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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 der öffentlichen Diskussion rücken die Konsequenzen der notwenigen Klimaschutzmaßnahmen sowie damit verbundene Kosten in den Fokus und entfalten ihre Sprengkraft. Ökologische, ökonomische und soziale Nachhaltigkeit werden zunehmend gegeneinander in Stellung gebracht. Häufig wird Klimaschutz gegen Wohlstand, wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und Arbeitsplätze ausgespielt.
Mit der von der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung beim Wuppertal Institut in Auftrag gegebenen Studie entlarven die Autorinnen und Autoren "unheilige Allianzen", verbreitete Mythen und interessensgesteuerte Desinformation. Anhand von zehn konkreten Fragestellungen liefern sie eine faktenbasierte Analyse und zeigen, dass eine zukunftsorientierte Energie- und Klimapolitik im Einklang mit Wohlstand und sozialem Fortschritt sehr wohl möglich ist.
Was ist synthetisches Gas?
(2019)
Der Anlass für die Evaluation des Deutschen Ressourceneffizienzprogramms ProgRess ist seine Fortschreibung im Jahr 2020. In zahlreichen Interviews identifizieren die Autorinnen und Autoren Stärken und Schwächen und zeigen Wege für eine institutionelle und strategische Weiterentwicklung auf. Die Bedeutung des Programms wird als überwiegend positiv, die bisherigen Ressourceneffizienzwirkungen hingegen als durchwachsen bewertet. Den Umsetzungsstand konnten die Befragten wenig beurteilen, da Indikatoren bislang nur für einen Teil der Maßnahmen vorhanden sind. Eine Priorisierung der Aktivitäten, verbindlichere Instrumente und Zielvorgaben sowie eine bessere Mittelausstattung gehören zu den Empfehlungen.
Eine sich vorrangig auf technologische Innovationen und Entlastungsgewinne stützende Wirtschafts- und Umweltpolitik wird für die dauerhafte Senkung der Ressourcennutzung nicht ausreichen. Es bedarf auch kultureller Veränderungen im Umgang mit Ressourcen und ambitionierter und wegweisender politischer Maßnahmen.
The key objective of this deliverable is to gain insights on and assess how CE is being implemented and R&I is being funded at regional level, e.g., via the RIS3 strategy and Structural Funds. As such it sets the scope for the project and provides the background against which programmes and measures can be understood, assessed, developed and recommended in succinct tasks and work packages. The objective of this report is to provide a concise overview of the current R&I priorities, as expressed in running and newly introduced funding and legislative measures with respect to Circular Economy in European countries and regions.
On the basis of a literature research, this subtask develops a conceptional framework for a common understanding of CE within the project team and for the following work packages and tasks. After a brief introduction into the objectives and the context of a circular economy, a more elaborated look into the necessity of an explicit understanding of CE, the objectives, the spatial perspective of CE and the specific challenges within the CICERONE context will be done, in order to develop a basis for a common understanding within the project context. Circular economy can and has to be understood as an (eco-)innovation agenda. Therefore, the paper investigates the role policy has to play to support innovation for a CE transition, for creating the framework conditions and why CE has also to be build from the ground up. Finally, the paper looks from two perspectives at emerging trends and business models in a CE to sketch next steps towards the transition in a selection of central sectors. Conclusions are drawn on the basis of the insights gained by the preceding chapters.
Urban energy systems have been commonly considered to be socio-technical systems within the boundaries of an urban area. However, recent literature challenges this notion in that it urges researchers to look at the wider interactions and influences of urban energy systems wherein the socio-technical sphere is expanded to political, environmental and economic realms as well. In addition to the inter-sectoral linkages, the diverse agents and multilevel governance trends of energy sustainability in the dynamic environment of cities make the urban energy landscape a complex one. There is a strong case then for establishing a new conceptualisation of urban energy systems that builds upon these contemporary understandings of such systems. We argue that the complex systems approach can be suitable for this. In this paper, we propose a pilot framework for understanding urban energy systems using complex systems theory as an integrating plane. We review the multiple streams of urban energy literature to identify the contemporary discussions and construct this framework that can serve as a common ontological understanding for the different scholarships studying urban energy systems. We conclude the paper by highlighting the ways in which the framework can serve some of the relevant communities.
