Factors influencing residential water consumption in Wallonia,Belgium

Studies on residential water determinants often considered a limited number of possible factors due to lacking data, especially at micro-levels. This study aims to address the simultaneous effects of (1) household characteristics, (2) alternative sources of water, (3) dwelling properties, (4) water appliances, (5) attitudes, and (6) urban form on household water use in Wallonia (Belgium). Results emphasize the importance of household characteristics, use of alternative water sources, and dwelling properties. When compared to these variables, the influence of urban density appears very limited. Accordingly, the often-observed location factors are mainly related to the shared household characteristics, such as composition, income, lot area, or the practice of using rainwater.     

Modelling electricity consumption in office buildings: An agent based approach

In this paper, we develop an agent-based model which integrates four important elements, i.e. organisational energy management policies/regulations, energy management technologies, electric appliances and equipment, and human behaviour, to simulate the electricity consumption in office buildings. Based on a case study, we use this model to test the effectiveness of different electricity management strategies, and solve practical office electricity consumption problems. This paper theoretically contributes to an integration of the four elements involved in the complex organisational issue of office electricity consumption, and practically contributes to an application of an agent-based approach for office building electricity consumption study.     

Industrial electricity consumption efficiency and energy policy in Japan

This study analyzes the potential for energy savings by identifying inefficiencies in electricity use and their determinants in the Japanese industrial sector. Specifically, we used stochastic frontier analysis to estimate inefficiencies in electricity consumption based on data obtained from electric power companies. We identified significant determinants of electricity consumption efficiency and that changes in national energy policy following the Great East Japan Earthquake changed electricity consumption behavior. The contribution of this study is that its findings can be used to improve the cost-effectiveness of policies aimed at improving energy efficiency.     

谈大型商住小区水电安装监理工作

结合近几年的工程实践,根据大型商住小区水电安装工程的特点,对施工准备阶段、地基基础及主体结构施工阶段、装饰装修阶段、竣工验收阶段的水电安装监理要点作了归纳,为把好工程质量关提供了保障。     

Discovering residential electricity consumption patterns through smart-meter data mining: A case study from China

With the increasing penetration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in energy systems, traditional energy systems are being digitized. Advanced analysis of the energy production and consumption data and data-driven decision support can be combined to promote the formation and development of smart energy systems. Smart grids are a specific application of smart energy systems. Different electricity consumption patterns of residential users can be discovered and extracted by clustering analysis of the electricity consumption data collected by smart meters and other data acquisition terminals in a smart grid. This research explores daily electricity consumption patterns of low-voltage residential users in China. The service architecture of smart power use and the structure of electric energy data acquisition system of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) are introduced and a process model for mining daily electricity consumption data is presented. The analysis is based on the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering method and a fuzzy cluster validity index (PBMF). A case study of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, China is presented, using the daily electricity consumption data of 1312 low-voltage users within a month.     

Sustainable water consumption and water-saving behaviours: A review of consumers' environmental and economic concerns in Turkey

Water, which plays an important role in human life, has been depleted as a result of changing consumption patterns, climate change and increasing population, and water scarcity has emerged as one of the most pressing issues facing the world in the coming years. One solution to this problem is to make more efficient and sustainable use of existing water resources. In this context, the study aims to investigate the effects of consumers' environmental and economic concerns on sustainable water consumption behaviour, as well as the mediating role of water-saving behaviour in these effects. For this purpose, it was discovered that environmental and economic concerns have positive effects on sustainable water consumption behaviour as a result of an analysis of data collected from 591 consumers in Turkey via the online survey method; it was determined that environmental concerns have no effect on water-saving behaviour, whereas economic concerns have a positive effect on water-saving behaviour. According to the findings of the mediation analysis, water-saving behaviour only serves to mediate the effect of economic concerns on sustainable water consumption behaviour.     

A review of residential water conservation tool performance and influences on implementation effectiveness

Water scarcity and household water consumption has received increasing attention on national public agendas in recent years. At the same time a number of important demand-side management (DSM) studies have been reported on by non-academic institutions, and there is a need for a comprehensive, up to date review of the impacts of DSM tools and the factors which influence their effectiveness. This paper aims to address an apparent lack of coverage in the academic literature by presenting a review of residential DSM tools using reports of recent DSM campaigns in the western (developed) world. The central objectives are to understand the potential for residential DSM tools to save water in different types of household under varying conditions and to identify influences on implementation effectiveness. In the discussion, we explore causes of uncertainty in DSM planning including the non-transferability of trends and existing methods of evaluation, and describe some of the resulting problems. The conclusions offer recommendations as to areas that require, and offer the greatest scope, for future research. This review article will be of interest to, among others, water company professionals, policy makers, regulators, researchers, and environmental agencies.     

