• Energy Research
• 7. Clean energy close
• 11. Sustainability close

This study is based on data from an online questionnaire survey conducted among the customers of two Danish energy companies who in recent years have had air-to-air heat-pumps installed by the energy companies. Furthermore, data on the consumption of electricity in these households have been collected in order to assess how the heat-pumps influence the energy consumption. The questionnaire asks the following questions: - Year of installation. How was the house heated prior to installing the heat pump? - Background information on the house e.g.: Type of house, year of construction, size, number of residents etc. - Acquisition and installation of the heat pump, including the name of the manufacturer of the heat pump and the use of a wood burning stove in addition to the heat pump. - The use of the heat pump including the typical heating period of the household, changing norms of comfort, use of air conditioning etc. - Reasons to purchase the heat pump, including whether the owner is satisfied with it. - Changes in the consumption of electricity after the installation of the heat pump which might influence the interpretation of the data on the consumption of electricity e.g.: Purchase of new electrical appliances, number of televisions and computers and changes in habits which would influence the consumption of electricity. - Background information on the household e.g.: The respondent’s age, sex, number of persons living in the household, education and income Data stammer fra en webbaseret spørgeskemaundersøgelse udført blandt kunder hos elselskaberne SEAS-NVE og Lokalenergi, som inden for de senere år havde fået installeret en luft-til-luft varmepumpe gennem elselskabet. Desuden er der indsamlet data for elforbruget for disse husstande mhp. at vurdere betydningen af varmepumperne for udviklingen i elforbruget. I spørgeskemaet stilles følgende spørgsmål: - Indledende spørgsmål om tidspunkt for installering af varmepumpe og husets primære opvarmningsform før og efter installering af varmepumpe. - Oplysninger om huset (typen af bolig, byggeår, størrelse, antal beboere mv.). - Anskaffelse og installering af varmepumpe (herunder navn på producent af varmepumpe, hvor stort et areal pumpen opvarmer samt oplysninger om evt. brug af brændeovn i kombination med varmepumpe). - Brugen af varmepumpen (herunder hvor stor en del af året varmepumpen benyttes, ændrede komfortvaner, brug af aircondition mv.). - Årsager til anskaffelse (herunder også om ejeren er tilfreds med varmepumpen). - Ændringer i det øvrige elforbrug efter installering af varmepumpe med betydning for tolkningen af data for elforbruget (herunder om der er anskaffet nye elapparater, antal fjernsyn og computere og ændrede vaner med særlig stor betydning for størrelsen af husets elforbrug). - Baggrundsoplysninger om husstanden (respondentens alder, køn, antal personer i husstanden, uddannelse og indkomst). The project focuses on the use of air-to-air heat pumps in Danish homes and summer houses, with the objective to examining the impact, of the use of these pumps, on the development of electricity consumption. This includes examining the relationship between changes in consumption and changes in habits in relation to warm up the house. Projektet fokuserer på brugen af luft-til-luft varmepumper i danske boliger og sommerhuse med henblik på at undersøge, hvilken betydning brugen af disse varmepumper har for udviklingen i elforbruget. Herunder undersøges sammenhængen mellem udviklingen i elforbrug og ændrede komfortvaner i forhold til opvarmning af huset.

The paper identifies the need to create a systematic assessment for the systematization of energy efficiency factors that affect the consumption of nat-ural gas at industrial enterprises. Factors and conditions affecting the energy efficiency of natural gas consumption by industrial enterprises are considered and grouped into a classification. The systematization of energy efficiency factors was carried out on the basis of 3 groups of industrial enterprises.The interrelationships of the components of the classification of factors are determined, and the key prerequisites for improving energy efficiency at industrial enterprises are identified.

The natural gas industry has changed radically over the last decade. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission`s Order 636 completed plans to unbundle interstate pipeline services and create open access for distribution companies and their customers. There has also been increasing competition for local distribution companies (LDCs) from fuel oil, electricity and unregulated energy service companies. Meanwhile, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 includes provisions that encourage energy efficiency and promote reliance on competitive forces. In response to these changes, coupled with growing environmental concerns and the need for increased energy efficiency, a number of state public utility commissions and LDCs took an interest in integrated resource planning (IRP) for gas utilities. Gas IRP was in its formative stages and a variety of regulatory approaches were being considered when this project began. In response, this project originated with the total project scope being to define, implement and institutionalize an IRP process for the Gas Customer Service Business Unit of Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation (NMGas).

