Using less, living better: Demand-side climate action wins public support

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

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Climate strategies are still judged largely across two dimensions: how much they cost and how many tonnes of CO₂ they save. A new study published in Communications Sustainability argues that this narrow lens overlooks much of what is at stake – and much of what the public actually cares about.

An international team led by IIASA within the Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS) network assessed how six climate mitigation strategies in buildings, transport, and industry affect six dimensions of quality of life, from household income and jobs, to health, energy security, and fairness. Using energy-system simulations for 18 countries, the researchers compared supply-side strategies (cleaner fuels and technologies, including heat pumps, electric vehicles, and hydrogen substitution) with demand-side strategies (using less energy and materials through insulation and thermostat adjustments in buildings, modal shifts in transport, and greater material efficiency in industry). Each strategy was designed to deliver an identical 10% cut in greenhouse gas emissions.

The study is among the first to combine these objective modeling results with evidence from public surveys using the same strategies and impact data, allowing researchers to compare quantified quality-of-life benefits with citizens’ perceptions.

"Mitigating climate change is too often framed as a burden, when in fact it can raise people's quality of life," says study lead Arnulf Grubler, Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar at IIASA. "Strategies that reduce how much energy and materials we use deliver benefits across a remarkably broad range, including cleaner air, greater energy security, and fairer outcomes for poorer households, yet these gains remain consistently undervalued in policy debates."

All six strategies improved quality of life, but demand-side options scored slightly higher across a wider set of dimensions. Among the demand-side measures examined, improvements in building efficiency through insulation and modest thermostat adjustments emerged as the most robust performer across the study’s sensitivity tests. The authors caution that their estimates, if anything, understate the true benefits, since the analysis could not capture the full spectrum of wellbeing effects.

"By modeling supply- and demand-side strategies that achieve exactly the same emissions cut across 18 very different countries, we could compare them on a level playing field," says coauthor Nuno Bento of the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), who developed the simulation tool. "What stands out is how widely the benefits are shared – both higher- and lower-income countries stand to gain, which matters for international climate negotiations."

The team then tested a widespread assumption: that people reject demand-side measures because these require personal effort, time, and money. Representative surveys in the Netherlands, Brazil, and China – countries with different income levels and positions in the climate debate – found the opposite.

"People expected both supply and demand-side strategies to improve their lives and found them acceptable in all three countries," note coauthors Linda Steg (University of Groningen) and Anne van Valkengoed (Wageningen University), who designed the surveys. "And simply showing people the evidence made their views more positive, highlighting the importance of assessing and communicating climate action beyond emissions reductions and economic costs."

The results challenge the common assumption that demand-side climate action is unpopular and suggest that communicating wider quality-of-life benefits could strengthen public support. The findings also carry clear messages for policy.

“Demand-side strategies deserve more weight in policy portfolios than they currently receive, and transparently communicating their quality-of-life benefits can build public support,” notes coauthor Benigna Boza-Kiss, a Research Scholar in the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program and EDITS network coordinator. “The fact that both richer and poorer countries gain could help break the ‘developed versus developing’ stalemate in climate talks,” she concludes.

The study was carried out under the Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS) network, "Well-with-Low" fast-track project, coordinated by RITE and IIASA and funded by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).

Reference

Grubler, A., Steg, L., Bento, N., Boza-Kiss, B., De Stercke, S., McCollum, D., Nick, S., Pachauri, S., Van Valkengoed, A., Zimm, C., Louro Alves, T., & Qin, C. (2026). The undervalued quality-of-life benefits of demand-side energy and climate strategies. Nature Communications Sustainability DOI: 10.1038/s44458-026-00101-2

 

About IIASA:

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

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Journal

Communications Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s44458-026-00101-2 

Article Title

The undervalued quality-of-life benefits of demand-side energy and climate strategies

Article Publication Date

15-Jun-2026

 

Smarter control for cleaner residential microgrids

Maximum Academic Press

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Using a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, the study found that coordinated sizing and dispatch of distributed energy resources can substantially reduce system cost, diesel dependence, and carbon dioxide emissions. Compared with the HOMER simulation platform, the PSO-based method reduced Net Present Cost (NPC), Cost of Energy (COE), diesel fuel consumption, and CO₂ emissions by 12.01%, 16.09%, 50%, and 17.65%, respectively.