Die energieintensive Industrie kann zum Ausgleich volatiler Stromeinspeisungen und somit zum Gelingen der Energiewende beitragen.
Digitalisierungsprozesse ermöglichen die Flexibilisierung der Produktion, wodurch die Stromnachfrage steuerbarer wird.
Gegenwärtig sind die Anreize zur Flexibilisierung jedoch für die meisten Unternehmen aufgrund von Investitionsunsicherheiten und der Konkurrenz durch konventionelle Kraftwerke gering.
Im Rahmen der Transformation des Energiesystems und zunehmender Digitalisierung der Produktion wird die Flexibilisierung für Industrieunternehmen perspektivisch attraktiver.
Digitalisierung und Flexibilisierung haben Auswirkungen auf Beschäftigte. So werden bereits jetzt Tätigkeiten an eine Abschaltung von Anlagen zur Stabilisierung des Stromsystems angepasst.
Im Hinblick auf Digitalisierungsprozesse gilt es, Mitarbeiter frühzeitig zu beteiligen und Ängste sowie Anregungen der Beschäftigten ernst zu nehmen.
Die Akzeptanz von Veränderungsprozessen kann durch eine frühzeitige Einbindung der Beschäftigten und ihrer Vertretung gefordert werden.
Ein den Digitalisierungsaktivitäten entsprechendes Personalkonzept stellt sicher, dass Beschäftigte mit notwendigem Know-how ausgestattet werden.
The earth as we know it can only continue to exist if humanity finds a way to switch to a sustainable use of energy and resources. This work contributes to the research carried out to achieve this goal by improving the coating of adsorptive materials. These are used in heat transformation and drying processes that allow for efficient temperature and humidity control in buildings. A central component of these adsorptive coatings is the binder that acts as "glue" in the manufacturing of the coating. In this work the methods to evaluate binder performance regarding their thermal stability under the process conditions, their mechanical stability and their influence on the adsorptive properties of the coating were established. The coatings have to meet special requirements due to the thermal stresses and low pressure atmosphere they experience in these applications. A selection of silicone binders was then characterized with the established tests according to these requirements. Additionally a selection of inorganic binders was investigated because they allow for the use of high desorption temperatures and thus a high energy efficiency of the process. Out of these binders Silres® MP50E emerged as the most promising one due to very good adsorptive properties of the coating, its good temperature stability and ease of use. While some of the inorganic binders showed very good adsorptive properties and temperature stability the mechanical stability of all inorganic binders was not sufficient for their use in adsorption heat transformation technology. This is the first time that a broad selection of binders was evaluated with regards to adsorptive coatings and the results published in literature. With a suitable binder identified, the next step was to optimize the coating of the heat exchangers in order to work out how to manufacture the most efficient and powerful heat exchangers. Samples with different coating thicknesses were manufactured in small scale and full scale and their adsorption behavior was characterized. It could be shown for the first time that it is possible to increase energy efficiency by improving the mass ration of adsorber to coating and increase the delivered power at the same time. This was shown for small and full scale samples. It was shown that under the corresponding conditions the heat transfer from the coating layer to the adsorber metal substrate is the limiting step in the process. These results can now be used for the planning and construction of adsorbers. With knowledge of a suitable binder and how to coat efficient, powerful adsorbers, the coating process itself was improved to allow for industrial scale manufacturing. A central point here is the ability to control slurry rheology. Out of many rheology additives those that are suited for the application in adsorption heat transformation were identified and their influence on the slurry rheology thoroughly characterized. Additionally the process of slurry preparation could be simplified for several different adsorbents. Here it was shown that the supersonic deagglomeration step is not necessary to prepare a slurry. Extending the possible coating techniques and in addition to the dip coating process used so far, the spray coating of adsorptive coatings was established for the first time in literature. This process is widely used in the industry and allows for easier plugin into existing coating processes. For the coating of high resolution patterns a proof of concept of the screen printing process was carried out.
