Engaging energy saving through motivation-specific social comparison

Comparison is widely used in research projects and commercial products whose goal is to motivate energy saving at home. This research builds on fundamental theories from social psychology in an attempt to shed light on how to motivate consumers to conserve energy by providing relevant people for social comparison depending on consumer’s motivation to compare. To support the research process, the mobile application EnergyWiz was developed through a theory-driven design approach. Along with other features EnergyWiz provides users with three types of social comparison – normative, one-on-one and ranking. The results of interviews with prospective users are used to derive design suggestions for relevant people for comparison (comparison subjects).

Will insulation always bring benefits in energy saving and thermal comfort?

Building insulation is often used to reduce the conduction heat transfer through building envelope. With a higher level of insulation (or a greater R-value), the less the conduction heat would transfer through building envelope. In this paper, using building computer simulation techniques, the effects of building insulation levels on the thermal and energy performance of a sample air-conditioned office building in Australia are studied. It is found that depending on the types of buildings and the climates of buildings located, increasing the level of building insulation will not always bring benefits in energy saving and thermal comfort, particularly for internal-load dominated office buildings located in temperate/tropical climates. The possible implication of building insulation in face of global warming has also been examined. Compared with the influence of insulation on building thermal performance, the influence on building energy use is relatively small.

Estimation of energy saving of commercial building by living wall and green facade in sub-tropical climate of Australia

This paper investigates energy saving potential of commercial building by living wall and green façade system using Envelope Thermal Transfer Value (ETTV) equation in Sub-tropical climate of Australia. Energy saving of four commercial buildings was quantified by applying living wall and green façade system to the west facing wall. A field experimental facility, from which temperature data of living wall system was collected, was used to quantify wall temperatures and heat gain under controlled conditions. The experimental parameters were accumulated with extensive data of existing commercial building to quantify energy saving. Based on temperature data of living wall system comprised of Australian native plants, equivalent temperature of living wall system has been computed. Then, shading coefficient of plants in green façade system has been included in mathematical equation and in graphical analysis. To minimize the air-conditioned load of commercial building, therefore to minimize the heat gain of commercial building, an analysis of building heat gain reduction by living wall and green façade system has been performed. Overall, cooling energy performance of commercial building before and after living wall and green façade system application has been examined. The quantified energy saving showed that only living wall system on opaque part of west facing wall can save 8-13 % of cooling energy consumption where as only green façade system on opaque part of west facing wall can save 9.5-18% cooling energy consumption of commercial building. Again, green façade system on fenestration system on west facing wall can save 28-35 % of cooling energy consumption where as combination of both living wall on opaque part of west facing wall and green façade on fenestration system on west facing wall can save 35-40% cooling energy consumption of commercial building in sub-tropical climate of Australia.

Eu:Y2O3 nano-phosphor prepared by novel energy-saving solution combustion method

A novel energy- and time-saving solution combustion method has been developed to prepare Eu:Y2O3 nano-crystal line phosphor. This novel method employs anhydrous ethanol as solvent and fuel. The prepared nano-crystals after heat-treatment own narrow size distribution, well dispersibility and sinterability, confirmed by XRD, TEM and FTIR. The emission spectra of nano-Eu:Y2O3 Samples show clear nano-size related phenomena. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The induced innovation hypothesis and energy-saving technological change

We develop a methodology for testing Hicks's induced innovation hypothesis by estimating a product-characteristics model of energy-using consumer durables, augmenting the hypothesis to allow for the influence of government regulations. For the products we explored, the evidence suggests that (i) the rate of overall innovation was independent of energy prices and regulations; (ii) the direction of innovation was responsive to energy price changes for some products but not for others; (iii) energy price changes induced changes in the subset of technically feasible models that were offered for sale; (iv) this responsiveness increased substantially during the period after energy-efficiency product labeling was required; and (v) nonetheless, a sizable portion of efficiency improvements were autonomous.

Advanced Modelling and Optimization of Infared Oven in Injection Stretch Blow-moulding for Energy Saving

In the production process of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, the initial temperature of preforms plays a central role on the final thickness, intensity and other structural properties of the bottles. Also, the difference between inside and outside temperature profiles could make a significant impact on the final product quality. The preforms are preheated by infrared heating oven system which is often an open loop system and relies heavily on trial and error approach to adjust the lamp power settings. In this paper, a radial basis function (RBF) neural network model, optimized by a two-stage selection (TSS) algorithm combined with partial swarm optimization (PSO), is developed to model the nonlinear relations between the lamp power settings and the output temperature profile of PET bottles. Then an improved PSO method for lamp setting adjustment using the above model is presented. Simulation results based on experimental data confirm the effectiveness of the modelling and optimization method.

