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Energy economic expansion with production and consumption in BRICS countries
(Elsevier Ltd, 2022-11-18) Hasan M
Global energy demand for energy consumption is increasing day by day, and it seems complicated for most countries to meet energy demand with total energy production. In this regard, this study investigates the comparative impact of energy production and consumption on economic growth in the BRICS countries. This study conducts panel data modelling, more specifically, the fixed-effects model, random-effects, and panel FMOLS model, to find the impact of energy production and consumption on economic growth in the BRICS countries. This study finds that energy production and consumption significantly impact the economic development of the BRICS countries. More specifically, dry natural gas production and consumption, electricity generation and consumption, biofuel production, petroleum production, capital formation, and trade openness positively impact on economic growth, while coal production significantly and negatively impacts on economic growth. This research is of great significance to the economic integration of the BRICS economies.
The impacts of occupant behaviours on energy consumption in New Zealand office buildings : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Construction at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2023) Weerasinghe, Achini
The building and construction sector consumes 36% of the global energy and produces 39% of energy-related CO2 emissions. Building energy consumption is influenced by various factors, including climate, building-related characteristics, building services, and occupant behaviours. In return, occupant behaviours significantly impact building energy consumption, with the difference between simulated and actual energy use due to how occupants behave and interact within the building. Numerous direct and indirect factors may influence occupant energy behaviours, with physical environmental, contextual, and social-psychological factors being the most widely recognised categories. Research on occupant behaviour in buildings is expanding, but only about 7% of those studies explore the determinants of behavioural change. Also, behavioural models and tools are becoming more complex to represent the human component better. As such, there is a need for further research on energy conservation approaches and drivers of occupant behaviour change in commercial buildings, especially in the New Zealand context, and a need for models that consider both subjective and objective aspects and an ontology that explicitly addresses the subjective aspects. Thus, this research focuses on creating an ontology that specifies occupant behaviour-related data monitoring and collection to optimise the energy performance of New Zealand office buildings. This research followed a narrative and systematic literature review, a preliminary study, and two primary data collection rounds to fill the above research gap and achieve the research aim. The research used a mixed methods approach consisting of grounded theory, survey, and qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, with critical realism philosophy and an abductive approach as the underlying theoretical framework. The narrative and systematic literature reviews focused on identifying the prevalent occupant energy behaviours and the significant drivers that influence these behaviours in the New Zealand and international contexts. The narrative review of academic articles defines occupant behaviours and highlights the importance of considering indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters and other factors influencing occupant behaviours. Also, it identifies the main factors influencing occupant behaviours. The narrative review further suggests that energy research practices based purely on objective factors of occupant behaviours may not highlight valuable insights from subjective aspects. Therefore, a systematic review of research articles on the social-psychological drivers of occupant behaviours is conducted to determine previous research patterns and trends and identify gaps for future investigation. The systematic review highlights the influence of social-psychological theories and constructs on occupant energy behaviours and discusses the application of theories in different occupant behaviours and future research trends and implications. In the following stages of the research, these identified prevalent occupant energy behaviours and the significant drivers that influence these behaviours are preliminarily and primarily investigated in the New Zealand context. Accordingly, the preliminary research investigates the attitudes and approaches of building managers towards occupant energy behaviours in New Zealand tertiary education office buildings and how organisational energy culture affects their strategies for addressing occupant preferences. The research used grounded theory analysis, with 25 participants from a university being interviewed through semi-structured interviews with facilities managers, sustainability managers, and building occupants. The study found that building managers often oversimplify the complex relationship between discomfort, energy consumption, and the influence of social-psychological factors on occupant behaviour. To improve the organisational energy culture, the study suggests increasing occupant knowledge and awareness of energy consumption, providing energy feedback, and giving occupants more responsibility to meet energy targets. The preliminary study also evaluates the relationship between occupant energy behaviours, IEQ satisfaction, user control, and social-psychological factors. The study collected data from 52 