Energy Modelling as a Trigger for Energy Communities: A Joint Socio-Technical Perspective

Abstract

Mainstreaming energy communities has been one of the main challenges in the low-carbon transition of cities. In this sense, urban building energy modelling (UBEM) has an untapped role in enabling energy communities, as simulations on urban models provide evidence-based decision support to reduce risks, engage, motivate and guide actors, assert wider policy goals and regulatory requirements. This accelerating role and the potential of UBEM is not sufficiently understood, as research into energy community focuses on its barriers and impacts, while the research of UBEM is mainly technologically oriented. This review takes a sociotechnical approach to explore whether UBEM is a technological trigger for energy communities, furthering the conceptual framework of transition management. factors influencing energy community progression in different use-cases and stages of their lifecycle are compiled to assess the affordances of distinct capabilities of prevalent UBEM tools. The study provides a guide for energy community planners to UBEM. It matches different tool capabilities to the various stages of the project lifecycle for the different use-cases, equipping them with the means to accelerate the low-carbon transition of cities from the bottom-up. Finally, the study defines a development trajectory oriented towards application in urban sustainability to a rather new UBEM field.

An Evaluation Framework for Sustainable Plus Energy Neighbourhoods: Moving Beyond the Traditional Building Energy Assessment

“…First, social KPIs vary most across different scales: on national levels demographic, systemic variables are prevalent, while on hyperlocal levels focus more on social interactions and quality of life. The neighbourhood scale is a mix of both, since it is place-based, but also requires some form of institutionalization in the PED context [63]. Second, it is not always apparent, whether a specific result for an indicator is good or bad, plus, in many cases this is location-dependent, meaning universal benchmarks are rarely feasible [60,64].…”

“…Energy Consciousness describes the behavioural determinants of energy use, which is crucial to eliminate occupant-centric barriers to coordinated, environmentally conscious energy management [63]. The indicator is measured through a household survey.…”

The UK and German Low-Carbon Industry Transitions from a Sectoral Innovation and System Failures Perspective

“…Our research can be further enhanced by combining the SIS approach with other Systems of Innovation frameworks: an integrative approach will allow for a holistic perspective of the examined systems in transition, while overcoming the limitations of each framework [211]. Such frameworks include the MLP, which has also been used to draw comparisons between the UK and Germany in the transport sector [212] and analyse the German electricity market [213]; system mapping [53], which provides the opportunity to both examine interactions regarding innovation diffusion and evaluate the broader context of landscape and regime as part of a sustainable systemic transformation of the two countries; or different combinations of innovation frameworks [214,215]. Another prospect lies in expanding the SIS analysis to include the diversity of industrial sub-sectors and therefore unfold the national industries in their entirety, thereby allowing to examine cross-sectoral interconnections that may promote or hinder the deployment of innovative, collectively beneficial, and non-conflicting technologies.…”

Citizen Participation in Low-Carbon Energy Systems: Energy Communities and Its Impact on the Electricity Demand on Neighborhood and National Level

“…In addition to the comprehensive regulatory consideration (see also in [28]) further aspects, such as environmental [29] and socio-economic [30] objectives, are becoming increasingly important. These and further studies (i.e., exploring the transition potentials of ECs in [31], the renewable energy-based strategies for ECs in [32], or low-carbon pathways for energy systems in [33]) highlight the proposed holistic approach for the implementation of ECs. Furthermore, the work in [32,34] describe ECs that have a compensated energy balance, so called net zero.…”