Reaching the climate goals for the building sector requires to improve insulation and to increase air tightness of buildings in order to minimize heat loss. To achieve these goals and to prevent risks to the health of occupants and damages to the building fabric due to insufficient removal of pollutants and humidity, broad implementation of Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems is crucial.
Comparable and up to date figures on the market penetration of MVHR systems across the EU are hardly available. However, figures point to only a small share of residential buildings being currently equipped with such systems (cf. Riviere et al. 2009). For the German building stock the figure is estimated to be below 5% (Händel 2011). The paper presents insights into the reasons for the slow diffusion of HRV technologies in the German building stock. It builds on the results of a recently completed research project whose central aim was to identify actor-specific and structural barriers for the diffusion of efficient ventilation systems in apartment buildings and to examine how these barriers can be addressed.
The analysis is based on 40 semi-structured expert interviews with energy consultants, HVAC craftsmen, and housing companies, as well as guided in-depth interviews with private owners of apartment buildings or apartments that were evaluated by means of qualitative content analysis. Based on the collected data, seven barrier categories were identified, each containing a range of single barriers for the diffusion of efficient ventilation systems within the residential building stock.
Results of the analysis were quantitatively validated by means of online surveys and a household survey among 1,008 households. The paper points out interdependencies within the chain of effects leading up to the investment decision of building owners. Furthermore, based on good practice examples identified within the data collection process, it proposes different measures to address these barriers.
In 2016, the European Commission presented the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package , comprising legislative proposals to facilitate the clean energy transition within the EU, such as the revised EPBD 2010/31/EU and EED 2012/27/EU.Besides putting energy efficiency first and achieving global leadership in renewable energy, a third goal of the package was to provide a "fair deal to consumers" with "no one left behind"., While in some Member States the issue of energy poverty already was on the political agenda, enabling affordable access to basic energy services for all households and thus reducing energy poverty is now an explicit policy target of the revised EU Directives.
In order to assess and monitor the extent of the issue across the EU and address it by suitable measures, the concept of energy poverty needs to be defined, operationalised and measured. The paper aims to investigate the role of energy poverty indicators for policy making. To do so, it provides an overview on existing measurement approaches.Furthermore, the paper presents the development and current state of energy poverty across the EU using a set of four complementary indicators used by the EU Energy Poverty Observatory. These consensual and expenditure-based indicators are calculated using data from the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions and the Household Budget Survey.
In addition, the paper highlights peculiarities of results on the different indicators, describes persisting issues with regard to their calculation and interpretation against the background of the underlying data base.
Based on the results of this analysis, further necessities of data collection and research are pointed out.
Improvements in energy efficiency have numerous impacts additional to energy and greenhouse gas savings. This paper presents key findings and policy recommendations of the COMBI project ("Calculating and Operationalising the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Europe").
This project aimed at quantifying the energy and non-energy impacts that a realisation of the EU energy efficiency potential would have in 2030. It covered the most relevant technical energy efficiency improvement actions in buildings, transport and industry.
Quantified impacts include reduced air pollution (and its effects on human health, eco-systems), improved social welfare (health, productivity), saved biotic and abiotic resources, effects on the energy system and energy security, and the economy (employment, GDP, public budgets and energy/EU-ETS prices). The paper shows that a more ambitious energy efficiency policy in Europe would lead to substantial impacts: overall, in 2030 alone, monetized multiple impacts (MI) would amount to 61 bn Euros per year in 2030, i.e. corresponding to approx. 50% of energy cost savings (131 bn Euros).
Consequently, the conservative CBA approach of COMBI yields that including MI quantifications to energy efficiency impact assessments would increase the benefit side by at least 50-70%. As this analysis excludes numerous impacts that could either not be quantified or monetized or where any double-counting potential exists, actual benefits may be much larger.
Based on these findings, the paper formulates several recommendations for EU policy making:
(1) the inclusion of MI into the assessment of policy instruments and scenarios,
(2) the need of reliable MI quantifications for policy design and target setting,
(3) the use of MI for encouraging inter-departmental and cross-sectoral cooperation in policy making to pursue common goals, and
(4) the importance of MI evaluations for their communication and promotion to decision-makers, stakeholders, investors and the general public.
What role do transaction costs play in energy efficiency improvements and how can they be reduced?
(2019)
Ex-ante policy evaluation requires a detailed understanding of how the subjects addressed by the policy react to its implementation. In the context of energy efficiency, policy measures typically aim at influencing investment decisions towards more efficient options.
As has been discussed widely in the context of the "energy efficiency gap", investments in energy efficiency improvements are frequently not conducted even though they seem cost-effective from a simple cost-benefit perspective, where transaction costs have been identified as one important barrier.
While transaction costs have been discussed widely from a conceptional perspective, empirical studies quantifying transaction costs and measures to reduce them are rare. This paper presents approaches, results and insights from a recently completed research project funded by the German Federal Energy Efficiency Center (BfEE), addressing transaction costs in various energy efficiency measures and the role of energy efficiency services to overcome the barrier.
We analyse a set of 11 energy efficiency investments covering private households, public institutions and the industry sector. We gather data on direct investment costs and energy cost savings and provide a detailed analysis of the various barriers and transaction costs associated with the implementation. We then analyse the costs of existing energy efficiency services using data provided by the BfEE. We compare the different cost elements and analyze the potential of energy efficiency services to reduce transaction costs.
We find that the role of transaction costs differs substantially between households, public institutions and companies and that the impact of energy efficiency services on transaction costs needs to be evaluated using different methodological approaches. We conclude that while data availability on disaggregated transaction costs is a major challenge, energy services can reduce transaction costs considerably.
