Policies and programs critical for greater energy efficiency

In 2018 businesses, households and government enterprises throughout the global economy spent an estimated €7.4 trillion to meet the many demands for various energy services. Current projec­tions suggest that the present scale of annual expenditures may increase by more than 60 per­cent to €12.0 trillion by 2050 (with all costs expressed in real 2018 values). Although the global economy derives important benefits from the purchase of many energy services, the inefficient use of energy also creates an array of costs and constraints that burden our social and economic well-being. Among these costs or constraints are increased health costs, air pollution, climate change and a less productive economy - especially over the long term. Yet there is good news within the countless energy markets throughout the global economy. Whether improved lighting in homes and schools, transporting people and goods more efficiently, or powering the many industrial processes within any given nation, there are huge opportunities to improve the productive use of energy in ways that reduce total economic costs. And those same energy efficiency upgrades can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, as well as lessen other impacts on both people and the global environment. However, as this manuscript suggests, it will take an adequately funded set of smart policies and effective programs, including a skilled work force, to drive the optimal scale of energy efficiency investments

Disentangling the origins of cultivated sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.)

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam., Convolvulaceae) counts among the most widely cultivated staple crops worldwide, yet the origins of its domestication remain unclear. This hexaploid species could have had either an autopolyploid origin, from the diploid I. trifida, or an allopolyploid origin, involving genomes of I. trifida and I. triloba. We generated molecular genetic data for a broad sample of cultivated sweet potatoes and its diploid and polyploid wild relatives, for noncoding chloroplast and nuclear ITS sequences, and nuclear SSRs. Our data did not support an allopolyploid origin for I. batatas, nor any contribution of I. triloba in the genome of domesticated sweet potato. I. trifida and I. batatas are closely related although they do not share haplotypes. Our data support an autopolyploid origin of sweet potato from the ancestor it shares with I. trifida, which might be similar to currently observed tetraploid wild Ipomoea accessions. Two I. batatas chloroplast lineages were identified. They show more divergence with each other than either does with I. trifida. We thus propose that cultivated I. batatas have multiple origins, and evolved from at least two distinct autopolyploidization events in polymorphic wild populations of a single progenitor species. Secondary contact between sweet potatoes domesticated in Central America and in South America, from differentiated wild I. batatas populations, would have led to the introgression of chloroplast haplotypes of each lineage into nuclear backgrounds of the other, and to a reduced divergence between nuclear gene pools as compared with chloroplast haplotypes. (Résumé d'auteur

One watt initiative: A global effort to reduce leaking electricity

Many domestic appliances and commercial equipment consume some electric power when they are switched off or not performing their primary purpose. The typical loss per appliance is low (from 1 to 25 W) but, when mulitplied by the billions of appliances in houses and in commercial buildings, standby losses represent a significant fraction of total electricity use. Several initiatives to reduce standby losses have appeared in different parts of the world. One proposal, the 1-watt plan, seeks to harmonize these initiatives by establishing a single target for all appliances. This paper explains the background to the 1-watt plan, identifies some unresolved aspects, and gives some estimates of energy savings

One watt initiative: A global effort to reduce leaking electricity

Many domestic appliances and commercial equipment consume some electric power when they are switched off or not performing their primary purpose. The typical loss per appliance is low (from 1 to 25 W) but, when mulitplied by the billions of appliances in houses and in commercial buildings, standby losses represent a significant fraction of total electricity use. Several initiatives to reduce standby losses have appeared in different parts of the world. One proposal, the 1-watt plan, seeks to harmonize these initiatives by establishing a single target for all appliances. This paper explains the background to the 1-watt plan, identifies some unresolved aspects, and gives some estimates of energy savings