occupants in five office spaces at a university in Auckland, New Zealand, and analysed using descriptive and binary logistic regression analysis. The study found that thermal and air quality conditions are the primary sources of IEQ discomfort, and occupant satisfaction is linked to their comfort preferences. The preliminary study showcases how organisations rationalise occupant energy behaviours and comfort preferences in New Zealand office buildings while highlighting the importance of considering occupant comfort and behaviours when implementing energy-saving measures and preparing occupant-centred energy policies. Subsequently, the primary data of the research focuses on evaluating how occupants perceive decision-making regarding their energy behaviours in New Zealand office buildings to enable informed decisions for building managers. The primary research explores the influence of social-psychological factors on occupant energy behaviours in office environments. It utilises a combination of questionnaires distributed to 294 office occupants in New Zealand and PLS-SEM analysis to assess the impact of motivation, opportunity, and ability on these behaviours. The results indicate that improving energy-saving opportunities through subjective norms, organisational support, behavioural interventions, and individual control capability leads to increased perceived behavioural control and knowledge, motivating occupants to engage in energy-saving behaviours. As the subjective factors are clearly identified, the research next investigates the influence of subjective and objective factors on occupant behaviours in New Zealand office buildings. The study collected data on indoor environmental comfort, control availability, and social-psychological factors through online surveys of 99 occupants and analysed the data using machine learning techniques. The study found that the availability of user controls is the main predictor of most occupant behaviours, followed by social-psychological factors and indoor environmental parameters. Demographic factors such as gender, work duration, and workspace permanence are also important. These primary research findings then contributed to developing an ontology for effectively monitoring and collecting occupant energy behaviour-related data to optimise the energy performances of New Zealand office buildings. The proposed ontology effectively describes and captures the complex interplay of drivers affecting occupant energy behaviours in offices, including environmental factors, user control, social-psychological factors, and demographic information. The subject matter experts agreed that the ontology provides a comprehensive and structured representation of occupant energy behaviours and could be helpful in building performance simulation and energy management systems. They also emphasised the importance of considering occupant behaviour-related data in building energy management strategies and audits. Accordingly, this study provides a new approach to assessing the combined impact of comfort preferences, energy behaviour, and various environmental, building, and social-psychological factors for modelling occupant energy behaviours in office buildings. The study provides a practical and valuable contribution to building energy efficiency, supporting the integration of occupant energy behaviours into building performance simulation, energy management, and sustainability strategies.
The role of land-use planning in reducing energy use and "greenhouse gas" emissions from urban transport : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Environmental and Resource Planning at Massey University
(Massey University, 1997) de Joux, Alistair Edward
Urban transport has been one of the key environmental concerns of the last decades of the twentieth century. Private car use has become a particular focus for the contribution it makes to several key problems, including fossil fuel depletion, climatic change via the "greenhouse effect", air pollution and at more localised levels, severe traffic congestion. Land use planning has an important role to play in ameliorating the worst impacts of private car use, as different forms of urban development display quite different levels of transport needs. Twentieth century urbanisation patterns have made car ownership necessary in many cities, particularly where post-war development has resulted in the physical separation of various urban activities. Large areas of newly developed land were devoted to single land uses in many cities during the 1950s and '60s, and the private car became integral to moving between the dispersed locations of home, work and other activities. Many planners have identified reintegrating land-uses as a means of reducing this need for extensive intraurban travel. This thesis examined some of the assertions regarding urban land use by identifying several key factors which help to determine the energy performance of different areas of the city. The study was based on data from an extensive travel survey conducted in and around Wellington, New Zealand, late in 1988. Some 3000 households participated in the survey, with about 9000 people providing details of their daily travel for one weekday. This data was used to calculate transport energy performance and the levels of greenhouse gas emissions which resulted for 64 residential zones throughout the region. Mean daily household emissions were found to range from 3.3 to 19.6 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent. (This includes the radiative warming potential of small quantities of other "greenhouse" gases). The "best performing areas" were mainly close to Wellington's CBD but also included zones around other centres in the region. Performance was then analysed further against urban