Digital platforms may yield a host of advantages in putting circular economy into effect. This paper analyses the related chances and discusses requirements of digital platforms for the realization of a circular economy. It specifically points to potential solutions offered by digital platforms for existing barriers. From there it identifies issues that need specific attendance to create economically and ecologically functional platforms. Three economically relevant perspectives are discussed for this: a management perspective, a legislative perspective and a social/systems perspective.
Zwischen 2005 und 2016 gab es in Deutschland über 150 Stadtwerke-Neugründungen im Energiebereich. Die insgesamt rund 900 Stadtwerke, die heute im Energiesektor tätig sind, spielen für die Energiewende eine zentrale Rolle. Denn sie stellen weit über die Hälfte der Versorgung an Strom, Gas und Wärme sicher. Zudem haben Stadtwerke aufgrund ihrer kommunalen Verankerung eine besondere Position im Spannungsgefüge von Politik, Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft. Dieser Beitrag zeigt auf, welche Gründe und Motive zu dieser Gründungswelle führten und welche Erfolgsfaktoren für Stadtwerke-Neugründungen ausschlaggebend waren.
Der Eon/RWE-Deal : Marktbeherrschung und Shareholder Value-Politik mit behördlicher Zustimmung
(2019)
Am 17. September 2019 hat die EU-Wettbewerbs-Kommissarin Margrethe Vestager dem Stromkonzern Eon die Übernahme und Zerschlagung der RWE-Tochter Innogy unter leichten Auflagen erlaubt. Damit geht eine vollständige Geschäftsfeldaufteilung zwischen den beiden mächtigsten nationalen Energiekonzernen Eon und RWE einher. Während sich Eon auf die Bereiche Vertrieb und Verteilnetzbetrieb konzentrieren wird, übernimmt RWE die konventionellen Kraftwerke des bisherigen Konkurrenten sowie alle Anlagen der erneuerbaren Stromerzeugung. Auch alle vor rund zwei Jahren zunächst an Innogy abgegebenen Anlagen zur Stromerzeugung werden von RWE wieder zurückgeholt. Zudem erhält RWE eine 16,7-prozentige Beteiligung an Eon. Dazu gab das Bundeskartellamt (BKartA) bereits am 26.02.2019 bekannt, dass es diese Beteiligung für unbedenklich hält.
Die Freigabe der EU-Kommission vom September 2019 ist eine "Entscheidung von enormer Tragweite" die den "gesamten Sektor grundlegend verändern" wird. Denn durch diesen Mega-Deal entstehen im deutschen Energiesektor zwei monolithische Giganten mit bisher nie dagewesener Marktmacht.
Mit "InnovationCity Ruhr - Modellstadt Bottrop" soll ein typisches Stück Ruhrgebiet mit rund 70 000 Einwohnern bis zum Jahr 2020 klimagerecht umgebaut werden. Benjamin Best rekonstruiert den Partizipationsprozess des Projektes, er analysiert seine Begrenzungen und zeigt Weiterentwicklungsmöglichkeiten auf. Die empirische Studie basiert auf qualitativen Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung, auf teilnehmenden Beobachtungen in der Modellstadt und der Teilnahme an ausgewählten Beteiligungsveranstaltungen. Mittels Interviews mit Expertinnen und Experten identifiziert der Autor kulturelle Faktoren, die die Form der Partizipation im Kontext von InnovationCity sowie den Verlauf des Gesamtprojektes bestimmt haben.
Reflecting trends in the academic landscape of sustainable energy using probabilistic topic modeling
(2019)
Background: Facing planetary boundaries, we need a sustainable energy system providing its life support function for society in the long-term within environmental limits. Since science plays an important role in decision-making, this study examines the thematic landscape of research on sustainable energy, which may contribute to a sustainability transformation. Understanding the structure of the research field allows for critical reflections and the identification of blind spots for advancing this field.
Methods: The study applies a text mining approach on 26533 Scopus-indexed abstracts published from 1990 to 2016 based on a latent Dirichlet allocation topic model. Models with up 1100 topics were created. Based on coherence scores and manual inspection, the model with 300 topics was selected. These statistical methods served for highlighting timely topic trends, differing thematic fields, and emerging communities in the topic network. The study critically reflects the quantitative results from a sustainability perspective.
