption, and hence is an effective policy for reducing CO{sub 2} emissions. It argues that improving energy efficiency lowers the implicit price of energy and hence makes its use more affordable, thus leading to greater use. The paper presents the views of economists, as well as green critics of 'efficiency' and the 'dematerialization' thesis. It argues that a more effective CO{sub 2} policy is to concentrate on shifting to non-fossil fuel, like renewables, subsidized through a carbon tax. Ultimately what is needed, to limit energy consumption is energy conservation not energy efficiency. 44 refs.

Advanced Nanomaterials for High-Efficiency Solar Cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Junhong [University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

2013-11-29

Energy supply has arguably become one of the most important problems facing humankind. The exponential demand for energy is evidenced by dwindling fossil fuel supplies and record-high oil and gas prices due to global population growth and economic development. This energy shortage has significant implications to the future of our society, in addition to the greenhouse gas emission burden due to consumption of fossil fuels. Solar energy seems to be the most viable choice to meet our clean energy demand given its large scale and clean/renewable nature. However, existing methods to convert sun light into electricity are not efficient enough to become a practical alternative to fossil fuels. This DOE project aims to develop advanced hybrid nanomaterials consisting of semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots or QDs) supported on graphene for cost-effective solar cells with improved conversion efficiency for harvesting abundant, renewable, clean solar energy to relieve our global energy challenge. Expected outcomes of the project include new methods for low-cost manufacturing of hybrid nanostructures, systematic understanding of their properties that can be tailored for desired applications, and novel photovoltaic cells. Through this project, we have successfully synthesized a number of novel nanomaterials, including vertically-oriented graphene (VG) sheets, three-dimensional (3D) carbon nanostructures comprising few-layer graphene (FLG) sheets inherently connected with CNTs through sp{sup 2} carbons, crumpled graphene (CG)-nanocrystal hybrids, CdSe nanoparticles (NPs), CdS NPs, nanohybrids of metal nitride decorated on nitrogen-doped graphene (NG), QD-carbon nanotube (CNT) and QD-VG-CNT structures, TiO{sub 2}-CdS NPs, and reduced graphene oxide (RGO)-SnO{sub 2} NPs. We further assembled CdSe NPs onto graphene sheets and investigated physical and electronic interactions between CdSe NPs and the graphene. Finally we have demonstrated various applications of these

77 FR 50489 - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-21

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind and Water Power Program AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of public... FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Hoyt Battey, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S...

75 FR 70214 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-17

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... submitted to the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee, Office of Energy and...

Mobile Energy Laboratory energy-efficiency testing programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, G.B.; Currie, J.W.

1992-03-01

This report summarizes energy-efficiency testing activities applying the Mobile Energy Laboratory (MEL) testing capabilities during the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year (FY) 1991. The MELs, developed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), are administered by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and the Naval Energy and Environmental Support Activity (NEESA) for energy testing and energy conservation program support functions at federal facilities. The using agencies principally fund MEL applications, while DOE/FEMP funds program administration and capability enhancement activities. This report fulfills the requirements established in Section 8 of the MEL Use Plan (PNL-6861) for semi-annual reporting on energy-efficiency testing activities using the MEL capabilities. The MEL Use Committee, formally established in 1989, developed the MEL Use Plan and meets semi-annually to establish priorities for energy-efficient testing applications using the MEL capabilities. The MEL Use Committee is composed of one representative each of the US Department of Energy, US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, and other federal agencies

Mobile Energy Laboratory energy-efficiency testing programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parker, G B; Currie, J W

1992-03-01

This report summarizes energy-efficiency testing activities applying the Mobile Energy Laboratory (MEL) testing capabilities during the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year (FY) 1991. The MELs, developed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), are administered by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and the Naval Energy and Environmental Support Activity (NEESA) for energy testing and energy conservation program support functions at federal facilities. The using agencies principally fund MEL applications, while DOE/FEMP funds program administration and capability enhancement activities. This report fulfills the requirements established in Section 8 of the MEL Use Plan (PNL-6861) for semi-annual reporting on energy-efficiency testing activities using the MEL capabilities. The MEL Use Committee, formally established in 1989, developed the MEL Use Plan and meets semi-annually to establish priorities for energy-efficient testing applications using the MEL capabilities. The MEL Use Committee is composed of one representative each of the US Department of Energy, US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, and other federal agencies.

Policy of productive development and energy efficiency; Politica de desenvolvimento produtivo e eficiencia energetica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naturesa, Jim Silva [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), SP (Brazil). Fac. de Engenharia Civil Arquitetura e Urbanismo. Nucleo Interdisciplinar de Planejamento Energetico], e-mail: cam@fec.unicamp.br; Mariotoni, Carlos Alberto [Faculdade Politecnica de Jundiai (FPJ), SP (Brazil). Anhanguera Educacional

2008-07-01

The new industry policy in Brazil called PDP (Politica de Desenvolvimento Produtivo) and implications on Brazilian energy efficiency program are discussed. The PINTEC - Industrial Research for Technology Innovation (2003/05) indicates a low R and D and I investment of the Brazilian industries. It is expected that and energy efficiency project can be seen as an innovation project because this brings new equipment and a more advanced knowledge to industry, which helps to reduce electrical energy consumption, consumer' bills and production costs. (author)

A nano-graphite cold cathode for an energy-efficient cathodoluminescent light source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander N. Obraztsov

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The development of new types of light sources is necessary in order to meet the growing demands of consumers and to ensure an efficient use of energy. The cathodoluminescence process is still under-exploited for light generation because of the lack of cathodes suitable for the energy-efficient production of electron beams and appropriate phosphor materials. In this paper we propose a nano-graphite film material as a highly efficient cold cathode, which is able to produce high intensity electron beams without energy consumption. The nano-graphite film material was produced by using chemical vapor deposition techniques. Prototypes of cathodoluminescent lamp devices with a construction optimized for the usage of nano-graphite cold cathodes were developed, manufactured and tested. The results indicate prospective advantages of this type of lamp and the possibility to provide advanced power efficiency as well as enhanced spectral and other characteristics.

Management of efficient use of energy and energy efficiency markets in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lutz, Wolfang F.

1999-01-01

The present paper is based on the study S ystematization of European Legal, regulatory, and Institutional Frameworks for the Efficient Use of Energy , conducted in the framework of the project entitled Building up the Institutional and Regulatory Design to Consolidate Modernization of Energy Policies in the Countries of Latin America: Efficient Use of energy, implemented by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, in cooperation with the Synergy Programme of the European Commission of the Directorate General of Energy. (The author)

Energy Efficiency: Finding Leadership Opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Rosehart

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Between 1995 and 2011, the population of Alberta increased by roughly 40 per cent, but energy use in the province grew much faster, with a 62 per cent increase over the same period. In the industrial sector, the province’s largest energy consumer, demands grew 110 per cent. In mining and oil-and-gas extraction specifically, energy use over that period soared, growing by 355 per cent. That remarkable growth in energy consumption creates a particular challenge for Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who in 2011 ordered her ministers to develop a plan that “would make Alberta the national leader in energy efficiency and sustainability.” The province is still waiting. The incentives to become more energy efficient are not particularly strong in Alberta. The province’s terrain and size favour larger and less-efficient vehicles. Energy in the province is abundant, so there is little cause for concern over energy security. And energy is relatively affordable, particularly for a population that is more affluent than the Canadian average. There is little pressure on Albertans to radically alter their energy consumption behaviour. Yet, improved energy efficiency could position businesses in Alberta to become even more globally competitive, in addition to leading to improved air quality and public health. And for a province racing to keep up with growing energy demand, effective measures that promote conservation will prove much cheaper than adding yet more expensive infrastructure to the energy network. Many other jurisdictions have already provided examples of methods Alberta could employ to effectively promote energy conservation. First, Alberta must set hard targets for its goals to save energy, and then monitor that progress through transparent accounting, measuring and reporting. The provincial government can also nurture a culture of energy conservation, by formally and publicly recognizing leadership in efficiency improvements in industry and

Energy efficiency in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

In Finland a significant portion of energy originates from renewable sources and cogeneration, that is, combined production of electricity and heat. Combined heat and electricity production is typical in the Finnish industry and in the district heating sector. One third of all electricity and 15 % of district heating is produced by cogeneration. District heating schemes provide about 45 % of heat in buildings. Overall efficiency in industry exceeds 80 % and is even higher in the district heating sector. In 1996 25 % of Finland`s primary energy was produced from renewable energy sources which is a far higher proportion than the European Union average of 6 %. Finland is one of the leading users of bioenergy. Biomass including peat, provides approximately 50 % of fuel consumed by industry and is utilised in significant amounts in combined heat and electricity plants. For example, in the pulp and paper industry, by burning black liquor and bark during the production of chemical pulp, significant amounts of energy are generated and used in paper mills. Conservation and efficient use of energy are central to the Finnish Government`s Energy Strategy. The energy conservation programme aims to increase energy efficiency by 10-20 % by the year 2010. Energy saving technology plays a key role in making the production and use of energy more efficient. In 1996 of FIM 335 million (ECU 57 million) spent on funding research, FIM 120 million (ECU 20 million) was spent on research into energy conservation

The reHABITAT Guide: For Energy- and Resource-Efficient Retrofit Strategies; February 2003--February 2004

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2004-07-01

The reHABITAT Guide for Energy- and Resource-Efficient Retrofit Strategies seeks to advance the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy's Existing Residential Buildings Program (ERBP): to develop approaches that will enable the housing retrofit industry to deliver energy-efficient housing improvements and to ensure that energy-efficient retrofit technologies incorporated into projects are viable over conventional approaches. This guide was developed for Habitat for Humanity International and is the result of lessons learned from demonstration retrofit projects undertaken by Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Newburgh, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; with building systems consulting and technical assistance provided by Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (SWA).

76 FR 6605 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC)

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-07

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC) AGENCY: Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and... within the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public...

Algorithms for energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Busse, M

2007-01-21

The recent advances in microsensor and semiconductor technology have opened a new field within computer science: the networking of small-sized sensors which are capable of sensing, processing, and communicating. Such wireless sensor networks offer new applications in the areas of habitat and environment monitoring, disaster control and operation, military and intelligence control, object tracking, video surveillance, traffic control, as well as in health care and home automation. It is likely that the deployed sensors will be battery-powered, which will limit the energy capacity significantly. Thus, energy efficiency becomes one of the main challenges that need to be taken into account, and the design of energy-efficient algorithms is a major contribution of this thesis. As the wireless communication in the network is one of the main energy consumers, we first consider in detail the characteristics of wireless communication. By using the embedded sensor board (ESB) platform recently developed by the Free University of Berlin, we analyze the means of forward error correction and propose an appropriate resync mechanism, which improves the communication between two ESB nodes substantially. Afterwards, we focus on the forwarding of data packets through the network. We present the algorithms energy-efficient forwarding (EEF), lifetime-efficient forwarding (LEF), and energy-efficient aggregation forwarding (EEAF). While EEF is designed to maximize the number of data bytes delivered per energy unit, LEF additionally takes into account the residual energy of forwarding nodes. In so doing, LEF further prolongs the lifetime of the network. Energy savings due to data aggregation and in-network processing are exploited by EEAF. Besides single-link forwarding, in which data packets are sent to only one forwarding node, we also study the impact of multi-link forwarding, which exploits the broadcast characteristics of the wireless medium by sending packets to several (potential

Algorithms for energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Busse, M.

2007-01-21

The recent advances in microsensor and semiconductor technology have opened a new field within computer science: the networking of small-sized sensors which are capable of sensing, processing, and communicating. Such wireless sensor networks offer new applications in the areas of habitat and environment monitoring, disaster control and operation, military and intelligence control, object tracking, video surveillance, traffic control, as well as in health care and home automation. It is likely that the deployed sensors will be battery-powered, which will limit the energy capacity significantly. Thus, energy efficiency becomes one of the main challenges that need to be taken into account, and the design of energy-efficient algorithms is a major contribution of this thesis. As the wireless communication in the network is one of the main energy consumers, we first consider in detail the characteristics of wireless communication. By using the embedded sensor board (ESB) platform recently developed by the Free University of Berlin, we analyze the means of forward error correction and propose an appropriate resync mechanism, which improves the communication between two ESB nodes substantially. Afterwards, we focus on the forwarding of data packets through the network. We present the algorithms energy-efficient forwarding (EEF), lifetime-efficient forwarding (LEF), and energy-efficient aggregation forwarding (EEAF). While EEF is designed to maximize the number of data bytes delivered per energy unit, LEF additionally takes into account the residual energy of forwarding nodes. In so doing, LEF further prolongs the lifetime of the network. Energy savings due to data aggregation and in-network processing are exploited by EEAF. Besides single-link forwarding, in which data packets are sent to only one forwarding node, we also study the impact of multi-link forwarding, which exploits the broadcast characteristics of the wireless medium by sending packets to several (potential

76 FR 7815 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-11

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... programs support the competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency companies, to review...

76 FR 54431 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... competitiveness of the U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, including specific challenges...

78 FR 78340 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-26

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... affecting U.S. competitiveness in exporting renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE) products and...

Financing Energy Efficient Homes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

Existing buildings require over 40% of the world's total final energy consumption, and account for 24% of world CO2 emissions (IEA, 2006). Much of this consumption could be avoided through improved efficiency of building energy systems (IEA, 2006) using current, commercially-viable technology. In most cases, these technologies make economic sense on a life-cycle cost analysis (IEA, 2006b). Moreover, to the extent that they reduce dependence on risk-prone fossil energy sources, energy efficient technologies also address concerns of energy security.

Financing Energy Efficient Homes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

Existing buildings require over 40% of the world's total final energy consumption, and account for 24% of world CO2 emissions (IEA, 2006). Much of this consumption could be avoided through improved efficiency of building energy systems (IEA, 2006) using current, commercially-viable technology. In most cases, these technologies make economic sense on a life-cycle cost analysis (IEA, 2006b). Moreover, to the extent that they reduce dependence on risk-prone fossil energy sources, energy efficient technologies also address concerns of energy security.

Energy Efficiency Project Development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

IUEP

2004-03-01

The International Utility Efficiency Partnerships, Inc. (IUEP) has been a leader among the industry groups that have supported voluntary initiatives to promote international energy efficiency projects and address global climate change. The IUEP maintains its leadership by both supporting international greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction projects under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and by partnering with U.S. and international organizations to develop and implement strategies and specific energy efficiency projects. The goals of the IUEP program are to (1) provide a way for U.S. industry to maintain a leadership role in international energy efficiency infrastructure projects; (2) identify international energy project development opportunities to continue its leadership in supporting voluntary market-based mechanisms to reduce GHG emissions; and (3) demonstrate private sector commitment to voluntary approaches to global climate issues. The IUEP is dedicated to identifying, promoting, managing, and assisting in the registration of international energy efficiency projects that result in demonstrated voluntary reductions of GHG emissions. This Final Technical Report summarizes the IUEP's work in identifying, promoting, managing, and assisting in development of these projects and IUEP's effort in creating international cooperative partnerships to support project development activities that develop and deploy technologies that (1) increase efficiency in the production, delivery and use of energy; (2) increase the use of cleaner, low-carbon fuels in processing products; and (3) capture/sequester carbon gases from energy systems. Through international cooperative efforts, the IUEP intends to strengthen partnerships for energy technology innovation and demonstration projects capable of providing cleaner energy in a cost-effective manner. As detailed in this report, the IUEP met program objectives and goals during the reporting period January 1

77 FR 23224 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-18

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC.... competitiveness in exporting renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE) products and services, such as access...

78 FR 69370 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-19

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC....S. renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. The December 3, 2013 meeting of the RE&EEAC...

77 FR 32531 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... new capital for investment in the U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors, increasing the...

76 FR 44576 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-26

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC.... renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. The RE&EEAC held its first meeting on December 7, 2010...

Assessing Energy Efficiency Opportunities in US Industrial and Commercial Building Motor Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rao, Prakash; Sheaffer, Paul; McKane, Aimee; Scheihing, Paul

2015-09-01

In 2002, the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) published an energy efficiency assessment of U.S. industrial sector motor systems titled United States Industrial Electric Motor Systems Market Opportunities Assessment. The assessment advanced motor system efficiency by providing a greater understanding of the energy consumption, use characteristics, and energy efficiency improvement potential of industrial sector motor systems in the U.S. Since 2002, regulations such as Minimum Energy Performance Standards, cost reductions for motor system components such as variable frequency drives, system-integrated motor-driven equipment, and awareness programs for motor system energy efficiency have changed the landscape of U.S. motor system energy consumption. To capture the new landscape, the USDOE has initiated a three-year Motor System Market Assessment (MSMA), led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The MSMA will assess the energy consumption, operational and maintenance characteristics, and efficiency improvement opportunity of U.S. industrial sector and commercial building motor systems. As part of the MSMA, a significant effort is currently underway to conduct field assessments of motor systems from a sample of facilities representative of U.S. commercial and industrial motor system energy consumption. The Field Assessment Plan used for these assessments builds on recent LBNL research presented at EEMODS 2011 and EEMODS 2013 using methods for characterizing and determining regional motor system energy efficiency opportunities. This paper provides an update on the development and progress of the MSMA, focusing on the Field Assessment Plan and the framework for assessing the global supply chain for emerging motors and drive technologies.

Advanced energy materials

CERN Document Server

Tiwari, Ashutosh

2014-01-01

An essential resource for scientists designing new energy materials for the vast landscape of solar energy conversion as well as materials processing and characterization Based on the new and fundamental research on novel energy materials with tailor-made photonic properties, the role of materials engineering has been to provide much needed support in the development of photovoltaic devices. Advanced Energy Materials offers a unique, state-of-the-art look at the new world of novel energy materials science, shedding light on the subject's vast multi-disciplinary approach The book focuses p

Research opportunities to advance solar energy utilization.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Nathan S

2016-01-22

Major developments, as well as remaining challenges and the associated research opportunities, are evaluated for three technologically distinct approaches to solar energy utilization: solar electricity, solar thermal, and solar fuels technologies. Much progress has been made, but research opportunities are still present for all approaches. Both evolutionary and revolutionary technology development, involving foundational research, applied research, learning by doing, demonstration projects, and deployment at scale will be needed to continue this technology-innovation ecosystem. Most of the approaches still offer the potential to provide much higher efficiencies, much lower costs, improved scalability, and new functionality, relative to the embodiments of solar energy-conversion systems that have been developed to date. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Energy Efficient Engine program advanced turbofan nacelle definition study

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, David C.; Wynosky, T. A.

1985-01-01

Advanced, low drag, nacelle configurations were defined for some of the more promising propulsion systems identified in the earlier Benefit/Cost Study, to assess the benefits associated with these advanced technology nacelles and formulate programs for developing these nacelles and low volume thrust reversers/spoilers to a state of technology readiness in the early 1990's. The study results established the design feasibility of advanced technology, slim line nacelles applicable to advanced technology, high bypass ratio turbofan engines. Design feasibility was also established for two low volume thrust reverse/spoiler concepts that meet or exceed the required effectiveness for these engines. These nacelle and thrust reverse/spoiler designs were shown to be applicable in engines with takeoff thrust sizes ranging from 24,000 to 60,000 pounds. The reduced weight, drag, and cost of the advanced technology nacelle installations relative to current technology nacelles offer a mission fuel burn savings ranging from 3.0 to 4.5 percent and direct operating cost plus interest improvements from 1.6 to 2.2 percent.

78 FR 2952 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-15

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency exports. The meeting is open to the public and the...

