Improving energy efficiency is one of the most effective ways to deal with climate change and reduce carbon emissions in emerging economies. At the same time, financial development plays an essential ...role in promoting economic growth and affecting the environment. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between financial development, energy efficiency, control of corruption, and ecological footprint of the BRICS countries and the Next-11 economies from 1995 to 2014. The DEA method is used to estimate the energy efficiency of BRICS countries and N-11 economies. Also, the results of the system GMM model indicate that if corruption is controlled, financial development will improve energy efficiency. Also, if there are transparent systems in these economies, environmental quality can be improved by reducing the ecological footprint. The study also showed that corruption is more likely to increase energy efficiency and decrease the ecological footprint. At the same time, natural resource rents and technological innovations can improve energy efficiency and environmental quality. The result of causality emphasizes the feedback hypothesis between energy efficiency, ecological footprint, financial development, corruption control, natural resource rent, technological innovation, trade, and industrialization.
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•We use the Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the energy efficiency.•Financial development increase the energy efficiency by controlling corruption.•Ecological footprint can decrease by financial development.•Technological advancement is a key determinant of energy efficiency.•The causality results show the feedback hypothesis between analyzed variables.
The textile industry is a complicated manufacturing industry because it is a fragmented and heterogeneous sector dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). There are various energy-efficiency ...opportunities that exist in every textile plant. However, even cost-effective options often are not implemented in textile plants mostly because of limited information on how to implement energy-efficiency measures. Know-how on energy-efficiency technologies and practices should, therefore, be prepared and disseminated to textile plants. This paper provides information on the energy use and energy-efficiency technologies and measures applicable to the textile industry. The paper includes case studies from textile plants around the world and includes energy savings and cost information when available. A total of 184 energy efficiency measures applicable to the textile industry are introduced in this paper. Also, the paper gives a brief overview of the textile industry around the world. An analysis of the type and the share of energy used in different textile processes is also included in the paper. Subsequently, energy-efficiency improvement opportunities available within some of the major textile sub-sectors are given with a brief explanation of each measure. This paper shows that a large number of energy efficiency measures exist for the textile industry and most of them have a low simple payback period.
Energy consumption and thermal comfort in buildings are heavily affected by weather conditions. This study investigated the impact of climate change on thermal comfort conditions and on heating and ...cooling energy demand in dwellings in three cities in Brazil. Scenario A2 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was selected to be used in the study. To quantify the impact, the Climate Change World Weather File Generator was used to produce weather data for future typical meteorological years, such as 2020, 2050 and 2080. The EnergyPlus computer programme was used to estimate the indoor air temperature and the annual heating and cooling energy demand in the future. In order to maintain the energy consumption in the houses at the level it is nowadays, passive design strategies such as solar shading, low absorptance and thermal insulation were assessed. Results show that there will be an increase in the annual energy demand ranging from 19%–65% among the three cities in 2020; 56%–112% in 2050; and 112%–185% in 2080. In the coldest city, the annual heating energy demand will decrease by 94% in 2080 due to an increase in the average temperature and global solar radiation. The use of passive design strategies may reduce up to 50% the future annual cooling and heating energy demand in houses in Brazil.
China is undergoing an urbanization process at an unprecedented scale, and low-carbon urban development is of great significance to the completion of the "dual carbon goals". At the same time, the ...digital economy has become an important engine for urban development, and its role in environmental improvement has become increasingly prominent. While the digital economy is booming, can it promote the low-carbon development of cities? Based on the panel data of 278 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper discusses the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions and the long-term development trend between the digital economy and carbon emissions, the impact of differences in the development level of the digital economy on carbon emissions reduction, and the impact of green energy efficiency in the relationship between the digital economy and carbon emissions. The results show that the digital economy has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions, and with the development of the digital economy, more and more cities show an absolute decoupling of the digital economy and carbon emissions and are turning to low-carbon development. The development level of the digital economy has a heterogeneous impact on carbon emissions. With the improvement of the development level of the digital economy, the effect on emission reduction is more significant. As a threshold variable, green energy efficiency affects the relationship between digital economy and carbon emissions. When green energy efficiency is low, the digital economy promotes carbon emissions, and when green energy efficiency is high, the digital economy reduces carbon emissions.