In spite of differences in energy policies and supply, Japan and Germany have to master similar challenges: To reorganize the energy supply system towards - in the long term - being reliable, affordable, low in risks and resource use, and climate-neutral. At the same time, the ecological modernization should maintain or even strengthen international competitiveness. To better address these challenges, a bi-national expert council has been established between the two high-tech countries in 2016 - the GJETC.
The aim of the GJETC is to show that despite different starting points, a national energy transition can be more successful, if both countries learn from their strengths and also weaknesses, to avoid the latter. If the implementation of an energy transition in the two countries is socially and economically sound and advances technology innovation and deployment, it may not only double success, but can also serve as blue prints for other countries, especially due to learning from similarities and differences. For example: Why is per capita energy consumption higher in transport in Germany, but energy intensity higher in Japan's building sector? How can variable renewable energies be integrated in an efficient energy system at lowest costs?
The Council meets twice a year, holds stakeholder dialogues and outreach events, and prepares policy papers on strategic topics of mutual interest. Four comprehensive studies, each in cooperation of a German and a Japanese research institute, have been the basis for 15 joint key recommendations during the 1st phase. The 2nd phase to 2020 will study the role of hydrogen and digitalisation for the energy transition, as well as other topics. The paper presents the findings and recommendations of the GJETC of the first phase 2016-18 as well as first results of the second phase. It also reviews the setup of the GJETC and the way it works, to assess if and how it can serve as a role model of bilateral cooperation on the energy transition.
Estimating the sufficiency potential in buildings : the space between underdimensioned and oversized
(2019)
The emission reduction potential of energy efficiency and energy supply in buildings is estimated in various energy and climate action plans, scenarios, and potential analyses. But the third pillar of sustainability - sufficiency - is neglected in most studies.The increasing demand of space per person in the residential sector is a trend in most European countries. Its implication on energy use, demand for resources like land, building material, equipment, and waste production is enormous. Next to the ecological impact, the distribution of space has social and societal effects. Thus, sufficiency policies in the building sector complementing efficiency and energy policy are needed for a sustainable development of the European building stock.
But how can a sufficiency potential in the building sector be estimated? How much space and equipment is needed for a decent living and how much is too much? The paper proposes four areas of sufficiency in buildings: space, design and construction, equipment, and use. It presents a set of indicators, a quantitative estimate of energy savings from reduced per capita floor area, and visualises the sufficiency potential in European countries in an experimental approach. The final discussion focuses on the question: What does this mean for policy making?
"400,000 new homes per year are needed in German cities." This figure has been cited repeatedly in political discussions, media, and statements of different groups for a couple of years now. Living space is needed to mitigate the (further) inordinate increase of rents in some cities and regions and to ease finding appropriate flats at affordable prices for low- and medium-income households. But how to activate investors and the real estate market?
Having the triangle of sustainability in mind with its ecologic, social and economic cornerstones the discussion - metaphorically spoken - currently pulls the three corners: Which should have the highest priority?
The economically driven most favourable solution is lowering the requirements for new buildings such as the energy performance to make building cheaper. The social perspective prefers an increase of public social housing investments regardless of efficiency standards. And the ecological side argues that a high performance is needed to reach energy and climate targets in the buildings sector.
Starting at this point of discussion, firstly, the paper reflects the assumptions behind the numbers of new homes needed against a sufficiency background.
Secondly, it presents current changes in German building policies: a new legislation for energy supply and efficiency is currently in preparation.
It discusses the potential to integrate sufficiency aspects in building policies, focussing specifically on the new regulation, financial incentives, and energy advice.
The paper analyses if and to what extent it is likely to balance the three cornerstones of sustainability by integrating sufficiency aspects into efficiency policies. Household experiences with prepayment meters are used as an example to illustrate the potential for tapping efficiency and sufficiency potentials in low-income households considering social, economic, and ecological aspects. Based on the identified (in)consistencies, thirdly, it suggests further development in German policies to make better use of synergies between the ecologic, social and economic demands on buildings.
Die Digitalisierung ist längst gelebte Praxis. Jeden Tag werden Milliarden an "digitalen" Handlungen ausgeführt. Beispielsweise werden täglich 207 Mrd. E-Mails verschickt, 8,8 Mrd. YouTube-Videos angesehen und 36 Mio. Amazonkäufe getätigt. Dabei nimmt die Geschwindigkeit, mit der neue Anwendungen entwickelt und etabliert werden, kontinuierlich zu. Es stellt sich also die Frage, was im Energiesektor zu erwarten ist und wie die Entwicklung zielgerichtet genutzt werden kann.
Der schnell fortschreitende Digitalisierungs- und Automatisierungsprozess ist heute schon ein wichtiger Wegbegleiter für die Transformation des aktuellen Energiesystems. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden sechs Anwendungsbeispiele vorgestellt, die deutlich machen, dass die Energiewende ohne Digitalisierung nicht denkbar ist.
Welche Rolle spielt die Digitalisierung mit der Vielzahl ihrer Methoden und Anwendungen für die Energiewende - also für die Transformation unseres Energiesystems im Sinne der vereinbarten Klimaschutzziele? Ist sie notwendige Voraussetzung für den Systemumbau und ermöglicht beispielsweise erst den Übergang auf ein nahezu vollständig erneuerbares Energiesystem (Enabler) oder ist sie lediglich ein nützliches, den Umbau beschleunigendes Hilfsmittel (Facilitator)? Welche Veränderungen sind durch die Ziele der Energiewende getrieben und welche durch die Verbreitung von Techniken der Digitalisierung? All dies waren Fragen, die im Rahmen der Jahrestagung 2018 des Forschungsverbunds Erneuerbare Energien unter dem Titel "Die Energiewende - smart und digital" behandelt wurden. Dieser einführende Beitrag versucht einige Anhaltspunkte zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen zu liefern und in das Thema einzuführen.
