Sustainability appraisal of residential energy demand and supply - a life cycle approach including heating, electricity, embodied energy and mobility

Stoeglehner, Gernot; Baaske, Wolfgang; Mitter, Hermine; Niemetz, Nora; Kettl, Karl-Heinz; Weiss, Michael A.; Lancaster, Bettina; Neugebauer, Georg

doi:10.1186/s13705-014-0024-6

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The calculator allows the evaluation of single buildings as well as whole settlements. It can be applied to existing structures as well as planning tasks and also allows the evaluation of refurbishing and extension plans to existing settlements [41].…”

Section: Elas Calculatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart energy systems for smart city districts: case study Reininghaus District

Maier

2016

Energ Sustain Soc

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Background: Dense settlement structures in cities have high demands of energy. Usually, these demands exceed the local resource availability. Individually developed supply options to cover these demands differ from place to place and can also vary within the boundaries of a city. In a common sense of European governance, cities are pushed to save energy, increase renewables and reduce import dependency on fossil fuels. There are many innovative concepts and technologies available to tackle these needs. The paper provides a comprehensive methodology for planning and assessing the development of 'smart' energy systems leading to complex energy provision technology networks using different on-site as well as off-site resources. Methods: The use of the P-graph (process-graph) method allows the optimisation of energy systems by using different energy sources for heating, storing and cooling. This paper discusses this method in the development of an urban brown field, the premises of the Reininghaus District, a former brewery in the city of Graz in Austria. The case study is interesting as it combines on-site energy sources (e.g. solar heat and photovoltaic) with nearby industrial waste heat and cooling at different temperatures and grid-based resources such as existing district heating, natural gas, and electricity. The case study also includes the competition between centralised technologies (e.g. large scale combined heat and power and heat pumps with district heating grids) and decentralised technologies (e.g. small scale combined heat and power, single building gas boilers, solar collectors, etc. in buildings). Ecological assessment with the Energetic Long-Term Analysis of Settlement Structures (ELAS) calculator provides an evaluation of the ecological impact of the developed energy systems. Results: Different scenarios based on two building standards OIB (low energy house standard) and NZE (passive house standard) as well as different prices for key energy resources were developed for an urban development concept for the Reininghaus District. The results of these scenarios show a very wide spectrum of structures of the energy system with strong variations often caused by small changes in cost or prices. The optimisation shows that small changes in the setup of the price/cost structure can cause dramatic differences in the optimal energy system to supply a smart city district. However, decentralised systems with low-temperature waste heat and decentralised heat pumps in the building groups show the financially most feasible and, compared to alternatives, most ecological way to supply the new buildings.

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Section: Elas Calculatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart energy systems for smart city districts: case study Reininghaus District

Maier

2016

Energ Sustain Soc

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“…The methodology is demonstrated on the Austrian case, but is transferable to all countries with a comparable database, e.g., the whole European Union. The methodology is based on the fact that spatial analysis of energy efficiency, supply and resource potentials leads to a better decision base for energy planning [33,34]. With reference to their spatial contexts, different types of WWTPs can be distinguished by means of distance between the energy source (WWTP) and potential energy sinks in the surroundings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping Thermal Energy Resource Potentials from Wastewater Treatment Plants

et al. 2015

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Wastewater heat recovery via heat exchangers and heat pumps constitutes an environmentally friendly, approved and economically competitive, but often underestimated technology. By introducing the spatial dimension in feasibility studies, the results of calculations change considerably. This paper presents a methodology to estimate thermal energy resource potentials of wastewater treatment plants taking spatial contexts into account. In close proximity to settlement areas, wastewater energy can ideally be applied for heating in mixed-function areas, which very likely have a continuous heat demand and allow for an increased amount of full-load hours compared to most single-use areas. For the Austrian case, it is demonstrated that the proposed methodology leads to feasible results and that the suggested technology might reduce up to 17% of the Austrian global warming potential of room heating. The method is transferrable to other countries as the input data and calculation formula are made available. A broad application of wastewater energy with regard to spatial structures and spatial development potentials can lead to (1) increasing OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 12989 energy efficiency by using a maximum of waste heat and (2) a significant reduction of (fossil) energy consumption which results in a considerable reduction of the global warming potential of the heat supply (GWP) if electricity from renewables is used for the operation of heat pumps.

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“…b For application of the ELAS calculator to settlements in Austria, the user may only supply the ZIP code to define the distances to cities with other (higher) level of centrality as the calculator will draw on a database based on [25,26] c In the current version, regionalized input-output tables are available for Austrian Federal States.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport Accessibility Analysis Using Gis: Assessing Sustainable Transport In London

2015

Urban Development for the 21st Century

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This paper introduces the concepts, methods and the implementation of a calculator for the energetic long term analysis of residential settlement structures (ELAS). The freely available online tool addresses, on the one hand, the complexity of the environmental impacts of buildings and settlements including embodied energy and on the other hand, the mobility of the inhabitants and the necessity to provide ecological and socio-economic valuation on the base of a coherent data set. Regarding the complexity of ecological impacts, housing was represented as a life cycle network, combining the life cycles of energy provision as well as buildings and infrastructure depending on the location and supply structure of the settlement. Comprehensive inventories for these different aspects were included. They were then used to evaluate the whole system of activity linked to buildings and settlements with three different ecological valuation methods and then coupled with a socio-economic appraisal. With the ELAS calculator, a status quo analysis for existing settlements can be carried out, as well as planning alternatives can be assessed which include new developments, the renovation of buildings in the settlement, the change of energy supplies as well as the demolition of settlements with reconstruction on the same or a different site.

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Sustainability appraisal of residential energy demand and supply - a life cycle approach including heating, electricity, embodied energy and mobility

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Smart energy systems for smart city districts: case study Reininghaus District

Smart energy systems for smart city districts: case study Reininghaus District

Mapping Thermal Energy Resource Potentials from Wastewater Treatment Plants

Transport Accessibility Analysis Using Gis: Assessing Sustainable Transport In London

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