form, transport use and socio-economic factors derived both from the survey data and other sources. Mean distance of the journey to work, car ownership levels and the proportion of all travel undertaken by walking emerged as the strongest influences on energy and emissions performance. Modal split for bus use, population and dwelling densities, and the distance to central Wellington were identified as moderate influences on these areas of interest, whereas modal split for rail and cycling had little influence on the relative performance of the different areas surveyed. It was concluded that strongly pedestrian oriented forms of development clustered in close proximity to existing public transport services, perhaps with some additional "fine coverage" minibus services, offered the best land-use pattern in terms of minimising energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Power systems for dairy sheds : an investigation into the right mix of energy efficiency, load shifting and energy supply technologies : submitted as partial fulfilment of a Masters of Technology endorsed in Energy Management
(Massey University, 2017) Marshall-Tate, Hugh
This study investigated the potential for using stand-alone power systems for dairy milking sheds in New Zealand. The study was in two parts:  designing a typical load profile for a dairy shed and evaluating changes that could be made to the dairy shed to improve energy efficiency or shift load, using a mechanistic modelling approach.  using the optimisation modelling tool HOMER Pro to find the best configuration of power system, energy efficiency and/or load shifting improvements of a solar-diesel hybrid power system and a solar-diesel-biogas hybrid power system. The study found that milk vat insulation, variable speed drives and generator heat recovery were good investments to reduce power system costs. The high capital cost of ice banks made them less attractive for herds less than 370 cows. Superheat heat pumps and biogas systems were poor investments and increased costs in most cases when compared with the base scenario. While there was variation within the regions, overall the optimal system, when sensitivity scenarios were accounted for, was found to be similar between the three regions studied with the Bay of Plenty having the lowest overall costs followed by Taranaki and Manawatu. Sensitivity scenarios showed bias against deferrable loads such as ice bank refrigeration systems, hot water storage systems and the pumping of effluent. Diesel prices had a greater effect where the renewable fraction was low. Increasing diesel prices resulted in larger PV arrays and batteries.
A 'pinch' technology analysis of energy integration in the Huntly power station : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology
(Massey University, 1990) Tioe, Jen Fuk
Most processing industries use combinations of heat exchangers for heating and/or cooling process streams. A large amount of the energy used by the processing industries is used just for process heat. In the industrial nations of Western Europe approximately one third of the national energy use is for process heat (Smith, 1981). The design of most industrial processes is based on a long period of development with many evolutions and improvements leading to a current flowsheet. It is often assumed that these flowsheets are more or less optimal, with no significant "faults" left in them. This is of course not true. An analysis carried out by the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute (NZDRI) showed that theoretical minimum energy consumptions are 25 -30% lower than the actual energy consumption of the most efficient of New Zealand's dairy processing plants (Lovell-Smith and Baldwin,1988). For instance, the average energy use per tonne of casein powder produced in New Zealand is 16.9 GJ/tonne but the optimal energy usage is only 9.9 GJ/tonne. Recently, Linnhoff March Limited claimed that 2.5% energy saving in Huntly Power Station is possible but unproven. In terms of money this means about NZ$ 80 million of total saving over the station operating life( ≈ 30 years). [From Introduction]
Least-cost domestic heat energy investments for Great Barrier Island under restrictions on the harvesting of native fuelwood species : a thesis to the value of 75 points presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Agricultural Economics in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics at Massey University
(Massey University, 1995) Wharton, Tony L
The Auckland City Council's 1992 district plan for Great Barrier Island introduced areal restrictions upon the clearance of manuka and kanuka (teatree), which is one of the main sources of energy for domestic heatloads on the island. The restrictions will force many households to change the way in which they allocate their resources to heat energy production, and many households will incur additional compliance costs as a result. This study addresses the alternative energy investments available to households on the island (including teatree and eucalyptus biomass energy crops; petrol, diesel, solar, and wind generated electricity; LPG; and solar waterheating) and identifies the least-cost energy investments under the restrictions for a number typical island households. Biomass growth rates are derived for a teatree fuelwood crop, and the cost of domestic heat production is modelled for each household through the use of energy expenditure models. The optimal energy investment for each model household, both under restrictions and in the absence of restrictions, is determined, and the total financial cost of compliance for each model household is calculated. The effectiveness of the council's current restrictions and policies is assessed, and alternative energy and