Energy, Sustainability and Society最新文献

{"title":"Competing for space? A multi-criteria scenario framework intended to model the energy–biodiversity–land nexus for regional renewable energy planning based on a German case study","authors":"Jessica Weber,&nbsp;Tim Steinkamp,&nbsp;Marc Reichenbach","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00402-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00402-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The need to balance renewable energy supply with biodiversity conservation has become increasingly urgent in light of current climate, energy, and biodiversity crises. However, the development of wind and solar energy often presents trade-offs such as competing for land use and potentially impacting species and habitats. To address these concerns, ‘priority zones’ for bird and bat species have been proposed as spatial designations for early species protection in the regional planning process. However, there are concerns that the areas suitable for wind and solar energy may be limited further, making it difficult to meet state- and regional-specific spatial targets for renewable energy sites.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>To help decision-makers deal with this challenge, a Multi-Criteria Scenario Framework has been developed and analyzed. It involves a habitat model of priority zones for species conservation and techniques from the intuitive logic scenario planning method. Through a regional case study, various planning criteria were analyzed according to scenarios, such as priority zones for species protection, settlement buffers, and forests. The framework indicates how criteria could be balanced to achieve wind energy spatial targets as well as targets for ground-mounted solar energy with the least possible impact. Results show that compared to other planning criteria, species priority zones had limited competition with spatial wind energy targets. Achieving these targets may require minimal adjustments, such as allowing wind energy in 1–3% of completely protected recreational landscapes. To reconcile land use demands in the energy transition, a balance between ‘green’ protected areas is necessary. Additionally, ground-mounted solar energy could replace some of the wind energy spatial targets while also meeting the overall solar development goals.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The framework provides transparency in assessing trade-offs between multiple objectives and helps quantify the ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ in renewable energy planning. Adapting more flexible planning methods could help resolve the conflict between wind energy and species protection. Joint analysis of the areas needed for wind and solar energy and determining the optimal energy mix are gaining in importance. However, how the benefits of multi-criteria scenarios can be achieved within the confines of preoccupied and siloed organizations remains an ongoing research topic.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00402-7","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4409224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linking sustainability and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: a monitoring framework accounting for technological development","authors":"Florian Siekmann,&nbsp;Holger Schlör,&nbsp;Sandra Venghaus","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00405-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00405-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>In this article, the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and related implications for the measurement of sustainable development are analyzed. Technological innovations can play an important role in countering errant developments of the past and can support the transformation process towards a green economy in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. On the other hand, they pose challenges to the social control of technology and represent a methodical quandary known as the Collingridge dilemma. The core statement of the dilemma is that the implications of new technologies will only be fully visible once they are embedded in socio-economic-ecological systems when the possibilities to control diminish. The main objective of this study is thus to develop a monitoring framework enabling the ex ante assessment of related technological shifts and their implications for sustainable development.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>To approach the resulting difficulties for sustainability monitoring, digitization indicators should be accounted for in the German Sustainable Development Strategy. An enhanced strategy complemented by related Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 indicators, for which the Word Economic Forum assumes a modest link between competitiveness and inequality, illustrates the feasibility of linking research regarding the Fourth Industrial Revolution and sustainable development to measure its social and environmental consequences. The newly developed Sustainable Digital Socio-Economic-Ecological Indicator System categorizes the sustainability indicators into one index covering all Sustainable Development Goals along with four sub-indices emphasizing crucial aspects relevant to navigating a successful transformation. This novel and innovative approach is illustrated using the examples of Germany.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The Fourth Industrial Revolution is fundamentally driven by introducing renewable energy resources as a new energy regime. However, the effects extend beyond energy and necessitate comprehensive measurement frameworks for assessing sustainable development implications. This work contributes by analyzing the related impact on sustainable development and providing decision-makers with new insights for early recognition. Preliminary results for Germany expose a discrepancy between the status quo and the desired pathway, indicating emerging effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on inequality, employment, and education. While none of the sectors are sustainable, the sub-index analysis highlights distinct disparities among economic, social, and ecological sectors.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00405-4","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4291000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response to the comment “Are claims of cheap muon production correct?” by K. Hansen and J. Engelen, Energy Sustain. Soc., 2023","authors":"L. Holmlid","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00404-5","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00404-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>It is shown that muons are generated from decay of the mesons created by baryon annihilation reactions in ultra-dense hydrogen H(0), based on numerous previous publications and one patent. The cost of the muons in energy is 500 times lower than from production in particle accelerators; therefore, they are considered to be cheap. We argue that ordinary scientific publications are more suitable for proving or disproving scientific results than comments with no new information.