SRAM Design for Wireless Sensor Networks Energy Efficient and Variability Resilient Techniques

CERN Document Server

Sharma, Vibhu; Dehaene, Wim

2013-01-01

This book features various, ultra low energy, variability resilient SRAM circuit design techniques for wireless sensor network applications. Conventional SRAM design targets area efficiency and high performance at the increased cost of energy consumption, making it unsuitable for computation-intensive sensor node applications.  This book, therefore, guides the reader through different techniques at the circuit level for reducing   energy consumption and increasing the variability resilience. It includes a detailed review of the most efficient circuit design techniques and trade-offs, introduces new memory architecture techniques, sense amplifier circuits and voltage optimization methods for reducing the impact of variability for the advanced technology nodes.    Discusses fundamentals of energy reduction for SRAM circuits and applies them to energy limitation challenges associated with wireless sensor  nodes; Explains impact of variability resilience in reducing the energy consumption; Describes various...

Using Smart Grids to Enhance Use of Energy-Efficiency and Renewable-Energy Technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Widergren, Steven E.; Paget, Maria L.; Secrest, Thomas J.; Balducci, Patrick J.; Orrell, Alice C.; Bloyd, Cary N.

2011-05-10

This report addresses the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization’s desire to minimize the learning time required to understand the implications of smart-grid concepts so APEC members can advance their thinking in a timely manner and advance strategies regarding smart approaches that can help meet their environmental-sustainability and energy-efficiency policy goals. As significant investments are needed to grow and maintain the electricity infrastructure, consideration needs to be given to how information and communications technologies can be applied to electricity infrastructure decisions that not only meet traditional needs for basic service and reliability, but also provide the flexibility for a changing the mix of generation sources with sensitivity to environmental and societal impacts.

Productivity and energy efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lovins, H. [Rocky Mountain Inst., Snowmass, CO (United States)

1995-12-31

Energy efficient building and office design offers the possibility of significantly increased worker productivity. By improving lighting, heating and cooling, workers can be made more comfortable and productive. An increase of 1 percent in productivity can provide savings to a company that exceed its entire energy bill. Efficient design practices are cost effective just from their energy savings. The resulting productivity gains make them indispensable. This paper documents eight cases in which efficient lighting, heating, and cooling have measurably increased worker productivity, decreased absenteeism, and/or improved the quality of work performed. They also show that efficient lighting can measurably increase work quality by removing errors and manufacturing defects. The case studies presented include retrofit of existing buildings and the design of new facilities, and cover a variety of commercial and industrial settings. Each case study identifies the design changes that were most responsible for increased productivity. As the eight case studies illustrate, energy efficient design may be one of the least expensive ways for a business to improve the productivity of its workers and the quality of its product. (author). 15 refs.

Quantification protocol for energy efficiency in commercial and institutional buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-10-15

Alberta Environment has developed an approved methodology that can be used to quantify the reduction of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emission observed after the implementation of energy efficiency measures in commercial and institutional buildings. This methodology concerns energy conservation measures that target the heating system, the ventilation, the air conditioning and lightning systems, but also includes building envelope, tap water heating, elevators, occupant small electrical equipment, outdoor lighting, swimming pool pumping or heating. Calculation methodologies for energy conservation proposed by the Efficiency Valuation Organization were adapted by Alberta Environment. The protocol detailed in this document is based on the fact that emissions reductions are represented by the difference between the energy use in the project condition and a baseline. This approach proposes simple and advanced calculation methodologies that allow project developers to use one or the other, depending on the availability of data and on the limitations of the project, to maximize the greenhouse gas emissions reductions quantified. 14 refs., 11 tabs., 5 figs.

Thermodynamic analysis of energy conversion and transfer in hybrid system consisting of wind turbine and advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yuan; Yang, Ke; Li, Xuemei; Xu, Jianzhong

2014-01-01

A simulation model consisting of wind speed, wind turbine and AA-CAES (advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage) system is developed in this paper, and thermodynamic analysis on energy conversion and transfer in hybrid system is carried out. The impacts of stable wind speed and unstable wind speed on the hybrid system are analyzed and compared from the viewpoint of energy conversion and system efficiency. Besides, energy conversion relationship between wind turbine and AA-CAES system is investigated on the basis of process analysis. The results show that there are several different forms of energy in hybrid system, which have distinct conversion relationship. As to wind turbine, power coefficient determines wind energy utilization efficiency, and in AA-CAES system, it is compressor efficiency that mainly affects energy conversion efficiencies of other components. The strength and fluctuation of wind speed have a direct impact on energy conversion efficiencies of components of hybrid system, and within proper wind speed scope, the maximum of system efficiency could be expected. - Highlights: • A hybrid system consisting of wind, wind turbine and AA-CAES system is established. • Energy conversion in hybrid system with stable and unstable wind speed is analyzed. • Maximum efficiency of hybrid system can be reached within proper wind speed scope. • Thermal energy change in hybrid system is more sensitive to wind speed change. • Compressor efficiency can affect other efficiencies in AA-CAES system

77 FR 64112 - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-18

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Nationwide Categorical Waivers of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable... Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. [FR Doc. 2012-25636 Filed 10-17-12; 8:45 am...

Energy efficiency benchmarking of energy-intensive industries in Taiwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, David Yih-Liang; Huang, Chi-Feng; Lin, Wei-Chun; Hong, Gui-Bing

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Analytical tool was applied to estimate the energy efficiency indicator of energy intensive industries in Taiwan. • The carbon dioxide emission intensity in selected energy-intensive industries is also evaluated in this study. • The obtained energy efficiency indicator can serve as a base case for comparison to the other regions in the world. • This analysis results can serve as a benchmark for selected energy-intensive industries. - Abstract: Taiwan imports approximately 97.9% of its primary energy as rapid economic development has significantly increased energy and electricity demands. Increased energy efficiency is necessary for industry to comply with energy-efficiency indicators and benchmarking. Benchmarking is applied in this work as an analytical tool to estimate the energy-efficiency indicators of major energy-intensive industries in Taiwan and then compare them to other regions of the world. In addition, the carbon dioxide emission intensity in the iron and steel, chemical, cement, textile and pulp and paper industries are evaluated in this study. In the iron and steel industry, the energy improvement potential of blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace (BF–BOF) based on BPT (best practice technology) is about 28%. Between 2007 and 2011, the average specific energy consumption (SEC) of styrene monomer (SM), purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was 9.6 GJ/ton, 5.3 GJ/ton and 9.1 GJ/ton, respectively. The energy efficiency of pulping would be improved by 33% if BAT (best available technology) were applied. The analysis results can serve as a benchmark for these industries and as a base case for stimulating changes aimed at more efficient energy utilization

Role of executive agencies for energy efficiency with a view on activities of Serbian Energy Efficiency Agency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovačić Bojan J.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Many countries, particularly in Europe, have executive energy efficiency agencies at national, regional and local levels that are organized in different ways. For all of them, it is common that there are existing strategic needs in their countries for enhancement of conditions and measures for rational use of energy and fuels. Serbian Energy Efficiency Agency was established in 2002 within the reform of the energy sector in Serbia and its current status was defined in 2004 by the Energy Law. It contributes to the improvement of social responsibility towards energy in all structures of the state and society, by proposing energy efficiency incentives, promoting importance of energy efficiency, as well as by managing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs and projects.

Advanced Energy Validated Photovoltaic Inverter Technology at NREL | Energy

Science.gov (United States)

Inverter Technology at NREL Advanced Energy Industries-NREL's first partner at the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF)-validated its advanced photovoltaic (PV) inverter technology using the ESIF's computer screen in a laboratory, with power inverter hardware in the background Photo by Dennis Schroeder

Energy planning and energy efficiency assistance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markel, L. [Electrotek Concepts, Inc., Knoxville, TN (United States)

1995-12-31

Electrotek is an engineering services company specializing in energy-related programs. Clients are most utilities, large energy users, and the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute. Electrotek has directed energy projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Energy in Poland and other countries of Central Europe. The objective is to assist the host country organizations to identify and implement appropriate energy efficiency and pollution reduction technologies, to transfer technical and organizational knowledge, so that further implementations are market-driven, without needed continuing foreign investment. Electrotek has worked with the Silesian Power Distribution Company to design an energy efficiency program for industrial customers that has proven to be profitable for the company and for its customers. The program has both saved energy and costs, and reduced pollution. The program is expanding to include additional customers, without needing more funding from the U.S. government.

Energy efficiency technologies in cement and steel industry

Science.gov (United States)

Zanoli, Silvia Maria; Cocchioni, Francesco; Pepe, Crescenzo

2018-02-01

In this paper, Advanced Process Control strategies aimed at energy efficiency achievement and improvement in cement and steel industry are proposed. A flexible and smart control structure constituted by several functional modules and blocks has been developed. The designed control strategy is based on Model Predictive Control techniques, formulated on linear models. Two industrial control solutions have been developed, oriented to energy efficiency and process control improvement in cement industry clinker rotary kilns (clinker production phase) and in steel industry billets reheating furnaces. Tailored customization procedures for the design of ad hoc control systems have been executed, based on the specific needs and specifications of the analysed processes. The installation of the developed controllers on cement and steel plants produced significant benefits in terms of process control which resulted in working closer to the imposed operating limits. With respect to the previous control systems, based on local controllers and/or operators manual conduction, more profitable configurations of the crucial process variables have been provided.

Energy efficiency. Lever for the German energy transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Persem, Melanie; Roesner, Sven

2014-05-01

This document provides some key data on energy consumption in housing and public buildings, indicates the national German objectives in terms of reduction of energy consumption, of reduction of electricity consumption, of energy efficiency, and of evolution of energy consumption in housing and public buildings and in the transport sector. It gives some data related to energy saving and achievements: energy efficiency of the German economy, improvements in housing energy efficiency and insulation, financial support for low income households, reduction of energy consumption within small-medium enterprises, the public sector, the data processing sector and public lighting, and energy saving potential by renewal of public buildings. It indicates the main measures and arrangements: information, support programs for enterprises, local communities and individuals. A graph illustrates a comparison of shares of household power consumption in France and in Germany

Promotion of energy efficiency in enterprises

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beltrani, G.; Schelske, O.; Peter, D.; Oettli, B.

2003-01-01

This comprehensive report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) presents the results of a study made within the framework of the research programme on energy-economics fundamentals on how the energy efficiency of enterprises can be improved. The report first examines the present state of affairs in Swiss enterprises and looks into the interaction of energy efficiency and environmental management systems. ISO 14001 certification is discussed and examples are given of the responses of various enterprises to a survey concerning the role of energy efficiency in environmental management. Both hindrances and success factors for the embedding of energy-efficiency measures in environmental management activities are discussed and examples are given. Instruments available in Switzerland and from abroad that can be used to promote energy efficiency in enterprises are discussed. Four particular instruments are presented; guidelines and computer-based tools that help in the making of energy-relevant investment decisions, incentives to take part in an energy-benchmark system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), low-interest loans for investments in energy-efficiency for SMEs and the closer definition of 'continuous improvement' of energy efficiency within the framework of ISO 14001. The results of a survey amongst those involved are discussed. The report is concluded with recommendations for the implementation of the guidelines and for improvements in the integration of energy efficiency in environmental management systems

ECOWAS renewable energy and energy efficiency status report - 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auth, Katie; Musolino, Evan; Thomas, Tristram; Adebiyi, Adeola; Reiss, Karin; Semedo, Eder; Williamson, Laura E.; Chawla, Kanika; Diarra, Charles

2014-01-01

In recent years, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), comprising 15 Member States, it has emerged as one of the most active and dynamic regional economic communities on the African continent. Expanding access to modern, reliable, and affordable energy services is a key priority, prompting inter-state cooperation in crucial areas including capacity building, policy development and implementation, and investment. Recognising the critical role that sustainable energy plays in catalysing social, economic, and industrial development across the region, ECOWAS Member States formally inaugurated the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) in 2010 to 'contribute to the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of West Africa by improving access to modern, reliable and affordable energy services, energy security and reduction of energy related externalities'. Drawing on data from the ECOWAS Observatory for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECOWREX) and a network of contributors and researchers across the region, the ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report supports ECREEE's efforts to increase the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency in West Africa by providing a comprehensive regional review of renewable energy and energy efficiency developments, evolving policy landscapes, market trends and related activities, investments in renewable energy and off-grid energy solutions, and the crucial nexus between energy access and gender

Highly efficient solutions for smart and bulk power transmission of 'green energy'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Breuer, Wilfried; Retzmann, Dietmar; Uecker, Karl

2010-09-15

Environmental constraints, loss minimization and CO2 reduction will play an increasingly more important role in future. Security and sustainability of power supply as well as economic efficiency needs application of advanced technologies. Innovative solutions with HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) and FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems) have the potential to cope with these challenges. They provide the features which are necessary to avoid technical problems in power systems, they increase the transmission capacity and system stability very efficiently and help prevent cascading outages. Furthermore, they are essential for Grid Access of Renewable Energy Sources such as Hydro, Wind and Solar-Energy.

Industrial energy efficiency: A policy perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chandler, W.U.

1990-01-01

Policies that promote energy efficiency can work; but potential energy savings are unlikely to be realized without effective policy leadership. This article discusses the opportunities in several countries for increasing energy efficiency. Both ''open'' and centrally planned economies could be much more energy efficient. In the United States, for example, the government needs to stimulate energy efficiency. This could be done by sponsoring research to develop new processes, creating favourable financial conditions for investment in efficiency, and making the advantages of energy efficiency technologies better known. International collaboration in sponsoring research and transfer technologies could be of the greatest importance in improving energy efficiency in countries with centrally planned economies, including the Soviet Union, as well as in developing countries. Favourable conditions for achieving both economic development and environmental protection can be created through cooperation on the international level. (author). 24 refs, 4 tabs

SEE Action Guide for States: Energy Efficiency as a Least-Cost Strategy to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution and Meet Energy Needs in the Power Sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schwartz, Lisa [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Leventis, Greg [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Schiller, Steven R. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Fadrhonc, Emily Martin [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); shenot, John [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Colburn, Ken [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); James, Chris [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Zetterberg, Johanna [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Roy, Molly [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States)

2016-02-01

This guide is designed to provide information to state decision makers and staff on options to advance energy efficiency through strategies designed or implemented at the state and local levels of government and in the private sector.1 The information in this guide is intended to be useful to a wide variety of partners and stakeholders involved in energy-related discussions and decision-making at state and local levels. These energy efficiency options, or “pathways” as they are identified in this guide, can assist states in using energy efficiency to meet air pollution reduction and other policy objectives such as energy affordability and reliability. A pathway is a set of interdependent actions that results in measurable energy savings streams and associated avoided air emissions and other benefits over a period of time. These activities can include state, local, or private sector regulations, policies, programs and other activities. For each of five broad pathways that offer sizable cost-effective energy savings, the guide addresses likely questions policy makers and regulators face when screening for the best opportunities to advance energy efficiency in their state.

Novel Material Integration for Reliable and Energy-Efficient NEM Relay Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, I.-Ru

Energy-efficient switching devices have become ever more important with the emergence of ubiquitous computing. NEM relays are promising to complement CMOS transistors as circuit building blocks for future ultra-low-power information processing, and as such have recently attracted significant attention from the semiconductor industry and researchers. Relay technology potentially can overcome the energy efficiency limit for conventional CMOS technology due to several key characteristics, including zero OFF-state leakage, abrupt switching behavior, and potentially very low active energy consumption. However, two key issues must be addressed for relay technology to reach its full potential: surface oxide formation at the contacting surfaces leading to increased ON-state resistance after switching, and high switching voltages due to strain gradient present within the relay structure. This dissertation advances NEM relay technology by investigating solutions to both of these pressing issues. Ruthenium, whose native oxide is conductive, is proposed as the contacting material to improve relay ON-state resistance stability. Ruthenium-contact relays are fabricated after overcoming several process integration challenges, and show superior ON-state resistance stability in electrical measurements and extended device lifetime. The relay structural film is optimized via stress matching among all layers within the structure, to provide lower strain gradient (below 10E-3/microm -1) and hence lower switching voltage. These advancements in relay technology, along with the integration of a metallic interconnect layer, enable complex relay-based circuit demonstration. In addition to the experimental efforts, this dissertation theoretically analyzes the energy efficiency limit of a NEM switch, which is generally believed to be limited by the surface adhesion energy. New compact (electronic device technology.

A Study on intensifying efficiency for international collaborative development of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hahn, Dohee; Park, Seongwon; Chang, Moonhee

2013-08-15

All the countries of the world are promoting the use of atomic energy to provide against high oil prices, climatic changes, and energy security initiative. A domestic and foreign environment for nuclear energy is changing rapidly and 13 leading countries including Korea are trying to develop advanced technologies on Gen IV nuclear energy system through Gen IV International Forum (GIF). To enhance the effectiveness of the future nuclear energy system development plan, a strategic approach is necessary for GIF program and the connection process with the 4th Nuclear Energy Promotion Program and Nuclear Energy R and D Medium and Long Term 5 year Plan for 2012 ∼ 2016 needs to be prepared. This study was to analyze the global nuclear trends of 2012 and the status of GIF program which is international cooperation activities. Also we examined the domestic R and D status of future nuclear energy systems for developing core technology and commercialization of Gen-IV nuclear energy system. A successful performance of this project enables the effective national cooperation with GIF and promotes the public acceptance by suggesting the technical alternatives for the nuclear safety and the spent fuel management.

Energy efficiency public service advertising campaign

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibson-Grant, Amanda [Advertising Council, New York, NY (United States)

2015-06-12

The Advertising Council (“the Ad Council”) and The United States Department of Energy (DOE) created and launched a national public service advertising campaign designed to promote energy efficiency. The objective of the Energy Efficiency campaign was to redefine how consumers approach energy efficiency by showing that saving energy can save homeowners money.

A Study on intensifying efficiency for international collaborative development of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Moon Hee; Kim, H. R.; Kim, H. J.; Chang, J. H.; Hahn, D. H.; Bae, Y. Y.; Kim, W. W.; Jeong, I.; Lee, D. S.; Lee, J. H. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2008-06-15

Generation IV International Forum(GIF), where 13 countries including Korea collaborate to develop future nuclear energy systems, put into force 'Generation IV International Forum Project Arrangement' in 2007 for the international research and development of Gen IV Systems, following the entry into force of Framework Agreement in 2005. The International Nuclear Research Initiative(I-NERI) between Korea and United States and the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems and Fuel Cycles(INPRO) of IAEA are continued in this year, produced lots of visible outcomes. These international activities have a common goal of the collaborative development of advanced nuclear system technologies but differ in the main focusing areas and aspects, so Korea needs to establish the integrated strategy based on the distinguished and complementary approach for the participation of each international programs, as examples the GIF for the advanced system technology development, INPRO for the set-up of institution and infra-structure, and I-NERI for the access of the core technologies and acquisition of the transparency of nuclear R and D.

A Study on intensifying efficiency for international collaborative development of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Moon Hee; Kim, H. R.; Kim, H. J.; Chang, J. H.; Hahn, D. H.; Bae, Y. Y.; Kim, W. W.; Jeong, I.; Lee, D. S.; Lee, J. H.

2008-06-01

Generation IV International Forum(GIF), where 13 countries including Korea collaborate to develop future nuclear energy systems, put into force 'Generation IV International Forum Project Arrangement' in 2007 for the international research and development of Gen IV Systems, following the entry into force of Framework Agreement in 2005. The International Nuclear Research Initiative(I-NERI) between Korea and United States and the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems and Fuel Cycles(INPRO) of IAEA are continued in this year, produced lots of visible outcomes. These international activities have a common goal of the collaborative development of advanced nuclear system technologies but differ in the main focusing areas and aspects, so Korea needs to establish the integrated strategy based on the distinguished and complementary approach for the participation of each international programs, as examples the GIF for the advanced system technology development, INPRO for the set-up of institution and infra-structure, and I-NERI for the access of the core technologies and acquisition of the transparency of nuclear R and D

State Energy Efficiency Benefits and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Describes the benefits of energy efficiency and how to assess its potential for your state. Also, find details on energy efficiency policies, programs, and resources available for furthering energy efficiency goals.