Residential microgrids are increasingly viewed as an important solution for integrating renewable energy into homes and communities, especially as countries seek to reduce emissions from electricity generation. Solar and wind resources can lower dependence on fossil fuels, while distributed energy resources make power systems more flexible and locally responsive. However, renewable generation is intermittent, and residential demand changes throughout the day. Without proper storage, backup generation, and dispatch rules, microgrids may face high operating costs, energy waste, unstable supply, and continued dependence on diesel generators. These challenges make optimized energy management essential for balancing reliability, affordability, and environmental performance.

A study (DOI: 10.48130/een-0026-0005) published in Energy & Environment Nexus on 10 April 2026 by Richard Oladayo Olarewaju’s team, University of Ibadan, shows that a PSO-based optimization strategy can improve the economic and environmental performance of a hybrid residential microgrid integrating PV, wind, diesel generation, and battery storage.

The researchers first built mathematical models for each component of the hybrid microgrid, including wind turbine output, PV power generation, diesel generator fuel consumption, and battery charging and discharging behavior. Hourly residential load demand, solar irradiance, and wind speed data were generated using stochastic models to represent realistic but non-site-specific operating conditions. The study then formulated an objective function to minimize the total NPC, including capital cost, operation and maintenance cost, replacement cost, fuel cost, emission cost, and penalties for unmet load. The PSO algorithm, implemented in MATLAB, was used to search for the optimal size and operation of each distributed energy resource. The energy management strategy prioritized renewable energy at all times. When renewable output exceeded demand, surplus energy was stored in the battery before any energy was dumped. When renewable output was insufficient, the battery was dispatched first, and the diesel generator was activated only when both renewable generation and stored energy could not meet the load. The strategy also prevented simultaneous battery charging and discharging, unnecessary load curtailment, and avoidable diesel operation. Six configurations were tested: diesel generator only, diesel plus wind, diesel plus PV, wind plus battery, PV plus battery, and the full PV/wind/diesel/battery system. The diesel-only case had the highest cost, fuel use, and emissions. PV-only or wind-only combinations improved performance but remained limited by intermittency or lack of storage. The full hybrid configuration performed best, achieving an NPC of US$85.54 million, COE of US$0.73/kWh, diesel consumption of 2.1 million L/year, and CO₂ emissions of 8.4 million kg/year. Compared with the diesel-only scenario, battery storage reduced diesel fuel consumption by 74.44%, CO₂ emissions by 80.81%, and COE by 46.34%. Against HOMER, the PSO approach also delivered lower NPC, lower COE, lower fuel use, and lower emissions, although it required more fine-tuning and computational effort.

Overall, the study demonstrates that intelligent optimization can help residential microgrids make better use of renewable energy while maintaining reliable power supply. By combining solar, wind, diesel backup, and battery storage under a coordinated dispatch strategy, the proposed PSO-based method reduces both economic and environmental burdens. The results highlight the importance of battery storage in smoothing renewable variability, cutting diesel runtime, and improving the long-term viability of hybrid microgrids. Such strategies could support future residential energy planning, especially in communities seeking cleaner, more resilient, and cost-effective electricity systems.

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References

DOI

10.48130/een-0026-0005

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.48130/een-0026-0005

Funding Information

The authors did not receive any support from any organization for the submitted work.

About Energy & Environment Nexus

Energy & Environment Nexus is a multidisciplinary journal for communicating advances in the science, technology and engineering of energy, environment and their Nexus.