environmental conservation policies are evaluated. The study found that the current policies were not effective, and that 63% of model households would incur additional energy costs from complying with the restrictions. Of all the energy sources compared, teatree fuelwood was found to produce heat at the lowest cost per kW. However the high capital cost of wood-fuelled appliances made LPG the least-cost fuel type where no appliances were owned, and appliance capital costs were found to be the main factor determining the overall economics of a particular energy system. The study also found that rather than promoting the development of eucalyptus fuelwood crops on Great Barrier Island, the promotion of sustainable methods of teatree fuelwood crop management, such as the Swiss method, would both lead to environmental conservation and would satisfy the heat energy needs of island households.
PREM : Personalised residential energy model : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree Master of Applied Science in Natural Resource Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2004) Keller, Reto
Climate change is a major world environmental problem accepted by these governments who have ratified the Kyoto Protocol which aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) internationally 5% below the 1990 level during 2008 to 2012. The Protocol needed the ratification of Russia to get into force as the United States and Australia withdrew from the protocol. The New Zealand government ratified the protocol with the negotiated goal to reduce the GHGs back to the level of 1990. The main driver of this study is to help people reducing their personal GHG emissions in order to meet the government's objective of the Kyoto Protocol. Many people know about climate change and understand they will need to change their lifestyle significantly to reduce their GHG emissions. The how and where to change is often unclear. People need to be incentivised in order to encourage emission reduction. Some GHG-calculators already exist, but mostly without practical personalised suggestions and financial effects. This study aimed to develop a model which targeted responses by individuals based on their lifestyle and interests. The Personalised Residential Energy Model (PREM) which was developed in this study uses findings of energy related behaviours from existing psychological and technical research to develop an easy to handle and individualised computer model to assess a person's current energy demand. It includes household and travel demand and assesses the general ecological behaviour. Users will be provided with relevant information to assist them to seek practical and economic solutions in order to reduce their personal CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions which is the main GHG in the assessed sectors. Starting with the current situation as a baseline, it establishes which behaviours have the highest probability of being undertaken by the person to lower their energy demand. Information about the financial effect and the CO2 emission reductions are provided for specific activities. Energy efficiency and conservation are the main focus of the model output. Further research could include the possible use of renewable energy. Using PREM found changes in domestic dwellings and transportation vehicles to be an important factor in reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The model is made for New Zealand conditions but can be adapted to suit any other country.
Dynamic modelling of meat plant energy systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology at Massey University
(Massey University, 1993) Kallu, Rodger David Stephen
The objective of this study was to develop dynamic mathematical models of the major energy use and recovery operations within the New Zealand meat industry. Ordinary differential equation based models were developed for the five most common rendering systems, for hot water use, generation and storage, and for the refrigeration system. These cover about 90% of process heat use and about two-thirds of electricity demand. Each model was constructed so that ultimately it could be linked to the others to develop an integrated energy supply and demand model. Strong linkages to product flow were developed for the rendering models, but those for hot water and refrigeration are less developed, although there is no technological impediment. In developing the models for rendering it was assumed that cookers and dryers are perfectly mixed vessels and that time delays in materials transport are negligible. Model predictions could be improved by removing these assumptions, but taking into account the possible extent of data uncertainties, the present accuracy may be adequate for the overall meat plant energy model. A major consequence of the development of a hot water demand model was that areas of low efficiency were identified. By attention to equipment designs for hand tool sterilisers and cleanup systems substantial heat savings are possible. Although not tested, both the model for heat recovery and the model for hot water storage and supply are expected to be accurate as few major assumptions were required in their development. The main novel feature of the refrigeration model is that it treats the refrigeration applications in abstract terms rather than performing a room by room analysis. As a consequence data demands are lower than for refrigeration models which use a room-based approach, and the actual data needed are more easily obtainable. In spite of the lower data requirements good accuracy was demonstrated. The models developed will have major benefits to the NZ meat industry, initially as stand-alone entities, but later as an integrated package to help in reducing energy use.
