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The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a concept of a policy instrument particularly pushed by policy circles to contribute to a circular economy. The preliminary design of the DPP is supposed to have product-related information compiled mainly by manufactures and, thus, to provide the basis for more circular products. Given the lack of scientific debate on the DPP, this study seeks to work out design options of the DPP and how these options might benefit stakeholders in a product's value chain. In so doing, we introduce the concept of the DPP and, then, describe the existing regime of regulated and voluntary product information tools focusing on the role of stakeholders. These initial results are reflected in an actor-centered analysis on potential advantages gained through the DPP. Data is generated through desk research and a stakeholder workshop. In particular, by having explored the role the DPP for different actors, we find substantial demand for further research on a variety of issues, for instance, on how to reduce red tape and increase incentives for manufacturers to deliver certain information and on how or through what data collection tool (e.g., database) relevant data can be compiled and how such data is provided to which stakeholder group. We call upon other researchers to close the research gaps explored in this paper also to provide better policy direction on the DPP.
Refrigerators and freezers (subsumed under the term "cold appliances") are among the most widely used electrical appliances in the residential sector all around the world. Currently, about 1.4 billion domestic cold appliances worldwide use about 650 TWh electricity, which is 1.2 times Germany’s total electricity consumption, and cause CO2 emissions of 450 million tons of CO2eq.
Although the specific electricity consumption per volume of cold appliances has decreased during recent years due to technical progress and policy instruments like labelling and eco-design requirements, total worldwide energy consumption of these appliances is on the increase. Scenario calculations were carried out for 10 world regions by the Wuppertal Institute. Results show that about half of the energy consumption could be saved with the most energy-efficient appliances available today, and even higher savings will be possible with next generation technologies by 2030. According to the analysis, these savings are usually very cost-effective.
All these aspects are part of the new website "bigEE.net - Your guide to energy efficiency in buildings" which aims to provide information about technical options but also about policies to support the development of energy-efficient appliances.
To initiate and foster market transformation of energy-efficient appliances it is highly advisable for policymakers to generate appliances-specific policy packages. Since each regional market has its specificity (e.g. energy prices, typical appliance affecting the cost effectiveness of efficient appliances), the barriers for the market transformation of single product groups are also specific and need to be addressed by appropriate policies and measures. Elements of measures to build appropriate specific policy packages for refrigerators will be presented in the paper, and the refrigerator package from California (USA) demonstrates the successful implementation of a sector-specific package.
Enhancing evaluations of future energy-related product policies with the digital product passport
(2022)
Transformative Innovationen : die Suche nach den wichtigsten Hebeln der Großen Transformation
(2021)
Der hier vorliegende Zukunftsimpuls soll den Grundgedanken der Transformativen Innovationen und ihre Notwendigkeit beschreiben sowie erste Kandidaten für solche Transformativen Innovationen aus diversen Arbeitsbereichen des Wuppertal Instituts vorstellen. Er dient vor allem als Einladung, gemeinsam mit dem Wuppertal Institut über solche Innovationen zu diskutieren, die irgendwo zwischen den großen Utopien und kleinen Nischenaktivitäten liegen. Denn es braucht nicht immer den ganz großen Wurf, um Veränderungen in Gang zu setzen.
Partizipation und Akzeptanz : Synthesebericht 5 ; Ergebnissynthese des SINTEG-Förderprogramms
(2022)
Wie gelingt die Energiewende? Wie kann ganz Deutschland umweltverträglich, sicher und wirtschaftlich mit hohen Anteilen erneuerbarer Energien versorgt werden? Diesen Fragen widmete sich das Förderprogramm "Schaufenster intelligente Energie - Digitale Agenda für die Energiewende (SINTEG)" des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK). Von 2016 bis 2020 wurden in den fünf Modellregionen C/sells, DESIGNETZ, enera, NEW 4.0 und WindNODE Ansätze für die digitale Energiezukunft erprobt, Handlungsempfehlungen identifiziert und Lösungen entwickelt.
Gemeinsam mit dem Beratungsunternehmen ifok GmbH führte das Wuppertal Institut die SINTEG-Ergebnisse für das Synthesefeld 5 "Partizipation & Akzeptanz" zusammen und werteten diese aus. Im entsprechenden Synthesebericht 5 wird deutlich, dass für das Gelingen der Energiewende eine möglichst breite Akzeptanz und die Beteiligung der Bevölkerung entscheidend sind.
Es wurden spezifische Blaupausen zur Einbindung der Bevölkerung erarbeitet, die Akteur*innen aus Politik, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft dabei unterstützen, jeweils für sie geeignete Formate zur Beteiligung einzusetzen. Insbesondere richten sich diese Blaupausen an die Kommunalpolitik, lokale Energieversorger, Stadtwerke sowie Expert*innen aus den Beteiligung- und Kommunikationswissenschaften.
