Forecasting seasonal electricity generation in European countries under Covid-19-induced lockdown using fractional grey prediction models and machine learning methods.

Balances in the energy sector have changed since the implementation of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in Europe. This paper analyses how the lockdown affected electricity generation in European countries and how it will reshape future energy generation. Monthly electricity generation from total renewables and non-renewables in France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and the UK from January 2017 to September 2020 were evaluated and compared.

COVID-19 impacts on residential occupancy schedules and activities in U.S. Homes in 2020 using ATUS.

Many aspects of the daily lives of those living in the United States were substantially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020. A broad diversity of measures was implemented to curb the spread of the virus, many of which included adjustments to where and how people worked, went to school, and otherwise conducted their daily lives compared to pre-pandemic times. This has impacted how residential buildings are used, how much time people spend in their homes, and as a result, how much energy these buildings consume.

The effects and reacts of COVID-19 pandemic and international oil price on energy, economy, and environment in China.

In 2020, the world experienced several significant events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of international crude oil prices. Both have a great impact on a sustainable economy. Taking China as an example, we use a computable general equilibrium model with multi-sectors and multi-households and consider six different scenarios to simulate and evaluate the aggregate impacts of the pandemic and crude oil prices.

The impact of online education on carbon emissions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic - Taking Chinese universities as examples.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has had various impacts on economic and social development, it may have partially reduced human energy use, thereby helping achieve the goals of reducing carbon emissions and promoting carbon neutrality. During the pandemic, online education was widely used to replace traditional education all over the world. There is a lack of empirical studies on whether and to what extent the change of education model can reduce carbon emissions.

Global low-carbon energy transition in the post-COVID-19 era.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for energy transition. Concerns about the overwhelming emphasis on economic recovery at the cost of energy transition progress have been raised worldwide. More voices are calling for "green" recovery scheme, which recovers the economy while not compromising on the environment.

Evaluating long-term emission impacts of large-scale electric vehicle deployment in the US using a human-Earth systems model.

While large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) globally would reduce carbon dioxide (CO) and traditional air pollutant emissions from the transportation sector, emissions from the electric sector, refineries, and potentially other sources would change in response. Here, a multi-sector human-Earth systems model is used to evaluate the net long-term emission implications of large-scale EV adoption in the US over widely differing pathways of the evolution of the electric sector. Our results indicate that high EV adoption would decrease net CO emissions through 2050, even for a scenario where all electric sector capacity additions through 2050 are fossil fuel technologies.

Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on energy consumption in a Canadian social housing building.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit societies in full force in 2020 and compelled people all around the world to change their lifestyle. The time spent at home significantly surged during the pandemic and this change in occupancy can have a direct impact on building energy consumption. COVID-19 lockdowns also accelerated the transition towards telework, a trend that many expect to last.

Can decontamination and reuse of N95 respirators during COVID-19 pandemic provide energy, environmental, and economic benefits?

The widespread COVID-19 pandemic led to a shortage in the supply of N95 respirators in the United States until May 2021. In this study, we address the energy, environmental, and economic benefits of the decontamination-and-reuse of the N95 masks. Two popular decontamination methods, including dry heat and vapor hydrogen peroxide (VHP), are investigated in this study for their effective pathogen inactivation and favorable performance in preserving filtration efficiency and structural integrity of respirators.

Implications of COVID-19 lockdowns on surface passenger mobility and related CO emission changes in Europe.

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected our daily lives, with direct consequences on passenger transport. This in turn has strongly impacted the energy demand of the transport sector and associated CO emissions. We analyse near real-time passenger mobility and related emission trends in Europe between 21 January and 21 September 2020.

A novel disinfected Trombe wall for space heating and virus inactivation: Concept and performance investigation.

Trombe wall is a simple and mature passive solar building design while its utilization of solar energy is limited to space heating. Aerosol transmission, as a potential transmission pathway of COVID-19, poses a serious threat to the public health especially in a closed indoor environment. The thermal disinfection of virus, which can be easily integrated into solar systems, seems to be a suitable method for controlling bioaerosols.

Circular economy for clean energy transitions: A new opportunity under the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper models the energy and emissions scenarios for a circular economy based clean energy transitions in a 140,000-population town in China, taking into account the new situation encountered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The modelled scenarios propose new clean energy transition roadmaps towards a sustainable urban system through the implementation of circular economy strategies. This is represented by the cascading use of industrial excess heat to form symbiosis between factories and to cover the growing building heat demand, as well as by the electrification of the transport sector and reusing the batteries for a second life as energy storage devices.

A fresh (air) look at ventilation for COVID-19: Estimating the global energy savings potential of coupling natural ventilation with novel radiant cooling strategies.

Radiant cooling-assisted natural ventilation is an innovative technical approach that combines new radiant cooling technology with natural ventilation to increase fresh air delivery into buildings year-round with minimal energy cost and improvment of air quality. Currently, the standard paradigm for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) is based on central air systems that tie the delivery of heating and cooling to the delivery of fresh air. To prevent heat loss, the delivery of fresh air must be tightly controlled and is often limited through recirculation of already heated or cooled air.

How did the German and other European electricity systems react to the COVID-19 pandemic?

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic led to decreases in electricity demand and a rising share of Renewable Energy Sources in various countries. In Germany, the average proportion of net electricity generation via Renewable Energy Sources rose above 55 % in the first half of 2020, as compared to 47 % for the same period in 2019. Given these altered circumstances, in this paper we analyze how the German and other European electricity systems behaved during the COVID-19 pandemic.