A Multi-objective Optimization Model for Building Envelope Retrofit Planning

Does transitioning towards renewable energy accelerate economic growth? An analysis of sectoral growth for a dynamic panel of countries

Energy conservation in the building sector is drawing increased attention in the world. It is found that around 40% of the European Union's overall energy consumption is used by buildings. Among the energy used by different systems and components in a general building, its envelope makes a great contribution. As a result, properly designed retrofitting and maintenance plans for building envelopes can make a big difference in terms of energy usage of buildings. In this paper, a multi-objective optimization model for determining an optimal maintenance plan of building envelope components after retrofitting is presented. Specifically, windows, external wall insulation material and roof insulation material are the components considered for retrofitting and maintenance. After the items are retrofitted with their better counterparts, an optimal maintenance plan is developed for the purpose of energy consumption minimization with economic performance taken into account. Net present value, payback period and life-cycle cost, which are important factors for decision makers are taking into consideration when formulating the minimum energy usage maintenance plan. Eventually, an optimization model is formulated with two objectives, one to maximize energy savings and the other to maximize economic benefits during the model's evaluation period. A case study on a 70 years old family house is conducted as an illustrative example. The results show that around 40% of the energy consumption of the building can be avoided by applying the retrofitting and maintenance plan.

Environmental policy integration (EPI) relates to the inclusion of environmental concerns in sectoral policies outside the conventional environmental policy domain. EPI has became a main concept in global environmental governance with the intention to link the incompatible objectives of economic competitiveness, social development and environmental protection with the concept of Sustainable Development (SD). Having to deal with the environmental concerns over, for example energy, is a necessity. There is an opinion that the environmental concerns of the energy chain are some of the most important drivers to influence European Union (EU) energy policy. Similarly, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and energy efficiency created the stance for a sustainable energy system. The target for energy from RES (RES-E) in the gross final consumption in the Republic of Serbia is set to increase from 20.1% in 2014 to 27% in 2020. Each deviation from mandatory share of RES in gross final consumption in the Republic of Serbia would mean higher energy gross consumption than anticipated and more capacities for energy generation from RES. Analysis is required from the aspect of energy system possibilities, the impact on mandatory national goals for energy share from RES in total gross final energy consumption and long-term interest of the Republic of Serbia. Key words: Environmental policy integration, Sustainable Development, Renewable Energy Sources.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze energy consumption and supply on a prefectural scale, and to visualize and compare the regional energy demand-supply distribution considering potential of renewable energy. The final energy consumption and the final energy consumption per capita are related to the industrial sector. Total final energy consumption is reported to be 13,297 PJ, of which 6,136 PJ is used for the industrial sector. In the residential and commercial sector, population is the most effective on the final energy consumption. On the other hand, final energy consumption per capita in residential sector is tied to the climate: cold areas like Hokkaido, Tohoku, and Hokuriku have larger consumption than other areas. Energy expenditure per capita in residential sector is also large in cold areas; for instance, 98,581 JPY/capita is spent for energy in Hokkaido. The energy supply system in Japan depends on thermal power generation that is large scale-centralized; Chiba has the largest thermal power generation estimated at 390 PJ. By contrast, thermal power generation in Yamanashi is the smallest in Japan estimated at 0.5 PJ. Renewable resources are widely distributed in Japan, but renewable energy supply which is calculated at 374 PJ is very small. Onshore wind power and solar power have enough potential, evaluated at 2,985 PJ, to substitute thermal power plants. This study indicates that development of local energy systems, especially local heat supply system, is important to introduce local renewable energy, and introduction of renewable energy leads to more balanced regional energy demand-supply distribution.

Energy and GDP analysis of OECD countries

With a share of 30% in total final energy consumption and around 20% in CO2 emissions, private households in Germany strongly affect the environment. At the same time private households are an important target group for policy interventions to fight climate change. Against this background, numerous policy measures that intend to decrease energy consumption and to support renewable energy technologies have been introduced. These policy measures call for accurate evaluation to avoid expensive redundancies due to overlapping policy instruments. The evaluation of energy and environmental policy measures requires comprehensive and reliable data. So far such data was unavailable in Germany, especially in the context of private households. Hence, the responsiveness of German households to climate protection policies was unknown. For this purpose, the Socio-Ecological Panel offers rich information on household’s energy consumption and environmental behavior. The data was gathered in four household surveys conducted in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The survey waves can be merged using the household ID. The data builds the basis for empirical analyses of households’ adaptation to climate change and the evaluation of environmental and climate policy measures. This data set comprises the information gathered in the 2013 survey wave.

Safeguarding environmental well-being has become a core agenda worldwide. In this regard, phasing out dependency on unclean fossil fuels and adopting cleaner energy alternatives is recognised as a prioritised energy policy reform. Therefore, this study investigates the dynamic impacts of renewable and nuclear energy uses on the ecological footprint figures of the G7 countries. The overall results reveal that enhancing renewable energy consumption and renewable electricity production are effective in reducing ecological footprints. However, simply increasing the nuclear energy consumption and electricity production levels are not enough to curb the ecological footprints. Rather, it is essential to scale the shares of nuclear energy in total final energy consumption and electricity output levels of the G7 nations. Thus, these key findings collectively portray the relevance of undergoing a clean energy transition in tackling environmental adversities in these developed countries. Moreover, the results verify the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis while international trade is evidenced to further reduce ecological footprints.

