Editorial: Urban Energy Poverty and Positive Energy Districts

The threats climate change poses require rapid and wide decarbonization efforts in the energy sector. Historically, large-scale energy operations, often instrumental for a scaled and effective approach to meet decarbonization goals, undergird energy-related injustices. Energy poverty is a multi-dimensional form of injustice, with relevance to low-carbon energy transitions. Defined as the condition of being unable to access an adequate level of household energy services, energy poverty persists despite the emergence of affordable renewable energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV). Historical injustices and the modularity of solar PV combine to offer new possibilities in ownership, production and distribution of cost-competitive, clean and collectively scalable energy. Consequently, emerging policy priorities for positive energy districts call into question the traditional large-scale modality of energy operations. We report from a case study of solar power in Lisbon, a frontrunner in urban energy transitions while also home to high energy poverty incidence. The study focuses on scalar aspects of justice in energy transitions to investigate whether and how solar PV can alleviate urban energy poverty. It features 2 months of fieldwork centered on community and expert perspectives, including semi-structured interviews and field observations. We mobilize a spatial energy justice framework to identify justice aspects of multi-scalar solar PV uptake. By showing how energy justice is shaped in diverse ways at different scales, we demonstrate ways in which scale matters for just urban energy transitions. We argue that small- and medium-scaled approaches to electricity distribution, an integral component of positive energy districts, can address specific justice concerns. However, even as such approaches gain attention and legitimacy, they risk structurally excluding socio-economically vulnerable users, and proceed slowly relative to large-scale solar rollout.

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An analysis of energy consumption to identify urban energy poverty in Seoul

International Journal of Urban Sciences ◽

10.1080/12265934.2015.1128350 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 129-140 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jin Sik Kim ◽

Im Hack Lee ◽

Yong Han Ahn ◽

Sung Eun Lim ◽

Shin Do Kim

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Energy Poverty ◽

Urban Energy

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

Frontiers in Sustainable Cities ◽

10.3389/frsc.2021.648473 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

João Pedro Gouveia ◽

Júlia Seixas ◽

Pedro Palma ◽

Henrique Duarte ◽

Henrique Luz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Low Income ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Building Energy Efficiency ◽

Solar Pv ◽

System Transformation ◽

Energy Poverty ◽

Historic Districts ◽

The Social ◽

Tourism Flows

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.

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Urban energy poverty

Urban Heat Stress and Mitigation Solutions ◽

10.1201/9781003045922-17-21 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 350-367

Author(s):

Kristian Fabbri

Keyword(s):

Energy Poverty ◽

Urban Energy

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Assessing Multiple Benefits of Housing Regeneration and Smart City Development: The European Project SINFONIA

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12198038 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (19) ◽

pp. 8038

Author(s):

Adriano Bisello

Keyword(s):

Smart City ◽

Multicriteria Analysis ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Political Agenda ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Revealed Preferences ◽

The European Union ◽

City Development ◽

Present Contribution ◽

Urban Energy

The urban energy transition towards more sustainable energy production and consumption systems is at the top of the European Union political agenda. Several demonstration projects are dealing with the deep-energy retrofit of real-estate assets to show how technological and societal innovation can provide new investment opportunities while enhancing citizens’ quality of life by delivering multiple benefits. In this framework, the EU smart city project SINFONIA has developed and tested a new comprehensive framework to define, identify, and evaluate the main multiple benefits expected from similar initiatives. The present contribution reviews the three assessment exercises carried out in the lighthouse city of Bolzano during the project execution, consisting of an investigation of the users’ stated preferences, an evaluation of consumers‘ revealed preferences and a multicriteria analysis of homeowners’ priorities. It offers an overview of the main achievements and sheds light on further investigatory paths applicable to Positive Energy Districts assessment.

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

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11080318 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 318

Author(s):

Xingxing Zhang ◽

Santhan Reddy Penaka ◽

Samhita Giriraj ◽

Maria Nuria Sánchez ◽

Civiero Civiero ◽

...

Keyword(s):

District Heating ◽

Private Investment ◽

Energy System ◽

Positive Influence ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Preliminary Review ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Planning Stage ◽

Carbon Neutrality ◽

Urban Energy

Positive Energy District (PED) is recently proposed to be an integral part of a district/urban energy system with a corresponding positive influence. Thus, the PED concept could become the key solution to energy system transition towards carbon neutrality. This paper intends to report and visualize the initial analytical results of 60 existing PED projects in Europe about their main characteristics, including geographical information, spatial-temporal scale, energy concepts, building archetypes, finance source, keywords, finance model and challenges/barriers. As a result, a dedicated date base is developed and it could be further expanded/interoperated through an interactive dashboard. It is found that Norway and Italy have the most PED projects so far. Many PED projects state a ‘yearly’ time scale while nearly 1/3 projects have less than 0.2 km2 area in terms of spatial scale. The private investment together with regional/national grants is commonly observed. A mixture of residential, commercial and office/social buildings are found. The most common renewable energy systems include solar energy, district heating/cooling, wind and geothermal energy. Challenges and barriers for PED related projects vary from the planning stage to the implementation stage. Furthermore, the text mining approach is applied to examine the keywords or concentrations of PED-related projects at different stages. These preliminary results are expected to give useful guidance for future PED definitions and proposals of ‘reference PED’.