In recent years, many energy scenario studies have proven that a power supply system based on renewable energies (RE) >90 percent is feasible. However, existing scenarios differ significantly in the composition of generation technologies. Some scenarios focus on wind energy in the northern part of Europe, others base on a large utilisation of solar technologies in the south. Apart from the generation capacities, the needed technical flexibilisation strategies such as grid extension, demand flexibilisation and energy storage are generally known and considered in many scenarios. Yet, the impact of different renewable generation strategies on the local utilisation of flexibility options needs to be further assessed. Based upon the BMBF research project RESTORE2050, analyses have been carried out that focus on these interdependencies. The results of the project show that the local utilisation of flexibilisation options depends to a great extent on the technology focus of the long-term renewable expansion strategy. This applies for the spatial flexibilisation as provided by transnational interconnection capacities, especially the ones connecting regions with a surplus of power generation (e.g. GB, Norway and Spain). Another impact of the renewable scenario is seen on the required temporal flexibilisation of electricity generation and demand. In addition, the available options will compete for high utilisation in a future energy system. The differences in the utilisation of these applications, which base on the varying shares of photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy generation, lead to the conclusion that the decision about longterm RE expansion ought to be made very soon in order to avoid inefficient flexibility pathways. Otherwise, if the future RE structure will be kept open, adequate adoption of new flexibility options will be difficult, especially in case of technologies with long lead and realisation time (e.g. new power grids and large scale energy storage devices).
Living-Lab-as-a-Service : exploring the market and sustainability offers of living labs in Germany
(2018)
In dem Forschungsprojekt "Technologien für die Energiewende" (TF_Energiewende) bewertet ein Konsortium von drei Verbundpartnern und zehn Technologiepartnern unter der Federführung des Wuppertal Instituts seit Herbst 2016 den mittelfristigen Forschungs- und Entwicklungsbedarf für die zentralen Technologien, die im Rahmen der Energiewende derzeit und zukünftig benötigt werden.
Solarthermische Kraftwerke
(2018)
Der Schutz des Klimas und die dafür erforderliche Umstellung der Energieversorgung auf erneuerbare Energien ist eine globale Herausforderung, welche nach maßgeschneiderten Lösungen für die unterschiedlichen Klimazonen und Märkte der Erde verlangt. Die verstärkte Solarenergienutzung spielt dabei eine maßgebliche Rolle. Die Rolle Deutschlands als Exportnation beschränkt sich hierbei nicht auf die Klimawende im eigenen Land, sondern beinhaltet auch den weltweiten Export erneuerbarer Energietechnologien.
Die Kosten der photovoltaischen Stromerzeugung (PV) und der Windkraft sind in den vergangenen Jahren erfreulicherweise deutlich gesunken, entsprechend wurden in vielen Ländern große Kapazitäten zugebaut. Die resultierende stark gestiegene Einspeisung fluktuierender Erzeuger stellt Netzbetreiber vor neue Herausforderungen, insbesondere durch die extremen Lastschwankungen für plan- und steuerbare, heute größtenteils fossil befeuerte konventionelle Kraftwerke.
Hier bieten solarthermische Kraftwerke Lösungen.
There is an increasing pressure that enhanced and novel energy technologies are swiftly adopted by the market to ensure meeting the energy and climate targets. An important issue with such novel developments is their risk to be stuck in the "valley of death", i.e. that their transition to the market is delayed or unsuccessful. Publicly supported demonstration projects could help to bridge the valley of death by reducing barriers to the adoption caused by missing information and perceived risks. A challenge for technology demonstrations in the industrial context is their often high investments that are required to prove their real-world benefits. Given the magnitude of such investments, it becomes crucial that public funding focuses on the most promising demonstration proposals. Structured evaluation processes can help to facilitate the identification of promising proposals and to improve the quality and transparency of decisions. This paper deals with a corresponding multi-staged multi-criteria decision support system (DSS) suggested to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. It deals with the evaluation of demonstration proposals across three stages: The first stage represents a filtering stage to identify those proposals relevant for further considerations. The second stage comprises a multi-criteria scoring method drawing on an evaluation against nineteen criteria. The final third stage serves to critically review the need for public funding of well-scored proposals. This contribution outlines the development of the DSS and its design and thus provides insights on proposal evaluating in energy research.
Converting electricity into heat offers the opportunity to make of use large scales of renewable (surplus) energy in the long run in order to reduce shut-downs of renewable power plants and to substitute fossil fuels. Electrification seems to be also very promising for industrial heat applications, as it enables high process temperatures to be achieved in a tailor-made and efficient way and enables the utilisation of other energy sources like waste heat, geothermal or ambient heat (via heat pumps). This article analyses theoretical and technical electrification potentials of Steam Generation and Other Process Heat Generation in the following energy-intensive branches: iron & steel, non-ferrous metal, iron foundries, refineries, base chemicals, glass, cement clinker and paper industry in Germany. Literature research, expert interviews as well as own modelling were conducted to determine potentials and their implementation barriers. Based on these methods, market potential to electrify industrial steam generation was estimated. On the basis of two climate protection scenarios, the effects of both a monovalent and a hybrid industrial power-to-heat strategy were quantified with regard to greenhouse gas reduction and energy efficiency (primary energy saving). The pathway towards electrification will be reflected by criteria such as path dependency, dependency of infrastructure and system compatibility. Recommendations for research and development as well as policies are derived from the overall analysis. The article shows that electrification can be an important option to achieving high CO2-savings in the industrial heating sector in a long-term perspective. However, the scenario calculations show that electrification does not in itself guarantee reduction of greenhouse gases or savings of primary energy. To reach these goals, it is essential to further develop industrial heat pumps and to map electrification and further development of renewable energy (including infrastructure such as power networks and storage facilities) in a concerted strategy.