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00404-5","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4970583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are claims of cheap muon production correct?","authors":"Klavs Hansen,&nbsp;Jos Engelen","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00403-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00403-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Muon catalyzed fusion is a process, whereby isotopes of hydrogen undergo nuclear fusion thanks to a muon replacing an electron bringing the nuclei within fusion distance. The muon is then ejected and can facilitate a next fusion process. ‘Break even’ has not been achieved yet in spite of the optimization of isotope mixtures and initial muon energy. A main limiting factor is the muon lifetime and the cost in energy of accelerator-based muon production. The possibilities would receive an immense boost toward practical applications if a cheap muon source could be constructed. We challenge a recent publication claiming to have constructed a very intense, yet very ‘cheap’ muon source.</p><h3>Main text</h3><p>A recent publication in this journal (Holmlid in Energ Sustain 12:14, 2022, 10.1186/s13705-022-00338-4) promotes the idea that such a source has been constructed and demonstrated. The suggestion is based on a long series of articles by the same author as main investigator. They all center around a spectacular new aggregation state of hydrogen, so called ultra-dense hydrogen (UDH). The claims in the article (Holmlid in Energ Sustain 12:14, 2022, 10.1186/s13705-022-00338-4), as well as in the previous articles, are based on speculations going far beyond the experiments they purport to explain, and on a striking disregard of very well-established facts, both concerning conservation laws, elementary quantum mechanics and the phase diagrams of hydrogen. There are strong arguments why the claimed muon production does not occur and that the suggested evidence for it is a collection of instrumental artefacts.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The muon source suggested by Holmlid (Energ Sustain 12:14, 2022, 10.1186/s13705-022-00338-4) does not produce any muons.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00403-6","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4935172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Urban electricity governance and the (re)production of heterogeneous electricity constellations in Dar es Salaam","authors":"Mathias Koepke,&nbsp;Jochen Monstadt,&nbsp;Francesca Pilo’","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00401-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00401-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Electricity infrastructures in sub-Saharan African cities are characterized by heterogeneous socio-technical constellations, including alternative grid access channels and off-grid systems. These constellations secure access beyond conventional grids but also produce adverse social, environmental, and economic outcomes affecting sustainable energy transition efforts. In fact, interventions aiming to promote energy transitions may be restricted by institutional mechanisms that produce and maintain these heterogeneous constellations. This article explores these institutional mechanisms by focusing on the governance of heterogeneous electricity constellations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It develops a novel framework on governance modalities to understand and explain the logics, mechanisms, and actors that govern different constellations across diverse neighborhoods as well as to unpack how they limit the potential of sustainable energy transitions and offer specific opportunities for them.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>This article is based on a qualitative case study covering three diverse neighborhood types in Dar es Salaam (i.e., low-income, peri-urban, and affluent areas) that reflect heterogeneous user demands. The research draws on interviews with residents and community leaders to understand local modes of coordination, the participatory observation of technical features and user practices, as well as document sources and semi-structured expert interviews to analyze institutional aspects. Our study demonstrates that heterogeneous electricity constellations in Dar es Salaam are governed by the place-based interplay of four governance modalities: hierarchical, market-based, network-based, and managerial governance. Based on this conceptualization, we identified critical barriers for interventions toward urban energy transitions in the context of infrastructural heterogeneity, namely, conflicting logics that shape conventional grid services, complex and fragmented actor constellations, and diverging, place-based interests among various actors, including different state actors.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Our study indicates that heterogeneous urban infrastructure constellations are not merely a response to the considerable socio-spatial inequalities within Southern cities. Rather, their prevailing importance and (re)production must be understood as resulting from the interplay of various governance modalities. The study contributes to debates on urban energy transitions in sub-Sahara Africa by explaining the institutional complexity associated with infrastructural heterogeneity, which can restrict interventions aiming to improve and universalize service provision through heterogeneous urban electricity constellations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00401-8","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4896384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social acceptance of green hydrogen in Germany: building trust through responsible innovation","authors":"Johann Jakob Häußermann,&nbsp;Moritz J. Maier,&nbsp;Thea C. Kirsch,&nbsp;Simone Kaiser,&nbsp;Martina Schraudner","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00394-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00394-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Social acceptance presents a major challenge for Germany’s transition to green energy. As a power-to-x technology, green hydrogen is set to become a key component of a future sustainable energy system. With a view to averting conflicts like those surrounding wind energy, we have investigated social acceptance of green hydrogen at an early stage in its implementation, before wider rollout. Our study uses a mixed-method approach, wherein semi-structured interviews (<i>n</i> = 24) and two participatory workshops (<i>n</i> = 51) in a selected region in central Germany serve alongside a representative survey (<i>n</i> = 2054) as the basis for both understanding social attitudes and reaching generalisable conclusions.