Sahelian developing countries depend heavily on oil-import for the supply of their increasing energy demand. This setup leads to an imbalance in the balance of payment, an increase of debt and budget asphyxia, whereas renewable resources are widely and abundantly available. The objective of this...

Qualitative and theoretical literature indicates public policies as a major driver in the development of renewables. This paper empirically tests this claim, within a context of several drivers of renewables, by focusing on a large panel of European countries. Given the presence of...

Bioenergy is an important energy source for Tibetans. To compensate for the lack of a comparative study on household bioenergy consumption and CO2 emissions among farming region, farming-pastoral region, pastoral region, and forest edge zones in Tibetan area, the authors conducted the...

A very large percentage of the European residential building stock is ageing and does not comply with current energy regulations. The need to complete short-term energy upgrading on these buildings in order to improve performance and meet current regulations poses a considerable challenge....

This article investigates the feasibility of achieving higher performance from ground-source heat-pumps (GSHP) in space heating mode through the use of solar thermal collectors. A novel simulation tool for solar-assisted ground-source heat-pumps (SGSHP) is presented with an analysis of the...

Increasing requirements for energy performance in new buildings mean the cost of incorporating energy-saving in buildings is also increasing. Building designers thus need to be aware of the long-term cost-effectiveness of potential energy-conserving measures. This paper presents a simplified and...

Office buildings with important administrative functions can produce high energy demands for lighting, cooling and heating. However, appropriate architectural design decisions can achieve significant energy savings and improve environmental conditions, without sacrificing architectural quality....

The recent demand-side management (DSM) emphasis and, more specifically, the advent of utility shareholder incentive/penalty mechanisms for utility's performance in implementing DSM programs has increased the importance of DSM programs to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Company. Over the period...

Museum buildings perform ambitious demands for sound conditions of exhibits and comfort of visitors. There is a narrow allowance for room temperature and relative humidity, which has to be maintained for varying situations of weather and occupancy. Lighting has to assure an excellent visual...

This paper presents a study of a user-experience survey about living in passive solar homes. It was carried out at the Energy Park located in the western part of Milton Keynes. The survey focuses on the reality of living in passive solar homes as perceived or experienced by the occupant. It is...