Green and low-carbon energy-use

Energy decarbonization has been recognized as a crucial measure for addressing the challenge of global climate change. The user side is the primary cause of energy consumption and carbon emissions. Besides, user behavior can directly affect the energy efficiency and carbon emissions of energy-use (EU) systems, as well as the hosting capacity to accommodate renewable energy. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the user side for driving a green and low-carbon energy transition. Based on analyzing the driving mechanisms of the green and low-carbon energy transition from the user side, the author proposed to assign users EU rights (EURs) to describe the right and responsibility of using every EU resource in 2016. Based on the EUR trading, economic value is utilized to drive the flexible resources of EU systems to promote green and low-carbon EU. Moreover, EUR trading involves the allocation and operation of energy resources across multiple stages, as well as mutual conversions among various forms of energy. Considering that, an energy element model, which is used as a unit for measurement and transaction settlement of EUR commodities, is proposed to characterize energy equivalent and value in the EUR trading. Finally, through the integration of the Industrial Internet in the energy sector and the Consumer Internet, an Energy-Use Net and its friendly interaction with the power grid is proposed. The proposed Energy-Use Net uses energy elements as the basic circulation units, to achieve energy efficiency improvement and carbon reduction, thereby promoting the green and low-carbon transition of the whole energy system.