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DOI

10.48130/een-0026-0005 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Optimal energy management of distributed energy resources for a hybrid residential microgrid

 

Reheating unlocks more power from LNG cold energy

Maximum Academic Press

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The study found that a two-stage Rankine cycle using hexafluoroethane (R116) in the upper cycle and ethane (R170) in the lower cycle could generate 7.5 MW of net power with 24.1% thermal efficiency. When reheating was added, the best configuration increased output to 9.2 MW, representing a 22% improvement over the optimal single-fluid design. These findings provide a practical pathway for LNG terminals to convert otherwise wasted cryogenic energy into useful power.

LNG is transported at extremely low temperatures, around −162 °C, allowing natural gas to be stored and shipped efficiently across long distances. However, before it enters pipeline networks, LNG must be warmed and regasified. In conventional terminals, much of this valuable cold energy is released to seawater or ambient air, resulting in a major loss of usable exergy. Previous studies have explored direct expansion, Rankine, Brayton, and mixed-fluid cycles, but many designs either show limited efficiency, rely on narrow operating conditions, or lack systematic optimization across both working fluids and cycle structures. Therefore, improving working-fluid matching and cycle configuration remains essential for efficient LNG cold energy recovery.

A study (DOI: 10.48130/een-0026-0007) published in Energy & Environment Nexus on 11 May 2026 by Shing-hon Wong’s team, The University of Western Australia, reports that reheated two-stage Rankine cycles offer the most effective configuration for maximizing LNG cold energy power generation.

The researchers developed a systematic process simulation and optimization framework to evaluate LNG cold energy recovery under representative terminal conditions, using an LNG receiving capacity of 216 t·h−1. They first constructed a baseline two-stage Rankine cycle, in which the upper and lower cycles each operated with independent working fluids. The upper cycle was heated by seawater, the lower cycle was cooled by LNG, and an intermediate heat exchanger linked the two stages. This two-stage arrangement reduced temperature mismatch across the wide span between LNG and ambient conditions. To identify optimal working fluids, the team screened 30 single-fluid combinations and 49 binary-mixture combinations. Genetic algorithms were coupled with Aspen HYSYS simulations to optimize evaporation pressure, condensation pressure, intermediate temperature, mixture composition, and other cycle parameters. For single fluids, R116 consistently performed best in the upper cycle because its dry-fluid behavior and non-isothermal heat rejection improved heat transfer to the lower cycle. R170 and R1150 were strong lower-cycle candidates, with R116–R170 delivering 7.5 MW net power. The researchers then assessed mixed working fluids, which can evaporate and condense over a temperature range, better matching LNG’s non-isothermal warming curve. Binary mixtures improved performance consistency, with R116-based upper-cycle combinations showing less than 5% variation among leading candidates. The best mixed-fluid baseline produced 7.7 MW, only modestly higher than the single-fluid case. Finally, four advanced configurations were tested: Rankine-regeneration, Rankine-reheating, Kalina-regeneration, and Kalina-reheating. Reheating delivered the strongest improvement because it allowed higher pressure expansion in the upper cycle while maintaining favorable exhaust temperatures for the lower cycle. The optimal Rankine-reheating configuration, using R116 in the upper cycle and an R1150–R170 mixture in the lower cycle, generated 9.2 MW. In contrast, regeneration and Kalina integration offered little or no performance benefit.

Overall, the study shows that the efficiency of LNG cold energy recovery depends not only on selecting high-performing working fluids, but also on integrating them into the right cycle architecture. While binary mixtures can improve thermal matching, the largest gain came from reheating, which enhanced both upper- and lower-cycle power production. The findings suggest that reheated two-stage Rankine systems may offer LNG terminals a technically feasible strategy to recover wasted cold energy, reduce energy losses during regasification, and support cleaner power generation from existing LNG infrastructure.