The high quality of life in the modern sense is directly related to energy consumption and associated with the provision of «clean» food products and environment, comfortable housing, public and private transport. Increasing the availability of energy for the developing countries allows their residents to live longer and more comfortably. At the same time, in the developed European countries with high quality of life, energy consumption is decreasing due to the implementation of energy efficiency and energy saving policies. The Human Development Index, the world’s best-known and most widely used integrated assessment of quality of life, does not include energy consumption indicators. The aim of our research is to study the relationship between energy consumption and quality of life, and prove the need to consider energy consumption indicators in order to improve the methodology framework for assessing quality of life. Using the method of cluster analysis, 77 countries of the world are grouped according to a set of indicators that characterize income, energy consumption, use of renewable energy sources, and CO2 emissions. As a result, the relationship between the level of human development, which is a universal characteristic of quality of life, and these indicators was identified and evaluated. It has been proved that the most prosperous countries in terms of quality of life and energy use are those in which relatively low indicators of primary energy consumption and CO2 emission are combined with high incomes and human development level. The progressive structure of energy consumption ensures the achievement of a higher quality of living, while high energy consumption is not a sufficient condition for this. Against the background of low levels of total primary energy consumption and GDP per capita, CO2 emissions, as well as a low share of renewable energy in total energy consumption, high quality of life is present mainly in the «new» EU member states, which provide it through rational energy consumption. The average level of human development is inherent in a group of countries of the former USSR (which includes Ukraine), as well as some countries in Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. At the same time, countries such as China and South Korea are reducing energy consumption owing to technological progress and have a positive dynamics of human development indicators. Instead, low levels of energy consumption in the former Soviet Union and Latin America are due to insufficient sustainability of economic and social development, human development in particular. The obtained results substantiate the need to improve the methodology for assessing the quality of life taking into consideration energy consumption indicators.

Study on the mid-long term electrification level of China

The growth of urban population as a result of economic and industrial development has transformed our habitat from a prosperous place to one of careless resource consumption. On the other hand, long-term climate change, i.e., global warming, has had an adverse impact on our resources. Some resources are on the verge of being depleted due to climate change and indiscriminate consumption of resources, unless serious measures are implemented immediately. Building sector whose contribution to urban energy consumption Significantly higher, is a key player that may successfully solve the problem. In this paper, the impact of climate change on building energy demand and thermal comfort in buildings has been examined. Currently, most countries are grappling with the dual challenge of reducing greenhouse gases and climate change in the building sector. However, their efforts in addressing this challenge and stabilizing climate change. The building sector has tremendous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at relatively low costs. Long-term climate change (e.g., global warming) is driving an increase in energy consumption for cooling demand, which contributes much more to the total energy consumption of buildings than heating demand. Therefore, to conserve its resources, urban energy planning and management should focus on creating an appropriate framework of guidelines on how to reduce cooling loads in building energy consumption patterns. It was also shown that in summer and spring, entry into the thermal stress zone is external, while in cold seasons, entry into the thermal comfort zone is external.

Treaty of Lisbon; Advancing European Union's Energy Security through External Energy Policy.

Since carbon neutrality requires reducing dependence on fossil fuels, an accurate analysis of final energy consumption is essential for an effective transition. According to major international reports, thermal energy accounts for approximately 50% of final energy consumption. However, in the Republic of Korea (Korea), the proportion of thermal energy, limited to heat supply, is only 1-2%. This discrepancy, due to a lack of national statistics and policies on thermal energy, highlights a significant difference from the international reality where thermal energy constitutes a major part of energy demand, posing challenges for formulating effective policies for carbon neutrality. This study aims to recalculate Korea’s national thermal energy statistics from an energy consumption perspective, using only the nationally recognized Energy Statistical Yearbook and its revised energy balance data, based on 2018 data. Final energy was categorized into nonelectric and electric thermal energy, and thermal energy consumption was calculated for the industrial, building, and transportation sectors. The key findings indicate that thermal energy accounted for 55% of final energy, with 46% from the non-electric sector and 9% from the electric sector. By sector, the industrial sector accounted for 37% and the building sector for 18%. Additionally, 68% of total energy in the industrial sector and 32% in the building sector was attributed to thermal energy. These figures closely align with estimates from previous studies that used more complex methodologies, demonstrating high reliability. The results suggest that thermal energy, particularly in the industrial and building sectors, should be prioritized for reduction and transition in the pursuit of carbon neutrality. This recalculation method of thermal energy statistics could enhance understanding of thermal energy, contributing to more efficient policy development and the establishment of an information system.

The detailed analysis and forecast model by province (30), energy demand sector (60) and fuel type (22) in China was developed based on Gray System Theory. According to China's economic and social development strategies, and energy-conservation policies, the energy consumption by province, sector and fuel type by 2030 for two scenarios: the high and low economic growths were projected. Whereas the statistical data of energy consumption, GDP and population from 1991 to 1996 are taken as the observation period, and the year-1991 is taken as the basic base year, the detailed energy balance tables by province were projected. For Scenario 1, the increase tendency of final energy consumption will become gradual after 2025 and will reach 24, 400Pcal in 2030. For Scenario 2, the final energy consumption will reach the peak 19, 800Pcal in 2025, and decrease after 2025. The coal will still possess a dominant status in China's primary energy consumption although its share in total primary energy consumption amount decreases to 65.2% and 63.1% from 74.5% of 1995 for Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 respectively in 2030. The average growth rate of final energy consumption (3.6% and 2.8% respectively for Scenario 1 and Scenario 2) is far lower than that of GDP (7.6% and 6.7% respectively for Scenario 1 and Scenario 2) in China from 1995 to 2030.

Research on the building energy efficiency design strategy of Chinese universities based on green performance analysis

Developing a Thermal Comfort Report Card for Building