Comprehending household cooking energy choice in rural India

Energy is essential to attain the quality of life and economic prosperity in a society. In the rural areas of India, cooking dominates the aggregate consumption of energy. This energy demand is mostly met by biomass fuels, which have many associated inherent disadvantages. Hence, it is important to understand the decision making process in rural households regarding the choice of cooking fuels. For this purpose, household information using the 61st round of National Sample Survey is analyzed for the rural parts of India. The logistic regression model is used to explain the determinants of clean fuel use for cooking purposes. The study shows that number of educated females between 10 and 50 years of age, average household education index, regular salary, and monthly per capita consumption expenditure have a positive and significant impact on probability of using clean cooking fuels, whereas possessing a Below Poverty Line ration card, belonging to reserved caste categories, family size and size of farm land have a significant negative linkage.     

Modeling choice of fuelwood source among rural households in Malawi: A multinomial probit analysis

This paper addresses two questions: what determines household's choice of fuelwood source and, what are the environmental consequences of fuelwood collection choices? We address these questions by estimating the multinomial probit model using survey data for households surrounding Chimaliro and Liwonde forest reserves in Malawi. After controlling for heterogeneity among households, we find strong substitution opportunities across fuelwood collection sources. Attributes of the fuelwood sources (size and species composition) and distance to the sources are the most important determinants of fuelwood choice. Further results show that customary managed forests generate environmental benefits by reducing pressure on both plantation forests and forest reserves. These findings support the need to strengthen community-based institutions to manage local forest resources.     

A regional linear logit fuel demand model for electric utilities

We investigate a short-term forecasting and simulation model of utility fuel demand based on the linear logit model. The forecasting properties of the model are surprisingly good for such a simple econometric model of factor demand. The model ignores the distinctive characteristics of electric utilities (load curves, wheeling, etc.) yet produces remarkably good forecasts at both the national and regional levels. Because the model is based on neoclassical theory it can be used for simulations, making it more useful, and less ad hoc, than a pure forecasting model.     

Increasing the sustainability of household cooking in developing countries: Policy implications

Although 40% of the global population relies on traditional biomass use, mainly firewood and charcoal, for cooking, traditional biomass has received very little attention in the current biomass debate, because of its considered primitive and unsustainable nature. In this review, we discuss how the sustainability of household cooking in developing countries can be improved.Indoor air pollution due to incomplete combustion of traditional biomass causes the death of 1.45 million people every year, mainly of women and children, who also carry the heavy burden of fuelwood collection. In addition, charcoal production and combustion is responsible for very high greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy. On the other hand, fuelwood production and trade is of vital importance for local economies and serves as safety net for the poorest people. Moreover, fuelwood collection is not a driver of deforestation and global fuelwood shortage will not occur, despite local problems of fuelwood provision.There are two distinct policy alternatives to increase the sustainability of cooking in developing countries. The first option is to climb the energy ladder and to switch from solid fuels to fossil fuels (LPG or kerosene), biogas or electricity. As this largely avoids the severe health damages of traditional biomass use, this option is considered the most desirable by numerous countries and by international organizations. However, as most developing countries are far away from meeting the necessary requirements, related to infrastructure, economics and local culture, expecting a large-scale switch to liquid fuels or electricity is unrealistic.In that case, the second policy option, increasing the sustainability of the current traditional biomass system, must be considered. This can be realized by an integrated approach, in which national and regional fuelwood policies are adapted, improved systems for charcoal production are implied and improved stoves, in combination with chimneys, are distributed.     

Transient simulation of household refrigerators: A semi-empirical quasi-steady approach

This paper outlines a simulation model for the cycling behavior of household refrigerators and, therefore, for predicting their energy consumption. The modeling methodology follows a quasi-steady approach, where the refrigeration system and also the refrigerated compartments are modeled following steady-state and transient approaches, respectively. The mass, energy and momentum conservation principles were used to put forward the equation set, whereas experimental data were collected and used to reduce the model closing parameters such as the thermal conductances and capacitances. The experiments were carried out using a controlled temperature and humidity environmental chamber. The model predictions were compared to experimental data, when it was found that the energy consumption is well predicted by the model with a maximum deviation of ±2%. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to identify opportunities for energy savings.     