沈阳市居住区生活用水量标准的测试分析

针对在选用城市居民生活用水量标准所存在的差异，按居住区的用水人口和建设年代进行分类，通过测试计算了沈阳市居住区用水量日和时变化系数，在此基础上提出沈阳市居住区生活用水量标准，从而为给水规划和设计提供科学依据。     

A systematic procedure to study the influence of occupant behavior on building energy consumption

Efforts have been devoted to the identification of the impacts of occupant behavior on building energy consumption. Various factors influence building energy consumption at the same time, leading to the lack of precision when identifying the individual effects of occupant behavior. This paper reports the development of a new methodology for examining the influences of occupant behavior on building energy consumption; the method is based on a basic data mining technique (cluster analysis). To deal with data inconsistencies, min-max normalization is performed as a data preprocessing step before clustering. Grey relational grades, a measure of relevancy between two factors, are used as weighted coefficients of different attributes in cluster analysis. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method, the method was applied to a set of residential buildings’ measurement data. The results show that the method facilitates the evaluation of building energy-saving potential by improving the behavior of building occupants, and provides multifaceted insights into building energy end-use patterns associated with the occupant behavior. The results obtained could help prioritize efforts at modification of occupant behavior in order to reduce building energy consumption, and help improve modeling of occupant behavior in numerical simulation.     

Quantifying measuring errors of new residential water meters considering different customer consumption patterns

Water meter measuring errors vary depending on the water flow rate. The difference between water actually consumed and registered by a meter will differ depending on how water consumption is distributed by flow rates. Published studies assessing the performance of new residential meters have only analysed the error curves of the meters – without calculating the influence that consumption patterns have on their field performance. In most cases, research has been limited to analysing compliance with published standards. This work presents an evaluation of the actual commercial losses to be expected considering the consumption characteristic of domestic users. Several types of residential meters have been tested and the error curves obtained have been combined with measured consumption patterns of domestic users. As a result, this paper provides information about the order of magnitude of the initial measuring error as a function of the residential meter model and user characteristics.     

Development of an energy model for the residential sector: Electricity consumption in Andalusia, Spain

Electrical energy consumption in the residential sector has soared over the years. This is largely due to the growing number of residential housing units. The development of models allows us to estimate and predict the evolution and behavior of electricity consumption in this sector as well as its end-uses. The data thus obtained are extremely useful for the elaboration of energy-saving measures that can enhance energy efficiency. In June 2008 the Spanish government approved a set of guidelines in the document titled, Estrategia Española de Cambio Climático y Energía Limpia [Spanish Strategy for Climate Change and Clean Energy]. Its main objective was to replace conventional incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving light bulbs in the residential sector. This process would be carried out over a three-year period.This article describes the design, development, and application of a model capable of calculating electricity consumption for lighting in the residential housing sector. These results were reinforced by data from questionnaires administered to a representative sample of households. Finally, this energy model was applied to Andalusia. This allowed us to obtain the savings in electricity consumption for lighting when the objectives in the Spanish strategy for energy conservation had been achieved.     

Urban sprawl,food security and agricultural systems in developing countries: A systematic review of the literature

In developing countries, urbanisation and associated demographic changes pose unprecedented challenges in terms of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. A systematic review methodology was conducted, combined with data synthesis, to examine the interactions between urban sprawl, land and resource use changes, agricultural production and food security in developing countries. The Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched to identify 188 relevant articles. The results revealed that existing literature has widely failed to take interactions between different aspects of urban food systems (UFS) into account, indicating disconnects and fragmentation in the approaches used to analyse these interactions. Therefore a further focus on food system transformation pathways, system feedbacks and trade-offs is recommended. Moreover, the results imply that UFS are complex interlinked systems and therefore that policies intending to assure food security in developing countries need to consider these interlinkages and approach them holistically. Finally, an absence of studies examining urban and rural systems from an interconnected perspective was identified. An acknowledgement of such rural-urban connectivity gaps is crucial in order to ensure more inclusive links within food systems and agricultural value chains, and achieve more resilient food systems and more sustainable urbanisation in developing countries.     

Modeling water consumption and flow rates for flushing water systems in high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong

The probable maximum flow rates and flushing water consumption of a residential development are two crucial design factors for flushing water plants and evaluation of the risk of overloading them. Flushing water demands are transient and influenced by occupant load variations, occupant usage patterns, installed appliances and system commissioning. This study proposes mathematical expressions to determine the water consumption and flow rates for flushing water systems of residential buildings in Hong Kong. The model parameters were identified from a recent survey on the water closet (WC) usage patterns of 14 high-rise residential buildings. The occupant load factor, diurnal variation of flushing, discharge and refilling durations and volume of the WC cistern recorded from 597 households were used to determine the uncertainties of consumption and flow rates, and hence the risk of overloading a plant. Predictions were made for two typical residential buildings in Hong Kong. Good agreement between the predicted and the measured flushing water consumption was found. This model would be useful in calculating the capacity of a flushing water plant and the associated risk of overloading it.     

