CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Chatterjee, Souran |
|---|---|
| Title | Measuring The Productivity Impacts Of Energy Efficiency Measures |
| Summary | Sustainable energy policies do not only reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions but studies have shown that these policies can yield a wider set of multiple impacts (popularly addressed as co-benefits) for the economy and society. However, it is often the case that these impacts are not incorporated during the evaluation of a suitable energy assessment due to lack of mature quantification methodology. Hence, most of the time, the potential of sustainable energy policies are undervalued. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide better tool and methods to quantify multiple impacts rigorously. In order to achieve this aim, this dissertation proposes a methodological framework and using the framework, this dissertation quantifies productivity impact in a rigorous manner for Hungary and Germany. Among these wide ranges of multiple impacts, productivity impacts are observed to be one of the biggest impacts, but despite the evidence, productivity impacts are not defined clearly in the context of multiple impacts, and hence it is also not rigorously quantified. Thus, this dissertation defines productivity impacts by defining three key aspects of labour productivity namely active days, workforce performance and earning ability which results from two different improved energy efficiency measures (HVAC system with airtight building envelope and modal shift towards active transportation): 1. The amount of active time available for productive work. This can be affected, for instance, by being sick- more precisely absenteeism and presentism, which reduce the amount of active time available. 2. Workforce performance within a certain time frame. Indoor air quality and thermal comfort of tertiary buildings can improve the mental wellbeing of the entire workforce and this can result in more productive time for work. 3. Earning ability/value added per unit of time worked. Poor indoor air quality and thermal discomfort can affect the future earning ability of a child by disrupting education. The result shows that Germany and Hungary can gain 7.7 days/person and 3.21 days/person, year by having more deep retrofit-type residential and tertiary buildings such as deeply retrofitted buildings, passive houses, and nearly zero energy buildings. Germany and Hungary can gain 331 million and 5 million Euros/year respectively by gaining more active days due to more deep retrofit-type residential buildings. Similarly, by having more tertiary deep retrofit-type buildings, Germany and Hungary can gain 332 million and 2 million Euro/year respectively. This dissertation further shows that Germany and Hungary can gain 1870 and 3849 healthy life years/million population, year respectively by having more deep retrofit-type residential buildings. In addition to avoided sick days, by working in deep retrofit-type tertiary buildings, Germany and Hungary can gain around 85 million euro/year and 1.8 million euro/year respectively by improving the mental well-being. Lastly, this dissertation results also show that by opting for the modal shift towards active transportation, Germany and Hungary can gain 2.5 hours/driver, year and 0.5 hours/driver, year respectively. By quantifying productivity impacts this dissertation shows the significance of productivity impacts of sustainable energy policies and concluded that multiple impacts could be another incentive for a policymaker to design a sustainable energy policy. |
| Supervisor | Prof. Diana Ürge-Vorsatz |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/chatterjee_souran.pdf |
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