DEFRAM är ett projekt finansierat av Energimyndigheten. Projektet startade den 10:e december 2012 och avslutades den 10:e maj 2013. Projektet drevs vid Linköpings universitet och involverar forskare från avdelningen för Energisystem (Patrik Thollander) och institutionen för datavetenskap (Eva Blomqvist), samt genomfördes i nära samarbete med Energimyndigheten. Projektledare är Eva Blomqvist, Linköpings universitet. Projektet har utgått från (1) IAC: s (Industrial Assessment Center) databas med 160 000 åtgärder, (2) PFEs åtgärder från första programperioden, samt (3) resultatet från Energimyndighetens energikartläggningsstöd, de s.k. energikartläggningcheckerna (EKC), under 2011-2012. För att demonstrera användarnyttan och användbarheten i att länka samman dessa datakällor har en OWL-vokabulär, d v s en ny gemensam datamodell, byggts upp för att representera dataelementen, och större delen av dessa data har sedan överförts till formatet RDF, strukturerat enligt den nya vokabulären. För att kunna länka samman de olika datakällorna har ett antal manuella mappningar fått genomföras. Bland annat har åtgärderna, så långt det varit rimligt, omklassificerats enligt en taxonomi för åtgärdstyper. För att integrera IAC-data med svenska data har en mappning gjorts både mellan IAC:s ARC-koder (åtgärdstyper) och taxonomin, samt mellan industriklassificeringen SIC (använd av IAC) och svenska SNI-2007. Resultatet av detta arbete publiceras genom en s.k. SPARQL endpoint, som ger direkt tillgång till de länkade data som finns lagrade i ett underliggande "triple store". I dagsläget finns ca 2 200 svenska åtgärder publicerade, samt ca 120 000 åtgärder från IAC. För åtkomst till dessa data finns ett gränssnitt för att skriva egna SPARQL-frågor (https://www.ida.liu.se/projects/semtech/energy/snorql/), samt ett demonstrationsgränssnitt för slutanvändare där frågor kan formuleras genom olika menyval (https://www.ida.liu.se/projects/semtech/energy/demo/). Hela datamängden kan även laddas ner som en RDF-dump (https://www.ida.liu.se/projects/semtech/energy/Energy_201309.zip). Syfte: Projektets långsiktiga vision är att göra data om energikartläggningar mer tillgängliga, både för applikationsutvecklare och för slutanvändare, såsom energikartläggare. Målet med detta projekt är att tillgängliggöra ett antal datamängder innehållande tekniska energieffektiviseringsåtgärder som länkade data på webben (för mer information om vad länkade data innebär se den svenska portalen för länkade data: www.linked-data.se). Materialet består i huvudsak av två olika typer av data. Dels mätningar av sparad energi och dels åtgärdsförslag (förslagna åtgärder vid energikartläggningar och deras beräknade kostnader och uppskattade framtida besparingar). Data för direkt nedladdning består av 6 stycken datafiler i rdf-format samt tillhörande dokumentation. Resultatet av detta arbete publiceras genom en s.k. SPARQL endpoint, som ger direkt tillgång till de länkade data som finns lagrade i ett underliggande "triple store". I dagsläget finns ca 2 200 svenska åtgärder publicerade, samt ca 120 000 åtgärder från IAC. För åtkomst till dessa data finns ett gränssnitt för att skriva egna SPARQL-frågor (https://www.ida.liu.se/projects/semtech/energy/snorql/), samt ett demonstrationsgränssnitt för slutanvändare där frågor kan formuleras genom olika menyval (https://www.ida.liu.se/projects/semtech/energy/demo/). Hela datamängden kan även laddas ner som en RDF-dump (https://www.ida.liu.se/projects/semtech/energy/Energy_201309.zip). DEFRAM is a project that was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency. The project started on the 10th of December 2012 and ended on May 10, 2013. The project was run at Linköping University and involved researchers from the Department of Energy Systems at Linköping University (Patrik Thollander) and the Department of Computer and Information Science at Linköping University (Eva Blomqvist), and was implemented in close cooperation with the Swedish Energy Agency (Coordinator: Lara Kruse). Project Manager was Eva Blomqvist, Linköping University. The project started from three datasets: (1) IAC's (Industrial Assessment Center) database of around 120 000 recommendations (until late 2012), which is by the way the world's largest energy audit program with more than 10,000 energy audits performed so far, (2) results from the Swedish PFE project, from the first program period, and (3) the results of the Swedish Energy Agency's energy audit support, the so-called "energy audit checks" (EKC), during 2011-2012. To demonstrate the user benefits and usefulness in linking these data sources have first created an OWL vocabulary, i.e., a new common data model for the datasets, built as a vocabulary for representing the data elements, and most of the actual data were then transferred to the RDF format, structured according to the new vocabulary. For interlinking the different data sources a number of manual mappings have been implemented. Among other things, measures were as far as possible reclassified according to a new taxonomy of task types developed by Energy Systems researchers at Linköping University. To integrate IAC data with Swedish data, a mapping was also made both between the IAC's ARC codes (action types) and the taxonomy, as well as between the industrial classification SIC (used by IAC) and the Swedish SNI-2007. The result of this work is published through a so-called SPARQL endpoint, which provides direct access to the linked data stored in an underlying triple store. In the current release (as of 2013-09), there are about 2,200 Swedish recommended measures published, and 120,000 recommendations from IAC. Access to these data can be gained through an interface for writing your own SPARQL queries, as well as a demonstration interface for end users (in Swedish), where questions can be formulated through various menu options. The complete dataset can also be downloaded as an RDF-dump. Note that a continuous quality control going on, so data can be changed and the project or its participants cannot be held responsible for any errors in the data - the results are used at your own risk. Note also that the result is a demonstration of what is possible to implement, not a full-scale operational solution - we can not guarantee the uptime and response times for the demo service. Purpose: The long term vision of the project is to make data on energy audits more accessible, both for application developers and end users, such as auditors. The goal of this project is to make available a number of datasets containing technical energy efficiency improvement measures as Linked Data on the Web (for more information on what this means see the LOD project ). The material consists essentially of two different types of data; measurements of saved energy and action proposals (proposed workarounds for energy surveys and their estimated costs and estimated future savings). Data for direct download consists 6 data files in rdf format and associated documentation.

