Energy Efficiency最新文献

Energy consumption has garnered significant attention in recent years as a primary driver of global warming. Modifying consumer behavior, particularly within the residential sector, which accounts for a substantial share of global energy consumption and carbon emissions, is crucial for reducing consumption and achieving sustainable development. Aiming to integrate the concepts of Responsible consumption (RC) and behavioral interventions within the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) theoretical framework, this research seeks to develop a conceptual model to explain and promote responsible energy consumption behavior. Research data were collected through questionnaires and expert interviews. Data analysis was conducted using the Fuzzy Delphi Method, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in SmartPLS4 software, and scenario writing employing the Cross-Impact Balance (CIB) method. In this study, Behavioral interventions (individual or combined) designed based on the principles of responsible innovation (RI) alongside TPB variables play a key role. The results indicated that combined interventions significantly impact the intention and behavior of Responsible consumption and, as mediating and moderating variables, play a significant role in translating intention into behavior. In contrast, individual interventions alone exhibit weaker effectiveness. Furthermore, 8 future-oriented scenarios for reducing household energy consumption were designed, revealing that participatory and supportive scenarios focused on promoting Responsible consumption behavior have a greater impact on behavior change. By integrating RI, TPB, and behavioral interventions within an analytical and scenario-based model, this research provides a novel framework for energy policymaking in developing countries. It emphasizes the operational and policy role of behavioral interventions.

The residential sector significantly contributes to total energy consumption in the European Union. Over the past decades, the average floor area per person has increased steadily, resulting in higher energy demand for building materials, heating and cooling. However, the distribution of floor area is not equal across different demographic groups and household compositions. Redistributing floor area offers a significant opportunity to save resources and reduce the need for new construction by avoiding unnecessary consumption. Strategies such as moving, sharing and rearranging can facilitate this redistribution in the residential sector. In order to assess the feasibility of these strategies, this paper examines the current residents’ behaviour in the residential sector regarding space use and explores the potential for change. It draws on empirical data from an online survey conducted in Germany, Sweden, Poland and Portugal. By conducting a cluster analysis of the collected data, the paper identifies two groups with the highest potential for change in residential space use. It examines their willingness to change their space use patterns and investigates the acceptance of specific strategies that could lead to a reduction in the need for new construction in the residential sector. In order to promote more efficient use of space in the residential sector, the paper recommends encouraging space sharing, supporting structural changes in dwellings, and providing incentives for moving from under-occupied dwellings. It advocates for the implementation of tailored policies that consider the characteristics of each group, along with targeted awareness-raising efforts to increase policy acceptance.

Energy efficiency improvement is one of the win–win measures for sustainable development by simultaneously saving energy resources, reducing greenhouse gases, and promoting economic development. However, firms may postpone their energy efficiency plans due to credit constraint conditions. This paper evaluates how credit constraint conditions affect energy efficiency improvement based on data of 5,154 manufacturing firms from 39 countries. The estimation results indicate that lifting credit constraints for constrained firms would increase their energy efficiency by seven percentage points. The aggregate results at the industrial sector level are consistent with those documented in previous studies. However, our results further reveal that energy efficiency and treatment effects vary across industrial sectors and firms within a sector of interest. This provides supportive evidence for policymakers to design loan guarantee programs and credit supply, among the sectoral policies and regulations, for energy efficiency improvement.

The focus of utilities worldwide has shifted towards energy saving, energy efficiency and demand flexibility, aiming for sustainable consumption and production. United Nations have declared ‘responsible consumption and production’ a sustainable development goal (SDG12). Energy sustainability and reduced GHG emissions can be achieved through responsible consumption, energy efficiency, adopting energy-saving technologies and policies. The proposed research investigated the energy-saving perspectives of Indian Generation Z (aged 15–24) and Millennials (aged 25–40). A comprehensive survey involving 556 Gen Z and Millennials explored their attitudes toward energy conservation, focusing on adopting energy-saving attributes, interest in emerging energy-saving technologies and policies, perspectives on global warming, willingness to sacrifice comfort, and the societal influences shaping their views. The findings revealed that 73% of Gen Z and 85% of Millennials prioritise ‘energy conservation. An in-depth understanding of these perspectives holds significant potential for crafting effective, future-ready energy strategies and policies for sustainable development. Acceptance rate of all energy-saving technologies, except device remote control, among the Gen Z and Millennials is above 75%, which is a positive sign towards sustainability. Gen Z and Millennials share similar opinions on the perspectives towards sacrificing comfort for energy saving, influence of society on energy conservation and energy-efficient technologies. They differ in perceiving energy-saving opportunities and energy-saving policies. The findings are validated using statistical tools and ANOVA.

