A Conceptual Framework to Design Green Infrastructure: Ecosystem Services as an Opportunity for Creating Shared Value in Ground Photovoltaic Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual framework that looks at photovoltaic systems in synergy with ecosystem services. The focus is to connect business success with social and ecological progress based on the operative concept of multifunctional land use. Such an approach attempts to harmonise the needs of the industrial processes of photovoltaic systems and the ecological and social needs of the landscape context. Different from the usual design of ground photovoltaic systems in farmlands or brownfields, a new framework is proposed, combining photovoltaic panels and vegetation. A case study is considered, applying the framework to existing photovoltaic systems in the Apulia region (southern Italy). The analysis shows how the framework has, among others, the major functions of increasing solar energy production, recycling wastewater, creating raw material for biofuel, as well as providing animal habitat and mitigating air temperature. The latter is preliminarily evaluated by means of modelling simulations performed with a computational fluid dynamics and microclimate model, ENVI-met. This approach opens up a new vision of the infrastructure design of photovoltaic systems which can produce new social and economic income.

Managing Conflicts with Local Communities over the Introduction of Renewable Energy: The Solar-Rush Experience in Japan

“…As a result, it became clear that the attachment to the area and opposition to renewable energy were not necessarily linked. Research on the design of renewable energy that is acceptable by local residents has also been actively conducted [1,4,5,[21][22][23]. Oudes et al [57] proposed a method to reduce stakeholder conflicts with the introduction of renewable energy by using a spatial transition analysis.…”

“…The development of technology, such as equipment that enhances the efficiency of energy production and research in intelligent design, is progressing rapidly. The latest research also proposes renewable energy as a green infrastructure [1]. However, it takes a considerable amount of time to determine how to solve social issues such as negative impressions and the opposition to and rejection of renewable energy by local communities.…”

Renewable Energy Plants and Business Models: A New Rural Development Perspective

“…The studies devoted to investigate employment effects from RE deployment [34] seem to converge in that a well-integrated RE into RD intermediate institutions-such as cooperatives, local governments, and universities-are needed to disseminate reliable information to the rural community and coordinate the engagement of a large number of actors [35,36]. This more favorable regulatory framework for hosting communities should be focused on: (a) enhancing cross-vertical and cross-horizontal institutional collaboration, aimed to overcome traditional sectorialism in policies [36], (b) counterbalancing the top-down private management and the large international companies regime [18,29,[36][37][38][39], and (b) improving the lack of local governments power to negotiate to increase revenues [18,28,40].…”

Dendrochemistry: Ecosystem Services Perspectives for Urban Biomonitoring

“…Trees in urban contexts may provide direct benefits such as regulating services, "The services that ecosystems provide by regulating the quality of air and soil or providing flood and disease control, etc" (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, 2011), but also yet unassessed benefits for citizenship (Semeraro et al, 2020). Trees absorb pollutants from the environment and accumulate them in tree rings (Cocozza et al, 2016;Perone et al, 2018).…”