•Examine whether BR initiative will worsen other countries’ environment or not.•Trade integration and regional cooperation are two channels between EE convergence and BRI.•Trade integration and ...regional cooperation can promote EE convergence.•BR may have a positive effect on energy efficiency convergence.•BRI unlikely deteriorates environmental performance in other countries.
After China launched its “Belt and Road” (BR) initiative, the international community became concerned that it may worsen the environmental performance of the BR countries. Due to a lack of data for empirical testing, this paper addresses this concern through an indirect method and draws the implications of the potential impacts of China’s BR initiative. This method empirically examines the effects of trade integration and regional cooperation, two major functions of the BR initiative, on energy efficiency (EE) convergence, a concept that describes the catching up process of EE across countries. A sample of 89 countries was selected to analyse the process of EE convergence from 2000 to 2014. The results indicate that although the gaps in EE among countries around the world become larger after 2010, regional cooperation may lead to a convergence process. It also finds that trade integration has a positive influence on convergence across the countries, especially among middle- and low-income countries. The results suggest that the BR initiative, through its roles in trade integration and regional cooperation, may promote EE convergence among countries. This is a desirable environmental outcome. This research also provides policy implications for both China and the other BR countries.
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•Hydrogen production pathways via renewable and non-renewable sources.•Renewable energy sources gaining potential as clean energy source to produce H2.•Plasmolysis is competitive to ...electrolysis for H2 production.•Plasmolysis is beneficial for its low power consumption and reduced equipment size.•Solar integrated plasmolysis with zero carbon footprints is the proposed strategy.
Hydrogen as an energy carrier can provide a long term solution to the problem of sustainable supply of cleaner and environmentally friendly fuel. Hydrogen finds extensive use s in petroleum, chemical synthesis and treated as a zero-emission fuel for transportation as well. It could also be used to produce power. Especially, in the remote areas away from main cities where electrification cost would be significantly higher. A hydrogen based decenteralized system could be developed where the “surplus” power generated by a renewable source could be stored as chemical energy in the form of hydrogen. 80% of the whole hydrogen produced is by steam methan reforming at an energy efficiency of 74–85%. However, steam methane reforming and other fossil fuel based technologies are neither green nor sustainable. Hydrogen, could only be counted as a renewable and clean fuel if the required power to produce hydrogen comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar power. Using a renewable source, hydrogen could be produced by electrolysis, biohydrogen, thermochemical cycles, photocatalysis, and plasmolysis. Amongst hydrogen production technologies, electrolysis contributes the highest 4% of the total world’s energy demand. The production cost and energy efficiency estimated for electrolysis are 10.3 $/kg and 52%, respectively. Electrolysis, an energy-intensive process for hydrogen production, is still confronting challenges to manifest itself economically. While, the production rate of 20 g/kWh with predicated cost and efficiency 0.09 €/kWh or 6.36 $/kg and 79.2%, respectively, has been reported that depicts plasmolysis competitive on par with electrolysis with the advantage of low power consumption, reduced equipment size and principle cost. This review highlights the current status, potential, and challenges of both renewable and non-renewable hydrogen production. A new strategy for simultaneous hydrogen production and separation by microplasmas and microbubble mediated mass transfer has been proposed. A decenterlaized system for hydrogen generation by combining the proposed strategy with solar energy has been suggested to reduce the carbon footprints.
