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Despite the rapid growth in the uptake of renewable energy technologies, the educational profile and the skills gained at University level do not always comply with the practical needs of the organisations working in the field. Furthermore, even though the residential sector has very high potential in curbing its CO2 emissions worldwide thus meeting the challenging goals set out by the international agreements, such reduction has been limited so far. Within this context, the ‘Skybelt’ project, co-funded by the EU under the framework of the Erasmus + programme aims at enhancing in several Universities of Asia and Europe the engineering skills of students of all level for application of sustainable renewable energy solutions in the built environment. With the target of increasing the employability of graduates and the impact of the project, a survey on the labour market needs for specialists with enhanced knowledge and skills in the topic of the project has been conducted in the related Asian countries. Hence, relevant industries, labour market organisations and other stakeholders have been interviewed and the main results of this analysis is reported in the present paper. As first outcome of this activity, the obtained results have been considered in the selection of the modules to be improved according to a student centred study approach.

This paper presents an analysis of energy saving and changes in energy intensities in Thai manufacturing sector by Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition technique. This method includes three effects consists of the energy intensity effect, the structural effect and the effect of the economic growth on the energy consumption in Thailand by using the 25-year annual data from 1990 to 2014, carried out in four phases; (i) before National Energy Conservation law, (ii) during the effect of the law, (iii) Transition period of the law from first to second version, and (iv) during the effect of the law (No.2). We found that the most effective intensity effect is in the third phase due to the effect of the implementation of new energy efficient equipment from the second phase by enforcement of the law, especially in non-metallic sector, while the first phase illustrates the lowest intensity effect due to the energy conservation law had not been occurred. However, due to the highest economic growth of the country and change from agricultural to industrial development direction, the first phase presents the most effective structural effect, then this effect continuously decreased by time. We also conclude that the energy conservation law have direct effect to energy efficiency of the country however, strictly individual regulation which have target to enforce to energy intensive industries is still required for sustainable energy efficiency improvement.

First biogas pipeline network has been well established in southern Thailand. About 1,273 households, accountable for about 87% of the total of 1,466 households in the district, get the benefits from biogas energy in many ways. Key success to this initiative is the collaboration between all parties, i.e., swine farm owners, households, and government officials. Swine farm owners are responsible for the design and construction of the biogas plants. Households pay some contributions regarding labor work and maintenance cost on biogas system and its pipeline network. Government officials are responsible for financial and technical supports to both parties. Indeed biogas energy offers an alternative source of heat energy for cooking fuel in this region.

This study focuses in the developing energy sector plan of city-level climate change master plan in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. The energy consumption, which consists of electricity and fossil fuels, are investigated and forecasted to be Business-as-Usual (BaU) scenario covering year 2013 to 2023 by using trend analysis. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission mitigation scenario was then analyzed by applying the energy reduction from the national energy efficiency development plan as well as the own reduction activities by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). We can conclude that if the national energy efficiency plan can fully implemented, the GHG reduction potential of the city from energy sector would be at around 18% from BAU in 2023 from all energy conservation and renewable energy measures.

Thailand has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, targeting the power generation sector, which contributes 35% of the country's CO2 emissions, as a critical area for intervention. This study explores the transition toward carbon neutrality in power generation, focusing on fossil-fuel-based plants, particularly lignite and natural gas, which remain central to Thailand's electricity production. A key strategy adopted by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is "Sink Co-creation", which includes the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies in existing and future lignite power plants, leveraging favorable storage conditions. Additionally, natural gas power plants exhibit significant CCS potential through source–sink matching mechanisms. This study finds that the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions from fossil-fuel-based power plants could reach 17.07 MtCO2. Of this total, lignite power plants are projected to achieve a reduction of 3.79 MtCO2 by 2036, while natural gas power plants are expected to contribute an additional 13.28 MtCO2 in reductions by 2050. However, the realization of these reductions faces significant challenges, including the high costs associated with CCS implementation and limited investor interest, underscoring the critical need for sustained government support and policy incentives to facilitate progress toward carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial estates are designated areas of land allocated for industrial factories to operate together in proportion, resulting in significant energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Thailand. Presently, there are 61 operational industrial estates, dispersed across 17 provinces. These estates accommodate over 1,295 designated factories, which extensively utilize energy resources and emit considerable quantities of GHG annually. Cap-and-trade is one of the carbon pricing mechanisms widely employed across numerous countries. It stands as an effective policy instrument aimed at reducing GHG emissions through legislative mandates that enforce major emitters to decrease their GHG emissions. This study evaluated GHG emissions from energy consumption in designated factories within industrial estates. It assessed the potential applicability of cap-andtrade mechanisms based on the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) thresholds and other assumptions for different scenarios. Additionally, it estimated the factory's administrative burdens resulting from legislative mandates, employing the Standard Cost Model (SCM). The study identified the number of designated factories emitting GHG beyond the set threshold between 45 and 200. Their combined emissions amounted to 9.20-43.34 MtCO2e/y. Moreover, the study revealed that factories incurred a time-related compliance cost of 4,365-19,400 h/y and a financial compliance cost of 8-36 million Baht per year. Findings can be utilized for subsequent regulatory impact assessment (RIA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thailand has formulated its climate change policy and updated the relevant plans and policies to align with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality and net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study investigated the optimal level of GHG mitigation in Thailand by taking into account the marginal abatement cost (MAC) and social cost of carbon (SCC). The research also evaluated how energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies could influence GHG reduction in the power and industrial sectors and illustrate policy recommendations that could be aligned with the 2020–2050 policy and plan period. The findings indicated that there could be instances where GHG mitigation potential would be insufficient to reach the national milestone. In such cases, it would become imperative to leverage all technologies within the marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) and also utilize the SCC for policy decision-making and meeting the desired goals. In certain scenarios, the adoption of additional technologies or measures would be necessary, such as flexible power generation and deploying carbon capture and storage or hydrogen, which are high-cost technologies. Furthermore, preparations should be made for multiple levels of climate change policies and plans beyond 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the enforcement of eight-step energy management system (EnMS) in 2010, the electricity and thermal energy in 6,161 designated factories have been conserved through electricity and thermal energy housekeeping, process improvement and machine change measures. As from Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target that aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy efficiency has long been regarded as a key pathway for GHG mitigation, but the volume and diversity of efficiency options has resulted in an unclear understanding of their combined impacts. Past national energy conservation evaluations focused only on an annual calendar-based concept, without considering cumulative aspects. The challenge of reducing industrial GHG emissions has led to an increasing need for a more precise methodology that highlights how energy conservation can significantly contribute to achieving the target. This paper aims to track GHG mitigation through energy efficiency measures in the industrial sector to achieve the NDC target. It analyzes and validates the real-world meta-data from all designated factories database from the year 2010 to 2020. By using the cumulative energy savings from 2015, which is the NDC base year, with decay rate and equipment lifetime assumption taken from national labeling demand side management program. From three main conservation types which are housekeeping, process improvement and machine change, we found that the cumulative electricity and thermal energy saving were at 2,541 GWh and 17,933 TJ. While the GHG mitigation was 2.24 Mt CO2 in the year 2020. This figure is far behind the mitigation target in NDC which require about 16.5 Mt CO2. Additionally, policy recommendations have been thoroughly discussed to address this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]