One watt initiative: A global effort to reduce leaking electricity

Many domestic appliances and commercial equipment consume some electric power when they are switched off or not performing their primary purpose. The typical loss per appliance is low (from 1 to 25 W) but, when multiplied by the billions of appliances in houses and in commercial buildings, standby losses represent a significant fraction of total electricity use. Several initiatives to reduce standby losses have appeared in different parts of the world. One proposal, the 1-watt plan, seeks to harmonize these initiatives by establishing a single target for all appliances. This paper explains the background to the 1-watt plan, identifies some unresolved aspects, and gives some estimates of energy savings

Global implications of standby power use

Separate studies indicate that standby power is responsible for 20-60 W per home in developed countries. Standby power is responsible for about 2 percent of OECD countries total electricity consumption and the related power generation generates almost 1 percent of their carbon emissions. Replacement of existing appliances with those appliances having the lowest standby would reduce total standby power consumption by over 70 percent. The resulting reductions in carbon emissions would meet over 3 percent of OECD's total Kyoto commitments. Other strategies may cut more carbon emissions, but standby power is unique in that the reductions are best accomplished through international collaboration and whose costs and large benefits would be spread over all countries

Global implications of standby power use

Separate studies indicate that standby power is responsible for 20-60 W per home in developed countries. Standby power is responsible for about 2% of OECD countries total electricity consumption and the related power generation generates almost 1% of their carbon emissions. Replacement of existing appliances with those appliances having the lowest standby would reduce total standby power consumption by over 70%. The resulting reductions in carbon emissions would meet over 3% of OECD's total Kyoto commitments. Other strategies may cut more carbon emissions, but standby power is unique in that the reductions are best accomplished through international collaboration and whose costs and large benefits would be spread over all countries

The Myths of Technology and Efficiency: a few thoughts for a Sustainable Energy Future

Energy consumption continues to grow, as do CO2 emissions. The energy efficiency community has created indicators and 'Business-as-Usual' scenarios to show large energy savings achieved compared to Technology development has been highlighted as the most successful achievement: Yet technology is only one component of the equation, and unfortunately it alone cannot create sustainability. What's more, a focus on technical efficiency, especially market-based efficiency, may reproduce and encourage the very forms of consumption it purports to control. The authors propose some paths toward a sustainable energy future based on a mix of ambitious policies and new social and energy responsibilities that has the potential of resulting in a major change in energy using behaviour. It also advocates increased standards of policy critique, arguing that both the social and technical assumptions of policy models that promise savings must be made transparent.JRC.H.8-Renewable energie

Data from: Historical collections reveal patterns of diffusion of sweet potato in Oceania obscured by modern plant movements and recombination

The history of sweet potato in the Pacific has long been an enigma. Archaeological, linguistic and ethnobotanical data suggest that prehistoric human-mediated dispersal events contributed to the distribution in Oceania of this American domesticate. According to the “tripartite hypothesis”, sweet potato was introduced into Oceania from South America in pre-Columbian times, and was then later newly introduced, and diffused widely across the Pacific, by Europeans via two historically documented routes from Mexico and the Caribbean. Although sweet potato is the most convincing example of putative pre-Columbian connections between human occupants of Polynesia and South America, the search for genetic evidence of pre-Columbian dispersal of sweet potato into Oceania has been inconclusive. Our study attempts to fill this gap. Using complementary sets of markers (chloroplast and nuclear microsatellites), and both modern and herbarium samples, we test the tripartite hypothesis. Our results provide strong support for prehistoric transfer(s) of sweet potato from South America (Peru-Ecuador region) into Polynesia. Our results also document a temporal shift in the pattern of distribution of genetic variation in sweet potato in Oceania. Later re-introductions, accompanied by recombination between distinct sweet potato genepools, have reshuffled the crop’s initial genetic base, obscuring primary patterns of diffusion and at the same time giving rise to an impressive number of local variants. Moreover, our study shows that phenotypes, names and neutral genes do not necessarily share completely parallel evolutionary histories. Multidisciplinary approaches thus appear necessary for accurate reconstruction of the intertwined histories of plants and humans