The German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is home to important clusters of energy-intensive basic materials industries. 15% of the EU's primary steel as well as 15% of high-value base chemicals are produced here. Together with refinery fuels, cement, lime and paper production (also overrepresented in NRW) these are the most carbon-intensive production processes of the industrial metabolism. To achieve the ambitious regional and national climate goals without relocating these clusters, carbon-neutral production will have to become standard by mid-century. We develop and evaluate three conceptual long-term scenarios towards carbon-neutral industry systems for NRW for 2050 and beyond:
* a first scenario depending on carbon capture and storage or use for heavy industries (iCCS),
* a second scenario sketching the direct electrification of industrial processes (and transport) and
* a third scenario relying on the import of low carbon energies (e.g. biomass, and synthetic fuels (like methanol) for the use in industries and transport. All scenarios share the assumption that electricity generation will be CO2-neutral by 2050.
For all three scenarios energy efficiency, primary energy demand for energy services and feedstock as well as the carbon balance are quantified. We apply a spatial-explicit analysis of production sites to allow for discussion of infrastructure re-use and net investment needs. Possible symbiotic relations between sectors are also included. The robustness of the three conceptualised future carbon-neutral industry systems is then analysed using a multi-criteria approach, including e.g. energy security issues and lock-ins on the way to 2050.
The Port of Rotterdam is an important industrial cluster mainly comprising of oil refining, chemical manufacturing and power and steam generation. In 2015, the area accounted for 18 % of the Netherlands' total CO2 emissions. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is aware that the port's economy is heavily exposed to future global and EU decarbonization policies, as the bulk of its activities focuses on trading, handling, converting and using fossil fuels. Based on a study for the Port Authority, our paper explores possible pathways of how the industrial cluster can keep its strong market position in Europe and still reduce its CO2 emissions by 98 % by 2050. The "Biomass and CCS" scenario assumes that large amounts of biomass can be supplied sustainably and will be used in the port for power generation as well as for feedstock for refineries and the chemical industry. Fischer-Tropsch fuel generation plays an important role in this scenario, allowing the port to become a key cluster for the production of synthetic fuels and feedstocks in Western Europe. The "Closed Carbon Cycle" scenario assumes that renewables-based electricity will be used at the port to supply heat and hydrogen for the synthetic generation of feedstock for the chemical industry. The carbon required for the chemicals will stem from recycled waste. Technologies particularly needed in this scenario are water electrolysis and gasification or pyrolysis to capture carbon from waste, as well as technologies for the production of base chemicals from syngas. The paper compares both scenarios with regard to their respective technological choices and infrastructural changes. The scenarios’ particular opportunities and challenges are also discussed. Using possible future pathways of a major European petrochemical cluster as an example, the paper illustrates options for deep decarbonisation of energy intensive industries in the EU and beyond.
In addition to the expansion of renewable energies, the efficient use of energy is crucial in order to ensure energy transition successful. The Federal Government of Germany has therefore set itself clear objectives with the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NAPE), which aims to reduce the primary energy consumption in Germany - compared to 2008 levels - by 20 per cent until 2020, and by 50 per cent until 2050. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions should fall by 40 per cent compared to 1990.
To reach this goal, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) inter alia launched the "National Top Runner Initiative (NTRI)" in January 2016. It is an important component and concerns private homes, as well as industry, retail and services.
The NTRI is intended to bring energy efficient and high-quality appliances (so called Top Runners) onto the market more quickly, thus accelerate market replacement. For this purpose, motivation, knowledge and competence in product-related energy efficiency is to be strengthened and expanded along the whole value chain - from the appliance manufacturer to the retailer and the consumer. Manufacturers are pushed to develop more efficient products and consumers get valuable information about Top-Runner products and how they can benefit. In this context, retailers are especially relevant as they act as "gatekeeper" between manufacturers and consumers. They play a key role in advancing an energy efficient production and consumption. They do not only select the products but they also have a direct contact to consumers and influence the purchase decision. In this paper, special emphasis will be put on the role of retailers and the efforts of the National Top Runner Initiative will be illustrated. Barriers and incentives to motivate this target group will be elaborated.
Renewable energy plays a key role in the sustainable pathway towards a low carbon future and, despite new supply capacities, the transformation of the energy system also requires the adoption of a method which allows for the integration of increasing amounts of renewable energy. This requires a transition to more flexible processes at an industrial level and demand side management (DSM) is one possible way of achieving this transition. Currently, increased shares of variable renewable energy can cause the electricity supply to become more volatile and result in changes to the electricity market. In order to develop a new dynamic equilibrium to balance supply and demand, sufficient flexibility in demand is required. As adequate storage systems are not available in the short to medium term, the potential for large electricity consumers to operate flexibly is an attractive, pragmatic and feasible option. Recent studies in Germany suggest that there is significant potential for DSM in so-called "energy-intensive industries". However, the figures (which fall in the approximate range of 1,250-2,750 MW positive and 400-1,300 MW negative shiftable load) should be interpreted with caution. The range of industrial processes considered are diverse and vary from plant to plant, with the result that it is difficult to provide accurate calculations of the accumulated potential for Germany or the EU as a whole. Based on extensive surveys and panel discussions with representatives from energy-intensive industries (aluminum, cement, chemicals, iron & steel, pulp & paper), which together account for approximately one third of the industrial electricity demand in Germany, our paper provides an overview of both the opportunities and the barriers faced by DSM. One of the key findings is the possible loss in energy efficiency due to DSM: in order to decrease or increase production depending on the stability needs of the electricity system, plants and processes may no longer operate at their optimum levels. The effects on downstream production must also be taken into account in order to gain a more complete understanding of the overall effects of industrial DSM.