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Overall, it is possible to observe both a marked lack of knowledge and a large degree of openness towards green hydrogen and its local use, along with high expectations regarding environmental and climate protection. We reach three key conclusions. First, acceptance of green hydrogen relies on trust in science, government, the media, and institutions that uphold distributive justice, with consideration for regional values playing a vital role in establishing said trust. Second, methodologically sound participatory processes can promote acceptance, and active support in particular. Third, recurrent positive participatory experiences can effectively foster trust.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Accordingly, we argue that trust should be strengthened on a structural level, and that green hydrogen acceptance should be understood as a matter of responsible innovation. As the first empirical investigation into social acceptance of green hydrogen, and by conceptually interlinking acceptance research and responsible innovation, this study constitutes an important contribution to existing research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00394-4","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4824815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Energy cooperatives and just transition in Southeastern Europe","authors":"D. Končalović,&nbsp;J. Nikolić,&nbsp;A. Džokić,&nbsp;P. Momčilović,&nbsp;D. Živković","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00400-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00400-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The energy markets of Southeastern Europe largely depend on fossil fuels. Energy prices are lower in this region than in the rest of Europe, while the energy transition is relatively delayed. This paper aims at summarizing the obstacles to the civic energy transition in Southeastern Europe and the future prospects for its success.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>In Southeastern Europe, there are great concerns about the uncertainty of the energy transition process and its outcomes. There is a lot of apprehensions that the transition could drift away from the citizens and end up in the hands of large-scale solar and wind farms entirely. In other words, citizens may be completely excluded from participating in the energy transition. Renewable energy cooperatives can serve as a crucial vehicle for organizing and engaging citizens in the energy transition. They can also be used as a lever of civic influence. This influence is crucial for ensuring a fair transition. The research methodology on cooperative development includes a literature review and a survey conducted with 240 participants. The participants were local government officials, members of NGOs, businesses, scholars, and citizens. The paper summarizes the answers to the questions which the authors considered essential for deepening our understanding of citizens’ attitudes on a (just) energy transition. The results show that the public awareness about the energy transition has increased. In addition, participants have demonstrated a willingness to take action, both as individuals and through cooperative efforts. However, they have also shown a great level of mistrust in the government, mainly due to perceived corruption and lack of transparency. Generally speaking, they have doubts that the energy transition can be completed in a fair and timely manner within their national context.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>This paper provides insight into the current state of affairs and the prospects for the energy transition based on the attitudes of the citizens in Southeastern Europe. The paper argues that energy cooperatives should be employed as a training ground for the citizens, since, through joint actions, their trust in each other can be regained, rehearsed, and restored.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00400-9","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4756657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Two steps forward, one step back? Party competition, cooperative federalism, and transport policy reforms in Germany","authors":"Antonios Souris,&nbsp;Christian Stecker,&nbsp;Arne Jungjohann","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00399-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00399-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Transport policy has regained political relevance in Germany. The successful realization of the <i>Verkehrswende</i>,—the extensive transition toward sustainable transport and mobility—is central to reaching climate neutrality. In 2020, the Federal Government proposed the reform of two key ordinances that have regulated road traffic so far. The amendment was aimed at implementing several provisions at the expense of car drivers and, at the same time, in favor of cyclists and pedestrians. Due to cooperative federalism, the governments of the 16 constituent units (<i>Länder</i>) had to adopt the amendment in the <i>Bundesrat,</i> Germany’s second chamber<i>.</i> In the legislative process, however, the reform ultimately failed in its original scope. Using it as a particularly instructive case study, we show how and why party competition and cooperative federalism hamper comprehensive transport policy reforms in Germany.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>In the German political system, political interests interact within a complex web of cooperative federalism<i>.</i> To understand partisan encroachment on the federal decision-making processes, this paper uses a process-tracing approach. To investigate decision-making in the <i>Bundesrat</i> and its outcomes, the empirical analysis combines qualitative analyses of several publicly available sources. We can empirically demonstrate that political parties influenced legislative procedures. The reform failed in its original scope because the three political parties with veto power in the <i>Bundesrat</i> insisted on their positions and were not willing to agree on a compromise.