Prioritising energy efficiency measures in Maltese restaurants

The 2018 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844, focuses on building energy renovation. With the increase in tourists and working opportunities in Malta, the restaurants’ sector is experiencing a business boom. Despite this sector being a major energy consumer, the energy performance of restaurants in Malta has been given little attention. This paper investigates the energy performance of four representative restaurants in Malta. Refrigeration accounted for the highest share of 40% electricity consumption, followed by kitchen exhaust ventilation, domestic hot water and space cooling, which accounted for about 50%, while lighting consumed only 6%. Energy saving potential was primarily identified for refrigeration, water heating and air-conditioning. Although, the fuel sources used for cooking equipment accounted for more than 50% of the overall energy used in these restaurants, electricity is the fuel of primary concern as on average it contributes to 70% of total carbon emissions and results in the highest operational cost. The total potential of carbon emission savings was found to be 17%, when the recommended energy efficiency measures are applied. A benchmark of 14.51 kWh primary energy per person served was established for energy-efficient restaurants. This paper provides evidence-based results that are useful for policy makers to introduce fiscal incentives to support the transition of Maltese restaurants to nearly-zero energy status.peer-reviewe

Estimating Payback to Residential Energy Efficiency Measures: A Field Experiment

Interest in energy efficiency has grown in recent years as a result of increasing energy prices and greater concern for the externalities generated by fossil fuel combustion. Although energy efficiency measures have the potential to generate win-win situations whereby households gain financial benefits from reduced energy costs and society benefits from the generation of fewer energy consumption related externalities, energy efficiency appears to suffer from underinvestment. One potential explanation for this underinvestment is the lack of information that households and landlords have regarding the savings associated with energy efficiency measures. In this paper we test three types of energy efficiency strategies in an experimental design that utilizes institutionally owned homes that are rented to college students. Using data on actual natural gas consumption during the heating season, our results indicate modest energy savings associated with the installation of attic insulation and the provision of financial incentives for conservation. These results are supported by observations of ambient temperature data, which show that households receiving incentives, on average, reduced the ambient air temperature by 1.5 degrees F.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Priorities for energy efficiency measures in agriculture.

This report provides a compilation of energy efficiency measures in agriculture, their opportunities and constraints to implement energy efficient agricultural systems across Europe as a result of the AGREE (Agriculture & Energy Efficiency) Coordination and Support Action funded by the 7th research framework of the EU (www.agree.aua.gr). The report dwells on earlier reports of the consortium, which listed potential energy efficiency measures (Project Deliverable 2.3: Energy Saving Measures in Agriculture – Overview on the Basis of National Reports) and identified trade-offs and win-win situations of various energy efficiency measures in agriculture (Project Deliverable 3.1: Economic and environmental analysis of energy efficiency measures in agriculture). It shows research gaps in crop production, greenhouse production, animal husbandry and system approaches, which can be regarded as priorities for energy efficiency measures in agriculture. The report is na important input for the strategic research agenda, which is one of the main outputs of the AGREE project

Thermal improvement of existing dwellings

This report describes the outcome from a study to determine the impact of energy efficiency measures applied to the Scottish housing stock. Assuming conventional property type classifications, the present performance of the housing stock is quantified using available survey data. Building simulation techniques were then employed to generate a Web-based, decision-support tool for use by policy makers to estimate the impact of deploying energy efficiency measures in different combinations over time. The process of tool formulation is described and an example is given of tool use to identify best-value retrofitting options while taking factors such as future climate change and improved standard of living into account

Energy Efficiency Measures for an Electrical Material Industry

The main goal of the present paper is to present the study of energy efficiency measures for an electrical material industry. The high-energy consumption of this kind of industry lead companies to search for solutions that allow increasing the energy efficiency in their installations and in the processes, promoting the reduction of the energy consumption and costs. In this context, the objectives of this study emerged, which resulted from the main needs identified by the company. Therefore, the work was divided into four parts. The first one, was the study of replacing the existing lighting (mainly mercury vapor lamps by led); another study conducted was the replacement of the electric motors in injection machines by new and more efficient ones; the third one was the installation of a photovoltaic solar system (for self-consumption) and, finally, the project of a new power converter station for the company. The energy efficiency studies carried out are based on: a careful analysis of the data provided by the company; all the measurements done; the consumption profiles that have been drawn; an extensive market research (with the purpose of finding the most efficient solutions for each case); and in already existing and proven calculation methodologies, leading, in this way, to a greater reliability of the obtained results. These studies showed to which extent the implementation of the various measures presented are economically viable, their impact on the reduction of energy consumption and the annual savings achieved.This work was supported by Coimbra Institute of Engineering – Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and by projects: UID/MULTI/00308/2019 (supported by the Portuguese ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’: FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology) and by the European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE 2020 Programme, FCT Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within project T4ENERTEC (POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-029820)

Cost-effective analysis for selecting energy efficiency measures for refurbishment of residential buildings in Catalonia

© 2016. This version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This paper presents the results of a detailed method for developing cost-optimal studies for the energy refurbishment of residential buildings. The method takes part of an innovative approach: two-step evaluation considering thermal comfort, energy and economic criteria. The first step, the passive evaluation, was presented previously [1] and the results are used to develop the active evaluation, which is the focus of this paper. The active evaluation develops a cost-optimal analysis to compare a set of passive and active measures for the refurbishment of residential buildings. The cost-optimal methodology follows the European Directives and analysed the measures from the point of view of non-renewable primary energy consumption and the global costs over 30 years. The energy uses included in the study are heating, domestic hot water, cooling, lighting and appliances. In addition, the results have been represented following the energy labelling scale. The paper shows the results of a multi-family building built in the years 1990–2007 and located in Barcelona with two configurations: with natural ventilation and without natural ventilation. The method provides technical and economic information about the energy efficiency measures, with the objective to support the decision process.Postprint (author's final draft

A dynamic simulation of low-carbon policy influences on endogenous electricity demand in an isolated island system

This paper considers the dynamics of electricity demand in response to changes arising from low-carbon policies and socio-economic developments. As part of an investigation into the evolution of such systems on small economically-developed islands, endogenous electricity demand and associated policies are studied for the Azorean island of São Miguel. A comprehensive System Dynamics (SD) model covering the period 2005 − 2050 is presented which captures both historical behaviours and real-world influences on the endogenous demand dynamics of an island-based electricity system. The impact of tourism, energy efficiency and electric vehicles (EV) expansion allied with associated policy options, are critically evaluated by the SD model using a series of scenarios. The model shows that energy efficiency measures exhibit the most significant long-term impact on electricity demand, while in contrast, policies to increase tourism have a much less direct impact and EV expansion has thought-provoking impacts on the long-term demand, although this is not as influential as energy efficiency measures

The government needs to go beyond the Green Deal if it is genuinely committed to making households more energy efficient

Dave Timms argues that the Green Deal will not by itself be enough to drive take-up of energy efficiency measures, particularly for the least energy efficient segment of UK’s housing stock; the private rented sector (PRS). Complementary regulation is required so that the combination of minimum standard regulations and appropriate financing mechanisms is achieve