Energy Saving - Another Perspective for Parameter Optimization of P and PI Controllers

Modern control methods like optimal control and model predictive control (MPC) provide a framework for simultaneous regulation of the tracking performance and limiting the control energy, thus have been widely deployed in industrial applications. Yet, due to its simplicity and robustness, the conventional P (Proportional) and PI (Proportional–Integral) control are still the most common methods used in many engineering systems, such as electric power systems, automotive, and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) for buildings, where energy efficiency and energy saving are the critical issues to be addressed. Yet, little has been done so far to explore the effect of its parameter tuning on both the system performance and control energy consumption, and how these two objectives are correlated within the P and PI control framework. In this paper, the P and PI controllers are designed with a simultaneous consideration of these two aspects. Two case studies are investigated in detail, including the control of Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) for transmitting offshore wind power to onshore AC grid through High Voltage DC links, and the control of HVAC systems. Results reveal that there exists a better trade-off between the tracking performance and the control energy through a proper choice of the P and PI controller parameters.

Optimization of Controller Parameters for Energy Saving

Among various technologies to tackle the twin challenges of sustainable energy supply and climate change, energy saving through advanced control plays a crucial role in decarbonizing the whole energy system. Modern control technologies, such as optimal control and model predictive control do provide a framework to simultaneously regulate the system performance and limit control energy. However, few have been done so far to exploit the full potential of controller design in reducing the energy consumption while maintaining desirable system performance. This paper investigates the correlations between control energy consumption and system performance using two popular control approaches widely used in the industry, namely the PI control and subspace model predictive control. Our investigation shows that the controller design is a delicate synthesis procedure in achieving better trade-o between system performance and energy saving, and proper choice of values for the control parameters may potentially save a significant amount of energy

Race-to-halt energy saving strategies

Energy consumption is one of the major issues for modern embedded systems. Early, power saving approaches mainly focused on dynamic power dissipation, while neglecting the static (leakage) energy consumption. However, technology improvements resulted in a case where static power dissipation increasingly dominates. Addressing this issue, hardware vendors have equipped modern processors with several sleep states. We propose a set of leakage-aware energy management approaches that reduce the energy consumption of embedded real-time systems while respecting the real-time constraints. Our algorithms are based on the race-to-halt strategy that tends to run the system at top speed with an aim to create long idle intervals, which are used to deploy a sleep state. The effectiveness of our algorithms is illustrated with an extensive set of simulations that show an improvement of up to 8% reduction in energy consumption over existing work at high utilization. The complexity of our algorithms is smaller when compared to state-of-the-art algorithms. We also eliminate assumptions made in the related work that restrict the practical application of the respective algorithms. Moreover, a novel study about the relation between the use of sleep intervals and the number of pre-emptions is also presented utilizing a large set of simulation results, where our algorithms reduce the experienced number of pre-emptions in all cases. Our results show that sleep states in general can save up to 30% of the overall number of pre-emptions when compared to the sleep-agnostic earliest-deadline-first algorithm.

Development of energy saving forms of natural rubber

Although the physical and technological properties of modified rubbers were compared with those of conventional rubbers in the earlier studies reviewed above, the extent of energy saving possible by their use has not been quantified. In the present work it is proposed to determine the energy saving possible by using the following forms of natural rubber: 1. Oil extended natural rubber, 2. peptised natural rubber, 3. latex stage compounds. The process of production and quality control of the above types of processed rubbers are proposed to be standardised. It is also planned to work out a methodology for utilising field coagula for production of constant viscosity rubbers. The variation in processing properties of rubber from popular Indian clones will be examined and those with energy advantages in the processing stage will be identified. In conclusion a recommendation for adoption of a commercially advantageous processing procedure among Indian rubber plantation industry is also given.

Energy saving innovations, non-exhaustible sources of energy and long-run: what would happen if we run out of oil?

We formulate and solve a model of factor saving technological improvement considering three factors of production: labor, capital and energy. The productive activities have three main characteristics: first, in order to use capital goods firms need energy; second, there are two sources of energy: non-exhaustible and exhaustible; third, capital goods can be of different qualities and the quality of these goods can be changed along two dimensions -reducing the need of energy or changing the source of energy used in the production process. The economy goes through three stages of development after industrialization. In the first, firms make use of exhaustible energy and the e¢ ciency in the use of energy is constant. In the second stage, as the price of energy grows the e¢ ciency in its use is increased. In the third stage, the price of exhaustible sources is so high that firms have incentives to use non-exhaustible sources of energy. During this stage the price of energy is constant. In this set up, the end of the oil age has level effects on consumption and output but it does not cause the collapse of the economic system.