Workplaces constitute substantial energy consumers, underscoring the essential role of employees' behaviors in the realm of energy saving. The energy-saving behavior of employees is intricately shaped by a confluence of psychological and organizational factors, personal norms, environmental awareness, and environmental consciousness. However, the combined impacts of organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior in influencing employees' energy-saving intentions and behaviors have received little attention, despite prior studies acknowledging the importance of both individual and organizational factors. This study consists of two separate research studies. Study I included a survey of 354 service employees in Adana, Türkiye, employing a convenience sampling method to quantitatively assess the impact of individual attitudes, social cognitive factors, and job attitudes, specifically organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, on employees' energy-saving behaviors. The Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Exchange Theory were incorporated to create a comprehensive explanatory model. The results of structural equation modelling underscored the substantial influence of organizational citizenship behavior on energy-saving behavior. Expanding on these findings, Study II utilized an observational methodology, engaging 25 employees from the same sample, who were monitored by five trained observers to gain further insights into the actual manifestations of energy-saving behaviors in workplaces. The observational study has also confirmed the effect of organizational citizenship behavior on energy-saving behavior. In total, these complementary studies provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting employees’ intentions and behaviors regarding saving energy and offer practical insights for formulating effective organizational policies and interventions to encourage sustainable energy practices among employees.

Miscellaneous Electric Loads (MELs) account for roughly one quarter of building electricity use in most developed countries. A product-specific approach to lowering MELs electricity use in this category takes too long and costs too much because there are so many MELs, each providing unique services. An alternative approach focusing on key functionalities was therefore explored. These functionalities include: (1) power management, (2) power scaling, and (3) power conversion. Cross-cutting efficiency improvements to these functionalities can be incorporated into broad categories of MELs, thus saving electricity and lowering costs. Even though the population of MELs is diverse and rapidly evolving, major technical opportunities exist to improve their efficiency in these functionalities. Research into energy-saving solutions within the cross-cutting technologies will probably have larger savings than focusing on single products.

Manufacturing SMEs play an important role in addressing the EU’s energy and climate challenges, as significant contributors both to economic output and greenhouse gas emissions. In Finland, these enterprises are vital for the national economy and sustainability goals but face significant barriers to energy optimization and Industry 4.0 adoption. Existing research often treats manufacturing SMEs as a homogeneous group, not addressing the diversity of barriers and drivers across micro, small, and medium-sized organizations across this sector. This paper, based on the Enertelligence -project conducted in Finland’s Ostrobothnia region—one of the country’s most industrialized areas—studies these differences through interviews with manufacturing SME managers, utilizing a maturity table to reveal variations in readiness and maturity across company sizes. The findings show that SMEs’ size significantly influences energy transition readiness, influenced by available resources, technological capabilities, and willingness to act. Additionally, external factors such as regulatory complexity and limited market incentives further hinder progress. The research introduces the innovation ecosystem approach as a regionally grounded theoretical framework to support manufacturing SMEs in overcoming these challenges. The insights have wider relevance for Finnish industrial policy and provide practical guidance for policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers seeking to accelerate sustainable modernization within the manufacturing SME sector.

Geopolitical risks, energy security risks, and economic policy uncertainties play an important role in shaping energy consumption patterns, especially in times of economic and environmental challenges. However, their precise impacts are still insufficiently researched. To address this gap, this paper examines their effects on energy consumption in European Union countries from 1995 to 2022 while controlling for economic development, environmental degradation, industrialization, urbanization, and trade openness. The results, obtained using fixed effects feasible generalized least squares and two-stage least squares estimators, reveal that energy import dependence and economic policy uncertainty significantly and negatively affect final energy consumption across different model specifications and robustness analyses. This contrasts with the impact of geopolitical risk, which was positive but of lesser magnitude and only significant when tested jointly or controlling endogeneity. Additionally, the paper highlights two particularly intriguing and novel findings from the results, providing valuable implications for energy and environmental policy. First, the unexpected positive relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption suggests that extreme weather events driven by climate change are already disrupting energy systems in Europe, resulting in higher energy consumption. Second, while geopolitical risk increases energy consumption, energy security risk and economic policy uncertainty have the opposite effect, likely due to heightened uncertainty, which discourages investment and slows technological progress.

Mitigation of energy poverty (EP) is a relevant policy goal nowadays for governments worldwide. The determinants of household EP should be identified and analysed in order to design targeted policies for specific groups which mitigate EP effectively and efficiently. The aim of this paper is to identify the most relevant determinants of EP as well as research gaps in the academic literature on those determinants. For this purpose, a systematic review of the literature has been performed. We consider the positive or negative relationship of a specific factor with energy poverty, and also account for the degree of evidence, agreement and statistical significance of a given factor. The results show that many determinants have been considered in the literature, but most articles include a limited number of them. A negative relationship between energy poverty and household income as well as educational level of the household head is found. On the other hand, energy poverty is significantly and positively related to the age of the household head, the size of the household, the age of the dwelling and the employment status of the household members. Furthermore, households who live in a rented house, in a detached dwelling and in dwellings located in rural areas are more likely to be energy poor, when compared to those living in an owned house, flats or urban areas, respectively.