Advanced Photonic Processes for Photovoltaic and Energy Storage Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Sygletou, Maria; Petridis, Constantinos; Kymakis, Emmanuel; Stratakis, Emmanuel

2017-10-01

Solar-energy harvesting through photovoltaic (PV) conversion is the most promising technology for long-term renewable energy production. At the same time, significant progress has been made in the development of energy-storage (ES) systems, which are essential components within the cycle of energy generation, transmission, and usage. Toward commercial applications, the enhancement of the performance and competitiveness of PV and ES systems requires the adoption of precise, but simple and low-cost manufacturing solutions, compatible with large-scale and high-throughput production lines. Photonic processes enable cost-efficient, noncontact, highly precise, and selective engineering of materials via photothermal, photochemical, or photophysical routes. Laser-based processes, in particular, provide access to a plethora of processing parameters that can be tuned with a remarkably high degree of precision to enable innovative processing routes that cannot be attained by conventional approaches. The focus here is on the application of advanced light-driven approaches for the fabrication, as well as the synthesis, of materials and components relevant to PV and ES systems. Besides presenting recent advances on recent achievements, the existing limitations are outlined and future possibilities and emerging prospects discussed. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The energy performance contract - key towards energy efficiency in Europe?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murafa Corina

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The paper focuses on the Energy Performance Contract (EPC as a business model for energy efficiency. More precisely, it examines, using two case studies, enablers and disablers – from an economic, legal and institutional/managerial perspective – for advancing this arrangement across the EU. The EU has set a 20% energy savings target by 2020 (roughly equivalent to turning off 400 power stations, with an even more ambitious target of 27% by 2030. To reach these ambitious targets, the investments needed are approximately EUR 100 bn/year across the EU (according to the European Commission. Energy efficiency is not, as fervent proponents often claim, the low hanging fruit in terms of investment efforts. Like any other sub-sector, such as transmission and distribution, it demands innovative financing instruments to ensure adequate scale-up. In the paper, I use two comparative case studies to identify and classify the disablers and enablers of Energy Performance Contracting/Energy Services Companies (ESCOs development: the European frontrunner, namely Germany, and a laggard, namely Romania. As research methodology, I use literature review, comparisons between similar government policy planning and evaluation documents, and stakeholder interviews. While academic literature on the topic (Seefeldt, 2003; Wilhelm, 2015 is developed for Germany, for Romania a critical reflection on EPC promotion policy is to be found only in industry documents (e.g.: ARPEE, 2013; Tractebel, 2015. The German success demonstrates that, contrary to the belief of Romanian stakeholders, it is not the lack of a standardized contract model that prevents EPC development, but lack of genuine commitment, drive and leadership of public officials in promoting this financing instrument. A solid communication between public authorities and private beneficiaries, and public administration capacity for impact assessment and evidence-based policy planning are two other significant

Promoting energy efficiency in Egyptian industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selim, M.H.

1990-01-01

The energy situation in Egypt is characterized by a rather high energy demand, a high annual increase in energy consumption, inefficient utilization of energy, and heavily subsidized energy prices. Energy efficiency is therefore considered to be a matter of top priority, as it would lead to substantial savings. A national policy for efficient use of energy in industry has been outlined, including the establishment of an Industrial Energy Conservation Centre (IECC), the training and upgrading of energy management specialists, and the introduction of energy efficiency technologies in industrial plants. In this article the assistance that international organizations and donors can give to energy efficiency programmes is demonstrated. The results obtained so far are discussed and the lessons, findings and experience gained are outlined. (author). 1 tab

Energy Efficiency in Swimming Facilities

OpenAIRE

Kampel, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

High and increasing energy use is a worldwide issue that has been reported and documented in the literature. Various studies have been performed on renewable energy and energy efficiency to counteract this trend. Although using renewable energy sources reduces pollution, improvements in energy efficiency reduce total energy use and protect the environment from further damage. In Europe, 40 % of the total energy use is linked to buildings, making them a main objective concerning...

Energy Efficiency Indicators Methodology Booklet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sathaye, Jayant; Price, Lynn; McNeil, Michael; de la rue du Can, Stephane

2010-05-01

This Methodology Booklet provides a comprehensive review and methodology guiding principles for constructing energy efficiency indicators, with illustrative examples of application to individual countries. It reviews work done by international agencies and national government in constructing meaningful energy efficiency indicators that help policy makers to assess changes in energy efficiency over time. Building on past OECD experience and best practices, and the knowledge of these countries' institutions, relevant sources of information to construct an energy indicator database are identified. A framework based on levels of hierarchy of indicators -- spanning from aggregate, macro level to disaggregated end-use level metrics -- is presented to help shape the understanding of assessing energy efficiency. In each sector of activity: industry, commercial, residential, agriculture and transport, indicators are presented and recommendations to distinguish the different factors affecting energy use are highlighted. The methodology booklet addresses specifically issues that are relevant to developing indicators where activity is a major factor driving energy demand. A companion spreadsheet tool is available upon request.

Answers to energy crisis: energy efficiency, rational use of energy and renewable sources; Respostas para crise de energia eletrica: eficiencia energetica, uso racional de energia e fontes renovaveis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naturesa, Jim Silva; Mariotoni, Carlos Alberto [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (FEC/UNICAMP), SP (Brazil). Fac. de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo; Menezes, Taciana de V.; Perrone, Fernando Pinto Dias; Lepetitgaland, Karla Kwiatkowski [Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A (ELETROBRAS), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2008-07-01

This article presents the main advances in energy efficiency of Brazil, the results of the electrical energy alternatives sources incentive program until May of 2007, and examples of using energy in a reasonable way. In our point of view, these three initiatives are essentials in any energetic planning and must be considered with seriousness, mainly at moments of energy crisis. (author)

Using qualitative methods to understand non-technological aspects of domestic energy efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Ambrose, Aimee Rebecca

The overall aim of the collected published works is to investigate how different policy interventions in the field of energy efficiency (including zero carbon homes, low carbon heat networks, and domestic energy efficiency schemes) are experienced and made sense of by a range of key actors. A further aim is to understand these interventions in the context of existing theories within the field of domestic energy efficiency including socio-technical theory and Actor Network Theory. More specifically, this research advances existing knowledge in the following areas: The nature of the socio-technical challenges encountered in the introduction of more energy efficient buildings, and the importance of achieving a balance between socially acceptable and technically optimal environments. (Papers 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8). The value of qualitative research in gaining a more nuanced understanding of our relationship with the home and the implications of this for domestic energy efficiency interventions and the design of low energy buildings (all papers). The influence of tenure as determinant of access to a more energy efficient home and in particular, the stubborn and complex barriers to achieving higher standards of energy performance within the private rented sector. (Papers 1, 2, 3 and 4). The significance of identity, setting and notions of home in the context of domestic energy efficiency interventions. (Papers 1 and 4). As these themes suggest, this PhD is not just concerned with carbon reduction and energy saving as technical objects, but as a way of life. More specifically, it considers the interactions between the two and contends that technical or policy instruments, no matter how sophisticated, cannot succeed if they are not compatible with our ways of life (and ways of doing businesss) or if our ways of life cannot be reasonably adapted to acoomodate them.

Interactions between Energy Efficiency Programs funded under the Recovery Act and Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goldman, Charles A.; Stuart, Elizabeth; Hoffman, Ian; Fuller, Merrian C.; Billingsley, Megan A.

2011-02-25

Since the spring of 2009, billions of federal dollars have been allocated to state and local governments as grants for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and programs. The scale of this American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funding, focused on 'shovel-ready' projects to create and retain jobs, is unprecedented. Thousands of newly funded players - cities, counties, states, and tribes - and thousands of programs and projects are entering the existing landscape of energy efficiency programs for the first time or expanding their reach. The nation's experience base with energy efficiency is growing enormously, fed by federal dollars and driven by broader objectives than saving energy alone. State and local officials made countless choices in developing portfolios of ARRA-funded energy efficiency programs and deciding how their programs would relate to existing efficiency programs funded by utility customers. Those choices are worth examining as bellwethers of a future world where there may be multiple program administrators and funding sources in many states. What are the opportunities and challenges of this new environment? What short- and long-term impacts will this large, infusion of funds have on utility customer-funded programs; for example, on infrastructure for delivering energy efficiency services or on customer willingness to invest in energy efficiency? To what extent has the attribution of energy savings been a critical issue, especially where administrators of utility customer-funded energy efficiency programs have performance or shareholder incentives? Do the new ARRA-funded energy efficiency programs provide insights on roles or activities that are particularly well-suited to state and local program administrators vs. administrators or implementers of utility customer-funded programs? The answers could have important implications for the future of U.S. energy efficiency. This report focuses on a selected set of ARRA

Energy efficiency in pumps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaya, Durmus; Yagmur, E. Alptekin; Yigit, K. Suleyman; Kilic, Fatma Canka; Eren, A. Salih; Celik, Cenk

2008-01-01

In this paper, 'energy efficiency' studies, done in a big industrial facility's pumps, are reported. For this purpose; the flow rate, pressure and temperature have been measured for each pump in different operating conditions and at maximum load. In addition, the electrical power drawn by the electric motor has been measured. The efficiencies of the existing pumps and electric motor have been calculated by using the measured data. Potential energy saving opportunities have been studied by taking into account the results of the calculations for each pump and electric motor. As a conclusion, improvements should be made each system. The required investment costs for these improvements have been determined, and simple payback periods have been calculated. The main energy saving opportunities result from: replacements of the existing low efficiency pumps, maintenance of the pumps whose efficiencies start to decline at certain range, replacements of high power electric motors with electric motors that have suitable power, usage of high efficiency electric motors and elimination of cavitation problems

Efficient use of energy

CERN Document Server

Dryden, IGC

2013-01-01

The Efficient Use of Energy, Second Edition is a compendium of papers discussing the efficiency with which energy is used in industry. The collection covers relevant topics in energy handling and describes the more important features of plant and equipment. The book is organized into six parts. Part I presents the various methods of heat production. The second part discusses the use of heat in industry and includes topics in furnace design, industrial heating, boiler plants, and water treatment. Part III deals with the production of mechanical and electrical energy. It tackles the principles o

Trends in Data Centre Energy Consumption under the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Avgerinou

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Climate change is recognised as one of the key challenges humankind is facing. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT sector including data centres generates up to 2% of the global CO2 emissions, a number on par to the aviation sector contribution, and data centres are estimated to have the fastest growing carbon footprint from across the whole ICT sector, mainly due to technological advances such as the cloud computing and the rapid growth of the use of Internet services. There are no recent estimations of the total energy consumption of the European data centre and of their energy efficiency. The aim of this paper is to evaluate, analyse and present the current trends in energy consumption and efficiency in data centres in the European Union using the data submitted by companies participating in the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency programme, a voluntary initiative created in 2008 in response to the increasing energy consumption in data centres and the need to reduce the related environmental, economic and energy supply security impacts. The analysis shows that the average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE of the facilities participating in the programme is declining year after year. This confirms that voluntary approaches could be effective in addressing climate and energy issue.

Energy efficiency initiatives: Indian experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dey, Dipankar [ICFAI Business School, Kolkata, (IBS-K) (India)

2007-07-01

India, with a population of over 1.10 billion is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. As domestic sources of different conventional commercial energy are drying up, dependence on foreign energy sources is increasing. There exists a huge potential for saving energy in India. After the first 'oil shock' (1973), the government of India realized the need for conservation of energy and a 'Petroleum Conservation Action Group' was formed in 1976. Since then many initiatives aiming at energy conservation and improving energy efficiency, have been undertaken (the establishment of Petroleum Conservation Research Association in 1978; the notification of Eco labelling scheme in 1991; the formation of Bureau of Energy Efficiency in 2002). But no such initiative was successful. In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze the changing importance of energy conservation/efficiency measures which have been initiated in India between 1970 and 2005.The present study tries to analyze the limitations and the reasons of failure of those initiatives. The probable reasons are: fuel pricing mechanism (including subsidies), political factors, corruption and unethical practices, influence of oil and related industry lobbies - both internal and external, the economic situation and the prolonged protection of domestic industries. Further, as India is opening its economy, the study explores the opportunities that the globally competitive market would offer to improve the overall energy efficiency of the economy. The study suggests that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) - the newly formed nodal agency for improving energy efficiency of the economy may be made an autonomous institution where intervention from the politicians would be very low. For proper implementation of different initiatives to improve energy efficiency, BEE should involve more the civil societies (NGO) from the inception to the implementation stage of the programs. The paper also

Energy and Water Efficiency on Campus | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Energy and Water Efficiency on Campus Energy and Water Efficiency on Campus NREL ensures the resiliency of our future energy and water systems through energy efficiency strategies and technologies , renewable energy, and water efficiency on the NREL campus. FY17 Energy Intensity. The South Table Mountain

Total-factor energy efficiency in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Xingping; Cheng Xiaomei; Yuan Jiahai; Gao Xiaojun

2011-01-01

This paper uses a total-factor framework to investigate energy efficiency in 23 developing countries during the period of 1980-2005. We explore the total-factor energy efficiency and change trends by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) window, which is capable of measuring efficiency in cross-sectional and time-varying data. The empirical results indicate that Botswana, Mexico and Panama perform the best in terms of energy efficiency, whereas Kenya, Sri Lanka, Syria and the Philippines perform the worst during the entire research period. Seven countries show little change in energy efficiency over time. Eleven countries experienced continuous decreases in energy efficiency. Among five countries witnessing continuous increase in total-factor energy efficiency, China experienced the most rapid rise. Practice in China indicates that effective energy policies play a crucial role in improving energy efficiency. Tobit regression analysis indicates that a U-shaped relationship exists between total-factor energy efficiency and income per capita. - Research Highlights: → To measure the total-factor energy efficiency using DEA window analysis. → Focus on an application area of developing countries in the period of 1980-2005. → A U-shaped relationship was found between total-factor energy efficiency and income.

Energy sustainability: consumption, efficiency, and ...

Science.gov (United States)

One of the critical challenges in achieving sustainability is finding a way to meet the energy consumption needs of a growing population in the face of increasing economic prosperity and finite resources. According to ecological footprint computations, the global resource consumption began exceeding planetary supply in 1977 and by 2030, global energy demand, population, and gross domestic product are projected to greatly increase over 1977 levels. With the aim of finding sustainable energy solutions, we present a simple yet rigorous procedure for assessing and counterbalancing the relationship between energy demand, environmental impact, population, GDP, and energy efficiency. Our analyses indicated that infeasible increases in energy efficiency (over 100 %) would be required by 2030 to return to 1977 environmental impact levels and annual reductions (2 and 3 %) in energy demand resulted in physical, yet impractical requirements; hence, a combination of policy and technology approaches is needed to tackle this critical challenge. This work emphasizes the difficulty in moving toward energy sustainability and helps to frame possible solutions useful for policy and management. Based on projected energy consumption, environmental impact, human population, gross domestic product (GDP), and energy efficiency, for this study, we explore the increase in energy-use efficiency and the decrease in energy use intensity required to achieve sustainable environmental impact le

Modeling international trends in energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stern, David I.

2012-01-01

I use a stochastic production frontier to model energy efficiency trends in 85 countries over a 37-year period. Differences in energy efficiency across countries are modeled as a stochastic function of explanatory variables and I estimate the model using the cross-section of time-averaged data, so that no structure is imposed on technological change over time. Energy efficiency is measured using a new energy distance function approach. The country using the least energy per unit output, given its mix of outputs and inputs, defines the global production frontier. A country's relative energy efficiency is given by its distance from the frontier—the ratio of its actual energy use to the minimum required energy use, ceteris paribus. Energy efficiency is higher in countries with, inter alia, higher total factor productivity, undervalued currencies, and smaller fossil fuel reserves and it converges over time across countries. Globally, technological change was the most important factor counteracting the energy-use and carbon-emissions increasing effects of economic growth.

Energy efficiency action plan. Policy action plan for promotion of energy efficiency in the Czech Republic to 2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-08-01

Energy efficiency and renewable energy production contribute to the three major goals of the national energy policy of the Czech Republic: overall competitiveness, security of supply and environmental protection. Therefore, the Czech government aims to promote these two sustainable options. The Energy Policy White Paper, which is being developed at the time of writing (June 1999), will provide the general framework for the future role of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the Czech Republic. In addition, it is necessary to develop specific policies. The National Energy Efficiency Study aimed to support the Czech government in the formulation of energy efficiency and renewable energy policy. The National Energy Efficiency Study has resulted in the following documents: (1) The Energy Efficiency Action Plan focuses on promotion of energy efficiency in end-use (this report); The Renewable Energy Action Plan (separate report; ECN-C--99-064) deals with policy on promotion of renewable energy production. These two Action Plans provide policy makers in the Czech government with essential information on potentials, targets, budgets and recommended policy instruments. The core of the Action Plans is the list of concrete policy actions, ready for implementation; and (2) The National Energy Efficiency Study NEES (separate report; ECN-C--99-063). This report is the background document to the two Action Plans. It contains detailed information on options and measures, potentials, barriers and policy instruments for energy efficiency and renewables. The main part is a detailed outline for a new energy efficiency and renewable policy. Also, it includes recommendations for financing schemes to overcome the investment constraints in the Czech Republic. Finally, a list of concrete projects is included to support project identification

Energy Efficiency Requirements in Building Codes, Energy Efficiency Policies for New Buildings. IEA Information Paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laustsen, Jens

2008-03-15

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse current approaches to encourage energy efficiency in building codes for new buildings. Based on this analysis the paper enumerates policy recommendations for enhancing how energy efficiency is addressed in building codes and other policies for new buildings. This paper forms part of the IEA work for the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action. These recommendations reflect the study of different policy options for increasing energy efficiency in new buildings and examination of other energy efficiency requirements in standards or building codes, such as energy efficiency requirements by major renovation or refurbishment. In many countries, energy efficiency of buildings falls under the jurisdiction of the federal states. Different standards cover different regions or climatic conditions and different types of buildings, such as residential or simple buildings, commercial buildings and more complicated high-rise buildings. There are many different building codes in the world and the intention of this paper is not to cover all codes on each level in all countries. Instead, the paper details different regions of the world and different ways of standards. In this paper we also evaluate good practices based on local traditions. This project does not seek to identify one best practice amongst the building codes and standards. Instead, different types of codes and different parts of the regulation have been illustrated together with examples on how they have been successfully addressed. To complement this discussion of efficiency standards, this study illustrates how energy efficiency can be improved through such initiatives as efficiency labelling or certification, very best practice buildings with extremely low- or no-energy consumption and other policies to raise buildings' energy efficiency beyond minimum requirements. When referring to the energy saving potentials for buildings, this study uses the analysis of recent IEA

Energy efficient solid state lighting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dam-Hansen, C.; Petersen, Poul Michael

2012-11-15

Even though vast improvements have been made on efficiency and light quality, SSL is still in its infancy. One of the barriers for a market introduction is the price, which still is around 5 times higher than traditional lighting technologies. In order to fulfil the potential of SSL, further research and development needs to increase the light extraction from semiconductor materials, provide better and cheaper production and packaging, and advanced optical systems for optimized light distribution and new thermal solutions for SSL lamps and luminaires. Nanotechnology and applied research at DTU Fotonik in close collaboration with industry are essential parts in the development of new enhanced LED optical systems and LEDs with higher light extraction efficiency. Photonic crystals can help to efficiently extract light from LEDs and to form a desired emission profile. Future directions are devoted to the next generation of LEDs, in which the spontaneous emission is photon enhanced. One realization of this idea is using LEDs with a layer of nanocrystals, which are coupled to the quantum well of the LED. Such R and D work is ongoing all over the world and DOE roadmaps foresee luminous efficiencies by 2020 that are close to 250 lm/W for both cold and warm white light from LEDs, and prices in the order of one dollar per kilolumen. Such figures will drastically reduce the energy consumption worldwide for lighting, and hence a marked reduction in carbon emissions. (Author)

Energy Efficiency in Norway 1990-2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosenberg, Eva

2003-06-01

This is the national report for Norway in the EU/SAVE project ''Indicators for Energy Efficiency Monitoring and Target setting (ODYSSEE)''. The report deals with energy use and energy efficiency in Norway 1990-2000 (2001 for overall energy use). Final energy use per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reduced by approximately 1.9% pr year in the period 1990 to 2001. The energy efficiency improvement has been calculated to 0.6% pr year, while the role of structural changes has been 1.3% pr year. A detailed sector analysis has been done, applying Laspeyres indices to attribute changes in energy use to activity, structure or intensity (efficiency). Aggregating sectors, we have found a total efficiency improvement of approximately 11 TWh from 1990 to 2000. (author)

76 FR 80355 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC)

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-23

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC) AGENCY: Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. ACTION: Notice of open teleconference... efficiency and renewable energy. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92- 463, 86 Stat. 770...

