Energy Efficiency最新文献

{"title":"Can energy communities reduce energy poverty? A georeferenced framework proposal to support decision-makers","authors":"Diana Neves,&nbsp;Cláudia Sousa Monteiro","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10460-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10460-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Energy communities (ECs) are increasingly promoted as a tool for decarbonisation, local participation, and social inclusion. Meanwhile, the EU Renewable Energy Directive requires ECs to provide support in reducing energy poverty by lowering grid consumption and electricity supply tariffs. Yet, their potential to mitigate energy poverty remains insufficiently operationalised in spatially explicit decision-support frameworks. This paper develops a conceptual georeferenced framework informed by a focused literature review on energy poverty, energy communities, urban building energy modelling and multi-objective optimization, to prioritise the deployment of inclusive solar energy communities in urban areas, according to household vulnerability to energy poverty. The proposed framework integrates spatial data, vulnerability indicators, building energy performance, renewable generation potential, and policy-relevant prioritisation criteria, using a multi-criteria decision analysis approach, to help local authorities identify where ECs are most likely to deliver both energy and social benefits. This conceptual framework classifies intervention areas into different priority levels to support decision-makers on where to focus inclusive solar ECs implementation efforts, providing additional economic, social and environmental outputs, such as estimated EC investment and payback times, CO₂ emission reduction or the burden reduction of the energy bills in the overall households’ income. Main limitations refer to irregular data availability and the lack of validation close to vulnerable populations, and policy and governance structures. Nevertheless, the framework can help local authorities identify where solar EC deployment may generate the strongest energy poverty mitigation and clarify what data is needed to support its implementation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148750682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do phase change materials (PCMs) contribute to the enhanced performance and functionality of solar stills? A comprehensive analysis","authors":"Akashdeep Negi,&nbsp;Lalit Ranakoti,&nbsp;Rajesh P. Verma,&nbsp;Prabhakar Bhandari,&nbsp;Shubham Sharma,&nbsp;Kuldeep Sharma,&nbsp;Mohamed Abbas","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10458-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10458-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This present review article examined the yield improvement of the phase change materials (PCMs), nanophase change material (nPCM) in the solar still. Relevant literature published between 2003 and 2025 was collected from major scientific databases, encompassing experimental, numerical, and hybrid investigations. It has been observed that PCM significantly improve the overall yield of the solar still. However, in some cases it marginally improves the day yield while it significantly improves the nocturnal yield. Based on the literature paraffin wax is readily used with solar still. It might be due to several important factor including their availability, favourable operating temperatures (40–60 °C), chemical stability, and strong compatibility with container materials. Moreover, it has been observed that copper oxide (CuO) and aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) are most frequently employed with the PCM to improve its thermophysical properties. The choice may be fairly based on their low cost, favourable thermophysical properties, and wide availability. Finding suggests a bit modification in the solar still involving paraffin wax PCM, copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles, and an electric heater can improve the yield up to 196%. It has been noted that addition of Glauber’s salt (PCM) with 10% CuO nanoparticles based solar still yielded 11 L/m²/day, showing the system’s suitability for small-scale domestic applications. In the most favourable cases, the integration of nanoparticles into PCM has achieved yield improvements exceeding 300% in active solar still configurations. Moreover, the review critically discusses leakage and degradation of the PCMs thermophysical properties and explores a wide range of practical solution to prevent it. It has been observed that the polystyrene shell (PS) can strongly holds the shape of the PCM and reduces the significant effect of external forces. Thus, improving the PCMs mechanical as well as thermophysical properties. Lastly, it concludes by highlighting key challenges and suggesting future research paths for developing effective PCM/nPCM based solar stills.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148750698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scaling energy efficiency programmes – a comprehensive evaluation framework","authors":"Thomas M. M. Guibentif,&nbsp;Martin K. Patel","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10444-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10444-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Energy efficiency is a key component of energy policies worldwide. Corresponding measures tend to be considered in isolation and assessed by quantifying obtained energy savings. In contrast, so-called energy efficiency programmes can involve wider activity portfolios across sectors and usages, which present both operational complexities and synergies that are understudied. Accordingly, there is a lack of comprehensive tools for the monitoring and scaling of such programmes. This gap is addressed through participatory research within a regional, utility-led energy efficiency programme. Programme activities (e.g. subsidies) and effects (e.g. cost-effectiveness improvement) were inventoried from a round of workshops with programme staff, co-constructed with programme managers. They were then articulated into a system dynamics model, following a causality-mapping plenary workshop. This approach allows to assess and compare short- and long-term effects of otherwise incommensurable activities, as well as synergistic effects. Simulation results of this generic model suggest a significant long-term impact for learning and collaboration structures as well as networking activities, fostering actor engagement. Importantly, these activities have marginal, if at all quantifiable, short-term effects. Lastly, relevant activity