Multifaceted intra-city water system arrangements in California: Influences and implications for residents

Some cities directly provide drinking water and other utility services to their residents, whereas others contract out these responsibilities in full or in part, with considerable implications for service and non-service outcomes. There is a robust literature considering reasons for city-private provider binaries, as well as a growing number of studies assessing the rise in special district service provision, mixed service delivery arrangements, and inter-municipal service delivery within metropolitan contexts. On the other hand, there are few studies assessing city-level prevalence of these three main provider types jointly, as well as fully accounting for the diversity of institutional arrangements in drinking water service within individual cities.In this study, we construct an empirical profile of and analyze influences on diverse city-level water service provider arrangements using a dataset compiled for all 482 cities in California. Our analysis shows that 80% of cities are served by either a municipality, a private, investor-owned utility or a special district, with special districts being more common than private providers. Moreover, 20% of cities had more than one service provider, and 68% of these cities were served by more than one system type, including many where municipal and private providers co-existed. Using multivariate regression techniques, we analyze influences on different types of city-level drinking water service arrangements. We find that city incorporation date most profoundly influences the mix of water systems in cities, especially arrangements involving special districts or multiple system types. We also find that cities which run their own water system exclusively are more likely to institute conservation policies, and provide suggestive evidence that residents living in cities served by multiple water systems are exposed to wide variance in water rates. Water system fragmentation within city boundaries thus has implications for resource management policy and equity in intra-city resident essential service outcomes.     

Energy consumption criteria and labeling program of wet cooling towers in Iran

Increasing concerns about the lack of energy resources, global warming and environmental pollution have pushed the relevant organizations to develop energy saving strategies such as energy labeling programs. In this research, a new energy labeling program is developed and evaluated for the wet cooling towers in Iran. The cooling tower parameters, including its cooling capacity and the fan power consumption, are measured using an experimental setup. The experimental data are standardized to compensate the effect of the ambient wet bulb temperature on the cooling tower performance which cannot be controlled during the experiments. The results show that the cooling tower capacity and the fan power consumption may be correlated properly using a linear function which conducts the authors to present a linear energy index (EI). Based on the statistical analysis of a comprehensive range of products, the energy rating limits are extracted for the main types of cooling towers, including induced draft and forced draft ones. The economical and environmental impression of the program authorization is also discussed in detail. Administration of such program may lead to considerable energy saving in the cooling systems which have major economical and environmental benefits, especially in the large industries.     

A new approach to energy consumption prediction of domestic heat pump water heater based on grey system theory

This paper presented a new approach to energy consumption prediction from a domestic air source heat pump water heater (ASHPWH) based on grey system theory. An improved GM (1, 1) (i.e. a single-variable first-order grey model) applied in domestic hot water system was developed and its prediction accuracy was tested. Comparison of the measured and predicted values of heat from hot water and electricity consumed by the ASHPWH for two typical families (with 4 members and 2 members) were done. Results showed that, the prediction accuracy of the improved GM (1, 1) increased with increase in the data sample interval. The data sample interval of four weeks produced the best prediction accuracy. Based on the improved GM (1, 1) and weather data of Shanghai, the electricity cost saving, the monthly average heat and electricity consumption and the annual carbon emission reduction related to the use of the ASHPWH for the two typical families were evaluated and compared with those of the conventional electric resistance water heater.     

住宅工程水暖安装质量问题及防治

介绍了住宅工程水暖安装过程中存在的质量问题，分析了管道渗漏水及安装、尺寸方面存在问题的原因，并针对性地提出了预防措施，使工程质量符合设计、使用要求。     

Empowering irrigation: A game-theoretic approach to electricity utilization in Indian agriculture

This research uses a game-theoretic approach to analyze electric power provision for irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, based on results from interview and survey data. Farmers face a coordination problem of collectively preserving electric power quality and a linked dilemma of obtaining sufficient electric infrastructure capacity from utilities. Low equilibria prevail due to asymmetric payoffs and farmers not knowing electric network properties. The findings derived from survey data, empirical tests, and model synthesis indicate how the capacity dilemma can be overcome to enable coordinated technology adoption via farmers' and utilities’ investment into energy-efficient and economically viable technology. Coordinated demand-side measures could effectively reduce energy use and support adaptation to climate change.     

镇区给水工程规划中用水量指标探析

结合《镇规划标准》与规划工作实践,针对现阶段镇区供水规划中存在的问题,对小城镇给水工程规划进行系统分析,重点探析镇给水工程规划需水量预测中用水指标的确定,以供参考。     

The impacts of climatic and economic factors on residential electricity consumption of Bangkok Metropolis

Bangkok Metropolis is the largest city of Thailand. It consumes electricity about 30% of the whole country (2006). The residential electricity consumption (REC) in Bangkok Metropolis has increased more than 240% over the past 20-year period. The growth in REC due to climatic and economic factors. This research investigated monthly data of ambient temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and wind speed during the past 20-year period. And also investigated economic factors, e.g. number of houses, monthly income, and monthly shipment of air-conditioner over 5-year period. The residential electricity consumption of Bangkok Metropolis (RECB) model was created to analyze the impacts of each factor and to forecast the REC of Bangkok Metropolis for future use.