Results: The study identifies a focus on establishing and optimizing the energy infrastructure towards 100% renewable energies through key modern technology areas: materials science, (biological) process engineering, and (digital) monitoring and control systems. Energy storage, photonic materials, nanomaterials, or biofuels belong to the topics with the strongest trends. The study identifies decreasing trends for general aspects regarding sustainable development and related economic, environmental, and political issues.
Conclusions: The discourse is latently adopting a technology-oriented paradigm focusing on renewable energy generation and is moving away from the multi-faceted concept of sustainability. The field has the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation by optimizing renewable energy systems. However, given the complexity of these systems, horizontal integration of the various valuable vertical research strands is required. Furthermore, the holistic ecological perspective considering the global scale that has originally motivated research on sustainable energy might be re-strengthened, e.g., by an integrated energy and materials perspective. Beyond considering the physical dimensions of energy systems, existing links from the currently technology-oriented discourse to the social sciences might be strengthened. For establishing sustainable energy systems, future research will not only have to target the technical energy infrastructure but put a stronger focus on issues perceivable from a holistic second-order perspective.
Responsible consumption and production is one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. To achieve this goal the currently high extraction rates of natural resources, that our economy is based on, needs a transformation of the consumption and production system considering technological as well as social change. One of the promising transition approaches is seen in collaborative consumption with its many facets of socio-cultural innovations and fast growing number of participants and businesses. With a decreasing production of goods, due to a utilisation of underutilised assets, these offers might support an absolute reduction of the global resource use. However, a positive environmental effect depends on the setting and the social practices of such sharing offers and is not sustainable or resource efficient generally. Also, resource efficient practices with a low diffusion potential that stick in a niche offer no leverage to achieve sustainable consumption patterns. Thus, this paper describes a mixed method approach to analyse the resource efficiency and diffusion potential of 20 sharing offers in the area of mobility, housing & travel and everyday objects in Germany. Results show that the overall positive environmental connotation of sharing offers cannot be confirmed. We identified five clusters of offers that are all treated to be differently when it comes to deploying the positive potential and avoid unnecessary societal effort to achieve the mentioned Sustainable Development Goal.
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?
Before linking emissions trading systems, there should be a good understanding of the expected economic implications: How could linking affect the development of the common allowance price, the development of emissions or industrial production, capital flows or liquidity? Answering these questions requires a multitude of data and assumptions and therefore usually the use of economic models.
This report gives an overview of various economic models that are suitable for assessing the economic effects of linking. It analyses the economic indicators relevant for the assessment of the effects of linking, formulates requirements for economic models to answer this question, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different modelling approaches and gives an assessment of which models are suitable in principle for the assessment of linking. Five models were selected for a more detailed description: E3ME, GEM-E3, PACE, POLES, and TIMES-MARKAL.
Enhancing cross-functional integration in new product development becomes increasingly important for industrial players to keep up with shorter product life cycles in technological innovation dynamics. Abundant research reflects the topic's significance, yet ambiguity in empirical results persists and industrial adoption of existing methods remains incremental. This thesis employs a qualitative approach to build a case study at the design-manufacturing interface of new product development of electrified cars. Cross-functional coopetition, as the joint occurrence of cooperation and competition, is adopted to generate an in-depth understanding of integration dynamics. Socio-organizational and contextual aspects are found to shape integration in a new product development context substantially. A model of interface dynamics is developed which provides for analysis and prediction of these aspects' impact on effective integration. A grounded theory approach to enhance integration is explored that introduces constraints as stimuli to consider manufacturability aspects in the design process. Constraint introduction is found to positively impact both cross-functional integration and creativity, with eight characteristics of constraint quality identified as moderating factors. A theoretical model is contributed which outlines cause-effect relationships of constraints' impact on antecedents of new product development success. It substantiates constraints' role in innovation contexts and encourages application for design-manufacturing integration as well as for other interfaces or purposes.
Handlungsempfehlungen für die Verbraucherpolitik zur Förderung eines nachhaltigen Prosumierens
(2019)
Ein wachsender Teil der Gesellschaft sehnt sich beim Konsum zunehmend nach Vertrauenswürdigkeit und Individualität. Zwei Aspekte, die viele Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten im Massenmarkt vermissen. Das Konzept "Prosumieren", vorangetrieben von zivilgesellschaftlichen Initiativen wie urbanen Gemeinschaftsgärten, Foodsharing oder Repair-Cafés, bietet die Möglichkeit zu Partizipation und Empowerment der Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern, die damit nicht mehr nur einfache Konsumentinnen/Konsumenten sind, sondern zu Prosumentinnen/Prosumenten werden.