Durch den "European Green Deal" und den "Circular Economy Action Plan" der Europäischen Union (EU) hat die EU-Produktpolitik 2019 und 2020 neue Impulse erhalten. In beiden Strategiepapieren der Europäischen Kommission wird ein elektronischer bzw. digitaler Produktpass als wesentliches Instrument für eine klimaschonende und ressourceneffiziente Wirtschaft genannt. Dieser soll unter anderem Informationen über Herkunft, Zusammensetzung, Reparatur- und Demontagemöglichkeiten eines Produktes sowie über die Handhabung am Ende seiner Lebensdauer liefern.
Auch auf nationaler Ebene wird das Thema "digitaler Produktpass" diskutiert und insbesondere in der Umweltpolitischen Digitalagenda des Bundesumweltministeriums als zentrale Maßnahme genannt.
Auch wenn das Thema derzeit stärker in den Mittelpunkt rückt, ist ein breit anwendbarer digitaler Produktpass in der Praxis bislang nicht etabliert. Erste Teilansätze bestehen, die allerdings bislang oftmals nicht durch verpflichtende Standarddatensätze oder zentrale Datenbanken institutionalisiert sind. Entsprechend sind auf politischer Ebene auch noch keine konkreten und umfassenden Konzepte vorhanden, wie ein solcher umfassender Produktpass in Zukunft ausgestaltet und implementiert werden soll. An diesem Punkt setzt diese Kurzstudie an. Sie greift hierbei auch Erfahrungen aus bestehenden Projekten und Initiativen auf, bei denen bereits Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der (Teil-)Umsetzung von unterschiedlichen Konzepten rund um das Thema Produktpass gewonnen werden konnten. Diese Kurzstudie hat entsprechend das Ziel, den aktuellen Diskussionsstand zum Thema "digitaler Produktpass" kompakt darzustellen und Handlungsoptionen für eine mögliche Umsetzung zu skizzieren. Dabei hat sie nicht den Anspruch und die Möglichkeit ein umfassendes Konzept zu erarbeiten, sondern soll erste Ansätze und Optionen vermitteln, um weitere Diskussionen und Forschungsansätze anzuregen. Insbesondere soll die Kurzstudie Impulse für anschließende Initiativen auf nationaler und europäischer Ebene liefern.
Digital product passport : the ticket to achieving a climate neutral and circular European economy?
(2022)
The introduction of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) is an opportunity to create a system that can store and share all relevant information throughout a product's life cycle. This would provide industry stakeholders, businesses, public authorities and consumers with a better understanding of the materials used in the product as well as their embodied environmental impact.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis, now is a critical moment to transform our economic and business models, while also addressing the huge scale of material emissions. DPPs can be a pivotal policy instrument in this goal. Furthermore, DPPs can accelerate the twin green and digital transitions as part of EU efforts to deliver positive climate action and sustainable economies.
In 2020, the European Commission (EC) adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), which emphasised the need for circular economy initiatives to consider the entire life cycle of products, from the production of basic materials to end-of-life disposal. The Circular Economy Package published in March 2022 includes a proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which builds upon the Ecodesign Directive that covers energy-related products.
A DPP will form a key regulatory element of the ESPR by enhancing the traceability of products and their components. This will provide consumers and manufacturers with the information needed to make better informed choices by taking their environmental impact into consideration.
As discussed in the report, there is widespread agreement amongst business leaders that a well-designed DPP could have both short- and longer-term benefits, improving access to reliable and comparable product sustainability information for businesses, consumers and policymakers.
A well-designed DPP can unify information, making it more readily accessible to all actors in the supply chain. This will support businesses to ensure an effective transformation towards a decarbonised industry. It could also create incentives for companies to make their products more sustainable, as improving access to reliable and consistent information across supply chains will make it easier for customers to make comparisons.
Small-scale residential biomass combustion for space heating and warm water production already holds a considerable share on overall energy production from biomass in Europe. In the existing regulative framework of EU air quality and climate protection targets, an extended usage of renewable biomass heating without an increase of harmful emissions is urgently needed. In this context, the FP7 project "EU-UltraLowDust" (ULD) aimed at the demonstration of highly efficient and ultra-low emission small-scale biomass combustion technologies and the development of supporting policy recommendations.
New combustion technology operating at almost zero particulate matter (PM) emissions has been demonstrated, rivalling even the performance of state-of-the-art natural gas fuelled systems. In this context, the authors analysed EU policy options for a faster diffusion of these new innovative technologies. The analysis presented in this paper is based on results from an original impact assessment with special focus on energy efficiency and emission scenarios, including the potential effects of a broad deployment of the new ULD technologies as well as the early replacement of poor performing existing installations.
