Positive Energy District: A Model for Historic Districts to Address Energy Poverty

Abstract

The Positive Energy District (PED) concept has been pointed out as key for cities' energy system transformation toward carbon neutrality. The PED may be defined as an energy-efficient and flexible urban area with net-zero energy import and greenhouse gas emissions, aiming toward annual local surplus of renewable energy. Most of the studies and practical experiences about PEDs are based on newly built districts, where the planning and integration of innovative solutions are less complex and more cost-effective. However, to achieve Europe Union's 2050 carbon-neutral ambition, we argue that the transformation of the settled districts is essential, including historic districts, which present common challenges across European cities, such as degraded dwellings, low-income families, and gentrification processes due to massive tourism flows. This paper aims to discuss how the PED model can be an opportunity for historic districts to reduce their emissions and mitigate energy poverty. The historic district of Alfama, in the city of Lisbon (Portugal), is used as a case study to show the potential of energy renovation measures and solar PV production in households, cornerstones of a PED. The annual energy needs potential reduction due to building retrofit is 84 and 19% for space heating and cooling, respectively, while the integration of building-integrated PV technologies in rooftops and windows potentially generates up to 60 GWh/year. At the district scale, these two components of the PED concept could require an investment of 60M€ to 81M€ depending on the PV technologies in the rooftops, a sensitive aspect in historical districts. Unlike other mechanisms to tackle energy poverty, like the social tariffs, the adoption of structural measures like building energy efficiency retrofit and renewable energy integration will contribute to solve the energy poverty problem, which is significant in Alfama, in both the winter and summer. The highlighted investments require an innovative financial scheme to support not only buildings' owners but also tenants, as these are among the most vulnerable to energy poverty. However, the social benefits of that investment, on the health system, air quality, climate resilience, labor productivity, and social integration, would be invaluable.

Can green finance improve carbon emission efficiency? Evidence from China

“…At present, many scholars have conducted research on carbon emission, including the measurement and evaluation , dynamic change (Cheng et al, 2018b), influencing factors and effects analysis (Xu et al, 2021;Zhang H et al, 2021) of carbon emission efficiency. Scholars think that policy and supervision (Calvo et al, 2021;, technological innovation (Gouveia et al, 2021;He et al, 2021;Wu H et al, 2021;Wyse et al, 2021;Xie et al, 2021), human capital (Song et al, 2020), industrial structure (Cheng et al, 2018a;Wu L et al, 2021) and urbanization (Sun and Huang, 2020;Wang F et al, 2021) will affect carbon emission efficiency. and Meng et al (2016) used DEA model to measure the carbon emission efficiency of 42 thermal power plants and 30 provinces in China from the micro and macro levels respectively, and found that there was regional imbalance in China's carbon emission efficiency.…”

Towards a Just Energy Transition, Barriers and Opportunities for Positive Energy District Creation in Spain

“…Therefore, LECs can potentially provide free or reduced cost energy and an additional income stream (should energy be sold) for those in energy poverty. On a PED scale, research in Portugal indicates the potential of PEDs as a tool for mitigating energy poverty in the historic district of Alfama in Lisbon [39].…”

Characterizing Positive Energy District (PED) through a Preliminary Review of 60 Existing Projects in Europe

“…Civiero et al [15] provide a view of a district simulation model able to analyze a reliable prediction of potential business scenarios on large scale retrofitting actions and to evaluate a set of parameters and co-benefits resulting from the renovation process of a cluster of buildings. Gouveia et al [16] also argued that the transformation of the existing districts is essential, including historic districts, which present common challenges across EU cities, such as degraded dwellings, low-income families, and gentrification processes due to massive tourism flows. In their report, they discussed how the PED model can be an opportunity for historic districts to reduce their emissions and mitigate energy poverty.…”