Contemporary combined heat and power (CHP) systems are often based on fossil fuels, such as natural gas or heating oil. Thereby, small-scale cogeneration systems are intended to replace or complement traditional heating equipment in residential buildings. In addition to space heating or domestic hot water supply, electricity is generated for the own consumption of the building or to be sold to the electric power grid.
The adaptation of CHP-systems to renewable energy sources, such as solid biomass applications is challenging, because of feedstock composition and heat integration. Nevertheless, in particular smallscale CHP technologies based on biomass gasification and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer significant potentials, also regarding important co-benefits, such as security of energy supply as well as emission reductions in terms of greenhouse gases or air pollutants. Besides emission or air quality regulations, the development of CHP technologies for clean on-site small-scale power generation is also strongly incentivised by energy efficiency policies for residential appliances, such as e.g. Ecodesign and Energy Labelling in the European Union (EU). Furthermore, solid residual biomass as renewable local energy source is best suited for decentralised operations such as micro-grids, also to reduce long-haul fuel transports. By this means such distributed energy resource technology can become an essential part of a forward-looking strategy for net zero energy or even smart plus energy buildings.
In this context, this paper presents preliminary impact assessment results and most recent environmental considerations from the EU Horizon 2020 project "FlexiFuel-SOFC" (Grant Agreement no. 641229), which aims at the development of a novel CHP system, consisting of a fuel flexible smallscale fixed-bed updraft gasifier technology, a compact gas cleaning concept and an SOFC for electricity generation. Besides sole system efficiencies, in particular resource and emission aspects of solid fuel combustion and net electricity effects need to be considered. The latter means that vastly less emission intensive gasifier-fuel cell CHP technologies cause significant less fuel related emissions than traditional heating systems, an effect which is further strengthened by avoided emissions from more emission intensive traditional grid electricity generation. As promising result, operation "net" emissions of such on-site generation installations may be virtually zero or even negative. Additionally, this paper scopes central regulatory instruments for small-scale CHP systems in the EU to discuss ways to improve the framework for system deployment.
Heat integration and industrial symbiosis have been identified as key strategies to foster energy efficient and low carbon manufacturing industries (see e.g. contribution of Working Group III in IPCC's 5th assessment report). As energy efficiency potentials through horizontal and vertical integration are highly specific by site and technology they are often not explicitly reflected in national energy strategies and GHG emission scenarios. One of the reasons is that the energy models used to formulate such macro-level scenarios lack either the necessary high technical or the spatial micro-level resolution or both. Due to this lack of adequate tools the assumed huge existing potentials for energy efficiency in the energy intensive industry cannot be appropriately appreciated by national or EU level policies. Due to this background our paper describes a recent approach for a combined micro-macro energy model for selected manufacturing industries. It combines national level technical scenario modelling with a micro-modelling approach analogous to total site analysis (TSA), a methodology used by companies to analyse energy integration potentials on the level of production sites. Current spatial structures are reproduced with capacity, technical and energy efficiency data on the level of single facilities (e.g. blast furnaces) using ETS data and other sources. Based on this, both, the investments in specific technologies and in production sites are modelled and the evolvement of future structures of (interconnected) industry sites are explored in scenarios under different conditions and with different objectives (microeconomic vs. energy efficiency optimization). We further present a preliminary scenario that explores the relevance of these potentials and developments for the German steel industry.
Energy intensive industries are one of the fields in which strong increases of energy efficiency and deep decarbonisation strategies are particularly challenging. Although European energy intensive industries have already achieved significant energy and greenhouse gas reductions in the past, much remains to be done to make a significant contribution to achieving European as well as national climate mitigation targets of greenhouse gas emission reductions by -80% or more (compared to the baseline of 1990). North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is a European hotspot for coping with this challenge, accommodating more than 10% of the energy intensive industries of the EU28. It is also the first German state to have adopted its own Climate Law, enacting state-wide CO2 emission reductions by 80% until 2050 compared to 1990. The state government initiated the project "Platform Climate Protection and Industry North-Rhine Westphalia" to identify and develop the necessary far-reaching low carbon innovation strategies for energy intensive industries. Heart of the project was a dialogue process, which involved a broad spectrum of stakeholders from steel, chemical, aluminium, cement, glass and paper producing industries. Besides enhancing and broadening the knowledge on high efficiency and low-carbon technologies within industries, the aim was to explore possible pathways and preconditions for the application of these technologies in energy intensive industries as well as to strengthen the motivation of companies for initiatives and investments in technologies with lower CO2 emissions. The results of the dialogue shall provide a basis for a possible low-carbon industry roadmap NRW and may also serve as an example for other industrialized regions in the EU and globally. The paper sketches the structured dialogue process with the stakeholders from companies as well as industrial associations and presents the learnings regarding the engagement of energy intensive industries into ambitious climate policies on a regional level. These include existing limitations as well as chances in the respective sectors on the state level, regarding their economic and technical structures as well as their innovation systems. The findings are based on more than a dozen stakeholder workshops with industry companies and more than 150 individual representatives of NRW's energy intensive industries as well as on background research in the initial phase of the project.
