Energy Efficiency and Power Quality: A View from the Technology and Policy Perspective

Abstract

Energy is a vital component for the economic development and environmental sustainability of any country. Energy access and energy security are the biggest challenges for the energy decision-makers in today's fast developing world. These challenges are further magnified with the climate change concerns where the energy sector has the highest share in the total greenhouse gas emissions and there is a pressurized need for limiting these to minimize the adverse impacts on our economic systems, ecological networks and social relationships. Energy efficiency is an essential component of any energy strategy and it is identified as one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce the rapidly increasing energy demand, as well as, greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. Energy Efficiency is still gathering momentum in many countries where new policies are being framed to deploy energy-efficient technologies in almost all sectors of the economy. It is the right time to assess the existing energy efficiency policy gaps, as well as, the impact of energy-efficient technologies from a power quality perspective. The focus of this thesis is on two different aspects: (i) Energy-efficient technologies (For example, LED lighting technology) - Most of these technologies have power quality issues due to its non-linear characteristics and it needs to be minimized to ensure that customers are not disadvantaged by these technologies. (ii) Energy efficiency policy A comparative assessment of (top three renewable-rich OECD countries) energy efficiency policies and future recommendations.