Die vorliegenden Handlungsempfehlungen richten sich vorrangig an die Verbraucherpolitik, doch betreffen sie auch etliche andere Ressorts, wie etwa Bildung und Verkehr. Ihr Ziel ist es, der Verbraucherpolitik die Bandbreite an Prosumptionsformen in den Feldern Ernährung und Bekleidung aufzuzeigen und ihr so einen Überblick zu verschaffen. Zugleich wird jedoch für ausgewählte Modelle im Detail auf die aktuellen praktischen Hürden sowie die Möglichkeiten eingegangen, diese abzubauen und das nachhaltige Prosumieren zu fördern. Schließlich wurde ein kurzer Leitfaden zur Bewertung der Nachhaltigkeitspotentiale von Prosumptionsmodellen erstellt, an dem sich die Verbraucherpolitik bei der Bewertung neuer Prosumptionsinitiativen, welche sich aktuell rasant verbreiten und immer neue Formen hervorbringen, orientieren kann.
Footprint calculators are efficient tools to monitor the environmental impact of private consumption. We present the results of an analysis of data entered into an online Material Footprint calculator undertaken to identify the socioeconomic drivers of the Material Footprint in different areas of consumption, from housing to holidaymaking. We developed regression models to reveal (1) the impact of socioeconomic characteristics on Material Footprints of private households and (2) correlations between the components of Material Footprints for different arrays of consumption. Our results show that an increasing Material Footprint in one array of consumption comes with an increasing Material Footprint in all other arrays, with the exception of housing and holidaymaking. The socioeconomic characteristics of users have a significant impact on their Material Footprints. However, this impact varies by the array of consumption. Households only exhibit generally bigger Material Footprints as a result of higher incomes and larger dwellings. We conclude that indicators which strive to monitor resource efficiency should survey disaggregated data in order to classify the resource use to different population groups and arrays of consumption.
Green Information Systems in general, and footprint calculators in particular, are promising feedback tools to assist people in adopting sustainable behaviour. Therefore, a Material Footprint model for use in an online footprint calculator was developed by identifying the most important predictors of the Material Footprint of the calculator's users. By means of statistical learning, the analysis revealed that 22 of the 95 predictors identified accounted for 74% of the variance in Material Footprints. Ten predictors out of the 95, mainly from the mobility domain, were capable of showing a prediction accuracy of 61%. The authors conclude that 22 predictors from the areas of mobility, housing and nutrition, as well as sociodemographic information, accurately predict a person's Material Footprint. The short and concise Material Footprint model may help developers and researchers to enhance their information systems with additional items while ensuring the data quality of such applications.
Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement stand as milestone diplomatic achievements. However, immense discrepancies between political commitments and governmental action remain. Combined national climate commitments fall far short of the Paris Agreement's 1.5/2°C targets. Similar political ambition gaps persist across various areas of sustainable development. Many therefore argue that actions by nonstate actors, such as businesses and investors, cities and regions, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), are crucial. These voices have resonated across the United Nations (UN) system, leading to growing recognition, promotion, and mobilization of such actions in ever greater numbers. This article investigates optimistic arguments about nonstate engagement, namely: (a) "the more the better"; (b) "everybody wins"; (c) "everyone does their part"; and (d) "more brings more." However, these optimistic arguments may not be matched in practice due to governance risks. The current emphasis on quantifiable impacts may lead to the under-appreciation of variegated social, economic, and environmental impacts. Claims that everybody stands to benefit may easily be contradicted by outcomes that are not in line with priorities and needs in developing countries. Despite the seeming depoliticization of the role of nonstate actors in implementation, actions may still lead to politically contentious outcomes. Finally, nonstate climate and sustainability actions may not be self-reinforcing but may heavily depend on supporting mechanisms. The article concludes with governance risk-reduction strategies that can be combined to maximize nonstate potential in sustainable and climate-resilient transformations.