76 FR 54224 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC)

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-31

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee (ERAC) AGENCY: Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting... efficiency and renewable energy. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, 86 Stat. 770...

Energy Efficient Industrialized Housing Research Program, Center for Housing Innovation, University of Oregon and the Florida Solar Energy Center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, G.Z.

1990-01-01

This research program addresses the need to increase the energy efficiency of industrialized housing. Two research centers have responsibility for the program: the Center for Housing Innovation at the University of Oregon and the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida. The two organizations provide complementary architectural, systems engineering, and industrial engineering capabilities. In 1989 we worked on these tasks: (1) the formation of a steering committee, (2) the development of a multiyear research plan, (3) analysis of the US industrialized housing industry, (4) assessment of foreign technology, (5) assessment of industrial applications, (6) analysis of computerized design and evaluation tools, and (7) assessment of energy performance of baseline and advanced industrialized housing concepts. The current research program, under the guidance of a steering committee composed of industry and government representatives, focuses on three interdependent concerns -- (1) energy, (2) industrial process, and (3) housing design. Building homes in a factory offers the opportunity to increase energy efficiency through the use of new materials and processes, and to increase the value of these homes by improving the quality of their construction. Housing design strives to ensure that these technically advanced homes are marketable and will meet the needs of the people who will live in them.

Carbon nanomaterials for advanced energy conversion and storage.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Liming; Chang, Dong Wook; Baek, Jong-Beom; Lu, Wen

2012-04-23

It is estimated that the world will need to double its energy supply by 2050. Nanotechnology has opened up new frontiers in materials science and engineering to meet this challenge by creating new materials, particularly carbon nanomaterials, for efficient energy conversion and storage. Comparing to conventional energy materials, carbon nanomaterials possess unique size-/surface-dependent (e.g., morphological, electrical, optical, and mechanical) properties useful for enhancing the energy-conversion and storage performances. During the past 25 years or so, therefore, considerable efforts have been made to utilize the unique properties of carbon nanomaterials, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene, as energy materials, and tremendous progress has been achieved in developing high-performance energy conversion (e.g., solar cells and fuel cells) and storage (e.g., supercapacitors and batteries) devices. This article reviews progress in the research and development of carbon nanomaterials during the past twenty years or so for advanced energy conversion and storage, along with some discussions on challenges and perspectives in this exciting field. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ervin, C.A.

1994-12-31

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE) is part of the U.S. Department of Energy that is specifically charged with encouraging the more efficient use of energy resources, and the use of renewable energy resources - such as solar power, wind power, biomass energy and geothermal energy. In the past several years, EE has increased its emphasis on technology deployment through partnerships with states, local governments and private companies. Partnerships move new discoveries more quickly into the marketplace, where they can create jobs, prevent pollution, save resources, and produce many other benefits. The author then emphasizes the importance of this effort in a number of different sections of the paper: energy consumption pervades everything we do; U.S. energy imports are rising to record levels; transportation energy demand is increasing; U.S. energy use is increasing; population growth increases world energy demand; total costs of energy consumption aren`t always counted; world energy markets offer incredible potential; cost of renewables is decreasing; clean energy is essential to sustainable development; sustainable energy policy; sustainable energy initiatives: utilities, buildings, and transportation.

Energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ervin, C.A.

1994-01-01

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE) is part of the U.S. Department of Energy that is specifically charged with encouraging the more efficient use of energy resources, and the use of renewable energy resources - such as solar power, wind power, biomass energy and geothermal energy. In the past several years, EE has increased its emphasis on technology deployment through partnerships with states, local governments and private companies. Partnerships move new discoveries more quickly into the marketplace, where they can create jobs, prevent pollution, save resources, and produce many other benefits. The author then emphasizes the importance of this effort in a number of different sections of the paper: energy consumption pervades everything we do; U.S. energy imports are rising to record levels; transportation energy demand is increasing; U.S. energy use is increasing; population growth increases world energy demand; total costs of energy consumption aren't always counted; world energy markets offer incredible potential; cost of renewables is decreasing; clean energy is essential to sustainable development; sustainable energy policy; sustainable energy initiatives: utilities, buildings, and transportation

Combining plasma gasification and solid oxide cell technologies in advanced power plants for waste to energy and electric energy storage applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Perna, Alessandra; Minutillo, Mariagiovanna; Lubrano Lavadera, Antonio; Jannelli, Elio

2018-03-01

The waste to energy (WtE) facilities and the renewable energy storage systems have a strategic role in the promotion of the "eco-innovation", an emerging priority in the European Union. This paper aims to propose advanced plant configurations in which waste to energy plants and electric energy storage systems from intermittent renewable sources are combined for obtaining more efficient and clean energy solutions in accordance with the "eco-innovation" approach. The advanced plant configurations consist of an electric energy storage (EES) section based on a solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC), a waste gasification section based on the plasma technology and a power generation section based on a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The plant configurations differ for the utilization of electrolytic hydrogen and oxygen in the plasma gasification section and in the power generation section. In the first plant configuration IAPGFC (Integrated Air Plasma Gasification Fuel Cell), the renewable oxygen enriches the air stream, that is used as plasma gas in the gasification section, and the renewable hydrogen is used to enrich the anodic stream of the SOFC in the power generation section. In the second plant configuration IHPGFC (Integrated Hydrogen Plasma Gasification Fuel Cell) the renewable hydrogen is used as plasma gas in the plasma gasification section, and the renewable oxygen is used to enrich the cathodic stream of the SOFC in the power generation section. The analysis has been carried out by using numerical models for predicting and comparing the systems performances in terms of electric efficiency and capability in realizing the waste to energy and the electric energy storage of renewable sources. Results have highlighted that the electric efficiency is very high for all configurations (35-45%) and, thanks to the combination with the waste to energy technology, the storage efficiencies are very attractive (in the range 72-92%). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Consumer preferences for automobile energy-efficiency grades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Yoonmo; Kim, Chang Seob; Hong, Junhee; Choi, Ie-Jung; Lee, Jongsu

2012-01-01

Recently, increases in energy prices have made energy conservation and efficiency improvements even more essential than in the past. However, consumers experience difficulty in obtaining reliable information regarding energy efficiency, so that many countries have implemented regulations to enforce energy-efficiency grade labeling. In this study, consumer preferences regarding energy efficiency grades are analyzed by the mixed logit and MDCEV model based on the revealed preference data of past automobile purchases. Findings show that consumers rationally apply information on energy efficiency grades when purchasing automobiles. However, they tend to show inefficiency in automobile usage patterns. This study discusses political implications of energy efficiency policies as they might impact consumer behaviors of automobile purchase and usage. - Highlights: ► We model discrete choice model to evaluate energy-efficiency grade regulation. ► Consumers apply information on energy efficiency grades when purchasing automobiles. ► However, they tend to show inefficiency in automobile usage patterns. ► The policies for efficient automobile usage are discussed.

76 FR 71312 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-17

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency...: Notice of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE... competitiveness of the U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, including specific challenges...

New energy technologies 4. Energy management and energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabonnadiere, J.C.; Caire, R.; Raison, B.; Quenard, D.; Verneau, G.; Zissis, G.

2007-01-01

This forth tome of the new energy technologies handbook is devoted to energy management and to the improvement of energy efficiency. The energy management by decentralized generation insertion and network-driven load control, analyzes the insertion and management means of small power generation in distribution networks and the means for load management by the network with the aim of saving energy and limiting peak loads. The second part, devoted to energy efficiency presents in a detailed way the technologies allowing an optimal management of energy in buildings and leading to the implementation of positive energy buildings. A special chapter treats of energy saving using new lighting technologies in the private and public sectors. Content: 1 - decentralized power generation - impacts and solutions: threat or opportunity; deregulation; emerging generation means; impact of decentralized generation on power networks; elements of solution; 2 - mastery of energy demand - loads control by the network: stakes of loads control; choice of loads to be controlled; communication needs; measurements and controls for loads control; model and algorithm needs for loads control. A better energy efficiency: 3 - towards positive energy buildings: key data for Europe; how to convert fossil energy consuming buildings into low-energy consuming and even energy generating buildings; the Minergie brand; the PassivHaus or 'passive house' label; the zero-energy house/zero-energy home (ZEH); the zero-energy building (ZEB); the positive energy house; comparison between the three Minergie/PassivHaus/ZEH types of houses; beyond the positive energy building; 4 - light sources and lighting systems - from technology to energy saving: lighting yesterday and today; light sources and energy conversion; energy saving in the domain of lighting: study of some type-cases; what future for light sources. (J.S.)

Transition towards energy efficient machine tools

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zein, Andre [Technische Univ. Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Werkzeugmaschinen und Fertigungstechnik

2012-07-01

Provides unique data about industrial trends affecting the energy demand of machine tools. Presents a comprehensive methodology to assess the energy efficiency of machining processes. Contains an integrated management concept to implement energy performance measures into existing industrial systems. Includes an industrial case study with two exemplary applications. Energy efficiency represents a cost-effective and immediate strategy of a sustainable development. Due to substantial environmental and economic implications, a strong emphasis is put on the electrical energy requirements of machine tools for metalworking processes. The improvement of energy efficiency is however confronted with diverse barriers, which sustain an energy efficiency gap of unexploited potential. The deficiencies lie in the lack of information about the actual energy requirements of machine tools, a minimum energy reference to quantify improvement potential and the possible actions to improve the energy demand. Therefore, a comprehensive concept for energy performance management of machine tools is developed which guides the transition towards energy efficient machine tools. It is structured in four innovative concept modules, which are embedded into step-by-step workflow models. The capability of the performance management concept is demonstrated in an automotive manufacturing environment. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and practitioners challenged to enhance energy efficiency in manufacturing. The book may also be beneficial for graduate students who want to specialize in this field.

Energy efficiency: utopia or reality?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2006-01-01

In its 2006 allocution the world council on the energy WEC, analyzes the role of the energy efficiency in the energy life cycle. In spite of different objectives followed by the developing and developed countries, implement a world energy efficiency economy is a challenge possible by the cooperation.The WEC is an ideal forum for the information and experience exchange. (A.L.B.)

High-Efficiency Food Production in a Renewable Energy Based Micro-Grid

Science.gov (United States)

Bubenheim, David L.

2017-01-01

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems can be used to produce high-quality, desirable food year round, and the fresh produce can positively contribute to the health and well being of residents in communities with difficult supply logistics. While CEA has many positive outcomes for a remote community, the associated high electric demands have prohibited widespread implementation in what is typically already a fully subscribed power generation and distribution system. Recent advances in CEA technologies as well as renewable power generation, storage, and micro-grid management are increasing system efficiency and expanding the possibilities for enhancing community supporting infrastructure without increasing demands for outside supplied fuels. We will present examples of how new lighting, nutrient delivery, and energy management and control systems can enable significant increases in food production efficiency while maintaining high yields in CEA.Examples from Alaskan communities where initial incorporation of renewable power generation, energy storage and grid management techniques have already reduced diesel fuel consumption for electric generation by more than 40 and expanded grid capacity will be presented. We will discuss how renewable power generation, efficient grid management to extract maximum community service per kW, and novel energy storage approaches can expand the food production, water supply, waste treatment, sanitation and other community support services without traditional increases of consumable fuels supplied from outside the community. These capabilities offer communities with a range of choices to enhance their communities. The examples represent a synergy of technology advancement efforts to develop sustainable community support systems for future space-based human habitats and practical implementation of infrastructure components to increase efficiency and enhance health and well-being in remote communities today and tomorrow.

Frontiers in the economics of energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miguel, Carlos de; Labandeira, Xavier; Löschel, Andreas

2015-01-01

Energy efficiency has become an essential instrument to obtain effective greenhouse gas mitigation and reduced energy dependence. This introductory article contextualizes the contributions of the supplemental issue by showing the new setting for energy efficiency economics and policy; discussing the role of price instruments to promote energy savings; presenting new approaches for energy efficiency policies; and placing energy efficiency within a wider energy and environmental framework.

Surface Catalytic Efficiency of Advanced Carbon Carbon Candidate Thermal Protection Materials for SSTO Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, David A.

1996-01-01

The catalytic efficiency (atom recombination coefficients) for advanced ceramic thermal protection systems was calculated using arc-jet data. Coefficients for both oxygen and nitrogen atom recombination on the surfaces of these systems were obtained to temperatures of 1650 K. Optical and chemical stability of the candidate systems to the high energy hypersonic flow was also demonstrated during these tests.

Cooperation of research and economy for renewable energies and energy efficiency. Contributions; Zusammenarbeit von Forschung und Wirtschaft fuer Erneuerbare Energien und Energieeffizienz. Beitraege

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Szczepanski, Petra; Wunschick, Franziska; Martin, Niklas [comps.

2013-04-15

The following topics were dealt with: Energy efficiency as driver of economy, green economy, system techniques for photovoltaics and decentral energy systems, energy research at Bosch, portfolio of possible kinds of cooperation of the FVEE-member institutes with industry, efficiency potentials by the new main energy carriers sun and wind, renewable energies and energy efficiency, photovoltaics technology centers for the advanced technology transfer from institutes to the PV industry, thin-film photovoltaics, offshore wind energy and sea energy usage, research requirement at the future rotor, the status of the energy transformation process from the view of the FVEE, geothermal heat supply of metropoles on the example of Berlin, challenges in the research for low-temperature solar thermal energy, efficient refrigeration techniques and solar cooling, suitedness of combined heat and power and heat pumps for the balance of the fluctuating electric-power supply, key role of the current nets in the further decarbonization of the electric-power supply, new battery systems between research and application, the use of biomethane, water electrolysis and regenerative gases as key factors for the energy-system transformation, thermal energy storage, future energy.optimized buildings, energy concepts for cities and region, bridging the information gap on energy efficiency in buildings, integration of electromobiles in the Smart Grid. (HSI)

An interdisciplinary perspective on industrial energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palm, Jenny; Thollander, Patrik

2010-01-01

This paper combines engineering and social science approaches to enhance our understanding of industrial energy efficiency and broaden our perspective on policy making in Europe. Sustainable development demands new strategies, solutions, and policy-making approaches. Numerous studies of energy efficiency potential state that cost-effective energy efficiency technologies in industry are not always implemented for various reasons, such as lack of information, procedural impediments, and routines not favoring energy efficiency. Another reason for the efficiency gap is the existence of particular values, unsupportive of energy efficiency, in the dominant networks of a branch of trade. Analysis indicates that different sectors of rather closed communities have established their own tacit knowledge, perceived truths, and routines concerning energy efficiency measures. Actors in different industrial sectors highlight different barriers to energy efficiency and why cost-effective energy efficiency measures are not being implemented. The identified barriers can be problematized in relation to the social context to understand their existence and how to resolve them.

Energy efficiency in pumps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaya, Durmus; Yagmur, E. Alptekin [TUBITAK-MRC, P.O. Box 21, 41470 Gebze, Kocaeli (Turkey); Yigit, K. Suleyman; Eren, A. Salih; Celik, Cenk [Engineering Faculty, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli (Turkey); Kilic, Fatma Canka [Department of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Kocaeli University, Kullar, Kocaeli (Turkey)

2008-06-15

In this paper, ''energy efficiency'' studies, done in a big industrial facility's pumps, are reported. For this purpose; the flow rate, pressure and temperature have been measured for each pump in different operating conditions and at maximum load. In addition, the electrical power drawn by the electric motor has been measured. The efficiencies of the existing pumps and electric motor have been calculated by using the measured data. Potential energy saving opportunities have been studied by taking into account the results of the calculations for each pump and electric motor. As a conclusion, improvements should be made each system. The required investment costs for these improvements have been determined, and simple payback periods have been calculated. The main energy saving opportunities result from: replacements of the existing low efficiency pumps, maintenance of the pumps whose efficiencies start to decline at certain range, replacements of high power electric motors with electric motors that have suitable power, usage of high efficiency electric motors and elimination of cavitation problems. (author)

Energy Efficient Clustering Protocol to Enhance Performance of Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network: EECPEP-HWSN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santosh V. Purkar

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Heterogeneous wireless sensor network (HWSN fulfills the requirements of researchers in the design of real life application to resolve the issues of unattended problem. But, the main constraint faced by researchers is the energy source available with sensor nodes. To prolong the life of sensor nodes and thus HWSN, it is necessary to design energy efficient operational schemes. One of the most suitable approaches to enhance energy efficiency is the clustering scheme, which enhances the performance parameters of WSN. A novel solution proposed in this article is to design an energy efficient clustering protocol for HWSN, to enhance performance parameters by EECPEP-HWSN. The proposed protocol is designed with three level nodes namely normal, advanced, and super, respectively. In the clustering process, for selection of cluster head we consider different parameters available with sensor nodes at run time that is, initial energy, hop count, and residual energy. This protocol enhances the energy efficiency of HWSN and hence improves energy remaining in the network, stability, lifetime, and hence throughput. It has been found that the proposed protocol outperforms than existing well-known LEACH, DEEC, and SEP with about 188, 150, and 141 percent respectively.

Advanced air distribution: Improving health and comfort while reducing energy use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melikov, Arsen Krikor

2015-01-01

-quality indoor environments at the same time as low-energy consumption. Advanced air distribution, designed to supply clean air where, when, and as much as needed, makes it possible to efficiently achieve thermal comfort, control exposure to contaminants, provide high-quality air for breathing and minimizing......Indoor environment affects the health, comfort, and performance of building occupants. The energy used for heating, cooling, ventilating, and air conditioning of buildings is substantial. Ventilation based on total volume air distribution in spaces is not always an efficient way to provide high...... the risk of airborne cross-infection while reducing energy use. This study justifies the need for improving the present air distribution design in occupied spaces, and in general the need for a paradigm shift from the design of collective environments to the design of individually controlled environments...

