• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close
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• Yonsei University close

Abstract In spite of the remarkable growth and price reductions of the photovoltaic (PV) market during the past decade, the PV market still needs financial supports and incentives in order to achieve its national target from the long-term perspective. However, due to the financial burden on the government budget, most of the countries are reducing their financial supports and incentives as time goes by. In order to sustain the growth of the PV market, it is crucial to determine the optimal solar incentive design by minimizing the government budget while maximizing the resident's benefit. Towards this end, this study aims to propose a framework for optimizing the solar incentive from the perspective of residents and policy makers. The proposed framework consists of five steps: (i) establishment of database; (ii) generation of incentive scenarios; (iii) calculation of the electricity generation; (iii) Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis; and (v) Multi-objective optimization using Pareto optimal solutions. The proposed framework could help both residents and policy makers in several ways by developing a multi-objective optimization model in the future study: (i) minimize the government budget; (ii) maximize the resident's benefit; (iii) determine an optimal solar incentive design which can satisfy both residents and policy makers. Application of the proposed framework could be extended to any other country or sector in the global environment.

Abstract Islands are characterized by isolated energy systems and a reliance on fossil fuel imports which comes with significant economic and environmental consequences and difficulties. Specifically, climate change, energy security and reliability, and price volatility are contributing factors to transformational socio-technical change in energy systems. This study applied a sustainability transition management framework to conceptualize an island energy transition as a multi-level and purposive policy-driven sustainability and self-sufficiency socio-technical intervention. Using this contextual approach, we reviewed the means and scope of change, taking into consideration the prerequisites for developing an intelligent energy region from the inception of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative in 2008 to date. Based on a case study with document analysis and in-depth interviews with energy stakeholders, we assess progress on Hawaii's energy system transformation and associated socio-technical innovations. Through the lens of the multilevel perspective analytical framework, the case study results demonstrate how regime-level policies have stimulated actions at the niche-level to overcome significant policy and technological hurdles. Regime and niche-level actions in Hawaii's energy transition can inform potentially replicable sustainable energy policies in other islands as well as inland communities, states, and nations. This research contributes to energy policy literature by providing (1) a conceptual framework of an island energy transition; (2) a review of policy and technology solutions at the state and local level to support change; (3) a case study of a first-of-its kind energy innovation collaboration; and (4) policy implications for emerging island energy transition efforts worldwide.

People of developing countries especially from rural area are commonly exposed to high levels of household pollution for 3-7 h daily using biomass in their kitchen. Such biomass produces harmful smoke and makes indoor air pollution (IAP). Community-based cross-sectional study was performed to identify effects of IAP by simplified measurement approach in Sunsari District of Nepal. Representative samples of 157 housewives from household, involving more than 5 years in kitchen were included by cluster sampling. Data were analyzed by SPSS and logistic regression was applied for the statistical test. Most (87.3%) housewives used biomass as a cooking fuel. Tearing of eyes, difficulty in breathing, and productive cough were the main reported health problems and traditional mud stoves and use of unrefined biomass were statistically significant (p  2) with health problems related to IAP. The treatment cost and episodes of acute respiratory infection was >2 folders higher in severe IAP than mild IAP. Simplified measurement approach could be helpful to measure IAP in rural area. Some effective intervention is suggested to reduce the severe level of IAP considering women and children.

This paper presents the result of the estimation of the power interruption costs of Korean commercial customers. Commercial customers are usually located in urban areas and considered very important because a power interruption on them can expand to additional damage to related users. Their power interruption costs were calculated through a survey with the process of data selection. Also, the power interruption cost for each customer's business type was calculated and compared with that of foreign cases.

Although various technologies are being developed in the construction industry, management technologies for achieving environmental sustainability in the local community are still lacking. As such, this study suggests future insights for the development of an automated intelligent environment management system for the promotion of environmental sustainability in the local community, through a systematic review of 1,707 relevant literature. The systematic review was conducted in two steps: (i) quantitative review: keyword co-occurrence and trend analysis; and (ii) qualitative review: a review on monitoring, evaluation, and improvement technologies. As a result, the research level related to the local-level pollutants (noise, vibration, and dust) was found to be quantitatively insufficient, and the limitations of the existing technologies for these pollutants were presented. Eventually, to overcome these limitations, new technologies and application strategies that can be applied to construction sites as future research roadmap to effectively manage the hazardous pollutants were proposed. Furthermore, an intelligent management system should be developed, and the management of environmental complaints is also necessary for environmental sustainability at the local level in the construction industry. As a fundamental study, this study could become a benchmark for future researches dealing with environmental sustainability and hazardous pollutants in the construction industry.

Abstract To achieve the national CO2 emission reduction target in the building sector, green remodeling of deteriorated buildings with a low building energy efficiency level should be carried out. There is no reasonable decision support model for green remodeling, however, that is capable of determining the target building, which has low energy performance, from the viewpoint of the non-expert building owners and policymakers. To solve this problem, this study developed a decision support model for determining the target multi-family housing complex (MFHC) for green remodeling using data mining techniques. Specifically, a total of 589 MFHCs were classified into three groups using a decision tree. Based on the operational rating system, the CO2 emission (CE) intensity by group was analyzed, and the results showed that Case No. 1,089 (0.0368 tCO2/m2) was the target MFHC where green modeling needed to be performed first. Also, most of the 88 MFHCs belong to grade E, the lowest grade in terms of CE intensity, were located in specific regions (i.e., Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu, etc.). Thus, the developed decision support model can be used to determine the regions with a high demand for green remodeling, and to establish an efficient government budget.

The development of smart energy systems is a crucial enabler of the transition towards a decarbonized renewable energy (RE)-based society with universal energy access as it provides flexibility to integrate variable RE sources. This paper analyzes the development of new RE-based smart energy systems while introducing energy technologies and effective methods for energy systems development, recent progress of energy systems by using RE, practical government measures in pioneer countries for energy systems, development with quantitative data for these countries, and PEST (political, economic, socio-cultural and technological) analysis. Our findings show that the development of smart energy systems requires appropriate policies and that thorough collaboration between all national executive agents like national and local governments and citizens in this regard is crucial. Smart energy system development needs to be tailored to local conditions, and due consideration must be given new technologies and methods for development, correct policies, investment, collaboration national/local and their citizens, societal support, and citizens acceptance.

Many new services have emerged to realize ubiquitous computing environments, owing to the increasing supply of mobile devices and more widespread Internet and wireless network facilities. We introduce the U-Campus (ubiquitous computing for campus) service. This study has been conducted through interdisciplinary research by four participating departments. The U-campus project is part of the UTOPIA project (Ubiquitous computing TOwn Project: Intelligent context Awareness), which covers town- and city-wide environments. Currently, a test bed for U-campus has been constructed to support various services suck as U-profile, U-messaging and U-campus tour guide services. Students, professors, school staffs, and campus visitors can easily access the various available campus services by using image-based sensors and mobile devices such as CDMA cellular phones or WiFi smart phones. The major purpose of this research is to provide a context-aware U-campus environment to users by utilizing sensors and mobile devices currently available in the public sector and the marketplace.