• Energy Research

Abstract An assessment is presented of the evaluation of the application of cool storage air-conditioning (CSA) in the commercial sector as a resource in the electricity generation expansion planning. The resultant impacts of analysis of emission costs on annual emissions from power generation are also discussed. A building energy simulation tool is used for assessment of potential savings and peak load shifting of CSA application in commercial buildings. In this study, an integrated resource planning (IRP) model is used to evaluate the economic effectiveness of the CSA option. The IRP analysis with emission costs results in deferring the installation of four units of 1000-MW coal-fired power plant from 2010 to 2011, and one unit of 1000-MW coal-fired power plant and one 200-MW CSA option are removed from the IRP plan. Results show that the CSA option is a viable resource in the least-cost planning and reducing environmental emissions.

Abstract This paper presents CO2 mitigation potential in the power sector of Thailand regarding to the Power Development Plan (PDP 2015) and Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP 2015). Renewable energy and advanced technology have the potential to play an important role in providing clean energy. The Long-range Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) model is used to analyze future electricity demand, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions reduction in the long term planning during 2010-2050. Regarding to those plans, implementations of renewable energy and advanced technology are proposed for mitigation options. The mitigation scenarios offer sustainable potential of renewable technologies and advanced technologies such as solar, wind, biomass, nuclear, hydropower, hydrogen fuel cell, tidal, geothermal and fossil-fuel power plants with carbon capture storage (CCS). Four mitigation scenarios are modeled along with the BAU scenario. The Mitigation 1 (MIT01) scenario is the base-case mitigation scenario based on the target of PDP2015, which target of renewable energy is 19,634 MW in 2036. In the Mitigation 2 (MIT02) scenario, the technologies in the MIT01 plus new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cell, tidal and geothermal are implemented. Clean fossil fuel technologies with CCS, for example natural gas and coal technologies, are applied in the Mitigation 3 (MIT03) scenario. In the Mitigation 4 (MIT04) scenario as the peak CO2 scenario. Results show that, in the BAU scenario, electricity demand and CO2 emissions from the power sector will increase to 52,770 ktoe and 345,959 kt-CO2eq, respectively in 2050. By adopting mitigation options, total CO2 emissions in 2050 can be mitigated by 69.66% in MIT04, following by 50.83% in MIT02, 47.22% in MIT03, and 41.71% in MIT01 when compared to the BAU scenario. Moreover, regarding to the MIT04, Thailand can meet its peak CO2 emission by 2036.

AbstractThis paper presents the energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the residential sector for both Thailand and Vietnam. The Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) model is employed for analysis of energy consumption and CO2 emissions under three scenarios. The business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, which represents the residential sector without any climate policy intervention. The energy system in the base year 2010 is modeled using the secondary data and then existing energy consumption trends will be projected to the end of the planning period, that is 2030. The demand side management (DSM) scenario focussed on the efficiency improvement of four electric appliances: lighting, air-conditioners, cooking, and refrigerators to reduce the energy intensity in the residential sector. In the renewable energy (RE) scenario, the renewable energy utilization is used to analyze the energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the residential sector in both countries. Results are compared for both countries to find out which scenario is suitable for energy savings and CO2 emission reduction.

Abstract Thailand’s final energy consumption has been continuously increasing in the building sector. In terms of electricity consumption, this sector is the largest electricity consuming sector, and accounted for 57.9% of total electricity consumption in 2013. The fossil fuel consumption is dominated by liquefied petroleum gas within these sectors. Therefore, the fossil fuel and electricity demand satisfying the end-user requirement substantially affect the climate change especially the contribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Changes of GHG emissions depend not only on the economic development but also on population growth. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to evaluate and provide the long-term energy saving potential and the GHG mitigation by the implementation of Thailand’s Energy Efficiency Plan 2015 (EEP2015) during 2010-2036. The energy saving potential and environmental impacts are analyzed by using the Long-range Energy Alternative Planning system (LEAP). The evaluation of energy saving potential and environmental impacts, the residential sector is divided into three areas namely; Greater Bangkok, municipal, and rural areas. The commercial sector is divided into eight building types including offices, hotels, hospitals, department stores, schools, hypermarkets, condominiums, and miscellaneous. The business-as-usual (BAU) scenario is excluded the energy efficiency improvement. While, alternative (AL) scenario includes all existing measures in the EEP2015. In the residential sector, the highest energy consuming and GHG emission area is the rural area. In the commercial sector, offices contribute the highest GHG emissions. Energy demand and GHG emissions in both sectors will increase from 12.8 Mtoe and 43.2 Mt-CO2eq in 2005 to 39.6 Mtoe and 131.1 Mt-CO2eq in 2036 in the BAU scenario. The study discloses that EEP2015 can reduce the energy demand and the GHG emissions in both sectors by 19.1% and 31.2% in 2036, respectively.

Although there is no universally accepted methodology for restructuring of electricity supply industry, the transformations often involve separation of generation and transmission. Such separation results in a need for a transmission service charge to be levied on the system users. The National Energy Policy Office (NEPO) of Thailand has commissioned PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) to propose a transmission service charge that is to be used during the market reform for the transmission business unit of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). Although the PwCs transmission use of system charge (TUOS) based on the long-run average incremental cost (LRAIC) and average transmission loss can satisfy the financial requirements, the charge allocations are not economically efficient since they do not provide any locational signal which could reflect costs imposed on the system by locating a system user in a particular geographical location. This paper describes the TUOS methodology suggested by PwC and makes a comparison with a transmission pricing method based on combination of the electricity tracing and LRAIC. The results indicate that, with electricity tracing, the charge allocations are improved in terms of fairness, as the charge reflects the geographical location and system conditions.