component types (e.g. online subsidy application platform) were identified along the activity lifecycle. These components can be shared across activities to unlock synergistic potential. Key development principles are further suggested to achieve and enhance such synergies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12053-026-10444-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148613757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Knock, knock! Who's there? A latent class typology of household photovoltaic investors","authors":"Michaela Makešová,&nbsp;Michaela Valentová,&nbsp;Matouš Pilnáček","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10447-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10447-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Small-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations purchased by private investors (households) play a key role in efforts toward carbon neutrality. Understanding their specific motivations and different decision-making processes is critical for supporting their participation and enabling better-targeted policymaking. Based on a sample of 2,565 responses in Czechia, this paper employs Latent Class Analysis to uncover distinct subgroups among private PV investors. Six unique investor profiles emerged: Environmentalists (6% of the sample), Pragmatic Environmentalists (22%), Economists (16%), Self-sufficients (17%), Technicians (5%), and Indeterminate (34%). Environmentalists, who place the highest importance on the Environmental factor, show strong trust in the transition of decarbonization and tend to be younger and more educated. Pragmatic Environmentalists equally value Environmental and Economic factors and display higher trust in government. Economists and Technicians have strong opinions, each focusing on a single decision-making factor (Economic and Technical, respectively), and state that their perspective on renewables has stayed the same. Self-sufficients prioritize economic and technical independence. The Indeterminate group, typically older investors, shows weak opinions and often purchases PV systems alongside broader house renovations. The findings provide detailed insights into investor diversity, highlighting the need for targeted policies and communication strategies that reflect specific motivations to accelerate the sustainable energy transition.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148466563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can carbon emissions trading improve corporate green total factor productivity?","authors":"Zhonghua Cheng,&nbsp;Yanhao Yang,&nbsp;Xueqin Yan","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10457-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10457-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>To examine the mechanisms through which market-oriented environmental regulation fosters corporate green transition, this paper adopts a Dual Machine Learning approach. The analysis draws on a sample of A-share listed companies in China from 2010 to 2024, focusing specifically on the impact of carbon emissions trading on corporate green total factor productivity. The results show that: (1) carbon emissions trading significantly promotes corporate green total factor productivity, a conclusion that remains robust across a battery of tests; (2) heterogeneity analysis reveals that the policy impact is more significant for non-heavily polluting, small-scale, and non-high-tech firms; (3) mechanism analysis reveals that the carbon emissions trading mainly enhances corporate green total factor productivity by incentivizing green investment, strengthening environmental supervision, optimizing resource allocation, and improving internal controls. The study provides micro-level evidence for the Porter Hypothesis and Coase Theorem, and offers practical insights for fostering corporate green total factor productivity growth through carbon market mechanisms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148465229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal carbon decoupling of prefabricated hotel building industry","authors":"Xiaoting Guo,&nbsp;Gangwei Cai,&nbsp;Lena Tran,&nbsp;Zehuan Hu,&nbsp;Qian Wu,&nbsp;Weijun Gao","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10456-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10456-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examines the spatiotemporal decoupling of carbon emissions from hotel revenue in Hangzhou (2018–2024), covering the crisis COVID-19 pandemic and festival the Asian Games. Unlike previous studies focusing on operational emissions, this research emphasizes the materialization phase of hotel construction, comparing conventional and prefabricated methods. Using the Tapio decoupling model, Moran’s I, and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), this study identifies three regional decoupling typologies—high-performance, improving, and lagging. The results show significant spatiotemporal divergence, with high-high clusters emerging in 2019 and 2021 but weakened spatial associations during and after the pandemic. Prefabricated construction consistently reduces emissions across all hotel star levels, especially in core districts. These findings suggest that prefabricated construction is a resilient low-carbon strategy for the hotel industry under macro shocks.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148465348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Implementation of climate-related financial policy to promote energy transition in vietnam: new findings from a model-free connectedness approach","authors":"Le Thanh Ha","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10453-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10453-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We examine relationships among climate policy, renewable energy, non-renewable energy, and CO₂ emissions in Vietnam from 1998 to 2021 using a model-free connectivity approach. Our findings demonstrate the reciprocal relationship between financial development and climate policy. Except for the years prior to 2009, the net total connectedness indicates that climate policy is a net recipient of shocks. While non-renewable energy was the primary net shock receiver prior to 2010, renewable energy shifted from a net shock receiver prior to 2009 to a net transmitter of spillover shocks around 2019. The dominance of renewable and non-renewable energy in climate policy peaked in the middle of the 2015–2019 period, as indicated by net pairwise directional connectedness. In other words, as energy security declines, Vietnam’s climate policy