Heating technology and energy use: a discrete/continuous choice approach to Norwegian household energy demand

The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of the household’s energy demand as a discrete/continuous choice and, on this basis, establish an econometric model suitable for the data available in the Norwegian Energy Surveys. The discrete appliance choice is specified as a multinomial logit model, with a mixture of appliance attributes (operating costs) and individual characteristics (income, housing unit characteristics, etc.) as explanatory variables. In the next step the continuous choice of energy use is modelled conditional on the appliance choice. The energy prices turn out to be significant both when estimating the appliance choice and the conditional energy demand. The estimated price elasticity for energy exceeds minus unity. The paper discusses how this relatively strong price response should be interpreted in the context of other econometric analysis with no explicit appliance dependence. Finally, the significance of the many household characteristics at both stages of the model signals a high degree of heterogeneity within the households, which justifies the use of detailed micro-data in the modelling of the energy demand.     

Motivations driving renewable energy in European countries: A panel data approach

Despite the increasing amount of literature available on renewable energy, the empirical analysis about drivers promoting renewables remains scarce. We have analyzed those drivers for European Countries. Over an extended period of time (1990–2006) we used panel data techniques, namely the fixed effects vector decomposition. The results suggest that both the lobby of the traditional energy sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) and CO₂ emissions restrain renewable deployment. The objective of reducing energy dependency appears to stimulate renewable energy use. Our results robustly support the EU decision to create a directive promoting the use of renewable sources (Directive 2001/77/EC). We also offer suggestions with regards to the design of appropriate policies towards renewable energy deployment.     

Crude oil shocks and stock markets: A panel threshold cointegration approach

This paper proposes a panel threshold cointegration approach to investigate the relationship between crude oil shocks and stock markets for the OECD and non-OECD panel from January 1995 to December 2009. Nonlinear cointegration is confirmed for the oil–stock nexus in the panel. Because threshold cointegration is found, the threshold vector error correction models can be run to investigate the presence of asymmetric dynamic adjustment. The Granger causality tests demonstrate the existence of bidirectional long-run Granger causality between crude oil shocks and stock markets for these OECD and non-OECD countries. However, the short-run Granger causality between them is bidirectional under positive changes in the deviation and unidirectional under negative ones. Moreover, the speed of adjustment toward equilibrium is faster under negative changes in the deviation than that under positive ones in these OECD and non-OECD countries.     

Energy and cost savings in household refrigerating appliances: A simulation-based design approach

In this study a novel design methodology for household refrigeration systems focused on both energy savings and cost reduction is presented and evaluated. Mathematical models were put forward for each of the system components and used to simulate the energy performance of the entire refrigeration system. The system simulation model was validated against experimental data obtained for a single-door 300-l vertical freezer. It was found that the model predictions for the energy consumption, cooling capacity and runtime ratio deviated from the experimental data within an error band of ±10%. An optimization algorithm was built upon the simulation model to size the condenser and evaporator heat transfer areas, and also the cabinet insulation thickness aiming at minimizing the total cost of the refrigeration system for a target energy consumption. A trade-off relation between the minimum cost and the minimum energy consumption was achieved, bringing about a system configuration that consumes 14% less energy than the baseline system if the total cost remains unchanged. The effect of the compressor stroke volume and efficiency on the minimum cost was also taken into account. It was demonstrated that the refrigerator/freezer becomes less costly in cases where highly efficient compressors are used in low energy consumption refrigerating appliances.     

Retail fuel price adjustment in Germany: A threshold cointegration approach

Consumers in Germany often complain that retail fuel prices usually adjust quickly to crude oil price increases than decreases and characterize this pricing pattern as market power exploitation. In this paper, we use both weekly national and daily city-specific (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne) data to investigate the extent to which retail fuel prices in Germany adjust to changes in the international crude oil price. At the national level with weekly prices, we find positive asymmetries for both gasoline and diesel within the period 2003–2007, reflecting that retail prices react more swiftly to crude oil price increases than decreases. In contrast, for 2009–2013, we observe symmetric adjustment and negative asymmetry for retail diesel and gasoline prices, respectively. The city level analysis supports our findings in the latter time period. Thus, regulatory measures aimed at the retail fuel market over recent years seem to have been effective, and, contrary to consumers' perception, we find no evidence for excessive market power or collusion.     

