The use of renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind, and biomass will not diminish their availability. Sunlight being a constant source of energy is used to meet the ever-increasing energy need. This review discusses the world's energy needs, renewable energy technologies for domestic use, and highlights public opinions on renewable energy. A systematic review of the literature was conducted from 2009 to 2018. During this process, more than 300 articles were classified and 42 papers were filtered for critical review. The literature analysis showed that despite serious efforts at all levels to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by promoting renewable energy as its alternative, fossil fuels continue to contribute 73.5% to the worldwide electricity production in 2017. Conversely, renewable sources contributed only 26.5%. Furthermore, this study highlights that the lack of public awareness is a major barrier to the acceptance of renewable energy technologies. The results of this study show that worldwide energy crises can be managed by integrating renewable energy sources in the power generation. Moreover, in order to facilitate the development of renewable energy technologies, this systematic review has highlighted the importance of public opinion and performed a real-time analysis of public tweets. This example of tweet analysis is a relatively novel initiative in a review study that will seek to direct the attention of future researchers and policymakers toward public opinion and recommend the implications to both academia and industries.

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Towards Sustainable Energy: A Systematic Review of Renewable Energy Sources, Technologies, and Public Opinions

With the overall international political and economic system in transition in the new century,the world energy situation is correspondingly changing and has six featuresThe transition is resulting in redistribution of international power,from one power center (dominated by developed countries) to two (respectively constituting a 'multi-polar world'--of countries and non-country organizations inside and outside a union)Such constant change and adjustment are a hallmark of the world energy outlook in 2012Other factors make the world energy situation volatile and unpredictable in 2012,mainly general elections in many countries,the situation in the Middle East and North Africa,the nuclear standoff with Iran and the European sovereign debt crisesPolitical,economic,financial,military,diplomatic,social and religious forces all play a part in the uncertaintyThese risks complicate foreign cooperation by Chinese energy enterprises

World energy outlook for 2012

As a new production factor, digitalization plays a vital role in society, economy, and the environment. Based on the expanded STIRPAT model, this paper empirically tests the impact of energy structure and digital economy on carbon emissions by panel data from 2011 to 2017 in 30 provinces of China. The results show that the energy structure mainly based on coal has a significant driving effect on carbon emissions. Compared with non-resource-based provinces, the increase of energy structure dominated by coal has a greater effect on carbon emission in resource-based provinces. It is worth noting that this kind of influence has a greater impact on the central region of China, followed by the western region and the eastern region. Besides, the digital economy has a significant moderating effect. With the development of digital economy, the impact of coal-based energy structure on carbon emissions is gradually decreasing. This effect is more significant in non-resource-based provinces and eastern China, but not significant in resource-based cities and central and western China.

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Energy structure, digital economy, and carbon emissions: evidence from China

Increasing the energy efficiency of the residential housing stock can, according to the European Commission, make a significant contribution to the overall reduction of CO2 emissions in Europe; in fact the European Commission estimates that by 2050 emissions from the residential building stock may have decreased by 90% (European Commission, 2011). Achieving such a reduction in CO2 emissions from buildings will require significant monetary investments. Given the costs associated with improving the energy efficiency of the housing stock, an important question, addressed by our research, is whether homeowners and renters are willing to pay for this increased energy efficiency.

The Value of Domestic Building Energy Efficiency – Evidence from Ireland. ESRI Research Bulletin 2014/1/3

The nexus between digital economy and carbon dioxide emissions in China: The moderating role of investments in research and development

Over the years, various efficiency policies have been designed and implemented to reduce residential energy consumption. However, it is very common that the policy expectations that are based upon engineering calculations do not come true. The widely accepted explanation for the gap between expectation and the realization is the change of household behavior, as the energy efficiency gains change the perceived cost of energy services and thereby generate shifts in consumption patterns – the rebound effect. The real controversy about the rebound effect lies in the identification of its magnitude. In this paper, we estimate the rebound effect in residential energy consumption by comparing the actual gas consumption levels with the ex-ante predictions within a sample of well over 600,000 Dutch dwellings and households. We find a significant deviation between the engineering predictions and the households’ actual energy consumption, a difference which varies by ownership, wealth, income and the actual gas use intensity. Our results show a rebound effect of 26.7 percent among home-owners, and 41.3 percent among tenants. Moreover, we find that these effects are greatest among the lower income-wealth groups, and among households that tend to use more gas than average.

/pdf/energy-efficiency-and-household-behavior-the-rebound-effect-32ygsgfffn.pdf

Erdal Aydin

Papers

Energy efficiency and household behavior: the rebound effect in the residential sector

Information provision and energy consumption: Evidence from a field experiment

The impact of policy on residential energy consumption

The economics of residential solar water heaters in emerging economies: The case of Turkey

Energy performance certification and time on the market