Past Projects Related to Adoption & Use:
Governance strategies to achieve zero energy buildings in China
2016, Jingjing Zhang, Nan Zhou, Adam Hinge, Wei Feng & Shicong Zhang
In response to climate change, governments are developing policies to move toward ultra-low-energy or ‘zero-energy’ buildings (ZEBs). Policies, codes, and governance structures vary among regions, and there is no universally accepted definition of a ZEB. These variables make it difficult, for countries such as China that wish to set similar goals, to determine an optimum approach. This paper reviews ZEBs policies, programmes, and governance approaches in two jurisdictions that are leading ZEBs development: Denmark and the state of California in the United States. Different modes of governance (hierarchy: principal–agent relations, market: self organizing and network: independent actors) are examined specifically in relation to policy instruments (prescriptive, performance or outcome-based). The analysis highlights differences in institutional conditions and examines available data on energy performance resulting from a building policy framework. The purpose is to identify ZEBs governance and implementation deficits in China and analyse alternative governance approaches that could be employed in China, which is currently developing ZEBs targets and policies. Conclusions suggest that the ZEBs governance structure in China could benefit from widened participation by all societal actors involved in achieving ZEBs targets. China’s ZEBs policies would benefit from employing a more balanced hybrid governance approach.
Keywords: building performance, building regulations, energy codes, energy policy, governance, net-zero, outcomes, policy, regulatory systems, zero-energy buildings, China
Comparative analysis of energy efficient technology innovation in buildings
2013, Jingjin Zhang and Lars J. Nilsson
Abstract: Buildings account for almost 30 % of global CO2 emissions (IEA, 2010). Large savings in energy use (75 % or higher) are possible in new buildings through better designs (IPCC, 2007). However, there is also institutional inertia and other barriers in the building sector that hinders the introduction and diffusion of technologies and new practices. The mechanisms that support or hinder introduction and diffusion of energy efficiency in buildings can be analysed from an innovation system perspective. Passive houses, as an example of a high efficiency standard, are starting to be more common in some European countries.
We analyse here the development and innovation diffusion of passive houses in pioneering Germany, the ‘second-mover’ Sweden, and China which is in the preparation phase, from a Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) perspective. the TIS approach enables us to analyze the passive house innovation process from a niche market to becoming the norm. Our aim is to extract knowledge for future policy strategies for deep energy efficiency in buildings. For that purpose we assess the structures and functions of the innovation systems and identify the system drivers and problems in the three different countries.
The results show, for example, the important role of certain actors, such as intermediary organizations. The mainly bottom-up driven development in Germany and Sweden may in China be complemented with top-down governance approaches in the future, which can create considerable scale-effects. The first-time application of the TIS-perspective to energy efficiency in buildings in a developing country demonstrates the usefulness of the approach. It suggests that policy for building energy efficiency in China should adopt a broader strategy, go beyond building codes and demonstration projects, and seriously consider how the innovation system can be strengthened in all its important functions and adapted over time.
The Path to Savings: Understanding the Federal Purchase of Energy-Consuming Products
2012, Margaret Taylor and K. Sydny Fujita
Energy efficiency has been a federal procurement policy objective since at least 1992, with the origin of the Energy Efficient Product Procurement (EEPP) program within the larger Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Through a synthesis of the literature on U.S. federal sector procurement and two dozen primary interviews, this report aims to aid the program in prioritize its resources by providing an overview of how the purchase of energy-consuming products occurs in today’s evolving federal procurement system, as well as identifying likely intervention points and compliance review mechanisms. The report particularly focuses on the importance of price in determining the actor(s) responsible for any given purchase of an energy-consuming product.
Achieved and Potential Energy Savings through Energy Efficient Procurement
2012, K. Sydny Fujita and Margaret Taylor
Of the policy tools available to the federal government to encourage the efficient use of energy, federal energy-efficient procurement requirements are among the least visible and least studied, although they have had a substantial impact on federal energy use and have the potential to induce greater energy savings in the future. This report provides technical background and detailed results for the most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of the Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP) energy efficient product purchasing (EEPP) requirements on national energy use. We project savings in federal energy use attributable to FEMP EEPP on the order of 5.2 to 11.5 TBtu annual, with the potential for approximately 29 TBtu of annual savings if full compliance is achieved.
Technological learning for carbon capture and sequestration technologies
2004, Keywan Riahi, Edward S. Rubin, Margaret R. Taylor, Leo Schrattenholzer, David Hounshell
Abstract: This paper analyzes potentials of carbon capture and sequestration technologies (CCT) in a set of long-term energy-economic-environmental scenarios based on alternative assumptions for technological progress of CCT. In order to get a reasonable guide to future technological progress in managing CO2 emissions, we review past experience in controlling sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from power plants. By doing so, we quantify a ‘‘learning curve’’ for CCT, which describes the relationship between the improvement of costs due to accumulation of experience in CCT construction. We incorporate the learning curve into the energy-modeling framework and develop greenhouse gas emissions scenarios of economic, demographic, and energy demand development, where alternative policy cases lead to the stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations at 550 parts per million by volume (ppmv) by the end of the 21st century. We quantify three types of contributors to the carbon emissions mitigation: (1) demand reductions due to the increased price of energy, (2) fuel switching primarily away from coal, and (3) carbon capture and sequestration from fossil fuels. Due to the assumed technological learning, costs of the emissions reduction for CCT drop rapidly and in parallel with the massive introduction of CCT on the global scale. Compared to scenarios based on static cost assumptions for CCT, the contribution of carbon sequestration is about 50% higher in the case of learning, resulting in cumulative sequestration of CO2 ranging from 150 to 250 billion (109) tons with carbon during the 21st century. Also, carbon values (tax) across scenarios (to meet the 550 ppmv carbon concentration constraint) are between 2% and 10% lower in the case of learning for CCT by 2100. The results illustrate that assumptions on technological change are a critical determinant of future characteristics of the energy system, indicating the importance of long-term technology policies in mitigation of adverse environmental impacts due to climate change.
Learning curves for environmental technology andtheir importance for climate policy analysis
2004, Edward S. Rubin, Margaret R. Taylor, Sonia Yeh, David A. Hounshell
Abstract: We seek to improve the ability of integrated assessment (IA) models to incorporate changes in CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) technology cost and performance over time. This paper presents results of research that examines past experience in controlling other major power plant emissions that might serve as a reasonable guide to future rates of technological progress in CCS systems. In particular, we focus on US and worldwide experience with sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) control technologies over the past 30 years, and derive empirical learning rates for these technologies. Applying these rates to CCS costs in a large-scale IA model shows that the cost of achieving a climate stabilization target are significantly lower relative to scenarios with no learning for CCS technologies.
New Directions for Energy and Behaviour: Whither Organizational Research?
Margaret Taylor and Kathryn B. Janda
Abstract: This paper provides practical, theoretical, and structural grounding for research on organizations in the energy system. The paper begins by demonstrating the importance of organizations in the energy system, as illustrated through engagement with two of the leading frameworks for structuring behavioural research in energy. The paper then briefly reviews some of the existing energy-related research on organizations, with an emphasis on the action-orientation of the organization studied (specifically, organizations that consume energy-using goods and services and organizations that create such goods and services through value chains). The paper also reviews both internally-oriented and externally-oriented theories related to the behaviour of organizations, outside the energy domain, and provides two energy domain examples where a theory-driven approach – either internally- or externally oriented – led to novel insights. The paper concludes by providing a structure that ties together organizational actions in the energy system with organizational theory orientations, in the hopes that this structure will provide a guide to both current and future research, making it more accessible and exposing important knowledge gaps.