###

References

DOI

10.48130/een-0026-0007

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.48130/een-0026-0007

Funding Information

The first author (Shing-hon Wong) received a PhD stipend scholarship from the Future Energy Exports CRC (www.fenex.org.au). This work has received partial support from the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Projects Scheme (DP210103766 and DP220100116). FEnEx CRC Document 2025/21.RP1.0072.PHD-FNX-MILE0861.

About Energy & Environment Nexus

Energy & Environment Nexus is a multidisciplinary journal for communicating advances in the science, technology and engineering of energy, environment and their Nexus.

---

DOI

10.48130/een-0026-0007 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Enhancements and optimization of LNG cold energy recovery via advanced binary working fluid power cycle systems

 

Researchers discover how our brains react to surprise

University of Sydney

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Australian researchers have uncovered what happens behind the scenes in our brain when we’re faced with a predictable situation versus a surprise, giving vital clues in a long-standing mystery in neuroscience.

The researchers found that during surprising events, our brain is wired to direct energy to take in more sensory information from our environment.

This is why we remember unexpected events more vividly and accurately. Our brain then updates its own internal memory.

In comparison, when something is familiar or expected, the brain begins to respond to it before it even happens, which is what saves precious milliseconds. When something predictable appears, the brain makes us respond faster but doesn’t bother encoding it in full detail.

“Our study is a fascinating insight into how the brain uses predictions to help us better perceive and interact with the world,” says senior author Dr Reuben Rideaux from the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney.

“Our brain is constantly under pressure to make decisions, receiving a huge amount of sensory information from our environment. So, it needs to save energy where it can.

“When the brain is faced with a predictable situation, it goes ‘I already know what this is, I don’t need to spend energy processing it carefully.’

“But during unexpected events it’s like a software update or patch. Our brain wants to update our internal memory of the world to make sure we’re prepared for the future, so the energy is dedicated to collect as much information as possible from our environment,” says Dr Rideaux.

The findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, resolves a long-standing debate in neuroscience about ‘adaptive efficiency’, how our brain allocates neural energy to meet the pressures of environmental demands.

“The debate had been focused on whether the brain prioritised expected or unexpected information,” said lead author PhD candidate Ziyue Hu, from the School of Psychology.  

“We’ve found the answer is both. The brain has its cake and eats it too.”

“It’s incredible because this process all happens in milliseconds. This advances our understanding of how the brain balances speed and accuracy and how prediction and attention shape how we perceive the world.”

Managing surprises

The best real-world example that demonstrates this is professional sport. For high performance athletes, their experience enables them to predict and respond more quickly.

“Imagine a professional tennis player who knows where her opponent’s next serve is going to land. Their experience makes them move towards that spot before the ball is even struck and to get her racket in position to hit it back cleanly. Her brain had already prepared a motor response for the likely location and didn't bother encoding the precise location of the ball that confirmed what it already predicted,” says Dr Rideaux.

“That prediction buys her precious milliseconds, but if you ask her to recall frame by frame, exactly where the ball bounced inside the service box, her memory will be fuzzy.

“But it’s the rare surprise serve down the middle, which she'll remember with vivid spatial precision.”

The research

To study this phenomenon, 40 participants viewed simple visual flashes appearing around a circle while researchers measured their brain activity using EEG (recording brain waves) and tracked their pupil responses.

The research team recorded the participant’s reaction times and accuracy. But crucially, at times the researchers would manipulate and deliberately change the pattern of the flashes.

Participants responded more quickly and accurately to expected events, but when asked to recall the exact location, their memory was worse than after the unexpected flashes.

One surprising finding was our brain reacts to familiar events in two stages.  

The first is when the brain first predicts what is about to happen and so prepares and primes our body to react quickly.

The second is when the brain recognises that the event is what it expected, and it saves energy by not processing this information from the environment as deeply.

Both expected and unexpected events were represented in the cortex within 100 milliseconds of participants seeing the flash, but the unexpected events were represented more clearly in the brain waves than the expected ones.

