Why it’s so hard? Exploring social barriers for the deployment of thermal energy storage in Spanish buildings

Abstract

Thermal energy storage (TES) has been a prominent topic of scientific and industrial research for the last decades as TES increases efficiency, reliability and economic feasibility of solar energy systems. Several TES technologies are today feasible and competitive from a scientific-technical, sustainable and economic point of view. However, the social awareness and acceptance of TES has not followed such a development, as socio-cultural and legal aspects to be considered for their broader implementation hinder it. The main objective of this paper is to analyse social and cultural barriers to TES adoption in the Spanish context. For this proposal, we use quantitative and qualitative data provided from professionals and experts of the building sector. Hereby the main ideas arising from the analysis: the economic crisis of 2008 and the poor condition of the existing building stock prevent the adoption of extensive retrofitting measures including energy efficiency solutions such as TES' while TES is regarded as an emerging market in Mediterranean climates such as Spanish. The lack of expertise of professionals hinders the transmission of TES benefits to occupants. Besides, there is little dissemination of good practices and professionals are suspicious of the long term performance of such technologies.

Thermal energy storage co-benefits in building applications transferred from a renewable energy perspective

“…Databases such as Google Scholar or ResearchGate were excluded due to their low reliability of bibliometric results [13]. Moreover, the data on world population was obtained from the United Nations 2019 Revision of World Population Prospects [8].…”

“…Highlighting co-benefits of TES technologies, such as with any other technology, contributes to social acceptance of such technologies [3]. Since literature agrees [8] that one of the main barriers for TES implementation is the lack of knowledge about these systems, dissemination of their co-benefits, especially those related to health and environment, can help in the knowledge deployment. Moreover, literature states that local climate actions would potentially occur faster and at a higher level if they generate co-benefits, such as environmental, public health, or economic development benefits, on top of energy efficiency and cost savings, although usually the last two are already powerful motivators [9].…”

Eksplorasi Potensi Penggunaan Blockchain Dalam Optimalisasi Manajemen Pelabuhan di Indonesia: Tinjauan Literatur

“…Kelayakan lingkungan menilai dampak dari teknologi atau proyek yang diusulkan terhadap lingkungan. Ini termasuk mengevaluasi potensi risiko lingkungan, keberlanjutan sumber daya, dan kepatuhan terhadap peraturan dan standar lingkungan (Jamil et al, 2023;Simó-Solsona et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2021). Misalnya, ketika mempertimbangkan penerapan teknologi limbah menjadi energi seperti gasifikasi plasma, analisis kelayakan lingkungan akan mengkaji dampaknya terhadap kualitas udara, praktik pengelolaan limbah, dan emisi gas rumah kaca (Kithsiri et al, 2014).…”

“…Kelayakan sosial mengevaluasi penerimaan dan dampak dari teknologi atau proyek yang diusulkan pada masyarakat dan komunitas. Analisis ini mempertimbangkan faktorfaktor seperti penerimaan sosial, norma budaya, keadilan sosial, dan keterlibatan masyarakat (Jamil et al, 2023;Simó-Solsona et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2021). Memahami kelayakan sosial membantu mengidentifikasi potensi hambatan atau konflik sosial yang mungkin timbul selama implementasi (Simó-Solsona et al, 2021).…”