China Three Gorges University

A research study tackled the critical issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change. A research study led by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Chenghao Wang and recently published in the journal Nature Communications tackled the critical issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change. Fossil fuels account for approximately 40% of all building energy use in urban city centers in the United States, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential and commercial buildings in U.S. cities are one of the major energy consumers (39%) and greenhouse gas emitters (28%). "Understanding their future energy use is very important for developing climate change mitigation strategies, improving energy efficiency, developing and implementing energy and environmental regulations, policies, and incentive plans and enhancing the resilience and adaptation of our society under future climate and extreme weather conditions," said Wang, who leads the Sustainable Urban Futures, or SURF, Lab in the OU School of Meteorology. "Previous studies made strides in estimating how energy use might change at the national or state levels in response to future changes in climate," he said. "However, there is a significant gap in our understanding when it comes to the city scale. As global cities commit to ambitious sustainability goals, a more granular understanding of energy use at the city scale becomes imperative." The research team includes Janet Reyna and Henry Horsey from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Jiyun Song, Dachuan Shi and Yuyu Zhou from the University of Hong Kong, Sarah Feron from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Zutao Ouyang and Robert Jackson from Stanford University, and Ying Li from China Three Gorges University. They examined 277 cities across the contiguous U.S., using model simulations and the most recent future climate projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, or CMIP6, dataset. They considered four possible warming scenarios that encompass a variety of possible climate warming scenarios and two electric power sector scenarios. "In one power sector scenario, we assumed no future carbon policies would be implemented, but we also included a scenario that assumes rapid decarbonization and net-zero carbon emissions from the power sector by 2050, similar to with U.S. carbon-pollution-free goals announced by President Biden in 2023," Wang said. To investigate how urban building energy use would evolve under future climate change, Wang's team used an indicator called energy use intensity, or EUI. The EUI is the energy used per square foot per year and is calculated by dividing the total energy consumed by the buildings by their total gross floor area. "Due to climate change, we found that city-scale building EUI is projected to experience uneven changes by the 2050s when compared to the 2010s," Wang said. "The largest increase in electricity EUI will mainly occur in the South, Southwest, West, and Southeast, which will see an increase of up to 7.2%." They discovered that the increase in electricity EUI during warm seasons and the hottest days will be much greater than the annual change, especially in the Northwest. This difference is mainly due to the higher air conditioning adoption rate and space cooling energy use under future warming. For each degree of warming, the average city-level space cooling EUI will increase by 13.8%. "We found an average 10.1 to 37.7% increase in the frequency of urban summer peak building electricity EUI. However, some cities will experience over 110% increases. This will require higher grid capacity and also greater resilience against power outages during extreme heat waves," Wang said. The team also assessed the potential changes in the source energy used by urban buildings, considering energy losses during generation, transmission and distribution. "Power sector decarbonization is very effective in curbing the source energy consumption of future buildings in cities, but it's crucial to further reduce direct fossil fuel combustion in buildings," Wang said. "Simply put, we need rapid electrification for future urban buildings."

Dublin, June 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Substation Automation Market with COVID-19 impact analysis by Offering (Hardware, Software, Services), Type (Transmission, Distribution), Installation Type, End-use Industry, Component, Communication, and Region - Global Forecast to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global substation automation market size is estimated to be USD 39.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 54.2 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period. The market has a promising growth potential due to several factors, including the surging requirement to retrofit conventional substations, increasing investments in smart cities and smart grid infrastructure development projects, and increasing focus on upgrading IEC 61850 standard to resolve interoperability issue among intelligent electronic devices deployed in substations. COVID-19 sent both demand-side and supply-side shocks across the global economy. Leading substation automation product and solution providers, such as Cisco (US) and Schneider Electric (France), have incurred significant losses owing to the pandemic. Both companies have reported a decline of approximately 15% and 13%, respectively, in their 2020 half-year revenue compared to the previous year. The impact of COVID-19 may last until June 2021. The situation is almost similar in both emerging and developed economies. As of January 2021, the US and India became the worst COVID-hit countries. Several renewable energy projects in the above-mentioned regions were delayed because of the reduction in power demand from various end-user industries. With the decrease in power demand, it is estimated that there would be negligible investments from the utilities for building new power plants. Services: The fastest growing offering segment of the substation automation market. The high growth potential of the market can be attributed to the rapid increase in the number of