Energy Efficiency for Supplier and Sustainability for Demand: A Case of Heating Systems in South Korea

Abstract

This paper addresses an analysis of a recent debate in South Korea on energy efficiencies between a combined heat and power system with district heating (CHP-DH) and separate heat and power system (SHP) by applying a scenario analysis technique. In accordance with the Low Carbon Green Growth strategy where the rise of social awareness for energy savings is imminent, various scenarios were considered including CHP-DH (excluding waste heat recovery) versus SHP and CHP-DH (including waste heat recovery) versus SHP. To analyze the satisfaction on energy efficiency of each heating system, nationwide average field data were acquired via a survey with the help of the Korea District Heating Corporation (KDHC), and a comprehensive model for measuring sustainable value related to energy consumption, including economic (ECON), non-economic (NECON), and environmental (ENV) values were presented based on customer satisfaction (SAT). As a result of the structural equation model (SEM) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, variations of energy efficiencies of each heat and power delivery system are rather distinctive among different scenarios due to the performance characteristics of each system in the field. The energy savings of CHP-DH systems owned by KDHC, based on nationwide average performance, was found to be higher than the SHP system by 3.25% to 18.1%. While the effect of NECON and ENV on SAT was not significant in SHP, it was significant in CHP-DH. Based on these results, rational decisions can be made to lead the government and energy consumers to maximize energy efficiency, especially in South Korea, where the energy market heavily relies on foreign countries.Sustainability 2019, 11, 4216 2 of 21 treaty in Kyoto, parties to the UNFCCC met at conferences to discuss how to achieve the treaty's aims. At the 3rd Conference of the Parties (COP-3), the parties paved the way to reduce greenhouse gas emission effectively and support sustainable development of developing countries by defining three "flexibility mechanisms" which are International Emissions Trading (IET), the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI); the Kyoto Protocol [2].Although South Korea is not bound by the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol as a first developing (non-Annex I) country, the Korean government voluntarily set a 2020 emissions reduction target to head off an estimated 30 percent rise in emissions compared to the 2020 Business-as-Usual (BAU) emission projection, considering increased national competitiveness and expectations from international society [3]. This goal reaches the highest level of recommendations from the IPCC, showing the strong commitment of the Korean government to join the global movement for coping with climate change. However, the heavy-duty climate change policy of Korean government re-ignited the debate over the effectiveness between combined heat and power systems with district heating (CHP-DH) and separate heat and power systems (SHP), which is a deep-rooted debate in the domestic heating energy indus...

Machine Learning based Energy Consumption Prediction of Appliances in a Low Energy House

“…In general, the tentative estimate of complete energy usage in the housing industry is released by governments: compiling gross energy values presented by energy suppliers [6]. These estimates offer good indices of energy consumption in the incumbent sector but may be incorrect, since they do not cater for unreported energy or generation on-site Techniques for modelling residential energy usage can be generally divided into two classifications: "top-down approach '' and "bottom-up approach ".…”