Abstract Transport sector is the highest energy consuming sector. It has consumed more than 35 percent of total energy consumption in Thailand, and accounted for about 27 percent of Thailand’s GHG emissions. Nowadays, many policies and strategies are promoted and supported in order to reduce the energy consumption as well as the emissions in all entire sectors, especially the transport and industrial sectors. In the transport sector, regarding to the Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP) 2015, both energy efficiency improvement and advanced transport technology have been implemented such as improving fuel economy of gasoline and diesel engines as well as increasing share of electric vehicles. In fact, per energy efficiency of the engine, even if EVs consume less energy than the conventional gasoline and diesel engines, EVs emit no tailpipe pollutants however the power plants which generate electricity to power EVs still emits GHG except electricity from alternative energy sources such as nuclear, biomass, hydro, solar, and wind. This study aims to investigate the influence of EVs implementation on changes of GHG emissions in the transport sector related to the power generation in Thailand during the period of 2015 to 2036. Moreover, optional area to achieve target of EVs implementation as EEP2015 with environmental recovery aspects is proposed. The results indicate that even EVs could reduce energy consumption in the transport sector, it would effect on increasing GHG emissions in the power sector. Therefore, the policy makers or related organizations should take this consequence into the consideration under the implementation of energy related environmental policy for making the most benefits of both sides.

Abstract Energy and energy security have become important to countries aiming to go on the path of sustainable development. In this regard this paper analyses the improvement of energy security which occurs as a result of energy efficiency (EE) improvements in the power sector. In this paper energy security is measured along three main themes which are oil security, gas security and sustainability. The energy systems of the selected countries, namely Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam are modeled using an integer programming based optimization model called “Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impacts” – MESSAGE. Each country is modeled with two scenarios namely the reference scenario which maintains the status quo at the start year and the EE scenario which models EE options in the demand side as supply side alternatives. The time horizon is 2007–2030, where 2007 is the base year and 2030 is the end year. The results are presented for oil security, gas security, sustainability, and also for co-benefits such as mitigation of CO2 emissions, reduction in conventional primary energy use and reduction of local air pollutants such as SO2 and NOx. Results show that energy efficiency in Sri Lanka significantly increases the energy security whilst also accruing co-benefits of CO2 mitigation, mitigation of local air pollution and reducing the conventional primary energy use. In the case of Thailand and Vietnam, energy security is enhanced in the earlier years (2007–2015), but in the longer term of modeling horizon (2020–2030) energy security of both the reference and EE scenarios converge indicating that in terms of long term energy security implementing energy efficiency measures alone would not enhance energy security.

Abstract This study investigates homeowners’ energy-saving behaviours and their attitudes, which influence household energy conservation in Bangkok. Field surveys are carried out for 400 households in Bangkok to observe socio-economic factors, residents’ priority of actual saving behaviours, and usage patterns of electric devices. Then, the saving behaviours and usage patterns from the field survey and assigned levels of energy efficient devices are used to randomly generate 200 sets of energy-saving scenarios using the Latin Hypercube method. The household energy consumptions from those energy-saving scenarios are calculated. It is found that the household energy consumption depends strongly on residents’ attitudes and energy-saving behaviours. Gender and level of knowledge in energy efficiency are found to have a significant impact on energy consumption. Residents in Bangkok actually save energy within a range of 7–15% (484.2–1037.6 kWh/year/household). Female residents potentially save more energy than males do via reducing the use of air conditioners in their bedrooms. The results provide a better understanding of residents’ attitudes towards energy efficiency in Bangkok. The results will help policy-makers in determining effective techniques that could promote the role of residents in energy efficient homes in Bangkok and other hot and humid countries.

A brief review of energy use patterns in three economic sectors; namely, residential, industrial and transport sectors is provided in this paper. The transport sector is the largest energy-consuming sector in Thailand, followed by the industrial and residential sectors, respectively. In order to reduce both imported energy and environmental emissions, energy conservation programs would be implemented. This paper forecasts the growth in energy demand and corresponding emissions to the year 2020 for those three sectors by using a model based on the end-use approach. The energy savings from the energy conservation strategies, such as energy efficiency improvement and energy demand management, are assessed and also the implications on electricity generation expansion planning are examined. The integrated resource planning (IRP) model is used to find the least-cost electricity generation expansion plans. Energy conservation options, including energy efficiency improvement programs, are introduced in the residential and industrial sectors. Public transportation and engine technology improvements are introduced in the transport sector. The effects of energy conservation options are analyzed using a scenario-based approach. The results of analysis reveal that the improvement of public transportation can reduce future energy requirements and CO2 emissions in 2020 by 635 thousand ton of oil equivalent (toe) and 2024 thousand ton of CO2 equivalent, respectively. If all options are simultaneously implemented, the potential of energy savings and CO2 mitigation in 2020 are estimated to be 1240 thousand toe and 3622 thousand ton of CO2 equivalent, respectively.