For the next stage of the research, Dr Rideaux’s team is interested in understanding how these mechanisms develop over time, and what ecological factors influence those pathways.

The team is also interested in exploring how these mechanisms can be applied in artificial brains (neural networks and artificial intelligence) to improve their efficiency or performance.

-ENDS- 

Research link when published: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0154-26.2026

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Journal

JNeurosci

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0154-26.2026 

FUNGUY

Ten new species of Inocybe and one new record for China from the Gaoligong Mountains, Southwestern China

SciOpen

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image: 

(a, b) Basidiomata. (c) Basidiospore. (d) Cheilocystidia. (e) Pleurocystidia. (f) Caulocystidia. (g) Basidia and basidioles. Scales: a, b = 1 cm; c = 1 μm; d, e, g = 10 μm; f = 20 μm.

view more 

Credit: Mycology-An International Journal on Fungal Biology

This study was conducted by the research team of Prof. Zhu-Liang Yang at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Focusing on the species diversity of Inocybe in the Gaoligong Mountains of southwestern China, the team carried out detailed taxonomic and phylogenetic investigations based on extensive field collections, morphological examinations, and molecular analyses.

 

Inocybe is a large genus in Inocybaceae, Agaricales, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi. Species of this genus are widely distributed across the world and represent typical ectomycorrhizal fungi that play important ecological roles in the maintenance and functioning of forest ecosystems. In addition, many species of Inocybe contain toxic compounds such as muscarine and psilocybin, which may cause poisoning in humans or animals. Therefore, accurate species identification is important not only for understanding fungal diversity and evolution, but also for poisoning prevention and the sustainable use of fungal resources.

 

Although Inocybe has been studied for nearly two centuries, its diversity in the Gaoligong Mountains has remained insufficiently explored. To address this gap, the research team conducted a systematic study of Inocybe specimens collected from this biodiversity hotspot. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on combined ITS, LSU, and rpb2 sequence data showed that the studied materials formed ten major lineages in the phylogenetic tree.

 

Based on integrated morphological observations and molecular phylogenetic evidence, the researchers described ten new species from the Gaoligong Mountains: Inocybe hirsuticeps, I. ceratina, I. longistipes, I. gracilipes, I. flocculosipes, I. flavocrocea, I. rufosquamosa, I. aculeata, I. dulongjiangensis, and I. squamulomarginata. In addition, Inocybe albodiscoides was reported as a new record for China. The study also provides a taxonomic key to Chinese species of Inocybe, offering a useful reference for future identification and classification of the genus in China.

 

Through systematic and taxonomic analyses, this work clarifies six major lineages of Inocybe represented in the studied materials and significantly expands current knowledge of the genus in China. The discovery of ten new species and one newly recorded species highlights the Gaoligong Mountains as an important but still underexplored hotspot of fungal diversity. With continued field surveys and taxonomic studies of macrofungi in China, more previously unknown species of Inocybe are expected to be discovered in the future.

 

See the article: 

Ten new species of Inocybe (Inocybaceae, Agaricales) from the Gaoligong Mountains, Southwestern China

 

DOI Link:

https://doi.org/10.1080/21501203.2026.2678690

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Journal

Mycology: An International Journal on Fungal Biology

DOI

10.1080/21501203.2026.2678690 

Article Title

Ten new species of Inocybe (Inocybaceae, Agaricales) from the Gaoligong Mountains, southwestern China

Article Publication Date

11-Jun-2026

 

A two-pronged vaccine approach to prevent genital herpes

Yale University

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Genital herpes is a lifelong infection. While available treatments can manage symptoms, they cannot cure the infection or prevent transmission. Now, Yale School of Medicine researchers have taken a significant step toward a genital herpes vaccine that in preclinical models prevented infection.

In a study published June 19 in Science Immunology, researchers evaluated a two-part vaccination against genital herpes. With the technique, the first part — a typical intramuscular injection like you would receive for a flu shot, for example — is followed by the introduction of nanoparticles to the vagina, where herpes infection occurs in women.