As the derived results show that major shares of energy consumption and emissions from residential biomass combustion in the EU are caused by old heating systems, specific policy measures for new and existing installations have been analysed. Following this, a recommended and harmonized policy package for new Small Combustion Installations (SCI) to be put on the market as well as for existing SCI in the stock has been developed, which will be presented in this paper. The basic policy package addresses new installations and consists of a two-step approach, aiming at enhancing the current and forthcoming policies addressing the SCI market in Europe. A complementary second policy package for existing installations aims specifically at the early replacement of SCI already installed in the stock, which are characterized by low efficiency and high emissions.
The EU Horizon 2020 project HiEff-BioPower (grant agreement No 727330, duration: 10/2016 - 09/2021) aimed at the development of a new, innovative, fuel flexible and highly efficient biomass CHP technology for a capacity range of 1 to 10 MW total energy output, suitable e.g. for on-site generation at larger residential apartment buildings or local heat grids. The new technology shall define a new milestone in terms of CHP efficiency and contribute to a sustainable energy supply based on renewable energies using otherwise unused residual biomass. It consists of a fuel-flexible updraft gasification technology with ultra-low particulate matter emissions, an integrated gas cleaning system and a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The technology shall be applicable for a wide fuel spectrum for residual biomass (wood pellets, wood chips or selected agricultural fuels like agro-pellets) and achieve high gross electric (40%) and overall (90%) efficiencies as well as almost zero gaseous and particulate matter (PM) emissions (close or below the level of detection) as non-energy benefits. At the end of the project, final technology data has become available, as well as techno-economic analyses and market studies. Based on this data, this paper presents final results from the environmental impact assessment of the new HiEff-BioPower technology.
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.
Washing laundry is one of the most widespread housework tasks in the world. Washing machines, performing this task already in many private households, are now responsible for about 2% of the global electricity consumption. Worldwide, more than 840 million domestic washing machines are in use, with an annual consumption exceeding 92 TWh of electricity and 19 billion m3 of water as well as causing emissions of more than 62 megatons CO2eq. In North America, Western Europe and Pacific OECD countries, most households own a washing machine. In these economies standard and label policy programs already addressed and reduced the specific electricity and water consumption of washing machines per wash cycle. Nevertheless, in other world regions, the level of ownership for washing machines is still well below saturation and high growth rates can be observed in developing and newly industrialising countries. As washing machines use water, electricity, chemical substances and process time as resources, also the absolute worldwide resource consumption and emissions of these appliances are still on the rise. Due to different washing habits and practices as well as types of washing machines in different world regions, the specific consumption of resources for doing the laundry is varying to a large extent. On that score, this paper presents an overview of the current situation worldwide as well as respective saving potentials. Bottom-up scenario calculations, carried out for the 11 world regions according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change classification, show that large energy, water and greenhouse gas savings are possible with the "Best Available Technologies" today, and even higher savings will be possible with next generation "Best Not yet Available Technologies". According to model results, these savings are usually also very cost-effective. Following these calculations, it is highly advisable for policymakers world-wide to pay even more attention to improvement options in order to implement ambitious and product-specific policy packages, including minimum performance standards and labelling schemes.
The South African government started the development of a basic energy efficiency policy framework in 2005, including a voluntary label for refrigerators. This initial label was the intended precursor to a mandatory standards and labelling (S&L) programme, but the impacts achieved were only very limited. Based on this first experience, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) formed in 2008 a working group for the development of the new and more specific South African National Standard SANS 941. This standard identifies energy efficiency requirements, labelling and measurement methods as well as the maximum allowable standby power for a set of appliances as reliable basis for introducing a mandatory regulation. Nevertheless, due to many existing barriers, such as lack of funding and low priority assigned to the initiative, a very long period passed by between the S&L planning and final policy implementation. Finally, in November 2014, the South African government published mandatory performance standards coming into force in 2015/2016 for a first set of appliances consisting of refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, electric water heaters, ovens, A/C and heat pumps. To analyse the effectiveness of the new S&L programme and the potential influence of delays in the implementing process, the authors performed an immediate first-hand evaluation of the new policy.
As analytical reference base for available energy efficiency potentials, results from bottom-up scenario calculations will be presented exemplarily as case study for cold appliances covered by the S&L programme. A retrospective market study will show market trends before policy implementation and compare results with the new mandatory requirements. For the further policy analysis, a programme theory approach will be applied, in order to better understand why, how and under what conditions the policy works. Relationships with other energy efficiency policies and measures as well as positive or negative effects will be described. Furthermore, cause-impact relationships will be analysed to explain the functioning of the policy. Finally, success and failure factors will illustrate what needs to be done to achieve the desired energy efficiency targets. Henceforth, even though this study does not assess the direct transferability of the South African S&L programme to other regions, its findings could be relevant and useful for countries planning the implementation of similar policies.