Getting the message across evaluating energy efficiency information campaigns in New Zealand : presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Resource and Environmental Planning) at Massey University
(Massey University, 1995) Heslop, Vivienne Rosemary
The New Zealand government, state owned enterprises and private organisations have been active, in the past and currently, in promoting energy efficiency and energy conservation through information provision campaigns. However, with a few exceptions, there has been a failure to evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes, and therefore assess whether the programmes have worked. Given the resources that are committed to the development and implementation of these information campaigns, it is important to assess how effective they are. Evaluation of these campaigns can help determine the most appropriate approaches that should be taken in the future, and helps to improve existing campaigns. Evaluation also has an important role to play in terms of accountability within the organisations that operate these information campaigns. A general evaluation process was designed in this research for the evaluation of two selected energy efficiency information campaigns. The evaluation process was designed after thorough reviews of past evaluations of similar campaigns, both in New Zealand and internationally, and from an extensive review of the theoretical and applied literature on programme evaluation. Home energy audit programmes were selected as the energy efficiency information campaigns to be evaluated, with the Energy Efficiency Assessment Plan operated by Southpower, and the Home Energy Rating Options programme being operated by CentralPower being chosen as the two case studies. The results indicate that the programmes evaluated do indeed work; however, analysis suggests that these programmes may be less effective than their potential. From the selected case studies a number of recommendations were developed to improve the effectiveness of the programmes, with a review of the methodology highlighting the limitations of the study. Finally, consideration was given to the role that programme evaluation has in the development, implementation and operation of energy efficiency information campaigns in the future, and its usefulness in assessing the effectiveness of energy efficiency information campaigns in New Zealand.
Renewable energy potential in New Zealand -- by the numbers : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mathematics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2013) Eltayeb, Shaza
Renewable energy plays a very important role in New Zealand's energy supply system, with approximately 39% of energy supply from renewable sources.The idea of the thesis was inspired by the book Sustainable Energy|Without The Hot Air by David MacKay. The book uses ba- sic physics and mathematics to estimate the amount of sustainable sources that are physically available before considering their economic feasibility. The goal of the thesis is to transfer some of MacKay's ideas to New Zealand, and estimate an upper limit to the energy we can get from the following renewable resources: hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and waves, then compare this to New Zealand's energy use, and hence answer the question Can New Zealand live on Renewables? In this thesis, hydroelectricity potential was estimated using Hydroelectricity Image Processing Approach. This method is original to this thesis, and involved using some image processing to estimate an upper limit of the total hydro available using the Rainfall Map and New Zealand 100 m Digital Elevation Model. Also, some image processing has been done to estimate solar thermal and solar photovoltaic potential for every region in New Zealand using the Solar Radi- ation Map. Furthermore, Wind Resource Map and Rayleigh distribution were used to estimate the wind power density which is an important measure in wind industry for every region in New Zealand. The results from this research show that it is possible for New Zealand to supply all of its energy requirements from renewable sources alone. In fact, the renewable resource available is around 9 times our current energy use. However, in reality there are many environmental, economic and social limitations that would need to be considered.

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