Energy efficiency policy is seen as a very important activity by almost all policy makers. In practical energy policy analysis, the typical indicator used as a proxy for energy efficiency is energy ...intensity. However, this simple indicator is not necessarily an accurate measure given changes in energy intensity are a function of changes in several factors as well as ‘true’ energy efficiency; hence, it is difficult to make conclusions for energy policy based upon simple energy intensity measures. Related to this, some published academic papers over the last few years have attempted to use empirical methods to measure the efficient use of energy based on the economic theory of production. However, these studies do not generally provide a systematic discussion of the theoretical basis nor the possible parametric empirical approaches that are available for estimating the level of energy efficiency. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to sketch out and explain from an economic perspective the theoretical framework as well as the empirical methods for measuring the level of energy efficiency. Additionally, in the second part of the paper, some of the empirical studies that have attempted to measure energy efficiency using such an economics approach are summarized and discussed.
Technological progress plays an important role in energy efficiency improvements. This paper considers two pathways that could accelerate technology development: technology introduction and ...technological innovation. The technology introduced through foreign direct investment (FDI) may enhance the host country’s independent innovation capability, minimize the risk of independent innovation and lower the cost. To that end, a two-stage analysis was conducted at the industrial level for the period 2000–2018 in Guangdong, China. The first stage included an estimation of total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) scores using the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology, while the second one included an exploration of how technological innovation and FDI are affecting energy efficiency by using system GMM regression in the whole sample of the manufacturing sector and sub-sample based on R&D intensity. The results indicate that energy use in most manufacturing industries is efficient and FDI participation induced spillovers from FDI have a significant positive impact on energy efficiency. Moreover, the analysis of the interaction term between FDI and technological innovation show that imitative innovation depends on the transfer technology strategy from foreign-funded enterprises to improve energy efficiency. These results have notable implications for energy use policy and sustainable economic development.
•Analyze the role of technological progress in energy efficiency improvement in the manufacturing sector.•The competitive effects of FDI have the potential to promote energy efficiency.•Imitation innovation through transferred technology encourages energy use efficiency.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have found numerous applications and are expected to bring fertile business opportunities in the next decade. Among various enabling technologies for UAVs, wireless ...communication is essential and has drawn significantly growing attention in recent years. Compared to the conventional terrestrial communications, UAVs' communications face new challenges due to their high altitude above the ground and great flexibility of movement in the 3-D space. Several critical issues arise, including the line-of-sight (LoS) dominant UAV-ground channels and induced strong aerial-terrestrial network interference, the distinct communication quality-of-service (QoS) requirements for UAV control messages versus payload data, the stringent constraints imposed by the size, weight, and power (SWAP) limitations of UAVs, as well as the exploitation of the new design degree of freedom (DoF) brought by the highly controllable 3-D UAV mobility. In this article, we give a tutorial overview of the recent advances in UAV communications to address the above issues, with an emphasis on how to integrate UAVs into the forthcoming fifth-generation (5G) and future cellular networks. In particular, we partition our discussion into two promising research and application frameworks of UAV communications, namely UAV-assisted wireless communications and cellular-connected UAVs, where UAVs are integrated into the network as new aerial communication platforms and users, respectively. Furthermore, we point out promising directions for future research.
Emerging smart Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications are increasingly relying on mobile-edge computing (MEC) networks, where the energy efficiency (EE) of computation is one of the most pertaining ...issues. In this article, considering the limited computation capacity at the MEC server and a practical nonlinear energy harvesting (EH) model for IoT devices, we propose a scheme to maximize the system computation EE (CEE) of a wireless power transfer (WPT) enabled nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based MEC network by jointly optimizing the computing frequencies and execution time of the MEC server and the IoT devices, the offloading time, the EH time and the transmit power of each IoT device, as well as the transmit power of the power beacon (PB). We formulate the joint optimization into a nonlinear fractional programming problem and devise a Dinkelbach-based iterative algorithm to solve it. By means of convex theory, we derive closed-form expressions for parts of the optimal solutions, which reveal several instrumental insights into the maximization of the system CEE. In particular, the system CEE increases as the optimal computing frequencies of both the IoT devices and the MEC server decrease, and the system CEE is maximized when the MEC server and the IoT devices use the maximum allowed time to complete their computing tasks. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme over benchmark schemes in terms of system CEE.
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