The new mechanism defined under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement is supposed to allow for international cooperation with regard to climate change mitigation and thereby enable an increase in overall mitigation. Nevertheless, the design of the mechanism under Article 6.4 should also make sure that it is not be in conflict with the long-term goal of net-zero GHG emissions but even better foster national pathways leading to this objective. Building this into the mechanism requires to shift the focus from short- and mid-term considerations to the long-term perspective in one way or another.
This discussion paper explores three different approaches that may help to foster the long-term objective of net-zero GHG emissions in the operationalization of Article 6.4, namely positive and negative lists, additionality with regard to a baseline consistent with both, NDCs and long-term targets, as well as adaptation of existing instruments and criteria from climate finance. The detailed discussion of the ap-proaches shows that the approaches should not be seen as mutually exclusive but rather as comple-mentary to each other. From the analyses, two storylines emerge how to combine aspects of the differ-ent approaches in a reasonable way to foster the long-term objective of net-zero GHG emissions under Article 6.4.
With the introduction of the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe (2011) and the more recent commitment of The Action Plan towards the Circular Economy (2015), the European Commission (EC) has expressed its fundamental interest to substantially improve the resource efficiency of the European economy and enable the transition towards the Circular Economy (CE). This policy push has meanwhile been complemented by some quite ambitious national programmes for RE and CE and institutional advances but it is not yet bound to targets or mandatory reporting.
Against this background, the objective of this paper is to give a comprehensive overview of the current policy frameworks at EU and a selection of MSs and provide insights into the elements shaping policy processes. The analytical framework relies on three essential interconnected components: the policy framework, the economic incentive system and economic side policies which are relevant in the context of RE and CE and actor constellations. The paper does this looking at the interface between EU-MSs. The analysis is based on different empirical surveys in which the policy development is observed and discussed (EEA 2011, 2016a, 2016b, EIO 2013, 2014, 2016) and a comprehensive review of legislative and policy frameworks at the EU and selected MSs, undertaken as part of the project POLFREE (Policy option for a Resource-Efficient Economy) (Domenech et al., 2014, Bahn-Walkowiak et al., 2014). The analysis reveals that policy frameworks for RE/CE are complex and fragmented as competing goals and visions reduce effectiveness of measures. The paper makes recommendations as to how EU and MS policies could improve RE in a coordinated way, but recognizes that achieving such coordination will be challenging in the current political context.
This assessment report identifies six key areas of sustainable consumption. Transforming those areas is associated with a significant, positive impact on sustainable development. In this way, those key areas lay the foundation to set clear priorities and formulate concrete policy measures and recommendations. The report describes recent developments and relevant actors in those six fields, outlines drivers and barriers to reach a shift towards more sustainability in those specific areas, and explores international good-practice examples. On top of this, overarching topics in the scientific discourse concerning sustainable consumption (e.g. collaborative economy, behavioural economics and nudging) are revealed by using innovative text-mining techniques. Subsequently, the report outlines the contributions of these research approaches to transforming the key areas of sustainable consumption. Finally, the report derives policy recommendations to improve the German Sustainable Development Strategy (DNS) in order to achieve a stronger stimulus effect for sustainable consumption.
Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgt die Zielsetzung, den Beitrag verschiedener politischer Handlungsoptionen zur Steigerung der betrieblichen Energieeffizienz zu ermitteln.
Eingangs wird aufgezeigt, inwieweit die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz aufgrund ihrer vielfältigen Vorteile eine Einstufung als eigenständige Zielgröße rechtfertigt im Gegensatz zu einer bloßen Betrachtung als Mittel zum Zweck des Klimaschutzes.
Für die anschließende quantitative Analyse wurden Daten aus dem Projekt Energieeffizienz Impulsgespräche des Rationalisierungs- und Innovationszentrums der Deutschen Wirtschaft (RKW) e.V. aus den Jahren 2011 bis 2013 mit eigens für diese Arbeit erhobenen Daten von 2017 für dieselben Unternehmen verglichen. Zu diesem Zweck wird ein difference-in-differences-Ansatz genutzt. Im Ergebnis erweisen sich Preise im Gegensatz zu anderen Maßnahmen wie Energieberatungen, Fördermitteln und Energiemanagementsystemen als zumindest teilweise wirksame Einflussgröße für die Energieeffizienz. Der Autor empfiehlt auf dieser Basis eine stärker marktwirtschaftlich ausgerichtete Effizienzpolitik.