projects pertaining to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. For instance, Sun Tech Power Holdings (China), a producer of solar modules, plans to invest more in solar energy projects to meet the growing demand for energy with the rapid urbanization in China. Several power-generating companies in China, such as State Grid Corporation of China, China Three Gorges Corporation, and State Power Investment Corporation, are working on 25 wind turbine contracts worth nearly USD 586 billion to generate power. In September 2018, Siemens Energy received an order to design, supply, and build the grid connection for the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm by Germany-based Innogy SE. In February 2020, Hitachi ABB Power Grids' substation won a contract by Enel Green Power to deliver emission-free solar power to Brazil's 500 kilovolts (kV) transmission network. These projects would bring great prospects for installation, commissioning, and maintenance services. Utilities: The largest segment of substation automation market, by end-user industry. The utilities industry is one of the booming application areas of substation automation solutions owing to the high demand for modernization of existing grid infrastructure and installation of smart grids. Growing number of utilities have implemented Internet Protocol (IP) wireless communication technology in substations that enhance the operating efficiency of the substation automation system by providing data related to the current status or condition of equipment, fault classification statistics, and information useful for preventive maintenance of the equipment. Government bodies, in coordination with privately owned utility companies, are setting up smart substations in several countries to meet the power demand from consumers, as well as for the security of the power supply. For example, Hitachi ABB Power Grids is supporting Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) by utilizing ABB Ability-enabled technology in smart substations owned by MSETCL. This technology will be a crucial component of next-generation grids in the country. North America is leading the substation automation market, globally, by market share, in 2020 Based on region, North America dominated the substation automation market in 2020. The commanding position of North America can be contributed to several funding programs introduced by the US and Canadian governments for the modernization of power grids. North American governments are also providing funds to deploy modern technologies in the energy & power sector, which would help the region transit to smarter, stronger, and efficient electric grid systems. Aging grid infrastructure, coupled with stringent government policies regarding the adoption of sustainable power technologies, contributes to the growth of the substation automation market in North America. Several grid modernization projects have been undertaken in the region in the past few years. For instance, in September 2019, Schneider Electric was awarded a contract by BASF (Germany), the largest chemical company in the world, to implement EcoStruxure Asset Advisor in its new electrical substation in Beaumont, Texas. EcoStruxure Asset Advisor evaluates live data from the user's critical connected assets and applies advanced analytics to identify potential threats. Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights4.1 Attractive Growth Opportunities in Substation Automation Market4.2 Substation Automation Market, by End-User Industry4.3 Substation Automation Market, by Installation Type4.4 Substation Automation Market, by Utilities Industry4.5 Substation Automation Market, by Offering and Region 5 Market Overview5.1 Introduction5.2 Market Dynamics5.2.1 Drivers5.2.1.1 Increasing Investments in Smart Cities and Smart Grid Infrastructure Development Projects5.2.1.2 Escalating Demand for Data Centers to Support Rapidly Expanding Digital Activities Due to COVID-19-Led Lockdown Globally5.2.1.3 Surging Requirement to Retrofit Conventional Substations5.2.1.4 Rising Use of Digital Technology to Improve Grid Efficiency in Smart Cities5.2.1.5 Increasing Focus on Upgrading Iec 61850 Standard to Resolve Interoperability Issue Among Intelligent Electronic Devices Deployed in Substations5.2.2 Restraints5.2.2.1 High Initial Installation Cost of IEDs in Substations5.2.2.2 Huge Requirement for Tremendous Capital Investment for Deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks in Substations for Oil and Gas Facilities5.2.3 Opportunities5.2.3.1 Huge Prospects for Substation Automation Market Due to Increasing Investments in Renewable Energy Projects to Meet Growing Energy Demand5.2.3.2 Increasing Demand for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles5.2.4 Challenges5.2.4.1 Vulnerability of Smart Substations to Cyber Attacks5.2.4.2 Slowdown in Power Generation Industry with Outbreak of COVID-195.3 Price Trend Analysis5.4 Regulatory Update5.5 Value Chain Analysis5.6 Ecosystem Analysis5.7 Porter's Five Forces Analysis5.8 Technology Analysis5.9 Patent Analysis5.10 Trade Analysis5.11 Case Study Analysis 6 Components of Substation Automation System 7 Substation Automation Market, by Offering 8 Substation Automation Market, by Type 9 Substation Automation Market, by Installation Type 10 Communication Technologies Used in Substation Automation Systems 11 Substation Automation Market, by End-User Industr 12 Substation Automation Market, by Region 13 Competitive Landscape 14 Company Profiles14.1 Introduction14.2 Key Players14.2.1 Hitachi Abb Power Grids14.2.2 Siemens Energy14.2.3 General Electric14.2.4 Cisco14.2.5 Schneider Electric14.2.6 Eaton Corporation14.2.7 Honeywell14.2.8 Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories14.2.9 Novatech Automation14.2.10 CG Power and Industrial Solutions14.3 Other Important Players14.3.1 Itron14.3.2 Igrid T&D14.3.3 Cadillac Automation and Controls14.3.4 Tekvel14.3.5 Trilliant14.3.6 Encore Networks14.3.7 Cross Canyon Engineering14.3.8 Power System Engineering14.3.9 Venson Electric14.3.10 Sae-It Systems14.3.11 Arteche14.3.12 Sisco14.3.13 MB Control and Systems14.3.14 Teslatech14.3.15 Selta 15 Appendix For more information about this report visit