development process faces numerous challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148465347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Socio-cognitive mechanisms of residents’ identification with personalized normative comparison groups","authors":"Kwonsik Song,&nbsp;SangHyun Lee,&nbsp;Kaitlin T. Raimi,&nbsp;P. Sol Hart","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10454-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10454-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Norm-based messaging interventions can help promote residents’ energy-saving behaviors. Intervention effectiveness is partially dependent on how personally relevant reference groups are to residents and how strongly they identify with the groups. The integration of homes with smart grid infrastructure allows for the creation of more personalized normative comparison groups based on residents’ lifestyle (e.g., night or morning-centric users). However, it is still unknown how strongly residents identify with lifestyle groups. Additionally, little research has examined which socio-cognitive mechanisms drive residents’ identification with normative comparison groups. Therefore, this research investigated residents’ perception of lifestyle groups compared to standard reference groups (i.e., neighbors) in norm-based energy feedback programs. Two survey-based experiments were conducted with 2,631 American participants. In terms of total effects, participants did not identify more with lifestyle groups than neighbor groups in either study. However, providing participants information about lifestyle-group peers (compared to neighbors) led to positive indirect effects on group identification through perceived similarity and through serial mediation of perceived similarity and perceived entitativity in both studies. The indirect effect just through perceived entitativity, however, was negative. However, Study 2 revealed that the negative indirect effect through just group entitativity was not significant when participants were told they could interact with other group members and given information about how similar group members save energy. Thus, under certain conditions, lifestyle groups may be a promising alternative reference group for norm-based energy feedback interventions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12053-026-10454-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148465524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do energy consumption and innovation reinforce environmental pollution? Evidence from Saudi Arabia","authors":"Najid Ahmad,&nbsp;Liu Youjin,&nbsp;Zahida Iqbal","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10452-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10452-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rapid economic growth and increasing energy demand have intensified environmental issues, especially carbon dioxide emissions, in energy-dependent economies. This paper investigates how energy consumption and technological innovation influence carbon dioxide emissions in Saudi Arabia from 1988 to 2023, while accounting for key macroeconomic variables, including economic growth, domestic and foreign investment, financial development, and urbanization. The study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to analyze short- and long-term relationships. Results show that energy consumption significantly contributes to carbon dioxide emissions in both the short and long runs, highlighting the need to adopt renewable energy and enhance energy efficiency. Conversely, technological innovation, measured by patents filed by country residents, reduces carbon dioxide emissions in the short-run and long-run, with significant long-term effects, illustrating how innovation-driven efficiency can mitigate environmental pollution in the long run. The analysis also indicates that economic growth initially accelerates emissions but slows over time. Domestic investment and urbanization are associated with reduced emissions, reflecting advancements in infrastructure and investment quality. Meanwhile, foreign investment appears to increase pollution, implying a need for sustainable investment flows. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of sustainable growth and decarbonization in Saudi Arabia, necessitating policies for the energy transition, innovation-led efficiency improvements, higher investment quality, and sustainable urban development.</p>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148380607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Techno-economic evaluation of ground source heat pump systems versus air-source heat pump and natural gas systems in the European Union","authors":"Abdullah Kapıcıoğlu","doi":"10.1007/s12053-026-10455-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12053-026-10455-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Heat pumps are increasingly recognized as a key technology for decarbonizing heating and cooling, while natural gas systems remain widely used in current building applications. In this context, this study presents a techno-economic comparison of ground source heat pump (GSHP), air-source heat pump (ASHP), and natural gas (NG) systems within an EU-focused framework. To enable a harmonized comparison, the European Union was represented through three comparative climate-zone categories (warm, temperate, and cold), while EU-average economic values were used in the analysis. The comparative assessment was based on life-cycle cost (LCC) and related economic indicators under standardized assumptions. Under the adopted baseline assumptions, in heating applications, the GSHP system offers a cost advantage of up to 36% compared with ASHP systems in all climate zones except the warm zone. In cooling applications, the GSHP system also demonstrates up to 36% lower LCC than the competing configurations. However, to improve comparability across the EU context, the analysis adopts harmonized assumptions, including standardized proxy capital costs and EU-average energy prices. Therefore, the results should be interpreted within the scope of this comparative framework rather than as a country-specific market representation for all EU Member States. Overall, the findings indicate that GSHP systems can constitute a competitive long-term economic option within the EU context, although their higher initial investment costs remain an important barrier to wider adoption.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":537,"journal":{"name":"Energy Efficiency","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148380342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}