Energy Efficiency Policy and Carbon Pricing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

The main message of this paper is that while carbon pricing is a prerequisite for least-cost carbon mitigation strategies, carbon pricing is not enough to overcome all the barriers to cost-effective energy efficiency actions. Energy efficiency policy should be designed carefully for each sector to ensure optimal outcomes for a combination of economic, social and climate change goals. This paper aims to examine the justification for specific energy efficiency policies in economies with carbon pricing in place. The paper begins with an inventory of existing market failures that attempt to explain the limited uptake of energy efficiency. These market failures are investigated to see which can be overcome by carbon pricing in two subsectors -- electricity use in residential appliances and heating energy use in buildings. This analysis finds that carbon pricing addresses energy efficiency market failures such as externalities and imperfect energy markets. However, several market and behavioural failures in the two subsectors are identified that appear not to be addressed by carbon pricing. These include: imperfect information; principal-agent problems; and behavioural failures. In this analysis, the policies that address these market failures are identified as complementary to carbon pricing and their level of interaction with carbon pricing policies is relatively positive. These policies should be implemented when they can improve energy efficiency effectively and efficiently (and achieve other national goals such as improving socio-economic efficiency).

Energy efficient buildings : a plan for BC : creating a legacy of energy efficient buildings in British Columbia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-10-01

A plan to conserve energy and improve energy efficiency in homes and buildings in British Columbia was presented. Benefits of the plan included savings for consumers throughout BC; an increase in the value of homes and buildings; a return on investment after an average of 5 years; improved comfort and indoor air quality in buildings; creation of equipment manufacturing, building design, development and trades jobs across the province; and reduced environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) and smog-creating air emissions. An outline of cost-effective energy efficiency targets was presented to complement ongoing local, provincial and federal programs. A number of market challenges were reviewed, such as the lack of information available to consumers on energy efficiency, the increased initial cost of energy efficient buildings, and the fact that opportunities to reduce energy consumption after construction are limited and expensive. It was suggested that energy consumers are not often aware of the environmental and social costs of over-consumption of energy. Details of existing programs that support energy efficiency were presented, as well as information concerning sales tax exemptions for high efficiency heating equipment and other materials used to conserve energy. Various provincial policies and incentives supporting energy conservation were outlined. Cost-effective targets for energy efficiency for new and existing buildings were presented, as well as details of rebates for homeowners. Capital costs for new construction standards were presented, as well as details of incentives and provincial sales tax exemptions

Energy efficiency in Serbia national energy efficiency program: Strategy and priorities for the future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oka Simeon

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Energy system in Serbia, in the whole energy chain, from exploitation of primary energy sources, transformations in electric power plants and district heating plants, energy (electric and heat transmission and distribution to final users, and up to final energy consumption, is faced with a number of irrational and inefficient behavior and processes. In order to fight with such situation National Energy Efficiency Program, financed by the Ministry of Science and Environmental Protection has been founded in 2001. Basic facts about status of energy sector in Serbia, with special emphasis on the energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources have been given in the review paper published in the issue No. 2, 2006 of this journal. In present paper new strategy and priorities of the National Energy Efficiency Program for the future period from 2006 to 2008, and beyond, is presented. This strategy and priorities are mainly based on the same concept and principles as previous, but new reality and new and more simulative economic and financial environment in energy sector made by the Energy low (accepted by Parliament in 2004 and Strategy of Development of Energy Sector in Republic Serbia up to 2015 (accepted by the Parliament in May 2005, have been taken into account. Also, responsibilities that are formulated in the Energy Community Treaty signed by the South-East European countries, and also coming from documents and directives of the European Community and Kyoto Protocol are included in new strategy. Once again necessity of legislative framework and influence of regulations and standards, as well as of the governmental support, has been pointed out if increased energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy sources are expected. .

China's energy efficiency target 2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Ming

2008-01-01

The Chinese government has set an ambitious target: reducing China's energy intensity by 20%, or 4.36% each year between 2006 and 2010 on the 2005 level. Real data showed that China missed its target in 2006, having reduced its energy intensity only by 1.3%. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and potential of the Chinese to achieve the target. This paper presents issues of macro-economy, population migration, energy savings, and energy efficiency policy measures to achieve the target. A top-down approach was used to analyse the relationship between the Chinese economic development and energy demand cycles and to identify the potentials of energy savings in sub-sectors of the Chinese economy. A number of factors that contribute to China's energy intensity are identified in a number of energy-intensive sectors. This paper concludes that China needs to develop its economy at its potential GDP growth rate; strengthen energy efficiency auditing, monitoring and verification; change its national economy from a heavy-industry-dominated mode to a light industry or a commerce-dominated mode; phase out inefficient equipment in industrial sectors; develop mass and fast railway transportation; and promote energy-efficient technologies at the end use. This paper transfers key messages to policy makers for designing their policy to achieve China's energy efficiency target

The energy efficiency and demand side management programs as implemented by the energy efficiency division of the department of energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anunciacion, Jesus C.

1997-01-01

The thrust of the Philippine energy sector. specifically the government side, is to involve the active participation of not only all the government agencies involved in energy activities but the private sector as well. This participation shall mean technical and financial participation, directly and indirectly. The Department of Energy is on the process involving the continuing update and development of a Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) which has a 30-year time scope, which will help the country monitor and determine energy supply and demand vis-a-vis the growing demands of an industrializing country like the Philippines. Among the most vital component of the PEP is the thrust to pursue national programs for energy efficiency and demand-side management. Seven energy efficiency sub-programs have been identified for implementation, with a target savings of 623 million barrels of fuel oil equivalent (MMBFOE). A cumulative net savings of 237 billion pesos shall be generated against a total investment cost of 54.5 billion pesos. The Philippine energy sector will continue to develop and implement strategies to promote the efficient utilization of energy which will cover all aspects of the energy industry. The plan is focussed on the training and education of the various sectors on the aspects involved in the implementation of energy efficiency and demand-side management elements on a more aggressive note. The implementation of technical strategies by the department will continue on a higher and more extensive level, these are: energy utilization monitoring, consultancy and engineering services, energy efficiency testing and labelling program, and demand-side management programs for each sector. In summary, the PEP, as anchored in energy efficiency and demand-side management tools, among others, will ensure a continuous energy supply at affordable prices while incorporating environmental and social considerations. (author)

Improving building energy efficiency in India: State-level analysis of building energy efficiency policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Sha; Tan, Qing; Evans, Meredydd; Kyle, Page; Vu, Linh; Patel, Pralit L.

2017-11-01

India is expected to add 40 billion m2 of new buildings till 2050. Buildings are responsible for one third of India’s total energy consumption today and building energy use is expected to continue growing driven by rapid income and population growth. The implementation of the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) is one of the measures to improve building energy efficiency. Using the Global Change Assessment Model, this study assesses growth in the buildings sector and impacts of building energy policies in Gujarat, which would help the state adopt ECBC and expand building energy efficiency programs. Without building energy policies, building energy use in Gujarat would grow by 15 times in commercial buildings and 4 times in urban residential buildings between 2010 and 2050. ECBC improves energy efficiency in commercial buildings and could reduce building electricity use in Gujarat by 20% in 2050, compared to the no policy scenario. Having energy codes for both commercial and residential buildings could result in additional 10% savings in electricity use. To achieve these intended savings, it is critical to build capacity and institution for robust code implementation.

Transition Towards Energy Efficient Machine Tools

CERN Document Server

Zein, André

2012-01-01

Energy efficiency represents a cost-effective and immediate strategy of a sustainable development. Due to substantial environmental and economic implications, a strong emphasis is put on the electrical energy requirements of machine tools for metalworking processes. The improvement of energy efficiency is however confronted with diverse barriers, which sustain an energy efficiency gap of unexploited potential. The deficiencies lie in the lack of information about the actual energy requirements of machine tools, a minimum energy reference to quantify improvement potential and the possible actions to improve the energy demand. Therefore, a comprehensive concept for energy performance management of machine tools is developed which guides the transition towards energy efficient machine tools. It is structured in four innovative concept modules, which are embedded into step-by-step workflow models. The capability of the performance management concept is demonstrated in an automotive manufacturing environment. The ...

Energy efficiency opportunities in Hotels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dina Said

2017-03-01

Full Text Available According to the statistics in Egypt (2013, the number of hotels is 1193, about 407 of them have contracted power greater than 500 kW.Air conditioning, lighting, water heating and refrigeration represent the main activities demanding electrical energy in hotel business.The energy consumption per night spend changes a lot, depending on various factors; facilities provided, category of hotel, occupancy , geographical situation, weather conditions, nationality of clients, design and control of the installations.Energy benchmarking is an internal management tool designed to provide ongoing, reliable and verifiable tracking on the hotels performance. The most useful performance indicator (or Energy Efficiency Benchmarking of hotels are: Lighting Power Density (LPD in W (for lighting/m2, and energy intensity (kWh/m2/ y.There are multiple benefits for improving energy in hotel business; reduces the hotel's operating cost, reduces climate change risks and promotes green tourism.Energy efficiency opportunities are low-cost measures and cost- effective investments.   There are many energy saving opportunities for lighting in hotel's guest rooms as well as the more obvious savings in lobbies and exterior lighting areas. Behavior campaigns can yield substantial energy savings, both through the guests and housekeeper behavior. Encouraging housekeepers to use natural light during room cleaning is a simple first step to implement energy saving program.This paper presents the energy efficiency guidelines and energy benchmarking for hotels. Also a case study showing how the energy efficiency program implemented is presented. 

Energy conservation, efficiency and energy audit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, R.A.

2006-01-01

In this paper the author discusses the conservation, efficiency, audit, fundamentals, differences and methods, the objectives of energy conservation, definitions of energy audit, scope, short term, medium term and long term measures to be taken for conservation are discussed

77 FR 6783 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-09

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... competitiveness of U.S. renewable [[Page 6784

G20 Clean Energy, and Energy Efficiency Deployment and Policy Progress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

G-20 Clean Energy, and Energy Efficiency Deployment and Policy Progress, a report prepared by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in collaboration with the G-20 Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Working Group, provides an overview of clean energy and energy efficiency technology deployment and summarises support policies in place across G-20 countries. The report highlights that while clean energy technology deployment has made steady progress and energy efficiency improvements have been made, continued reliance on fossil fuels to meet growth in global energy demand presents a significant challenge. Scaling-up the deployment of renewable energy, in addition to improving end-use efficiency, enhancing the efficiency of fossil fuel based power generation, and supporting the widespread deployment of CCS will, therefore, also be crucial aspects of the transition to a cleaner energy future. Because the G-20 group of countries represent close to 80% of energy-related CO2 emissions, by developing and deploying energy efficiency and clean energy technologies, they are presented with a unique opportunity to make collective progress in transitioning the global energy system. IEA Deputy Executive Director Richard Jones emphasised the importance of G-20 efforts, saying, 'The IEA welcomes this important collaboration with the G-20. Enhanced deployment of clean energy technologies and of energy efficiency improvements offers energy security and environmental benefits. It will also enable cost savings over the medium and long term -- an aspect that is particularly relevant at a time of economic uncertainty. We believe that enhanced policy assessment and analysis, building on this initial report, will enable governments to take more cost effective and efficient policy decisions.' This report was issued on the authority of the IEA Executive Director, it does not necessarily represent the views of IEA Member countries or the G20.

G20 Clean Energy, and Energy Efficiency Deployment and Policy Progress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

G-20 Clean Energy, and Energy Efficiency Deployment and Policy Progress, a report prepared by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in collaboration with the G-20 Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Working Group, provides an overview of clean energy and energy efficiency technology deployment and summarises support policies in place across G-20 countries. The report highlights that while clean energy technology deployment has made steady progress and energy efficiency improvements have been made, continued reliance on fossil fuels to meet growth in global energy demand presents a significant challenge. Scaling-up the deployment of renewable energy, in addition to improving end-use efficiency, enhancing the efficiency of fossil fuel based power generation, and supporting the widespread deployment of CCS will, therefore, also be crucial aspects of the transition to a cleaner energy future. Because the G-20 group of countries represent close to 80% of energy-related CO2 emissions, by developing and deploying energy efficiency and clean energy technologies, they are presented with a unique opportunity to make collective progress in transitioning the global energy system. IEA Deputy Executive Director Richard Jones emphasised the importance of G-20 efforts, saying, 'The IEA welcomes this important collaboration with the G-20. Enhanced deployment of clean energy technologies and of energy efficiency improvements offers energy security and environmental benefits. It will also enable cost savings over the medium and long term -- an aspect that is particularly relevant at a time of economic uncertainty. We believe that enhanced policy assessment and analysis, building on this initial report, will enable governments to take more cost effective and efficient policy decisions.' This report was issued on the authority of the IEA Executive Director, it does not necessarily represent the views of IEA Member countries or the G20.

Advanced Materials and Nano technology for Sustainable Energy Development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huo, Z.; Wu, Ch.H.; Zhu, Z.; Zhao, Y.

2015-01-01

Energy is the material foundation of human activities and also the single most valuable resource for the production activities of human society. Materials play a pivotal role in advancing technologies that can offer efficient renewable energy solutions for the future. This special issue has been established as an international foremost interdisciplinary forum that aims to publish high quality and original full research articles on all aspects of the study of materials for the deployment of renewable and sustainable energy technologies. The special issue covers experimental and theoretical aspects of materials and prototype devices for sustainable energy conversion, storage, and saving, together with materials needed for renewable energy production. It brings together stake holders from universities, industries, government agents, and businesses that are involved in the invention, design, development, and implementation of sustainable technologies. The research work has already been published in this special issue which discusses comprehensive technologies for wastewater treatment, strategies for controlling gaseous pollutant releases within chemical plant, evaluation of FCC catalysis poisoning mechanism, clean technologies for fossil fuel use, new-type photo catalysis material design with controllable morphology for solar energy conversion, and so forth. These studies describe important, intriguing, and systematic investigations on advanced materials and technologies for dealing with the key technologies and important issues that continue to haunt the global energy industry. They also tie together many aspects of current energy transportation science and technology, exhibiting outstanding industrial insights that have the potential to encourage and stimulate fresh perspectives on challenges, opportunities, and solutions to energy and environmental sustainability

Emerging energy-efficient industrial technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin, N.; Worrell, E.; Ruth, M.; Price, L.; Elliott, R.N.; Shipley, A.M.; Thorne, J.

2000-10-01

U.S. industry consumes approximately 37 percent of the nation's energy to produce 24 percent of the nation's GDP. Increasingly, industry is confronted with the challenge of moving toward a cleaner, more sustainable path of production and consumption, while increasing global competitiveness. Technology will be essential for meeting these challenges. At some point, businesses are faced with investment in new capital stock. At this decision point, new and emerging technologies compete for capital investment alongside more established or mature technologies. Understanding the dynamics of the decision-making process is important to perceive what drives technology change and the overall effect on industrial energy use. The assessment of emerging energy-efficient industrial technologies can be useful for: (1) identifying R&D projects; (2) identifying potential technologies for market transformation activities; (3) providing common information on technologies to a broad audience of policy-makers; and (4) offering new insights into technology development and energy efficiency potentials. With the support of PG&E Co., NYSERDA, DOE, EPA, NEEA, and the Iowa Energy Center, staff from LBNL and ACEEE produced this assessment of emerging energy-efficient industrial technologies. The goal was to collect information on a broad array of potentially significant emerging energy-efficient industrial technologies and carefully characterize a sub-group of approximately 50 key technologies. Our use of the term ''emerging'' denotes technologies that are both pre-commercial but near commercialization, and technologies that have already entered the market but have less than 5 percent of current market share. We also have chosen technologies that are energy-efficient (i.e., use less energy than existing technologies and practices to produce the same product), and may have additional ''non-energy benefits.'' These benefits are as important (if

Cleanroom Energy Efficiency Workshop Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tschudi, Bill

1999-03-15

On March 15, 1999, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory hosted a workshop focused on energy efficiency in Cleanroom facilities. The workshop was held as part of a multiyear effort sponsored by the California Institute for Energy Efficiency, and the California Energy Commission. It is part of a project that concentrates on improving energy efficiency in Laboratory type facilities including cleanrooms. The project targets the broad market of laboratory and cleanroom facilities, and thus cross-cuts many different industries and institutions. This workshop was intended to raise awareness by sharing case study success stories, providing a forum for industry networking on energy issues, contributing LBNL expertise in research to date, determining barriers to implementation and possible solutions, and soliciting input for further research.

Metrological Array of Cyber-Physical Systems. Part 3. Smart Energy-Efficient House

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ihor HNES

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Smart energy-efficient houses as the components of Cyber-Physical Systems are developed intensively. The main stream of progress consists in the research of Smart houses’ energy supply. By this option the mentioned objects are advancing from passive houses through net-zero energy houses to active houses that are capable of sharing their own accumulated energy with other components of Cyber-Physical Systems. We consider the problems of studying the metrology models and measuring the heat dissipation in such houses trying to apply network and software achievements as well as the new types of devices with improved characteristics.

Using energy efficiently

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nipkow, J.; Brunner, C. U.

2005-01-01

This comprehensive article discusses the perspectives for reducing electricity consumption in Switzerland. The increase in consumption is discussed that has occurred in spite of the efforts of the Swiss national energy programmes 'Energy 2000' and 'SwissEnergy'. The fact that energy consumption is still on the increase although efficient and economically-viable technology is available is commented on. The authors are of the opinion that the market alone cannot provide a complete solution and that national and international efforts are needed to remedy things. In particular, the external costs that are often not included when estimating costs are stressed. Several technical options available, such as the use of fluorescent lighting, LCD monitors and efficient electric motors, are looked at as are other technologies quoted as being a means of reducing power consumption. Ways of reducing stand-by losses and system optimisation are looked at as are various scenarios for further development and measures that can be implemented in order to reduce power consumption

Encouraging energy efficiency: Policies and programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

Successfully overcoming the barriers to higher energy efficiency requires development of policies designed for specific users and locations. Reform of energy pricing, which entails removing subsidies and beginning internalization of externalities, is critical to give technology producers and users proper signals for investment and management decisions. But while a rise in energy prices increases the amount of energy-efficiency improvement that is cost-effective, it does not remove other barriers that deter investment. Minimum efficiency standards or agreements can raise the market floor, and are important because they affect the entire market in the near-term. But they may not raise the celining very much, and do little to push the efficiency frontier. To accomplish these goals, incentives and other market-development strategies are needed. Utility programs in particular can play a key role in pushing energy efficiency beyond the level where users are likely to invest on their own. Policies, programs, and pricing should complement one another. Pricing reform alone will not overcome the many entrenched barriers to higher energy efficiency, but trying to accelerate energy efficiency improvement without addressing energy pricing problems will lead to limited success. Whether tagerting new equipment or management of existing systems, policies must reflect a thorough understanding of the particular system and an awareness of the motivations of the actors. 25 refs

Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Report: Development of Advanced Window Coatings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bolton, Ladena A.; Alvine, Kyle J.; Schemer-Kohrn, Alan L.

2014-08-05

Advanced fenestration technologies for light and thermal management in building applications are of great recent research interest for improvements in energy efficiency. Of these technologies, there is specific interest in advanced window coating technologies that have tailored control over the visible and infrared (IR) scattering into a room for both static and dynamic applications. Recently, PNNL has investigated novel subwavelength nanostructured coatings for both daylighting, and IR thermal management applications. Such coatings rese still in the early stages and additional research is needed in terms of scalable manufacturing. This project investigates aspects of a potential new methodology for low-cost scalable manufacture of said subwavelength coatings.

48 CFR 52.223-15 - Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Energy Efficiency in... Provisions and Clauses 52.223-15 Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products. As prescribed in 23.206, insert the following clause: Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products (DEC 2007) (a) Definition. As...