The influence of modal choice on energy conservation strategies in transport : Application of a logit model

This paper emphasizes the evaluation of energy conservation strategies that are considered to be sensitive to modal choice by employing a disaggregate logit model. Five hundred households in Taipei city were selected and interviewed on weekdays between 26 December 1986 and 15 January 1987 by using a stratified random sampling process. By computing elasticities of the logit model, three kinds of energy conservation strategies – taxi-fares, exclusive bus lanes and gasoline price – were selected for sensitivity analysis. The results show that a passenger's modal choice and energy consumption in transport are not affected greatly by the three selected energy conservation strategies in the short term. Therefore it is recommended that other strategies are used, such as reducing trip generation, shortening trip length, improving fuel efficiency and increasing vehicle occupancy to reduce energy consumption in transport.     

Energy deprivation dynamics and regulatory reforms in Europe: Evidence from household panel data

The typical ingredients of energy reforms in the European Union (EU) in the 1990s were full or partial privatization, vertical disintegration and liberalization. This paper analyses the effects of energy reforms on the probability of households experiencing deprivation, defined as difficulty in paying the bills. We use two sets of micro-data. First, the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), a large EU survey, offers evidence on people who report having been unable to pay scheduled utility bills. We consider seven European countries: Denmark, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, and eight ECHP waves (1994–2001), with around 28,000 observations. Second, we also use micro-data from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (EU-SILC) 2004–2005, with around 84,000 observations. The countries included are Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Austria, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden. As indicators of regulatory reforms in the same countries and years we use ECTR (formerly REGREF), a database provided by the OECD. In both samples we find evidence that privatization increases the probability of households experiencing deprivation. Vertical disintegration has a similar effect and also increases the persistence in the status of household deprivation. Liberalization has no statistically significant effect. We discuss possible interpretations of these findings.     

Wood fuel use in the traditional cooking stoves in the rural floodplain areas of Bangladesh: A socio-environmental perspective

A study was conducted, using a multistage simple random sampling design, to determine the structural characteristics of the traditional cooking stoves, amount of wood fuel consumed in the rural floodplain areas in Bangladesh, and also to figure out the socio-economic and environmental consequences of wood fuel usage in the traditional cooking stove. The study showed that family size, income, amount cooked and burning hours significantly affected the amount of wood fuel used per family per year. Taking into account different family sizes, the study observed that 4.24 tonne fuelwood were consumed per family per year. The study showed that 42% of families used only biomass fuel, 5% used liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and 53% used kerosene along with biomass fuels. The main source of biomass fuel was homestead forests (40%). It has been figured out that the incomplete combustion of biomass in the traditional cooking stove poses severe epidemiological consequences to human health and contributes to global warming. The study also showed that 83% of the respondents would prefer improved cooking stoves over traditional cooking stoves.     

Economic growth-electricity consumption causality in 12 European countries: A dynamic panel data approach

This paper applies recent panel methodology to investigate the long-run and causal relationship between electricity consumption and real GDP for a set of 12 European countries using annual data for the period 1970–2007. The sample countries have moved faster than other neighboring countries towards the creation of a single electricity market over the past 30 years. Energy prices are also included in the study due to their important role in affecting the above variables, thus avoiding the problem of omitted variable bias. Tests for panel unit roots, cointegration in heterogeneous panels and panel causality are employed in a trivariate VECM estimated by system GMM. The results show evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the three series and a negative short-run and strong causality from electricity consumption to GDP. As expected, there is bidirectional causality between energy prices and GDP and weaker evidence between electricity consumption and energy prices. These results support the policies implemented towards the creation of a common European electricity market.     

Household energy consumption versus income and relative standard of living: A panel approach

Our fundamental premise is that energy consumption at the household level is a key indicator of standard of living. We employ state-of-the-art panel cointegration techniques to evaluate the nature of the relationship between income measures and energy consumption measures for seven East Indian Ocean countries. The general finding is that income and household electricity consumption are not cointegrated. Given this finding, we conclude that standard of living measures that rely on income measures and do not include household-level energy consumption information will necessarily miss important indications of both levels and changes of standard of living.     