German energy transition : targets, current status, chances and challenges of an ambitious pathway
(2019)
With the "Energiewende", the German term for the transformation of the national energy system, the German government pursues ambitious goals, primarily but not only to reflect the climate change challenge and to react to the risks associated with the use of nuclear power plants. After launching the energy concept in mid-2011, which describes the "Energiewende" goals, Germany was perceived as an international pioneer in energy transition for many years and has been acknowledged for its braveness to combine ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation targets with a phase out program for nuclear power plants. In this context, this article asks where Germany’s energy transition currently stands, what is planned next and how far the set targets have been achieved or where more action is required to stick to this pathway.
Die Diskussion um die Gestaltung der Energiewende dreht sich in der politischen und gesellschaftlichen Debatte heute maßgeblich um die Stromversorgung der Zukunft. Ausstieg aus der Kohleverstromung und Ausbau bzw. Optimierung von Stromtransport- und verteilnetz sind nur zwei Beispiele dafür. Zu wenig Beachtung wird dagegen den Gasinfrastrukturen geschenkt und dabei insbesondere den Gas(import-)infrastrukturen, die mit Blick auf die Energiewende eine signifikante Rolle spielen (können).
On 26 January 2019, the Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment recommended that no more coal-fired power plants would be operated in Germany by 2038 at the latest. In this paper the Wuppertal Institute comments on the results of the Commission and makes recommendations for the current necessary steps for the climate and innovation policy in Europe, Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Am 26. Januar 2019 hat die Kommission "Wachstum, Strukturwandel und Beschäftigung" beschlossen, dass in Deutschland bis spätestens 2038 keine Kohlekraftwerke mehr betrieben werden sollen. Das Wuppertal Institut nimmt in diesem Papier Stellung zu den Ergebnissen der Kommission und gibt Empfehlungen für die nun notwendigen Schritte für die Klima- und Innovationspolitik in Europa, Deutschland und Nordrhein-Westfalen.
Die Energiewende ist der Umstieg der Energieproduktion, -versorgung und -nutzung von nuklearen und fossilen Energieträgern auf erneuerbare Energien. Dieser tiefgreifende Wandel des über viele Jahre gewachsenen Energiesystems in Deutschland umfasst zahlreiche, hoch komplexe Aspekte und Prozesse. Aus einer eher technologischen Perspektive heraus betrachtet sind die Ziele der Energiewende eine Weiterentwicklung und Dezentralisierung des technischen Stromsystems und seiner Komponenten (Speicher, Netze, Management), die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz (bspw. in industriellen Prozessen sowie in Haushalten, durch energetische Modernisierung des Gebäudebestandes oder eine intelligentere Nutzung der Wärme) sowie die Elektrifizierung des Verkehrs.
In dem vorliegenden Kapitel werden die verschiedenen Herausforderungen zur Umsetzung der Energiewende genauer beleuchtet und dargestellt und schließlich in zentrale Schlussfolgerungen zur Realisierung der Energiewende überführt.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement establishes mechanisms for Parties to "pursue voluntary cooperation in the implementation of their nationally determined contributions to allow for higher ambition in their mitigation and adaptation actions [...]" (Article 6.1). I. e. the mechanisms are explicitly designed to foster higher ambition. However, without additional guidance and rules, the economic incentives of carbon markets may work against increasing host country ambition. For example, setting ambitious NDC targets may directly reduce the amount of mitigation outcomes that go beyond the NDC target and that a host country can transfer abroad. The report presents four options on how the risks can be ad-dressed and ambition can be increased: (1) Strengthening reporting, transparency and comparability; (2) Reconciling the design of the Article 6.4 mechanism with ambition raising of host countries; (3) Supporting the host country to raise ambition through the Article 6.4 mechanism; (4) Fostering the acquiring country to raise ambition through the Article 6.4 mechanism. These options are assessed and recommendations are provided on how they could be implemented.
Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement explicitly acknowledges the need to incentivize and facilitate the participation of private entities in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), private sector actors had already the opportunity to participate in a new and fast-growing market. However, they faced numerous challenging investment barriers. The study provides an overview on key factors and barriers determining private sector participation in Article 6 mechanisms. It distinguishes between the three topics demand side factors, rules and standards for market mechanisms, and supply side factors and provides for each of them options to mitigate or overcome barriers.
In a short analysis, it further explores three of the identified options:
- Improving the design and support of national systems and capacities is an important pre-requisite for the private sector to be able to generate and sell ITMOs
- The up-scaling of mitigation activities e. g. through (sub-) sector level crediting, and policy crediting helps private sector actors to benefit from economies of scale
- Exploring the potential of digitization of measuring, reporting and verification (MRV), e. g. the use of sensors, internet of things, artificial intelligence and blockchain to make the project cycle more efficient and reduce transaction costs.
Overall, the report stresses the importance of host country readiness to provide the private sector with a robust and trusted environment that allows for the adoption of Article 6 mechanisms.
The "fuzzy front end" of innovation is argued to be crucial for the success and sustainability impact of a final product. Indeed, it is a promising area of focus in efforts to achieve the United Nations' 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a globally accepted framework for sustainability. However, the usability of the 17 goals and the large number of sub-goals represent barriers to innovation practitioners. Moreover, this early innovation stage proves to be a challenge for corporate practitioners and innovators, largely due to the concept's intangible, qualitative nature and the lack of data. To help overcome these barriers, this article proposes a four-stage approach for structuring the innovation process using an online tool called the "SDG-Check", which help assess an innovator's sustainability orientation in the early phases of product and service development. It is a semi-quantitative tool to gather and combine assessments by experts involved in innovation processes with implications for the United Nations' SDGs. Furthermore, this article presents our first experiences in applying the SDG-Check based on three living lab innovation cases. The results indicate that the tools can support and inspire a dialogue with internal and external stakeholders with regards to sustainability considerations in the early design stages of product and service development.
Sulphate aerosols are dominated by SO2 emissions from coal-burning for the Indian electricity sector and they are thought to have a short term but significant, negative impact on South Asian Summer Monsoon rainfall. This reduction in precipitation in turn can lead to reduced economic outputs, primarily through smaller agricultural yields. By bringing together estimates of (a) the impact of sulphate aerosols on precipitation and (b) the observed relationship between monsoon rainfall and GDP, we present a methodology to estimate the possible financial cost of this effect on the Indian economy and on its agricultural sector. Our preliminary estimate is that the derived benefits could be large enough that around 50% of India's SO2 emissions could be economically mitigated at no cost or net benefit, although it should be noted that the large uncertainties in the underlying relationships mean that the overall uncertainty is also large. Comparison of the 1952-1981 and 1982-2011 periods indicates that the Indian economy may now be more resilient to variability of the monsoon rainfall. As such, a case could be made for action to reduce SO2 emissions, particularly in the crucial monsoon period. This would have a significant, positive effect on a crucial and large sector in India's economy and the effects would be visible almost instantly. The recent growth in renewable energy sources in India and the consequent, reduced increase in coal burning means that further financial costs have already been avoided. This impact should be further investigated so that it can be included in cost-benefit analyses of different fuel types in the region. The significant uncertainties associated with these calculations are discussed.
Biofuels and electrification are potential ways to reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector, although not without limitations or associated problems. This paper describes a life-cycle analysis (LCA) of the Brazilian urban passenger transport system. The LCA considers various scenarios of a wholesale conversion of car and urban bus fleets to 100% electric or biofuel (bioethanol and biodiesel) use by 2050 compared to a business as usual (BAU) scenario. The LCA includes the following phases of vehicles and their life: fuel use and manufacturing (including electricity generation and land-use emissions), vehicle and battery manufacturing and end of life. The results are presented in terms of CO2, nitrous oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions, electricity consumption and the land required to grow the requisite biofuel feedstocks. Biofuels result in similar or higher CO2 and air pollutant emissions than BAU, while electrification resulted in significantly lower emissions of all types. Possible limitations found include the amount of electricity consumed by electric vehicles in the electrification scenarios.