Advances in Cost-Efficient Thin-Film Photovoltaics Based on Cu(In,Ga)Se2

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Michael Powalla; Stefan Paetel; Dimitrios Hariskos; Roland Wuerz; Friedrich Kessler; Peter Lechner; Wiltraud Wischmann; Theresa Magorian Friedlmeier

2017-01-01

In this article,we discuss the leading thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technology based on the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS)compound semiconductor.This contribution includes a general comparison with the conventional Si-wafer-based PV technology and discusses the basics of the CIGS technology as well as advances in worldrecord-level conversion efficiency,production,applications,stability,and future developments with respect to a flexible product.Once in large-scale mass production,the CIGS technology has the highest potential of all PV technologies for cost-efficient clean energy generation.

Advances in Cost-Efficient Thin-Film Photovoltaics Based on Cu(In,GaSe2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Powalla

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In this article, we discuss the leading thin-film photovoltaic (PV technology based on the Cu(In,GaSe2 (CIGS compound semiconductor. This contribution includes a general comparison with the conventional Si-wafer-based PV technology and discusses the basics of the CIGS technology as well as advances in world-record-level conversion efficiency, production, applications, stability, and future developments with respect to a flexible product. Once in large-scale mass production, the CIGS technology has the highest potential of all PV technologies for cost-efficient clean energy generation.

Learning energy literacy concepts from energy-efficient homes

Science.gov (United States)

Paige, Frederick Eugene

The purpose of this study is to understand ways that occupants' and visitors' interaction with energy efficient home design affects Energy Literacy. Using a case study approach including interviews, surveys, and observations, I examined the potential for affordable energy efficient homes in the Greenville South Carolina area to "teach" concepts from an Energy Literacy framework developed by dozens of educational partners and federal agencies that comprise the U.S. Global Change Research Program Partners. I paid particular attention to concepts from the framework that are transferable to energy decisions beyond a home's walls. My research reveals ways that interaction with high efficiency homes can effect understanding of the following Energy Literacy concepts: human use of energy is subject to limits and constraints, conservation is one way to manage energy resources, electricity is generated in multiple ways, social and technological innovations effect the amount of energy used by society, and energy use can be calculated and monitored. Examples from my case studies show how the at-home examples can make lessons on energy more personally relevant, easy to understand, and applicable. Specifically, I found that: • Home occupants learn the limits of energy in relation to the concrete and constricting costs associated with their consumption. • Heating and cooling techniques showcase the limits and constraints on different sources of energy. • Relatable systems make it easier to understand energy's limits and constraints. • Indistinct and distant power utilities allow consumers to overlook the root of electricity sources. • Visible examples of electricity generation systems make it clear that electricity is generated in multiple ways. • Small and interactive may mean inefficient electricity generation, but efficient energy education. • Perceptions of expense and complexity create a disconnect between residential energy consumers and renewable electricity

Energy efficiency: a recipe for success

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-09-15

Produced in cooperation with ADEME and Enerdata, this report presents and evaluates energy efficiency policies and trends in about 90 countries around the world. It reviews the impact of energy efficiency measures and highlights the trends and results of their implementation. Energy efficiency is ''a low hanging fruit'' on the ''energy tree'' which can help address a number of objectives at the same time and at a low or negative cost: security of supply, environmental impacts, competitiveness, balance of trade, investment requirements, social aspects and others. Despite its significant potential for energy savings, energy efficiency is still far from realising this potential. Why? There is no single answer to this question. A meaningful response requires major research and an analytical effort.

Advanced energy system with nuclear reactors as an energy source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kato, Y.; Ishizuka, T.; Nikitin, K.

2007-01-01

recovery system is also applicable to a fast reactor (FR) with a supercritical CO 2 gas turbine that achieves higher cycle efficiency than conventional sodium cooled FRs with steam turbines. The FR will eliminate problems of conventional FRs related to safety, plant maintenance, and construction costs. The FR consumes efficiently trans-uranium elements (TRU) produced in light water reactors as fuel and reduce long-lived radioactive wastes or environmental loads of long term geological disposal. An Advanced Energy System (AES) with nuclear reactors as an energy source has been proposed which supply electricity and heat to cities. The AES has three objectives: 1. Save energy resources and reduce green house gas emissions, attaining total energy utilization efficiency higher than 85% through waste heat recovery and utilization. 2. Foster a recycling society that produces methane and methanol for fuel cells from waste products of cities and farms. 3. Consume TRU produced in LWRs as fuel for FRs, and reduce long-lived radioactive wastes or environmental loads of long term geological disposal. References 1. Y. Kato, T. Nitawaki and K. Fujima, 'Zero Waste Heat Release Nuclear Cogeneration System, 'Proc. 2003 Intl. Congress on Advanced Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP'03), Cordoba, Spain, May 4-7, 2003, Paper 3313. 2. Y. Kato, T. Nitawaki and Y. Muto, 'Medium Temperature Carbon Dioxide Gas Turbine Reactor, 'Nucl. Eng. Design, 230, pp. 195-207 (2004). 3. H. N. Tran and Y. Kato, 'New 2 37Np Burning Strategy in a Supercritical CO 2 Cooled Fast Reactor Core Attaining Zero Burnup Reactivity Loss,' Proc. American Nuclear Society's Topical Meeting on Reactor Physics (PHYSOR 2006), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, September 10-14, 2006

Phase III Advanced Anodes and Cathodes Utilized in Energy Efficient Aluminum Production Cells; FINAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christini, R.A.; Dawless, R.K.; Ray, S.P.; Weirauch, D.A. Jr.

2001-01-01

During Phase I of the present program, Alcoa developed a commercial cell concept that has been estimated to save 30% of the energy required for aluminum smelting. Phase ii involved the construction of a pilot facility and operation of two pilots. Phase iii of the Advanced Anodes and Cathodes Program was aimed at bench experiments to permit the resolution of certain questions to be followed by three pilot cells. All of the milestones related to materials, in particular metal purity, were attained with distinct improvements over work in previous phases of the program. NiO additions to the ceramic phase and Ag additions to the Cu metal phase of the cermet improved corrosion resistance sufficiently that the bench scale pencil anodes met the purity milestones. Some excellent metal purity results have been obtained with anodes of the following composition: Further improvements in anode material composition appear to be dependent on a better understanding of oxide solubilities in molten cryolite. For that reason, work was commissioned with an outside consultant to model the MeO - cryolite systems. That work has led to a better understanding of which oxides can be used to substitute into the NiO-Fe2O3 ceramic phase to stabilize the ferrites and reduce their solubility in molten cryolite. An extensive number of vertical plate bench electrolysis cells were run to try to find conditions where high current efficiencies could be attained. TiB2-G plates were very inconsistent and led to poor wetting and drainage. Pure TiB2 did produce good current efficiencies at small overlaps (shadowing) between the anodes and cathodes. This bench work with vertical plate anodes and cathodes reinforced the importance of good cathode wetting to attain high current efficiencies. Because of those conclusions, new wetting work was commissioned and became a major component of the research during the third year of Phase III. While significant progress was made in several areas, much work needs to be

Hydrogen production methods efficiency coupled to an advanced high temperature accelerator driven system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodríguez, Daniel González; Lira, Carlos Alberto Brayner de Oliveira

2017-01-01

The hydrogen economy is one of the most promising concepts for the energy future. In this scenario, oil is replaced by hydrogen as an energy carrier. This hydrogen, rather than oil, must be produced in volumes not provided by the currently employed methods. In this work two high temperature hydrogen production methods coupled to an advanced nuclear system are presented. A new design of a pebbled-bed accelerator nuclear driven system called TADSEA is chosen because of the advantages it has in matters of transmutation and safety. For the conceptual design of the high temperature electrolysis process a detailed computational fluid dynamics model was developed to analyze the solid oxide electrolytic cell that has a huge influence on the process efficiency. A detailed flowsheet of the high temperature electrolysis process coupled to TADSEA through a Brayton gas cycle was developed using chemical process simulation software: Aspen HYSYS®. The model with optimized operating conditions produces 0.1627 kg/s of hydrogen, resulting in an overall process efficiency of 34.51%, a value in the range of results reported by other authors. A conceptual design of the iodine-sulfur thermochemical water splitting cycle was also developed. The overall efficiency of the process was calculated performing an energy balance resulting in 22.56%. The values of efficiency, hydrogen production rate and energy consumption of the proposed models are in the values considered acceptable in the hydrogen economy concept, being also compatible with the TADSEA design parameters. (author)

Hydrogen production methods efficiency coupled to an advanced high temperature accelerator driven system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodríguez, Daniel González; Lira, Carlos Alberto Brayner de Oliveira [Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil). Departamento de Energia Nuclear; Fernández, Carlos García, E-mail: danielgonro@gmail.com, E-mail: mmhamada@ipen.br [Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias aplicadas (InSTEC), La Habana (Cuba)

2017-07-01

The hydrogen economy is one of the most promising concepts for the energy future. In this scenario, oil is replaced by hydrogen as an energy carrier. This hydrogen, rather than oil, must be produced in volumes not provided by the currently employed methods. In this work two high temperature hydrogen production methods coupled to an advanced nuclear system are presented. A new design of a pebbled-bed accelerator nuclear driven system called TADSEA is chosen because of the advantages it has in matters of transmutation and safety. For the conceptual design of the high temperature electrolysis process a detailed computational fluid dynamics model was developed to analyze the solid oxide electrolytic cell that has a huge influence on the process efficiency. A detailed flowsheet of the high temperature electrolysis process coupled to TADSEA through a Brayton gas cycle was developed using chemical process simulation software: Aspen HYSYS®. The model with optimized operating conditions produces 0.1627 kg/s of hydrogen, resulting in an overall process efficiency of 34.51%, a value in the range of results reported by other authors. A conceptual design of the iodine-sulfur thermochemical water splitting cycle was also developed. The overall efficiency of the process was calculated performing an energy balance resulting in 22.56%. The values of efficiency, hydrogen production rate and energy consumption of the proposed models are in the values considered acceptable in the hydrogen economy concept, being also compatible with the TADSEA design parameters. (author)

Energy saving and energy efficiency concepts for policy making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oikonomou, V.; Becchis, F.; Steg, L.; Russolillo, D.

2009-01-01

Departing from the concept of rational use of energy, the paper outlines the microeconomics of end-use energy saving as a result of frugality or efficiency measures. Frugality refers to the behaviour that is aimed at energy conservation, and with efficiency we refer to the technical ratio between energy input and output services that can be modified with technical improvements (e.g. technology substitution). Changing behaviour from one side and technology from the other are key issues for public energy policy. In this paper, we attempt to identify the effects of parameters that determine energy saving behaviour with the use of the microeconomic theory. The role of these parameters is crucial and can determine the outcome of energy efficiency policies; therefore policymakers should properly address them when designing policies.

Energy saving and energy efficiency concepts for policy making

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oikonomou, V. [SOM, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen (Netherlands); Becchis, F. [POLIS Department, University of East Piedmont, via Duomo, 6-13100 Vercelli (Italy); Steg, L. [Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 72 9700 AB (Netherlands); Russolillo, D. [Fondazione per l' Ambiente ' T. Fenoglio' , Via Gaudenzio Ferrari 1, I-10124 Torino (Italy)

2009-11-15

Departing from the concept of rational use of energy, the paper outlines the microeconomics of end-use energy saving as a result of frugality or efficiency measures. Frugality refers to the behaviour that is aimed at energy conservation, and with efficiency we refer to the technical ratio between energy input and output services that can be modified with technical improvements (e.g. technology substitution). Changing behaviour from one side and technology from the other are key issues for public energy policy. In this paper, we attempt to identify the effects of parameters that determine energy saving behaviour with the use of the microeconomic theory. The role of these parameters is crucial and can determine the outcome of energy efficiency policies; therefore policymakers should properly address them when designing policies. (author)

Energy efficiency and energy management: an abundance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coullet-Demaiziere, Corinne; Barthet, Marie-Claire; Tourneur, Jean-Claude; Mirguet, Olivier

2015-01-01

As France has just published a decree on the energy audit for large companies, and has thus been among the first countries to comply with an article of the European directive on energy efficiency, a set of articles discusses various aspects of these issues of energy efficiency and energy management. A first one presents this mandatory energy audit as a tool for a better energy efficiency, and illustrates the relationship between this commitment and the ISO 50001 standard for French large companies. A second article outlines the tools and standards of application of this energy audit in different legal texts. A third one comments the introduction of four new European arrangements on the labelling of products (indication of energy performance by retailers, objective of reduction of energy consumption, information displayed on site and on-line for various household appliances, current legislation). The next article comments the new German legislation on renewable energies which implements environmental requirements higher than European objectives, and tries to boost the carbon market. The presence of the ISO 50001 certification in the German law is also briefly addressed. Then, an article proposes an overview of a bill project, opinions of experts, and way to go for the new arrangement for energy saving certificates (CEE, certificat d'economie d'energie) launched by the French ministry of Ecology, and which aims at a 700 TWh saving. The content of each article of the bill project is presented and explained, and the relationship between certificate application and some standards is highlighted. The last article comments the decision of the European Court of Justice on the compatibility of Flemish Green Certificates with the European law

Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, and Renewable Energy Site Assessment: Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, Juneau, Alaska

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salasovich, James [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); LoVullo, David [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kandt, Alicen [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-01-21

This report summarizes results from the energy efficiency, water efficiency, and renewable energy site assessment of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and site in Juneau, Alaska. The assessment is an American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers Level 2 audit and meets Energy Independence and Security Act requirements. A team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory conducted the assessment with U.S. Forest Service personnel August 19-20, 2015, as part of ongoing efforts by USFS to reduce energy and water use.

Energy Efficiency Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krebs, Martha [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

2016-07-29

The Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI) was established through a Funding Opportunity Announcement led by the U.S. Department of Energy, under a cooperative agreement managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. CBEI is led by The Pennsylvania State University and is composed of partners from academia, the private sector, and economic development agencies. The Consortium has included as many as 24 different partners over the five years, but 14 have been core to the work over the five year cooperative agreement. CBEI primarily focused on developing energy efficiency solutions for the small and medium commercial building market, with a focus on buildings less than 50,000 square feet. This market has been underserved by the energy efficiency industry, which has focused on larger commercial buildings where the scale of an individual retrofit lends itself to the use of sophisticated modeling tools and more advanced solutions. Owners/operators and retrofit providers for larger buildings have a greater level of understanding of, and experience with different solutions. In contrast, smaller commercial building retrofits, like residential retrofits, often have owners with less knowledge about energy management and less time to learn about it. This market segment is also served by retrofit providers that are smaller and often focused on particular building systems, e.g. heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, roofing, or insulation. The size of a smaller commercial building retrofit does not lend itself, from a cost perspective, to the application of multiple, sophisticated design and modeling tools, which means that they are less likely to have integrated solutions.

Monitoring tools for energy efficiency in Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-07-01

This document brings together the different definitions of the indicators used in the European Odyssee project on energy efficiency indicators. This project was initiated in 1990. It benefits from the combined support of the SAVE programme of the European Commission, of Ademe and of 15 national Efficiency Agencies within the European network of energy efficiency agencies. The objective of the project is to develop and maintain indicators that enable to review progress in energy efficiency and CO{sub 2} emissions abatement, by sector, end-use, etc.. for each country and the EU as a whole. To reach this objective, all data and indicators are stored in a common database called ODYSSEE that is regularly updated. A common methodology is used to produce comparative energy efficiency indicators from the database. The definitions presented in this document concern: 1) the general points (energy intensity, consumption, savings, efficiency, the unit consumption effect and index, the technological effect or savings, the substitution effect and the behavioural/management effect); 2) the macro-indicators (primary and final energy intensities at constant structure, at purchasing power parities, at reference economic structure); 3) industry (energy intensity of industry/manufacturing, of industry at constant structure and at reference structure, unit consumption of steel, cement etc.., process effect); 4) transports (energy intensity, unit consumption of vehicles, average specific consumption, test specific consumption, unit consumption, specific consumption, behavioural energy savings; 5) households and services (unit consumption, specific consumption, energy intensity of households, appliances); 6) transformations (apparent efficiency of energy sector or transformations, efficiency at constant fuel mix, efficiency of electricity sector). The same work is made for the 'key energy efficiency indicators', for the 'aggregate energy efficiency indicators' for

USSR energy efficiency and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinyak, Y.

1991-06-01

The U.S.S.R. is the largest energy producer and the second largest energy consumer in the world. Its share of global energy use reached above 17% in 1988. The soviet energy system is characterized by low efficiency and high per capita energy consumption, although there are some reasons justifying the greater U.S.S.R. energy use per unit of product output than in other industrialized countries. The present energy-savings potential is approximately equal to one-half of the domestic energy consumption. Improvements in energy efficiency at all levels of the national economy are now considered to be the primary goal of national energy policy for the next couple of decades. Being endowed with abundant natural gas resources, the U.S.S.R. will count on this energy source in the future to improve its energy efficiency, reduce expenses and cope with air pollution. After 2005-2010, stabilized primary energy consumption may be reached or there may even be a decline of total energy use. The U.S.S.R. could reduce CO 2 emissions by 20% by 2030 but with substantial negative impacts on GNP growth. Required improvements in the Soviet energy system depend on changes in energy management, including reduction of the role of centralized planning, decentralization and privatization of energy-producing facilities, energy-price reforms, reshaping of investment patterns, reduction in military expenditures, etc. (author)

Energy Efficient Community Development in California: Chula Vista Research Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gas Technology Institute

2009-03-31

energy utility networks; (d) Alternative land-use design and development options and their impact on energy efficiency and urban runoff, emissions and the heat island effect; and (e) Alternative transportation and mobility options and their impact on local emissions. (2) Creating Energy-Efficient Communities in California: A Reference Guide to Barriers, Solutions and Resources report provides the results of an effort to identify the most innovative existing and emerging public policy, incentive and market mechanisms that encourage investment in advanced energy technologies and enabling community design options in the State of California and the nation. The report evaluates each of these mechanisms in light of the preceding research and concludes with a set of recommended mechanisms designed for consideration by relevant California State agencies, development and finance industry associations, and municipal governments. (3) Creating Energy-Efficient Communities in California: A Technical Reference Guide to Building and Site Design report contains a set of selected commercially viable energy technology and community design options for high-efficiency, low-impact community development in California. It includes a summary of the research findings referenced above and recommendations for energy technology applications and energy-efficient development strategies for residential, commercial and institutional structures and supporting municipal infrastructure for planned communities. The document also identifies design options, technology applications and development strategies that are applicable to urban infill projects.

Energy saving and energy efficiency concepts for policy making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oikonomou, V.; Becchis, F.; Steg, L.; Russolillo, D.

Departing from the concept of rational use of energy, the paper outlines the microeconomics of end-use energy saving as a result of frugality or efficiency measures. Frugality refers to the behaviour that is aimed at energy conservation, and with efficiency we refer to the technical ratio between

Energy saving and energy efficiency concepts for policy making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oikonomou, V.; Becchis, F.; Steg, L.; Russolillo, D.