A novel direct carbon fuel cell by approach of tubular solid oxide fuel cells

A direct carbon fuel cell based on a conventional anode-supported tubular solid oxide fuel cell, which consisted of a NiO-YSZ anode support tube, a NiO-ScSZ anode functional layer, a ScSZ electrolyte film, and a LSM-ScSZ cathode, has been successfully achieved. It used the carbon black as fuel and oxygen as the oxidant, and a preliminary examination of the DCFC has been carried out. The cell generated an acceptable performance with the maximum power densities of 104, 75, and 47 mW cm⁻² at 850, 800, and 750 °C, respectively. These results demonstrate the feasibility for carbon directly converting to electricity in tubular solid oxide fuel cells.     

A review of fuel cell based hybrid power supply architectures and algorithms for household appliances

Nowadays, renewable power system solutions are widely investigated for residential applications. Grid-connected systems including energy storage elements are designed. Advanced research is actually focused on improving the reliability and energy density of renewable systems reducing the whole utility cost. Source and load modeling, power architectures and algorithms are only a few topics to be addressed. Designers have to carefully deal with each subtopic prior to design efficient renewable energy systems. In the literature, each topic is separately discussed and the lack of a unique reference guide is clear to power electronics designers. In this paper, each design step including source and load modeling, hybrid supply architectures and power algorithms, is carefully addressed. A review of existing solutions is presented. The correlation between each topic is deeply analyzed. Guidelines for system design are given. This paper can be referenced as a detailed review of renewable energy system design issues and solutions.     

Modeling alkaline water electrolysis for power-to-x applications: A scheduling approach

The flexible operation of alkaline water electrolyzers enables power-to-x plants to react efficiently to different energy scenarios. In this work, a novel scheduling model for alkaline water electrolysis is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program. The model is constructed by implementing operational states (production, standby, idle) and transitions (cold/full startup, shutdown) as integer variables, while the power loading and hydrogen flowrate are set as continuous variables. The operational characteristics (load range, startup time, ramp rates) are included as model constraints. The proposed model allows finding optimal number of electrolyzers and production schedules when dealing with large data sets of intermittent energy and electricity price. The optimal solution of the case study shows a balance between hydrogen production, energy absorption, and operation and investment costs. The optimal number of electrolyzers to be installed corresponds to 54% of the ones required to absorb the highest energy peak, being capable of loading 89.7% of the available energy during the year of operation, with an overall plant utilization of 93.7% and 764 startup/shutdown cycles evenly distributed among the units.     

Swedish perspective on wood fuel pellets for household heating: A modified standard for pellets could reduce end-user problems

The use of wood fuel pellets has increased significantly over the past few years, and since 2006 the households use the major part of the pellets available in Sweden. During the same period, the oil heating has decreased. Many former oil users that were used to almost maintenance-free heating systems now use pellets. Despite significant improvements of pellet quality and storage and burner equipment, there are still some problems that the household pellets user encounters. In this work, common end-user problems are identified. The cause of each problem, as well as whether a modified Swedish standard for pellets could reduce some of the problems encountered, is analysed. The results show that the most serious problems originate from the crumbling of pellets. We conclude that many of the problems could be avoided by modifying the Swedish standard, e.g., the quality parameters could be set using intervals instead of threshold values.     

Clean fuel options with hydrogen for sea transportation: A life cycle approach

In this study, two potential fuels, namely hydrogen and ammonia, are alternatively proposed to replace heavy fuel oils in the engines of sea transportation vehicles. A comparative life cycle assessments of different types of sea transportation vehicles are performed to investigate the impacts of fuel switching on the environment. The entire transport life cycle is considered in the life cycle analyses consisting of production of freight ship and tanker; operation of freight ship and tanker; construction and land use of port; operation, maintenance and disposal of port; production and transportation of these clean fuels. Various environmental impact categories, such as global warming, marine sediment ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, acidification and ozone layer depletion are selected in order to examine the diverse effects of switching to clean fuels in maritime transportation. As a carbon-free fuel for marine vehicle engines, ammonia and hydrogen, yield considerably lower global warming impact during the operation. Furthermore, numerous production methods of alternative fuels are evaluated to comparatively show environmentally benign options. The results of this study demonstrate that if ammonia is even partially utilized in the engines of ocean tankers as dual fuel (with heavy fuel oils), overall life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per tonne-kilometer can be decreased about 27% whereas it can be decreased by about 40% when hydrogen is used as dual fuel.