Sustainable out-of-home nutrition can help achieve overarching sustainability goals through a transformation in demands of consumers in this growing market. Studies indicate that individual food choice behaviours in out-of-home settings relate to a wide set of personal, social and situational factors. These factors can be influenced by various intervention strategies. In an expert meeting and a focus group we invited caterers and consumers to generate, discuss and evaluate various practical intervention ideas. Both parties largely perceive the explored ideas as useful and agree on key intervention ideas. Overall caterers and consumers state to prefer nudging strategies over information and participation interventions.
Energy efficiency activities are high on the current EU energy policy agenda. Key policy instruments like the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the Energy Labelling Directive are under revision.
In a project for the German government, we therefore analysed the effectiveness and consistency of existing sectoral policy packages anew, to open the discussion on which policy changes to the EU's energy efficiency policy packages are crucial to reach the targets.
This comprehensive review addressed the industrial, buildings, and transport sectors plus the overarching governance framework (targets and roadmaps, EED, energy taxation and EU ETS). For each of these, the first step was a gap analysis of the main deficits in the sectoral policy packages, against effective model packages.
At first glance, the combination of energy efficiency policies at EU level seems already quite comprehensive. However, their design and implementation often lack a consistent and ambitious approach to leverage their full potential.
To give some examples of the many shortcomings identified, the governance framework suffers from exceptions and the transport sector being only marginally considered in the EED; an outdated Energy Tax Directive has very low minimum rates and several exception clauses; there is a lack of commitment to implement energy management systems and investment projects in large companies; a clear EU-wide definition of nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) is missing; and the labelling of energy-using products is still confusing for consumers. Subsequently, we elaborated comprehensive policy recommendations to increase the effectiveness of all these policies, and to bridge some gaps with new policies. A list of priorities was established to sort them by their relevance.
A case study in the rural area of South Westphalia, Germany, showed the importance of independent intermediaries to support the development and implementation of sustainable energy and efficiency projects. The idea behind the project "Dorf ist Energie(klug)" (Village is Energy(smart)) was to foster, accompany, and support energy and efficiency projects in villages from the first idea to final implementation. Therefore, the South Westphalia Agency as independent intermediary initiated an application process in which villages could apply with their innovative energy and efficiency project ideas. During the following process the chosen "coaching villages" benefitted from the consultation of teams of thematic experts. Villages with less developed projects were supported through idea workshops with experts and study visits.
The accompanying scientific study evaluated the overall process focussing on the transferability, the sustainability and the quality of the process. Furthermore, a self evaluation tool for (energy) projects in villages was developed and tested in two of the participating coaching villages.
The paper gives a short insight into the project "Dorf ist Energie(klug)". It presents the methodology of the accompanying study and the results with a special focus on the role of the South Westphalia Agency as independent intermediary. Finally, it discusses the transferability and sustainability of the project.
Since human nutrition is responsible for about 30 % of the global natural resource use and in order to decrease resource use to a level in line with planetary boundaries, Lukas et al. (2016) proposed a re-source use reduction in the nutrition sector by a factor 2 (Material Footprint).
The catering sector needs clearly defined indicators to assess their business activities' impact on ecology, social aspects, economic value, and health status. Within the project NAHGAST two sets of indicators, called NAHGAST Meal-Basis and NAHGAST Meal-Pro were developed. The indicator sets are proposed to measure several, with sustainability-associated challenges, such as such as the ecological, social and economical effects, which may come along with the production and the consumption of a meal. Basically, the NAHGAST Meal-Basis deals with qualitative indicators, such as the amount of organic food per serving or the percentage of food wasted. This set is supposed to enable leaders to assess the sustainability of their meals and to visualize future improvements on a simplistic level. The NAHGAST Meal-Pro deals with a more sophisticated set of indicators, such as the carbon and material footprint or the cost recovery per meal. Both sets are underpinned with sus-tainable targets and elaborated as an Excel-based assessment tool, which is tested within a one-year case study. The usefulness and the limits of the tool, as well as current results of the implementation including pro-posed challenges, are discussed.
Food labels are able to support consumers in making more sustainable food choices in out-of-home consumption situations. Thereby, the effect of changing consumption behaviour depends on the format of food labels and on the information it provides. In order to assess the importance of the amount of information as well as the design of food labels displaying sustainability aspects, we test different formats of food labels using a best-worst choice design. So far, no research tested a variation of information depth while keeping label designs fixed. We find clear preferences across both dimensions. Results indicate that consumers regard labels with a higher information depth as more helpful in order to choose a sustainable meal. For the label design it became obvious that the slider-design is preferred over footprints and traffic light label design.
Energy sufficiency has recently gained increasing attention as a way to limit and reduce total energy consumption of households and overall. This paper presents selected results of a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research that examined the potentials and barriers for energy sufficiency with a focus on electricity in households, how household members perceive sufficiency practices, and how policymakers could support and encourage these. Bottom-up calculations for an average 2-person household in Germany yielded a total electricity savings potential from energy efficiency and sufficiency combined of theoretically up to 75 %.
The continuous growth of per capita living space was identified as one important driver for additional energy consumption both for heat and electricity. The paper will present findings of a representative survey of 600 persons responsible for the housework. It revealed that a part of the households is already practicing sufficiency options or are open towards these. Up to 30 % of these households can imagine, given the right conditions and policy support, to move to a smaller dwelling or to share an apartment with others when they are older.