2009-01-01

Departing from the concept of rational use of energy, the paper outlines the microeconomics of end-use energy saving as a result of frugality or efficiency measures. Frugality refers to the behaviour that is aimed at energy conservation, and with efficiency we refer to the technical ratio between

Energy researchers - 1. Energy efficiency: Energy efficiency is driving innovation; No economic crisis for energy efficiency; How can we change our energy habits?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minster, Jean-Francois; Appert, Olivier; Moisan, Francois; Salha, Bernard; Tardieu, Bernard; Ghidaglia, Jean-Michel; Viterbo, Jerome

2011-01-01

A first article comments how the race to achieve energy efficiency is driving the emergence of new technologies in transportation and construction (hybrid cars, phase change material, digital mock-ups, and so on). The example of the AGV is evoked, a new version of the TGV developed by Alstom which will run faster and consume less energy. A second article outlines that, due to the support from public authorities and to an increased awareness of energy costs and environmental challenges, the energy savings market is booming. Then, in an interview, a sociologist of the ADEME comments the difficulty of changing habits in terms of energy savings

Mobilising Investment in Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

Taxes, loans and grants, trading schemes and white certificates, public procurement and investment in R&D or infrastructure: known collectively as 'economic instruments', these tools can be powerful means of mobilising the finances needed to achieve policy goals by implementing energy efficiency measures. The role of economic instruments is to kick-start the private financial markets and to motivate private investors to fund EE measures. They should reinforce and promote energy performance regulations. This IEA analysis addresses the fact that, to date, relatively little effort has been directed toward evaluating how well economic instruments work. Using the buildings sector to illustrate how such measures can support energy efficiency, this paper can help policy makers better select and design economic instruments appropriate to their policy objectives and national contexts. This report’s three main aims are to: 1) Examine how economic instruments are currently used in energy efficiency policy; 2) Consider how economic instruments can be more effective and efficient in supporting low-energy buildings; and 3) Assess how economic instruments should be funded, where public outlay is needed. Detailed case studies in this report assess examples of economic instruments for energy efficiency in the buildings sector in Canada (grants), France (tax relief and loans), Germany (loans and grants), Ireland (grants) and Italy (white certificates and tax relief).

Governance, technology, and equity: An integrated policy framework for energy efficient housing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golubchikov, Oleg; Deda, Paola

2012-01-01

Transforming the housing stock to a low energy performance is a key priority in the context of sustainable development and a post-carbon transition. However, in terms of its practical implementation it, firstly, faces a number of complex institutional barriers, while, secondly, involves a risk of being dominated by a narrow technocratic agenda for energy/carbon reduction that may overtake the socially progressive pursuits of housing policy. Energy efficiency strategies for the residential sector must, therefore, be multidimensional, fully synergised with housing policy, and incorporating the principles of equity, access and a balanced geographical development. This paper discusses a strategic policy framework, which was designed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to address those important needs in international policy. The document – Action Plan for Energy-efficient Housing in the UNECE Region – outlines a number of goals, targets and actions structured at three dimensions: (i) governance and finance, (ii) technological advancement, and (iii) access and affordability. The Action Plan provides a comprehensive and integrated framework, based on which governments can shape their own pathways towards a sustainable low-energy residential sector. - Highlights: ► Residential sector has a large potential for energy and carbon reduction. ► Energy efficiency for housing must be reconciled with socially oriented housing policy. ► Action Plan for Energy-efficient Housing in the UNECE region is presented. ► The Plan offers an integrated framework for sustainable transition to low-energy housing. ► Governance, technology, and equitable access are three key elements of the framework.

Development of Energy Efficiency Indicators in Russia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

Russia is sometimes referred to as 'the Saudi Arabia of energy efficiency'; its vast potential to reduce energy consumption can be considered a significant 'energy reserve'. Russia, recognising the benefits of more efficient use of energy, is taking measures to exploit this potential. The president has set the goal to reduce energy intensity by 40% between 2007 and 2020. In the past few years, the IEA has worked closely with Russian authorities to support the development of energy efficiency indicators in Russia, critical to an effective implementation and monitoring of Russia's ambitious energy intensity and efficiency goals. The key findings of the IEA work with Russia on developing energy efficiency indicators form the core of this report.

Energy efficiency: a recipe for success

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-09-15

Produced in cooperation with ADEME and Enerdata, this report presents and evaluates energy efficiency policies and trends in about 90 countries around the world. It reviews the impact of energy efficiency measures and highlights the trends and results of their implementation. Energy efficiency is ''a low hanging fruit'' on the ''energy tree'' which can help address a number of objectives at the same time and at a low or negative cost: security of supply, environmental impacts, competitiveness, balance of trade, investment requirements, social aspects and others. Despite its significant potential for energy savings, energy efficiency is still far from realising this potential. Why? There is no single answer to this question. A meaningful response requires major research and an analytical effort.

Hydro-Quebec and energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

There is growing awareness that energy efficiency is both profitable and environmentally beneficial. In this year's Development Plan, Hydro-Quebec is proposing an Energy Efficiency Project made up of marketing programs designed for all markets throughout the final decade of the 20th century. This Project will have two aspects: energy efficiency and consumption management. Hydro-Quebec aims to reach an energy-efficiency level of 12.9 terawatt hours per year by 1999, fully 55% of its 23-terawatt hour potential. Over the next 10 years the utility intends to spend $1.8 billion for this purpose. Cumulative anticipated energy savings should be in the vicinity of 70 terawatt hours for the coming decade, and more than 130 terawatt hours for the first decade of the next century. Of the overall goal of 12.9 terawatt hours for Horizon 1999, energy savings of 9.0 terawatt hours should be the direct result of this year's proposed marketing programs, and will account for the bulk of anticipated investments. The remaining 3.9 terawatt hours will be gained as customers acquire better electrical appliance and accessory (household appliances, home insulation) buying habits

The transition between energy efficient and energy inefficient states in Cameroon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adom, Philip Kofi

2016-01-01

I use a two-state (energy efficient/inefficient) Markov-switching dynamic model to study energy efficiency in Cameroon in a novel manner, employing yearly data covering 1971 to 2012. I find that the duration of an energy inefficient state is about twice as long as an energy efficient state, mainly due to fuel subsidies, low income, high corruption, regulatory inefficiencies, poorly developed infrastructure and undeveloped markets. To escape from an energy inefficient state a broad policy overhaul is needed. Trade liberalization and related growth policies together with the removal of fuel subsidies are useful, but insufficient policy measures; the results suggest that they should be combined with structural policies, aiming at institutional structure and investment in infrastructure. - Highlights: • I investigate the transition between energy efficient/inefficient states. • On the average, energy inefficient state persists more than energy efficient state. • The duration of energy inefficient state is about twice as long as energy efficient state. • Price, income and trade openness have distinct energy saving effect irrespective of state. • A broad policy overhaul is needed to escape the energy inefficient state.

Energy efficient neural stimulation: coupling circuit design and membrane biophysics.

Science.gov (United States)

Foutz, Thomas J; Ackermann, D Michael; Kilgore, Kevin L; McIntyre, Cameron C

2012-01-01

The delivery of therapeutic levels of electrical current to neural tissue is a well-established treatment for numerous indications such as Parkinson's disease and chronic pain. While the neuromodulation medical device industry has experienced steady clinical growth over the last two decades, much of the core technology underlying implanted pulse generators remain unchanged. In this study we propose some new methods for achieving increased energy-efficiency during neural stimulation. The first method exploits the biophysical features of excitable tissue through the use of a centered-triangular stimulation waveform. Neural activation with this waveform is achieved with a statistically significant reduction in energy compared to traditional rectangular waveforms. The second method demonstrates energy savings that could be achieved by advanced circuitry design. We show that the traditional practice of using a fixed compliance voltage for constant-current stimulation results in substantial energy loss. A portion of this energy can be recuperated by adjusting the compliance voltage to real-time requirements. Lastly, we demonstrate the potential impact of axon fiber diameter on defining the energy-optimal pulse-width for stimulation. When designing implantable pulse generators for energy efficiency, we propose that the future combination of a variable compliance system, a centered-triangular stimulus waveform, and an axon diameter specific stimulation pulse-width has great potential to reduce energy consumption and prolong battery life in neuromodulation devices.

Energy efficient neural stimulation: coupling circuit design and membrane biophysics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas J Foutz

Full Text Available The delivery of therapeutic levels of electrical current to neural tissue is a well-established treatment for numerous indications such as Parkinson's disease and chronic pain. While the neuromodulation medical device industry has experienced steady clinical growth over the last two decades, much of the core technology underlying implanted pulse generators remain unchanged. In this study we propose some new methods for achieving increased energy-efficiency during neural stimulation. The first method exploits the biophysical features of excitable tissue through the use of a centered-triangular stimulation waveform. Neural activation with this waveform is achieved with a statistically significant reduction in energy compared to traditional rectangular waveforms. The second method demonstrates energy savings that could be achieved by advanced circuitry design. We show that the traditional practice of using a fixed compliance voltage for constant-current stimulation results in substantial energy loss. A portion of this energy can be recuperated by adjusting the compliance voltage to real-time requirements. Lastly, we demonstrate the potential impact of axon fiber diameter on defining the energy-optimal pulse-width for stimulation. When designing implantable pulse generators for energy efficiency, we propose that the future combination of a variable compliance system, a centered-triangular stimulus waveform, and an axon diameter specific stimulation pulse-width has great potential to reduce energy consumption and prolong battery life in neuromodulation devices.

Energy Efficiency in Norway 1996-1999. Monitoring tools for energy efficiency in Europe: the ODYSSEE and MURE projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosenberg, Eva

2002-05-01

This is the national report for Norway in the EU/SAVE project ''Monitoring tools for energy efficiency in Europe: the ODYSSEE and MURE projects''. The report deals with energy use and energy efficiency in Norway 1990-1999. Final energy use per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reduced by approximately 1.6% per year from 1990 to 1999. The energy efficiency improvement has been calculated to 0.4% pr year, while the role of structural changes has been 1.2% pr year. A detailed sector analysis has been done, applying Laspeyres indices to attribute changes in energy use to activity, structure or intensity (efficiency). Aggregating sectors, we have found a total efficiency improvement of approximately 8 TWh from 1990 to 1999. (author)

Measuring energy efficiency in economics: Shadow value approach

Science.gov (United States)

Khademvatani, Asgar

For decades, academic scholars and policy makers have commonly applied a simple average measure, energy intensity, for studying energy efficiency. In contrast, we introduce a distinctive marginal measure called energy shadow value (SV) for modeling energy efficiency drawn on economic theory. This thesis demonstrates energy SV advantages, conceptually and empirically, over the average measure recognizing marginal technical energy efficiency and unveiling allocative energy efficiency (energy SV to energy price). Using a dual profit function, the study illustrates how treating energy as quasi-fixed factor called quasi-fixed approach offers modeling advantages and is appropriate in developing an explicit model for energy efficiency. We address fallacies and misleading results using average measure and demonstrate energy SV advantage in inter- and intra-country energy efficiency comparison. Energy efficiency dynamics and determination of efficient allocation of energy use are shown through factors impacting energy SV: capital, technology, and environmental obligations. To validate the energy SV, we applied a dual restricted cost model using KLEM dataset for the 35 US sectors stretching from 1958 to 2000 and selected a sample of the four sectors. Following the empirical results, predicted wedges between energy price and the SV growth indicate a misallocation of energy use in stone, clay and glass (SCG) and communications (Com) sectors with more evidence in the SCG compared to the Com sector, showing overshoot in energy use relative to optimal paths and cost increases from sub-optimal energy use. The results show that energy productivity is a measure of technical efficiency and is void of information on the economic efficiency of energy use. Decomposing energy SV reveals that energy, capital and technology played key roles in energy SV increases helping to consider and analyze policy implications of energy efficiency improvement. Applying the marginal measure, we also

Tariff regulation with energy efficiency goals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abrardi, Laura; Cambini, Carlo

2015-01-01

We study the optimal tariff structure that could induce a regulated utility to promote energy efficiency by its customers given that it is privately informed about the effectiveness of its effort on demand reduction. The regulator should optimally offer a menu of incentive compatible two-part tariffs. If the firm's energy efficiency activities have a high impact on demand reduction, the consumer should pay a high fixed fee but a low per unit price, approximating the tariff structure to a decoupling policy, which strengthens the firm's incentives to pursue energy conservation. Instead, if the firm's effort to adopt energy efficiency actions is scarcely effective, the tariff is characterized by a low fixed fee but a high price per unit of energy consumed, thus shifting the incentives for energy conservation on consumers. The optimal tariff structure also depends on the cost of the consumer's effort (in case the consumer can also adopt energy efficiency measures) and on the degree of substitutability between the consumer's and the firm's efforts. - Highlights: • We study the optimal tariff structure that induces an utility to adopt energy efficiency activities. • The regulator optimally offer a menu of incentive compatible two-part tariffs. • If energy efficiency activities have a high effectiveness, decoupling emerges as a solution. • If the energy efficiency actions are less effective, the tariff has a higher per unit price and lower fixed fee. • The optimal tariff structure also depends on the degree of substitutability between the consumer's and the firm's efforts

Determinants of energy efficiency across countries

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Guolin

With economic development, environmental concerns become more important. Economies cannot be developed without energy consumption, which is the major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Higher energy efficiency is one means of reducing emissions, but what determines energy efficiency? In this research we attempt to find answers to this question by using cross-sectional country data; that is, we examine a wide range of possible determinants of energy efficiency at the country level in an attempt to find the most important causal factors. All countries are divided into three income groups: high-income countries, middle-income countries, and low-income countries. Energy intensity is used as a measurement of energy efficiency. All independent variables belong to two categories: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative variables are measures of the economic conditions, development indicators and energy usage situations. Qualitative variables mainly measure political, societal and economic strengths of a country. The three income groups have different economic and energy attributes. Each group has different sets of variables to explain energy efficiency. Energy prices and winter temperature are both important in high-income and middle-income countries. No qualitative variables appear in the model of high-income countries. Basic economic factors, such as institutions, political stability, urbanization level, population density, are important in low-income countries. Besides similar variables, such as macroeconomic stability and index of rule of law, the hydroelectricity share in total electric generation is also a driver of energy efficiency in middle-income countries. These variables have different policy implications for each group of countries.

Energy - efficient buildings in pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohail, M.; Qureshi, M.U.D.

2011-01-01

Pakistan is one of the countries with the highest energy consumption for domestic use. Annual energy consumption by the domestic sector is 45.9 % of the total, while the industrial sector, consumes about 27.5%. About half of the total energy consumed is used in buildings and/or heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) and lighting appliances. The energy consumed for the same purposes in China and UK is 25 to 30 % and 40 %, respectively, even in extreme weather conditions. Energy deficiency in Pakistan is approximately 5,000 MWe, which results in worst load-shedding in summers and, lately, even in winters. Building new energy sources like dams, coal power plants and renewable energy power projects are some possible solutions, but these are time taking and need at least 2 to 6 years to complete, depending upon the nature of the project. Fast development of energy-efficient buildings is, therefore, necessary to deal with exacerbating energy-crisis and related environmental impact in Pakistan. Innovations in the prevailing building-design will help the country in reducing the energy burden. These innovations may include improved architectural designs, energy-efficient building materials, electrical appliances and implementation of building energy-efficiency codes. In 1987, the National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON), was established under Ministry of Environment, Government of Pakistan, with the aim to build awareness among the masses for energy conservation, and to make policies regarding energy-conservation structures in the country. But no policy regarding building energy codes has been introduced by ENERCON till now. In collaboration with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), ENERCON has recently finalized the Building Energy Code of Pakistan Energy Provisions 2011 for which statutory notification is under process for necessary amendment in the building by-laws. The implementation of this Energy Code will result in 25 to 30 % of energy savings in the

Energy efficiency policies and measures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-07-01

This document makes a review of the energy efficiency and demand side management (DSM) policies and measures in European Union countries and Norway in 1999: institutional changes, measures and programmes, budget, taxation, existence of a national DSM programme, national budgets for DSM programmes, electricity pricing: energy/environment tax, national efficiency standards and regulation for new electrical appliances, implementation of Commission directives, efficiency requirements, labelling, fiscal and economic incentives. (J.S.)

Global status report on energy efficiency 2008

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blok, K.; van Breevoort, P.; Roes, A.L.; Coenraads, R.; Müller, N.

2008-01-01

There is wide agreement that energy efficiency improvement is one of the key strategies to achieve greater sustainability of the energy system. In the past, the contribution of energy efficiency has already been considerable.Without the energy efficiency improvements achieved since the 1970s,

Simultaneous Waste Heat and Water Recovery from Power Plant Flue Gases for Advanced Energy Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Dexin [Gas Technology Inst., Des Plaines, IL (United States)

2016-12-31

This final report presents the results of a two-year technology development project carried out by a team of participants sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE). The objective of this project is to develop a membrane-based technology to recover both water and low grade heat from power plant flue gases. Part of the recovered high-purity water and energy can be used directly to replace plant boiler makeup water as well as improving its efficiency, and the remaining part of the recovered water can be used for Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD), cooling tower water makeup or other plant uses. This advanced version Transport Membrane Condenser (TMC) with lower capital and operating costs can be applied to existing plants economically and can maximize waste heat and water recovery from future Advanced Energy System flue gases with CO₂ capture in consideration, which will have higher moisture content that favors the TMC to achieve higher efficiency.

Energy efficiency in Norway 1990-2002. Monitoring tools for energy efficiency in Europe: The Odyssee and MURE projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosenberg, Eva; Espegren, Kari Aamodt

2004-08-01

This report presents an analysis of energy efficiency trends in Norway on the basis of energy efficiency indicators extracted from the Odyssee data base, maintained and updated in the framework of the SAVE programme. This analysis focuses on the period 1990-2001/2002. It also examines the policies and measures implemented in the field of energy efficiency with a focus on the years 2000-2003. Final energy use per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reduced by approximately 2% pr year in the period 1990 to 2002. The energy efficiency improvement has been calculated to 0.7% pr year, while the role of structural changes has been 1.3% pr year. A detailed sector analysis has been done, applying Laspeyres indices to attribute changes in energy use to activity, structure or intensity (efficiency). We have found in total efficiency improvement of approximately 15 TWh from 1990 to 2001. (Author)

A Fuzzy-Based Building Energy Management System for Energy Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José L. Hernández

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Information and communication technologies (ICT offer immense potential to improve the energetic performance of buildings. Additionally, common building control systems are typically based on simple decision-making tools, which possess the ability to obtain controllable parameters for indoor temperatures. Nevertheless, the accuracy of such common building control systems is improvable with the integration of advanced decision-making techniques embedded into software and energy management tools. This paper presents the design of a building energy management system (BEMS, which is currently under development, and that makes use of artificial intelligence for the automated decision-making process required for optimal comfort of occupants and utilization of renewables for achieving energy-efficiency in buildings. The research falls under the scope of the H2020 project BREASER which implements fuzzy logic with the aim of governing the energy resources of a school in Turkey, which has been renovated with a ventilated façade with integrated renewable energy sources (RES. The BRESAER BEMS includes prediction techniques that increase the accuracy of common BEMS tools, and subsequent energy savings, while ensuring the indoor thermal comfort of the building occupants. In particular, weather forecast and simulation strategies are integrated into the functionalities of the overall system. By collecting the aforementioned information, the BEMS makes decisions according to a well-established selection of key performance indicators (KPIs with the objective of providing a quantitative comparable value to determine new actuation parameters.

Autonomy-oriented mechanisms for efficient energy distribution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Jiming; Shi, Benyun

2010-09-15

Due to the uneven geographical availability of energy resources, it is essential for the energy suppliers and consumers in different countries/regions to most efficiently, economically, as well as reliably distribute energy resources. In this paper, starting from a specific energy distribution problem, we present a decentralized behavior-based paradigm that draws on the methodology of autonomy-oriented computing. The goal is twofold: (i) to characterize the underlying mechanism of the energy distribution systems, (ii) to provide scalable solutions for efficient energy distribution. We conjecture that efficient energy trading markets can emerge from appropriate behavior-based mechanisms, which can autonomously improve energy distribution efficiency.

Incentives to improve energy efficiency in EU Grids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Papaefthymiou, G.; Beestermoeller, C.; Gardiner, A.