The paper is devoted to topical problems of legal regulation of public relations in the field of alternative (renewable) energy sources in Russia and abroad. The paper shows the formation and development of the legal framework governing the investigated area of public relations in Russian and foreign law. The necessity of adopting a special legislative act in the Russian Federation dedicated to the civil regulation of public relations arising from the use of alternative (renewable) energy sources is substantiated.

Use of both natural gas and renewable energy has grown significantly in recent years. Both forms of energy have been touted as key elements of a transition to a cleaner and more secure energy future, but much of the current discourse considers each in isolation or concentrates on the competitive impacts of one on the other. This paper attempts, instead, to explore potential synergies of natural gas and renewable energy in the U.S. electric power and transportation sectors.

Installed capacity for different renewable energy sources 2021 (Source: IRENA)

Heightened natural gas prices have emerged as a key energy-policy challenge for at least the early part of the 21st century. With the recent run-up in gas prices and the expected continuation of volatile and high prices in the near future, a growing number of voices are calling for increased diversification of energy supplies. Proponents of renewable energy and energy efficiency identify these clean energy sources as an important part of the solution. Increased deployment of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) can hedge natural gas price risk in more than one way, but this paper touches on just one potential benefit: displacement of gas-fired electricity generation, which reduces natural gas demand and thus puts downward pressure on gas prices. Many recent modeling studies of increased RE and EE deployment have demonstrated that this ''secondary'' effect of lowering natural gas prices could be significant; as a result, this effect is increasingly cited as justification for policies promoting RE and EE. This paper summarizes recent studies that have evaluated the gas-price-reduction effect of RE and EE deployment, analyzes the results of these studies in light of economic theory and other research, reviews the reasonableness of the effect as portrayed in modeling studies, and develops a simple tool that can be used to evaluate the impact of RE and EE on gas prices without relying on a complex national energy model. Key findings are summarized.

We present models and algorithms for choosing optimal locations of wave energy conversion (WEC) devices within an array, or wave farm. The location problem can have a significant impact on the total power of the farm due to the interactions among the incident ocean waves and the scattered and radiated waves produced by the WECs. Depending on the nature of the interference (constructive or destructive) among these waves, the wave energy entering multiple devices, and thus the power output of the farm, may be significantly larger or smaller than the energy that would be seen if the devices were operating in isolation. Our model chooses WEC locations to maximize the performance of a wave farm as measured by a well known performance measure called the q -factor, which is the ratio of the power from an array of N WECs to the power from N WECs operating independently, under the point absorber approximation . We prove bounds for the q -factor based on the eigenvalues of an important data matrix, and provide an analytical optimal solution for the 2-WEC problem. We propose an iterative heuristic for the general problem and discuss the WEC location problem under uncertainty. Lehigh University Accelerator Grant