Results of a first comprehensive analysis of an energy sufficiency policy to encourage and support households to sufficiency practices form the second part of the paper, with a focus on the feasibility and potential effectiveness of instruments for limiting the growth in average living space per person. This includes a case study on fostering communal housing projects as a measure to reduce living space. Further, the feasibility of a cap scheme for the total electricity sales of a supplier to its customers was examined. Instruments supporting energy-efficient and sufficient purchase and use of equipment complete the integrated energy sufficiency and efficiency policy package.
The paper will finally present the project's conclusions on an integrated energy sufficiency policy package resulting from this analysis.
The core objective of Energy Efficiency Watch 3 (EEW3) is to establish a constant feedback loop on the implementation of European and national energy efficiency policies and thus enable both compliance monitoring and mutual learning on effective policy making across the EU. The project team applied a mixed-method approach to assess energy efficiency policy developments in EU Member States. It analysed progress of national policies by screening official documents, sought experts' knowledge via an EU-wide survey and has been creating new consultation platforms with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including parliamentarians, regions, cities and business stakeholders. Analysis of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs), the expert survey with input from over 1,100 experts on policy ambition and progress in each Member State, as well as 28 Country Reports have been central elements in EEW3. This paper will present the main conclusions and policy recommendations of EEW3. In doing so, it will first summarise the findings of the document analysis based on the 28 Country Reports, showing developments of energy efficiency policies since the second NEEAP in 2011 in a cross-country overview for six sectors. These findings are then contrasted with the experts' perspective on progress in energy efficiency policies in their countries as collected in the EEW survey. Moreover, ten case studies of good practice energy efficiency policies are shown, three of them will be presented in more detail. The paper ends with key policy conclusions for improving the effectiveness of European energy efficiency policies. A key finding is that policy implementation has improved a lot since 2011 but more is needed to achieve the EED Art. 7 and other targets.
One of the most pressing issues of climate policy is how to get building owners to invest in the energy efficiency of their homes. The German federal government has set the goal of decreasing the energy demand of buildings by 80 to 95 percent until 2050. One pillar of the strategy to support building owners in this task is the provision of targeted energy advice, to both motivate owners to implement an energy efficiency refurbishment and help them to choose the most efficient measures. In this paper we analysed the demand for energy advice in three German cities of the Ruhr area finding the number of energy consulting provided to be extremely low compared to the stated goals. Based on the approach of joint knowledge production we invited stakeholders from the three cities to participate in a series of workshops in order to develop ideas how to more effectively bring homeowners and energy advisors together. As a result, different energy advice experiments were co-operatively developed for each city targeting different groups by using tailored channels for outreach. The evaluation of both the process as well as the outcome of the experiments indicates that while joint knowledge production is a suitable approach to enable knowledge transfer and formation of new networks between different stakeholders in science and practice, it does not necessarily lead to superior approaches with regard to effectively addressing a policy issue at hand. Apart from the experiment in which the window of opportunity change of building ownership was taken advantage of, participation of target groups in the experiments has been soberingly low, underlining the value of so-called trigger points when designing effective outreach strategies to building owners.
Energy efficiency improvements have numerous benefits/impacts additional to energy and greenhouse gas savings, as has been shown and analysed e.g. in the 2014 IEA Report on "Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency". This paper presents the Horizon 2020-project COMBI ("Calculating and Operationalising the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Europe"), aiming at calculating the energy and non-energy impacts that a realisation of the EU energy efficiency potential would have in 2030. The project covers the most relevant technical energy efficiency improvement actions and estimates impacts of reduced air pollution (and its effects on human health, eco-systems/crops, buildings), improved social welfare (incl. disposable income, comfort, health, productivity), saved biotic and abiotic resources, and energy system, energy security, and the macroeconomy (employment, economic growth and public budget). This paper explains how the COMBI energy savings potential in the EU 2030 is being modelled and how multiple impacts are assessed. We outline main challenges with the quantification (choice of baseline scenario, additionality of savings and impacts, context dependency and distributional issues) as well as with the aggregation of impacts (e.g. interactions and overlaps) and how the project deals with them. As research is still ongoing, this paper only gives a first impression of the order of magnitude for additional multiple impacts of energy efficiency improvements may have in Europe, where this is available to date. The paper is intended to stimulate discussion and receive feedback from the academic community on quantification approaches followed by the project.
Following the decisions of the Paris climate conference at the end of 2015 as well as similar announcements e.g. from the G7 in Elmau (Germany) in the summer of 2015, long-term strategies aiming at (almost) full decarbonisation of the energy systems increasingly move into the focus of climate and energy policy. Deep decarbonisation obviously requires a complete switch of energy supply towards zero GHG emission sources, such as renewable energy. A large number of both global as well as national climate change mitigation scenarios emphasize that energy efficiency will likewise play a key role in achieving deep decarbonization. However, the interdependencies between a transformation of energy supply on the one hand and the role of and prospects for energy efficiency on the other hand are rarely explored in detail.
This article explores these interdependencies based on a scenario for Germany that describes a future energy system relying entirely on renewable energy sources. Our analysis emphasizes that generally, considerable energy efficiency improvements on the demand side are required in order to have a realistic chance of transforming the German energy system towards 100 % renewables. Efficiency improvements are especially important if energy demand sectors will continue to require large amounts of liquid and gaseous fuels, as the production of these fuels are associated with considerable energy losses in a 100 % renewables future. Energy efficiency on the supply side will therefore differ considerably depending on how strongly the use of liquid and gaseous fuels in the various demand sectors can be substituted through the direct use of electricity. Apart from a general discussion of the role of energy efficiency in a 100 % renewable future, we also look at the role of and prospects for energy efficiency in each individual demand sector.
