Effects of COVID-19 on energy savings and emission reduction: a case study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, because of the downturn of the global economy, the energy sector asked for the lowest prices for its products. Consequently, investors may not be willing to invest for the renewable energy projects in the short term after the pandemic. Therefore, every possible effort should be done in the post-pandemic era not to lose the clean energy gains of the recent history. Iranian bakeries are among the most energy consuming bakeries in the world and produce 15 million t of bread annually. Three different scenarios are suggested in the present study to make it possible to save 45%, i.e., 105 MJ t(-1) year(-1), of energy and increase the cumulative degree of perfection of the traditional bread-making processes by approximately 37%. These suggestions may increase the renewability indicator of the traditional bread-making sector by about 70%. Such an improvement may be a major attempt toward protecting the clean energy gains of the pre-pandemic era.