2013-04-15

The Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) includes provisions related to network tariffs and regulation. It is timely therefore to revisit the potential options for energy efficiency in grids, the treatment of energy efficiency in network tariffs and alternative policies for improving energy efficiency. This project builds on work done previously for the European Copper Institute in this area. In this paper, we concentrate on energy efficiency in electricity network design and operation. Other articles in the Directive relate to the role of the network tariffs and regulations in enabling or incentivising the provision of energy efficiency to end users. In section 2, we describe technical efficiency measures to reduce losses (improve energy efficiency) in the grid. Section 3 reviews grid tariffs in three countries to identify whether they provide incentives or disincentives for energy efficiency in the grid. Section 4 discusses and evaluates alternative regulations for energy efficiency in grids. Section 5 concludes and discusses the main components of the optimal policy framework.

Energy efficiency rating of districts, case Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedman, Åsa; Sepponen, Mari; Virtanen, Mikko

2014-01-01

There is an increasing political pressure on the city planning to create more energy efficient city plans. Not only do the city plans have to enable and promote energy efficient solutions, but it also needs to be clearly assessed how energy efficient the plans are. City planners often have no or poor know how about energy efficiency and building technologies which makes it difficult for them to answer to this need without new guidelines and tools. An easy to use tool for the assessment of the energy efficiency of detailed city plans was developed. The aim of the tool is for city planners to easily be able to assess the energy efficiency of the proposed detailed city plan and to be able to compare the impacts of changes in the plan. The tool is designed to be used with no in-depth knowledge about energy or building technology. With a wide use of the tool many missed opportunities for improving energy efficiency can be avoided. It will provide better opportunities for sustainable solutions leading to less harmful environmental impact and reduced emissions. - Highlights: • We have created a tool for assessing energy efficiency of detailed city plans. • The energy source is the most important factor for efficiency of districts in Finland. • Five case districts in Finland were analyzed. • In this paper one residential district has in-depth sensitivity analyses done

Partial-factor Energy Efficiency Model of Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Nugroho Fathul; Syaifudin Noor

2018-01-01

This study employs the partial-factor energy efficiency to reveal the relationships between energy efficiency and the consumption of both, the renewable energy and non-renewable energy in Indonesia. The findings confirm that consumption of non-renewable energy will increase the inefficiency in energy consumption. On the other side, the use of renewable energy will increase the energy efficiency in Indonesia. As the result, the Government of Indonesia may address this issue by providing more s...

Efficient Construction of Free Energy Profiles of Breathing Metal-Organic Frameworks Using Advanced Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Demuynck, Ruben; Rogge, Sven M J; Vanduyfhuys, Louis; Wieme, Jelle; Waroquier, Michel; Van Speybroeck, Veronique

2017-12-12

In order to reliably predict and understand the breathing behavior of highly flexible metal-organic frameworks from thermodynamic considerations, an accurate estimation of the free energy difference between their different metastable states is a prerequisite. Herein, a variety of free energy estimation methods are thoroughly tested for their ability to construct the free energy profile as a function of the unit cell volume of MIL-53(Al). The methods comprise free energy perturbation, thermodynamic integration, umbrella sampling, metadynamics, and variationally enhanced sampling. A series of molecular dynamics simulations have been performed in the frame of each of the five methods to describe structural transformations in flexible materials with the volume as the collective variable, which offers a unique opportunity to assess their computational efficiency. Subsequently, the most efficient method, umbrella sampling, is used to construct an accurate free energy profile at different temperatures for MIL-53(Al) from first principles at the PBE+D3(BJ) level of theory. This study yields insight into the importance of the different aspects such as entropy contributions and anharmonic contributions on the resulting free energy profile. As such, this thorough study provides unparalleled insight in the thermodynamics of the large structural deformations of flexible materials.

Efficient Construction of Free Energy Profiles of Breathing Metal–Organic Frameworks Using Advanced Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

In order to reliably predict and understand the breathing behavior of highly flexible metal–organic frameworks from thermodynamic considerations, an accurate estimation of the free energy difference between their different metastable states is a prerequisite. Herein, a variety of free energy estimation methods are thoroughly tested for their ability to construct the free energy profile as a function of the unit cell volume of MIL-53(Al). The methods comprise free energy perturbation, thermodynamic integration, umbrella sampling, metadynamics, and variationally enhanced sampling. A series of molecular dynamics simulations have been performed in the frame of each of the five methods to describe structural transformations in flexible materials with the volume as the collective variable, which offers a unique opportunity to assess their computational efficiency. Subsequently, the most efficient method, umbrella sampling, is used to construct an accurate free energy profile at different temperatures for MIL-53(Al) from first principles at the PBE+D3(BJ) level of theory. This study yields insight into the importance of the different aspects such as entropy contributions and anharmonic contributions on the resulting free energy profile. As such, this thorough study provides unparalleled insight in the thermodynamics of the large structural deformations of flexible materials. PMID:29131647

Increased energy efficiency of hobs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-01-01

The objective of the project is to save energy when cooking food on hobs. A great part of the total energy consumption used for cooking is consumed by hobs. The amount of energy depends on the temperature used for cooking and energy used for evaporation of liquid, focussing especially on the latter in this project. CHEC B is a method for controlling the supply of energy to the zone, so that a minimum of energy is used for reaching a set temperature of the food/liquid in the pot and maintaining this temperature. Today the efficiency of hobs is between 50 - 75%. Using CHEC B the energy efficiency is expected to be higher. (au)

Distributed Sensor Coordination for Advanced Energy Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tumer, Kagan [Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)

2013-07-31

The ability to collect key system level information is critical to the safe, efficient and reliable operation of advanced energy systems. With recent advances in sensor development, it is now possible to push some level of decision making directly to computationally sophisticated sensors, rather than wait for data to arrive to a massive centralized location before a decision is made. This type of approach relies on networked sensors (called “agents” from here on) to actively collect and process data, and provide key control decisions to significantly improve both the quality/relevance of the collected data and the associating decision making. The technological bottlenecks for such sensor networks stem from a lack of mathematics and algorithms to manage the systems, rather than difficulties associated with building and deploying them. Indeed, traditional sensor coordination strategies do not provide adequate solutions for this problem. Passive data collection methods (e.g., large sensor webs) can scale to large systems, but are generally not suited to highly dynamic environments, such as advanced energy systems, where crucial decisions may need to be reached quickly and locally. Approaches based on local decisions on the other hand cannot guarantee that each agent performing its task (maximize an agent objective) will lead to good network wide solution (maximize a network objective) without invoking cumbersome coordination routines. There is currently a lack of algorithms that will enable self-organization and blend the efficiency of local decision making with the system level guarantees of global decision making, particularly when the systems operate in dynamic and stochastic environments. In this work we addressed this critical gap and provided a comprehensive solution to the problem of sensor coordination to ensure the safe, reliable, and robust operation of advanced energy systems. The differentiating aspect of the proposed work is in shifting the focus

Energy-efficient buildings: Does the marketplace work?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, M.A.

1996-12-31

For a variety of reasons, U.S. households, businesses, manufacturers, and government agencies all fail to take full advantage of cost-effective, energy-efficiency opportunities. Despite a growing environmental ethic among Americans and a concern for energy independence, consumers in this country are underinvesting in technologies, products, and practices that would cut their energy bills. The result is a large untapped potential for improving energy productivity, economic competitiveness, environmental quality, and energy security. The thesis of this paper is that the marketplace for energy efficiency, in general, is not operating perfectly, and the marketplace for energy-efficient buildings, in particular, is flawed. The reasons for underinvestments in cost-effective, energy efficiency are numerous and complicated. They also vary from sector to sector: the principal causes of energy inefficiencies in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation are not the same as the causes of inefficiencies in homes and office buildings, although there are some similarities. One of the reasons for these differences is that the structure of marketplace for delivering new technologies and products in each sector differs. Energy-efficiency improvements in the buildings sector is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, since most of the energy consumed in buildings comes from the burning of fossil fuels. This paper therefore begins by describing energy use and energy trends in the U.S. buildings sector. Characteristics of the marketplace for delivering energy efficiency technologies and products are then described in detail, arguing that this marketplace structure significantly inhibits rapid efficiency improvements.

Improving energy efficiency in industrial energy systems an interdisciplinary perspective on barriers, energy audits, energy management, policies, and programs

CERN Document Server

Thollander, Patrik

2012-01-01

Industrial energy efficiency is one of the most important means of reducing the threat of increased global warming. Research however states that despite the existence of numerous technical energy efficiency measures, its deployment is hindered by the existence of various barriers to energy efficiency. The complexity of increasing energy efficiency in manufacturing industry calls for an interdisciplinary approach to the issue. Improving energy efficiency in industrial energy systems applies an interdisciplinary perspective in examining energy efficiency in industrial energy systems, and discuss

Energy, economic, and environmental impacts of advanced industrial process innovations, 1976--1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quinn, J.E.; Reed, J.E.

1997-01-01

The mission of the Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is to develop and deploy advanced energy efficiency, renewable energy, and pollution-prevention technologies, through partnerships with industry, government, and non-governmental organizations. OIT's objectives have evolved and broadened over nearly two decades, continually responding to a changing energy situation and shifting national priorities. Today, the key focus of the OIT programs is the Industries of the Future approach. This strategy of close collaboration with industry catalyzes and facilitates technology development and transfer efforts in seven manufacturing industries that together account for over 80% of the energy used and over 80% of the wastes produced by the manufacturing sector. In this approach senior level industry groups develop a future vision of their industry and a technology roadmap to attain the vision. DOE helps facilitate this process and partners with industry to identify and pursue an advanced technology R and D portfolio. The seven industries are aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, metalcasting, petroleum refining, and steel. In managing all its activities, OIT draws upon program support provided primarily by national Laboratories, universities, and private-sector research organizations throughout the country that have the diverse and specialized expertise needed to develop advanced industrial technologies. Approximately 78 industrial technologies developed with Office of Industrial Technology (OIT) support have successfully entered commercial markets. These technologies have saved a cumulative total of almost 900 trillion Btu, representing a new production cost savings of over $1.8 billion. These dollar savings represent the net total value of all energy saved by technologies developed with OIT support minus the net cost to industry of using the technologies (including capital costs, operating and

Benefits for whom? Energy efficiency within the efficient market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chello, Dario

2015-01-01

How should the lack of an efficient energy market affect the design of energy efficiency policies and their implementation? What the consequences of an inefficient energy market on end users’ behaviour? This article tries to give an answer to such questions, by considering the decision making of domestic users following a few fundamental concepts of behavioural economics. The mechanism of price formation in the market, with particular reference to the internal energy market in Europe, will be examined and we will show that price remains the inflexible attribute in making an energy choice. Then, some conclusions will be addressed to policy makers on how to overcome the barriers illustrated.

The characteristics of energy-efficiency measures – a neglected dimension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleiter, Tobias; Hirzel, Simon; Worrell, Ernst

2012-01-01

The diffusion of cost-effective energy-efficiency measures (EEMs) in firms is often surprisingly slow. This phenomenon is usually attributed to a variety of barriers which have been the focus of numerous studies over the last two decades. However, many studies treat EEMs homogenously and assume they have few inherent differences apart from their profitability. We argue that complementing such analyses by considering the characteristics of EEMs in a structured manner can enhance the understanding of EEM adoption. For this purpose, we suggest a classification scheme for EEMs in industry which aims to provide a better understanding of their adoption by industrial firms and to assist in selecting and designing energy-efficiency policies. The suggested classification scheme is derived from the literature on the adoption of EEMs and the related fields including the diffusion of innovations, eco-innovations and advanced manufacturing technology. Our proposed scheme includes 12 characteristics based on the relative advantage, the technical and the information context of the EEM. Applying this classification scheme to six example EEMs demonstrates that it can help to systematically explain why certain EEMs diffuse faster than others. Furthermore, it provides a basis for identifying policies able to increase the rate of adoption. - Highlights: ► The characteristics of energy-efficiency measures critically affect their adoption. ► We propose a classification for energy-efficiency measures in industry. ► It allows to draw conclusions on the adoption likelihood and intensity of barriers. ► As such it provides a basis for policy design and technology analysis.

Energy efficiency system development

Science.gov (United States)

Leman, A. M.; Rahman, K. A.; Chong, Haw Jie; Salleh, Mohd Najib Mohd; Yusof, M. Z. M.

2017-09-01

By subjecting to the massive usage of electrical energy in Malaysia, energy efficiency is now one of the key areas of focus in climate change mitigation. This paper focuses on the development of an energy efficiency system of household electrical appliances for residential areas. Distribution of Questionnaires and pay a visit to few selected residential areas are conducted during the fulfilment of the project as well as some advice on how to save energy are shared with the participants. Based on the collected data, the system developed by the UTHM Energy Team is then evaluated from the aspect of the consumers' behaviour in using electrical appliances and the potential reduction targeted by the team. By the end of the project, 60% of the participants had successfully reduced the electrical power consumption set by the UTHM Energy Team. The reasons for whether the success and the failure is further analysed in this project.

Energy efficiency in South Africa: A decomposition exercise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inglesi-Lotz, R.; Pouris, A.

2012-01-01

Improvement of energy efficiency has been accepted as one of the most cost-effective approaches towards sustainable economic development and reduction of the continuously increasing energy consumption internationally. South Africa, being among the developing countries, is not an exception even though historically low energy prices and the lack of appropriate policies have created an energy intensive economy. This paper examines the factors affecting the trends in energy efficiency in South Africa from 1993 to 2006 and particularly the impact of structural changes and utilisation efficiency of the country's energy intensity. Identifying and understanding the driving forces are necessary ingredients in the development of appropriate policy-making. This paper also provides disaggregation of the energy efficiency trends in the main sectors of the economy. We determine that structural changes of the economy have played an important and negative role in the increasing economy-wide energy efficiency. On the other hand, the energy usage's intensity was a contributing factor to the decreasing trend of energy efficiency. We suggest that differentiated price policies may be required if South Africa is to create an effective energy efficiency policy. -- Highlights: ► Improving energy efficiency can lead to lower energy consumption and emissions. ► A decomposition analysis examines the factors affecting efficiency in South Africa. ► With unchanged economic structure, the energy efficiency would be 0.75 units lower. ► Intensity was a contributing factor to the decreasing trend of energy efficiency.

Highly efficient solutions for smart and bulk power transmission of 'green energy'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Breuer, Wilfried; Retzmann, Dietmar; Uecker, Karl

2010-09-15

Environmental constraints, loss minimization and CO2 reduction will play an increasingly more important role in future. Security and sustainability of power supply as well as economic efficiency needs application of advanced technologies. Innovative solutions with HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) and FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems) have the potential to cope with these challenges. They provide the features which are necessary to avoid technical problems in power systems, they increase the transmission capacity and system stability very efficiently and help prevent cascading outages. Furthermore, they are essential for Grid Access of Renewable Energy Sources such as Hydro, Wind and Solar-Energy.

Contracting for Efficiency. A Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunch, Saralyn [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2016-04-01

The requirement to buy energy- and water-efficient products applies to federal purchases made through any procurement pathway (e.g., purchase cards, e-retailers, and solicitations) and to a wide variety of federal projects. The Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP's) Buy Energy-Efficient Products buyer overview fact sheet and Contracting for Efficiency best practices guide for product procurement are designed to support federal buyers in the purchase of energy- and water-efficient products.

Contracting for Efficiency: A Best Practices Guide for Energy Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunch, Saralyn [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2017-11-01

The requirement to buy energy- and water-efficient products applies to federal purchases made through any procurement pathway (e.g., purchase cards, e-retailers, and solicitations) and to a wide variety of federal projects. The Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP's) Buy Energy-Efficient Products buyer overview fact sheet and Contracting for Efficiency best practices guide for product procurement are designed to support federal buyers in the purchase of energy- and water-efficient products.

US residential energy demand and energy efficiency: A stochastic demand frontier approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, Massimo; Hunt, Lester C.

2012-01-01

This paper estimates a US frontier residential aggregate energy demand function using panel data for 48 ‘states’ over the period 1995 to 2007 using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Utilizing an econometric energy demand model, the (in)efficiency of each state is modeled and it is argued that this represents a measure of the inefficient use of residential energy in each state (i.e. ‘waste energy’). This underlying efficiency for the US is therefore observed for each state as well as the relative efficiency across the states. Moreover, the analysis suggests that energy intensity is not necessarily a good indicator of energy efficiency, whereas by controlling for a range of economic and other factors, the measure of energy efficiency obtained via this approach is. This is a novel approach to model residential energy demand and efficiency and it is arguably particularly relevant given current US energy policy discussions related to energy efficiency.

Investing in Energy Efficiency. Removing the Barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

Investing in improving energy efficiency has the clear advantages of reducing energy costs, improving security of supply and mitigating the environmental impacts of energy use. And still, many viable opportunities for higher energy efficiency are not tapped because of the existence of numerous barriers to such investments. These lost opportunities imply costs to the individual energy consumers and to the society as a whole and they are particularly important in economies in transition. This report identifies various types of barriers for making energy efficiency investments (be they of legal, administrative, institutional or financial nature), mainly in buildings, district heating and efficient lighting. The role of various bodies and organisations for the facilitation of energy efficiency investments is analysed, from public authorities and regulators to banks and international financing institutions

Energy efficiency practices among road freight hauliers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liimatainen, Heikki; Stenholm, Pekka; Tapio, Petri; McKinnon, Alan

2012-01-01

The reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) is a highly prevalent public policy goal among European Union member countries. In the new White Paper on transport, the role of road freight transports in this is strongly emphasized. This far, however, the efficiency practices utilised in logistics firms are less studied. Drawing from policy goals and new survey data on 295 road transport firms our results show that hauliers are aware of the possible energy efficiency actions but lack the knowledge and resources to fully utilize them. Energy efficiency seems also to be unimportant for many shippers, so there are no incentives for hauliers to improve it. Examples from various countries show that clear energy efficiency improvements can be achieved with active cooperation between hauliers, shippers and policy makers. Such cooperation can be developed in Finland through the sectoral energy efficiency agreements. The novelty and the utility of these results allow scholars to answer important open questions in the national-level determinants of enhancing energy efficiency practices among road freight hauliers, and contribute to our understanding of how these can be fostered in public policies. - Highlights: ► Hauliers still monitor their fuel consumption with unsophisticated methods. ► Larger hauliers are more active in energy efficiency related issues than smaller ones. ► Hauliers are aware of energy efficiency actions, but lack knowledge of implementation. ► Finnish energy efficiency agreement provides a good framework for public policies. ► Companies that monitor and improve energy efficiency may gain competitive advantage.

Polish Foundation for Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-12-31

The Polish Foundation for Energy Efficiency (FEWE) was established in Poland at the end of 1990. FEWE, as an independent and non-profit organization, has the following objectives: to strive towards an energy efficient national economy, and to show the way and methods by use of which energy efficiency can be increased. The activity of the Foundation covers the entire territory of Poland through three regional centers: in Warsaw, Katowice and Cracow. FEWE employs well-known and experienced specialists within thermal and power engineering, civil engineering, economy and applied sciences. The organizer of the Foundation has been Battelle Memorial Institute - Pacific Northwest Laboratories from the USA.

Achieving Energy Efficient Ship Operations Under Third Party Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taudal Poulsen, René; Sornn-Friese, Henrik

2015-01-01

Profitable energy saving measures are often not fully implemented in shipping, causing energy efficiency gaps. The paper identifies energy efficiency gaps in ship operations, and explores their causes. Lack of information on energy efficiency, lack of energy training at sea and onshore and lack...... of time to produce and provide reliable energy efficiency information cause energy efficiency gaps. The paper brings together the energy efficiency and ship management literatures, demonstrating how ship management models influence energy efficiency in ship operations. Achieving energy efficiency in ship...

TV Energy Consumption Trends and Energy-Efficiency Improvement Options

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Won Young; Phadke, Amol; Shah, Nihar; Letschert, Virginie

2011-07-01