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Wärmewende im Quartier
(2016)
Urbanization and climate change are amongst the greatest challenges of the 21st century. In the "Low Carbon Future Cities" project (LCFC), three important problem dimensions are analysed: current and future GHG emissions and their mitigation (up to 2050); resource use and material flows; and vulnerability to climate change.
The industrial city of Wuxi has been the Chinese pilot city of the project. To establish the pathway for a low carbon future, it is crucial to understand the current situation and possible future developments. The paper presents the key results of the status quo analysis and the future scenario analysis carried out for Wuxi. Two scenarios are outlined. The Current Policy Scenario (CPS) shows the current most likely development in the area of energy demand and GHG emissions until 2050. Whereas the extra low carbon scenario (ELCS) assumes a significantly more ambitious implementation, it combines a market introduction of best available technologies with substantial behavioural change. All scenarios are composed of sub-scenarios for the selected key sectors.
Looking at the per capita emissions in Wuxi, the current levels are already high at around 12 tonnes CO2 per capita compared to Western European cities. Although Wuxi has developed a low carbon plan, the projected results under current policies (CPS) show that the total emissions would increase to 23.6 tonnes CO2 per capita by 2050. If the ELCS pathway was to be adopted, these CO2 emission levels could be reduced to 6.4 tonnes per capita by 2050.
Wissen stärkt die Region
(2013)
Local implementation projects for sector coupling play an important role in the transformation to a more sustainable energy system. Despite various technical possibilities, there are various barriers to the realisation of local projects. Against this backdrop, we introduce an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to identifying and evaluating different power-to-X paths as well as setting up robust local implementation projects, which account for existing drivers and potential hurdles early on. After developing the approach conceptually, we exemplify our elaborations by applying them to a use case in the German city of Wuppertal. It can be shown that a mix of several interlinked interdisciplinary methods as well as several participatory elements is suitable for triggering a collective, local innovation process. However, the timing and extent of end-user integration remain a balancing act. The paper does not focus on a detailed description of power-to-X (PtX) as a central pillar of the sustainable transformation of the energy system. Rather, it focuses on the innovative methodological approach used to select a suitable use path and design a corresponding business model. The research approach was successfully implemented in the specific case study. However, it also becomes clear that the local-specific consideration entails limitations with regard to the transferability of the research design to other spatial contexts.
Transformative Innovationen : die Suche nach den wichtigsten Hebeln der Großen Transformation
(2021)
Der hier vorliegende Zukunftsimpuls soll den Grundgedanken der Transformativen Innovationen und ihre Notwendigkeit beschreiben sowie erste Kandidaten für solche Transformativen Innovationen aus diversen Arbeitsbereichen des Wuppertal Instituts vorstellen. Er dient vor allem als Einladung, gemeinsam mit dem Wuppertal Institut über solche Innovationen zu diskutieren, die irgendwo zwischen den großen Utopien und kleinen Nischenaktivitäten liegen. Denn es braucht nicht immer den ganz großen Wurf, um Veränderungen in Gang zu setzen.
In recent years, a number of energy scenario studies which aim to advise policy makers on appropriate energy policy measures have been developed. These studies highlight changes required to achieve a future energy system that is in line with public policy goals such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and an affordable energy supply. We argue that behavioural changes towards energy-sufficient lifestyles have considerable potential to contribute to public policy goals and may even be indispensable for achieving some of these goals. This potential should, therefore, be reflected in scenario studies aiming to provide comprehensive advice to policy makers. We analyse the role that energy-sufficient lifestyles play in prominent recent global energy scenario studies and find that these studies largely ignore the potential of possible behavioural changes towards energy-sufficient lifestyles. We also describe how such changes have been considered in several other scenario studies, in order to derive recommendations for the future development of global energy scenarios. We conclude that the inclusion of lifestyle changes in energy scenarios is both possible and useful. Based on our findings, we present some general advice for energy scenario developers on how to better integrate sufficiency into future energy scenario studies in a quantitative manner.
Johannes Venjakob beschreibt die langfristige Entwicklung des polnischen Energiesektors in Form qualitativ-narrativer Szenarios, wobei er besonderes Augenmerk auf die Rolle erneuerbarer Energieträger richtet. In seiner Studie zieht er Erklärungsansätze aus der Institutionenökonomik heran und untersucht Veränderungsprozesse im Beziehungsgeflecht aus Technologien, Akteuren und Institutionen. Inwieweit stellt der polnische EU-Beitritt eine Weggabelung in der Entwicklung des polnischen Energiesystems dar?
Im Mittelpunkt von Venjakobs Analysen steht darüber hinaus die wechselseitige Beeinflussung von Raumstrukturen und Energiesystem. Am Beispiel Polens zeigt er auf, wie sich der Umbau zu einem stärker regenerativ ausgerichteten Energiesystem langfristig auf die Raumstruktur auswirken könnte. Dabei betrachtet er auch die Frage, wie sich geographische Forschungsarbeiten mit Methoden der wissenschaftlichen Zukunftsforschung verbinden lassen. Venjakobs Buch leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Entwicklung der geographischen Energieforschung und trägt zur konzeptionellen und inhaltlichen Erweiterung der wissenschaftlichen Zukunftsforschung bei. Es wendet sich vor allem an Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler, die an der Schnittstelle zwischen Energiethemen und Zukunftsforschung arbeiten und Interesse an der Erprobung innovativer Methoden in diesem Kontext haben.
The final report of the research project "Power Sector Decarbonisation: Metastudy" contains the various reports prepared by Öko-Institut and Wuppertal Institute during the course of the SEFEP funded project. A key objective of the project was to make a contribution to the debates within the European Union (EU) and Member States on the EU's Energy Roadmap 2050 publication, which was released in December 2011. This objective was achieved by systematically analysing and comparing recently published scenarios on the European electricity sector commissioned by a range of different stakeholders (environmental NGOs, industry and government agencies).
Power sector decarbonisation : metastudy ; WP 2.2 quantitative analysis of existing EU-wide studies
(2012)