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>For the implementation of the <i>Verkehrswende</i>, the German federal system proves to be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, the institutional design of the <i>Bundesrat</i> constrains extreme positions and helps promote decisions most citizens may agree with. The <i>Länder</i> governments and administrations can also contribute their expertise and local experience to federal legislation via the <i>Bundesrat</i>. On the other hand, veto powers are ubiquitous in the German system of cooperative federalism. Therefore, it is prone to blockades. The actions of the political parties in the <i>Bundesrat</i> have hampered the comprehensive reform of road traffic regulations that was originally envisaged. Policymaking took two steps forward toward implementing the <i>Verkehrswende</i>, only to immediately take one step back again.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00399-z","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4497657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced energy savings in enzymatic refining of hardwood and softwood pulp","authors":"Martin Nagl,&nbsp;Oskar Haske-Cornelius,&nbsp;Wolfgang Bauer,&nbsp;Gibson S. Nyanhongo,&nbsp;Georg M. Guebitz","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00398-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00398-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Pulp refining is an energy consuming, but integral part of paper production with the aim to increase tensile strength and smoothness of paper sheets. Commercial enzyme formulations are used to lower the energy requirements by pre-treatment of pulp before refining. However, a high number of different commercial enzyme products are available on the market containing enzymes of varying origin and composition, which complicates the prediction of their behavior, especially using different pulp types.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Endoglucanase-rich enzyme formulations were characterized regarding enzyme activity at different temperatures, resulting in a significant decrease of activity above 70 °C. Some enzyme preparations additionally contained arabinosidase, xylanase and β-glucosidase activity consequently resulting in a release of xylose and glucose from pulp as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Interestingly, one enzyme formulation even showed lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase (LPMO) activity of 3.05 nkat mg⁻¹. A correlation between enzyme activity using the endoglucanase specific derivatized cellopentaose (CellG5) substrate and enzyme performance in laboratory PFI (Papirindustriens forskningsinstitut) refining trials was observed on softwood pulp resulting in a maximum increase in the degree of refining values from 27.7°SR to 32.7°SR. When added to a purified endoglucanase enzyme (31.6°SR), synergistic effects were found for cellobiohydrolase II (34.7°SR) or β-glucosidase enzymes (35.7°SR) in laboratory refining. Comparison with previously obtained laboratory refining results on hardwood pulp allowed differences in enzyme performance based on varying pulp types to be elucidated.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Interestingly, the individual enzymes indeed showed different refining effects on softwood and hardwood pulp. This difference could be predicted after development of an adapted enzyme activity assay by combination of the derivatized cellopentaose CellG5 substrate with either softwood or hardwood sulfate pulp.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00398-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4348734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modelling renewable energy communities: assessing the impact of different configurations, technologies and types of participants","authors":"Francisco Belmar,&nbsp;Patrícia Baptista,&nbsp;Diana Neves","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00397-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00397-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Energy communities (ECs) have emerged as a solution to support governments mitigating climate change and comply with decarbonization goals, while introducing end-users on the energy value chain. In this paradigm, citizens have an active role in reducing electricity demand from the utility grid, by generating, sharing and/or trading locally generated renewable energy, such as solar energy. However, the economic and environmental outputs of energy communities are dependent on a variety of factors, such as technology features (renewable energy generation, existence of flexible equipment and/or energy storage systems), types of participants (consumers and prosumers with different electricity intensity and load profiles), and electricity sharing/trading agreements. As such, assessing the impact these will have on delivering benefits to the energy community and its participants is of paramount importance.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>This work models different energy communities’ design typologies in Lisbon, Portugal considering different types of consumers with heterogenous electricity demand profiles and willingness to participate, multiple technology deployment scenarios (solar systems installation, batteries, and electric vehicles), and electricity trading (collective self-consumption versus peer-to-peer trading).</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Results demonstrate community electricity cost savings are up to 42%, with self-sufficiency rate up to 12.5%, which is considerably low due to the participation of high demanding sectors (such as industry or retail). At participants’ individual level, electricity costs savings can reach 48% and 53%, for residential consumers and prosumers, respectively, while for high-demanding participants are slightly lower: 43% for hotel, 44% for retail, 13% for industry and 5% for university. Individual self-sufficiency rates register highest results for the residential prosumers (35% for PV prosumers, 28% for PV + electric vehicles and 54% with PV + batteries) while for other participants results fall between 6% (retail) and 26% (industry).</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>We conclude that for ECs deployment, individual PV self-consumption assets are not sufficient, thus greater PV sizes and higher adoption rates should be considered, according to consumer and prosumers shares. The share/trade of PV surplus, paired with competitive aggregation tariffs results in positive economic and environmental outputs, for the majority of both consumers and prosumers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00397-1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4091362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}