The idea is the initial injection “primes” the immune system while the second localized treatment “pulls” immune activity right to where infection takes place. This study extends the original “prime and pull” approach by developing a new nanoparticle that effectively induces local immunity.

“We’ve found that, in preclinical experiments, this approach is a safe way to recruit the right immune cells in the right place to generate protective immunity,” said senior author Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine.

A two-pronged vaccine for genital herpes immunity

Efforts to develop a genital herpes vaccine have uncovered a key limitation of typical intramuscular injections: They do not establish robust immune cell populations or antibodies against the herpes virus at the vaginal lining where the virus is introduced in women. This limits the extent of immune attack against the herpes virus.

To address this challenge, the Iwasaki lab has explored methods to “pull” an immune response to the vaginal lining. They first tested whether introducing chemokines — proteins that can direct immune cells — to the vagina could establish immunity there. That technique led to only partial protection against herpes as it did not engage necessary immune cells called B cells.

They then evaluated a DNA molecule that stimulates the immune system. While it did reduce the amount of virus at the vagina, it also caused inflammation.

So the researchers wondered if combining the two methods might yield the best of both worlds.

“We had these two really promising strategies in the lab, but each had some shortcoming,” said Sachin Bhagchandani, a postdoc in Iwasaki’s lab and lead author of the study. “So we set out to formulate a particle that could overcome those shortcomings.”

Nanoparticles prevent herpes infection

The result of that work is BEACON (Bioactive Enhanced Adjuvant Chemokine Oligonucleotide Nanoparticles). The researchers made these nanoparticles by linking a piece of immunostimulating DNA to a chemokine.

“Sachin led this work, creating a nanoparticle that was stable and effective, which was no small feat,” said Iwasaki, who is also a professor of dermatology and of epidemiology, as well as an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

For the study, the researchers first primed female mice with an intramuscular vaccination against the herpes virus and then applied BEACON and virus antigen intravaginally. They found that BEACON established strong immune cell and antibody responses against the herpes virus in the vaginal tissue and that it lasted long term, at least six months.

When exposed to the herpes virus, mice given the “prime and pull” treatment were highly resistant to infection: 80% displayed no signs of disease over six months. That’s compared with just 40% of mice that received the intramuscular injection alone.

“That showed us that this approach could be profoundly impactful, establishing local immune responses for a significantly long period of time,” said Bhagchandani.

Further, BEACON enabled the researchers to target the right cells for generating immunity, rather than broadly affecting all cells. This meant they needed less of the DNA molecule than they used in previous experiments, and this smaller amount prevented the development of inflammation.

“This formulation is quite remarkable in that way,” said Iwasaki.

A vaccine for humans

The researchers are now evaluating whether this “prime and pull” method can be used to treat infection as well as prevent it. They’re also thinking about what this might look like for people.

“We’re collaborating with the Appel lab at Stanford to see if we can turn BEACON into translatable formulation, such as a vaginal suppository,” said Bhagchandani. “We’re also exploring a nasal approach wherein the ‘pull’ happens in the nose, which would allow this kind of treatment to work for men as well.”

While further down the road, the researchers aim to test this method in human clinical trials, because ultimately, the goal is to develop a vaccine for humans.

“A lot of the suffering patients go through is not just physical; it’s mental and societal,” said Iwasaki. “But viruses are the same — whether it’s the flu or Epstein-Barr virus or herpes simplex, it’s not the person’s fault that they caught it. And yet there’s a lot of stigma. We hope that this kind of strategy will prevent diseases that affect people in a profound way.”

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DOI

10.1126/sciimmunol.aea6419 

Article Title

Bioactive enhanced adjuvant chemokine oligonucleotide nanoparticles (BEACONs) for mucosal vaccination against genital herpes

Article Publication Date

19-Jun-2026