Szenarien spielten und spielen eine zentrale Rolle für die Gestaltung der Energiewende. Sie beschreiben dabei auf konsistente Weise die mögliche zukünftige Entwicklung des Systems unter bestmöglicher Berücksichtigung des aktuellen Wissens bezüglich des Systems, d.h. der internen Abhängigkeiten und Wechselwirkungen der Systemkomponenten, aber auch die Abhängigkeit der Systementwicklung von äußeren Faktoren. Damit liefern Szenarien Leitplanken für zentrale technisch-strukturelle, energiepolitische, ökonomische und gesellschaftliche Weichenstellungen, die einen zielgerichteten Transformationsprozess flankieren müssen.
Bei der Energiewende handelt es sich um einen komplexen Transformationsprozess, der nicht allein aus der nationalen Perspektive betrachtet werden kann. Er ist nicht vollständig unabhängig, sondern in einen Mehr-Ebenen-Prozess eingebunden. Es gilt entsprechend sowohl lokale als auch regionale, nationale, europäische und auch die internationalen Energiewendeprozesse und zugehörigen Rahmenbedingungen zu diskutieren und zu beachten. Es gilt aber auch, über den eigentlichen Energiebereich hinausgehende Trends in ihren Wechselwirkungen mit dem Energiesystem zu identifizieren und zu analysieren. Mit der Energiewende wird zudem eine Zielvielfalt angesprochen. Es geht über das Erreichen von Klimaschutzzielen hinaus um eine größere Vielfalt von gesellschaftlich-politischen Zielen.
Der Transformationsprozess hat keine eindimensionale Zielorientierung, sondern muss in einer mehrdimensionalen Betrachtung analysiert werden.
Dieser Artikel ist der Frage gewidmet, welchen Beitrag eine verstärkte Sektorenkopplung zum Gelingen der Energiewende leisten kann. Ausgehend von einer Einführung der Prinzipien und Technologien bietet er Einblicke in die zur Erforschung der Sektorenkopplung angewendeten Methoden, sowie ausgewählte Ergebnisse.
Hinsichtlich der Energieversorgung versteht man unter Sektorenkopplung im Allgemeinen eine engere Verzahnung und Verknüpfung verschiedener Energieanwendungsbereiche, sowie die Zunahme von Verzweigungs- und Verknüpfungsstellen im Energiesystem. Die wesentlichen Anwendungsbereiche der Energie sind dabei die Bereitstellung von Strom, Wärme und Mobilität.
The European Horizon 2020-project COMBI ("Calculating and Operationalising the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Europe") aims at estimating the energy and non-energy impacts that a realisation of the EU energy efficiency potential would have in the year 2030. The project goal is to cover the most important technical potentials identified for the EU27 by 2030 and to come up with consistent estimates for the most relevant impacts: air pollution (and its effects on human health, eco-systems/crops, buildings), social welfare (including disposable income, comfort, health and productivity), biotic and abiotic resources, the energy system and energy security and the macro economy (employment, economic growth and the public budget). This paper describes the overall project research design, envisaged methodologies, the most critical methodological challenges with such an ex-ante evaluation and with aggregating the multiple impacts. The project collects data for a set of 30 energy efficiency improvement actions grouped by energy services covering all sectors and EU countries. Based on this, multiple impacts will be quantified with separate methodological approaches, following methods used in the respective literature and developing them where necessary. The paper outlines the approaches taken by COMBI: socio-economic modelling for air pollution and social welfare, resource modelling for biotic/abiotic and economically unused resources, General Equilibrium modelling for long-run macroeconomic effects and other models for short-run effects, and the LEAP model for energy system modelling. Finally, impacts will be aggregated, where possible in monetary terms. Specific challenges of this step include double-counting issues, metrics, within and cross-country/regional variability of effects and context-specificity.
A learning experience : integrating theory and practice for the implementation of INDCs ; thinkpiece
(2016)
A major cornerstone on the way to low-carbon sustainable development on a global scale will be a swift and effective implementation of all countries' INDCs submitted to the UNFCCC prior to Paris. However, doing so will require transforming development pathways away from currently pervasive carbon lock-ins. This can only be successful if countries take a systemic view on their development agendas, and link mitigation, adaptation and other developmental priorities together for a coherent overarching sustainable development strategy. The ownership for this process needs to be with the countries themselves as such strategies touch fundamentally upon national policy-making and implementation. At the same time, developing countries have access to bi- and multilateral financial and technical cooperation. To enable a systemic, country-led perspective, development cooperation needs to shift its paradigms away from currently prevalent project-level interventions.
A truly innovative and transformational shift with the objective of pursuing a low-carbon and climate resilient society needs to open up space for experimentation as new ways of doing things need to be put into practice. Experiments will not always be successful, but foster learning on a national as well as an international level on pitfalls and solutions in new approaches to low-carbon sustainable development. Not least, there needs to be a renewed focus on programmatic approaches that link various topical domains for a country-led process, and a critical look at development work that is "doomed to succeed".
Our article draws from systems theory, development studies and recent work on transitions studies and transformational change in the international domain. It links up different theoretical concepts with practical approaches in order to outline a future development agenda that will be owned by developing countries and supported non-invasively by bi- and multilateral development cooperation to foster low-carbon development pathways that are urgently needed to solve the climate crisis.