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

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13168698 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 8698

Author(s):

Adam X. Hearn ◽

Raul Castaño-Rosa

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Expert Interviews ◽

Energy Technology ◽

Energy Poverty ◽

Technology Plan ◽

Energy Behavior ◽

Barriers And Opportunities ◽

Shed Light

To mitigate the effects of climate change, the European Commission created a Strategic Energy Technology Plan committing to forming 100 Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) by 2025. These are considered to potentially be major instruments for decarbonization in a just transition. This plan has led to some districts being defined as PEDs, although none have fully met the criteria to be a PED yet. Research shows that new forms of energy ownership and production, as could potentially be found in PEDs, could help reduce energy poverty, which affects a significant segment of the population, as households can reduce their energy expenditure as well as improve their energy behavior. This paper set out to shed light on the PED landscape, investigating the barriers and opportunities to PED creation in Spain and its potential to mitigate energy poverty. We conducted a literature review on community-owned energy in Spain, followed with expert interviews (energy researchers, stakeholders, and NGOs) who focus on sustainability issues in Spain. Results show a number of barriers (lack of knowledge and awareness, and lack of trust from consumers) and opportunities connected with the creation of PEDs. In conclusion, policymaker engagement and support play a key role in successfully implementing PEDs.

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The Nexus between Market Needs and Value Attributes of Smart City Solutions towards Energy Transition. An Empirical Evidence of Two European Union (EU) Smart Cities, Evora and Alkmaar

Smart Cities ◽

10.3390/smartcities3030032 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 604-641

Author(s):

Paraskevi Giourka ◽

Vasilis Apostolopoulos ◽

Komninos Angelakoglou ◽

Konstantinos Kourtzanidis ◽

Nikos Nikolopoulos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Smart City ◽

Social Impact ◽

Smart Cities ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Novel Technologies ◽

Sustainable Value ◽

Urban Energy ◽

Value Propositions

This study presents an experiential process and a market-oriented approach for realizing cities’ energy transition through smart solutions. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) present a process for defining a repository of innovative solutions that can be applied at building, district, or city level, for two European Union cities, Evora and Alkmaar, and support the deployment of positive energy districts enabling a sustainable energy transition, and (b) understand in a systematic way the attributes of value offered by energy-related smart city solutions, in order to facilitate the development of sustainable value propositions that can successfully address city needs. The repository is assessed against four elements of value, which include social impact, life-changing, emotional, and functional attributes, according to the value pyramid of Maslow. Results show that the value attributes of quality, motivation, integration, cost reduction, information, and organization are highly relevant to the proposed smart solutions. The results presented in this study are useful for city planners, decision-makers, public bodies, citizens, and businesses interested in designing their energy transition strategy and defining novel technologies that promote urban energy sustainability.

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Positive Energy Districts Methodology and Its Replication Potential

Proceedings ◽

10.3390/proceedings2019020008 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Beril Alpagut ◽

Ömer Akyürek ◽

Emilio Miguel Mitre

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Energy Balance ◽

Land Use Planning ◽

Energy Flow ◽

Energy System ◽

Positive Energy ◽

The Core ◽

Urban Energy ◽

Positive Energy Balance ◽

Planning Processes

Positive Energy District (PED) strategy aims at speeding up the urban decarbonization, regarding mainly its scalability potential. For MAKING CITY, PED is defined as “an urban area with clear boundaries, consisting on buildings of different typologies that actively manage the energy flow between them and the larger energy system to reach an annual positive energy balance”. Aligned with it, a PED guideline (a standardized concept valid to be the core of specific urban energy transitions planning processes) is being created taking into account the constraints of the fellow cities underlining main needs in terms of energy and land use planning in principle.

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Positive Energy District Replication - Case Study of the City of Trencin, Slovakia

IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering ◽

10.1088/1757-899x/1203/2/022087 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1203 (2) ◽

pp. 022087

Author(s):

Vladimir Ondrejicka ◽

Michal Hajduk ◽

Lubomir Jamecny ◽

Milan Husar ◽

Matej Jasso

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Planning System ◽

City Centre ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Low Carbon ◽

The Core ◽

Urban Energy ◽

The City

Abstract Energy efficiency has been of the key topics for urban planning for the past few years in relation to sustainable development, resilience as well as climate change. There are many technological approaches aiming at efficient use of energy, innovative technologies and renewable sources of energy, but what is often missing is its relation to spatial planning and planning system and documentation. Horizon 2020 project Making City is striving to promote Positive Energy District (PED) planning and methodology aiming at development of new integrated strategies to address the urban energy system transformation towards low carbon cities, with the PED approach as the core of the urban energy transition pathway. It is implemented on the level of cities and city districts, having two types of areas – two lighthouse cities and six follower cities. The city of Trencin (Slovakia) is one of the follower cities where multiple urban areas have been selected to replicate the PED concept developed by the project consortium. Trencin is the eight largest city is Slovakia with a rich manufacturing history in textile and arms industry. It is currently focusing on diversified its economic activities in the sectors of tourism, innovation, culture and industry. The PED replication will involve a broader city centre area including multiple municipal buildings (schools and sports infrastructures) and residential buildings (individual housing and apartments). The following paper describes the key notions from the PED concept providing a holistic approach on harmonizing energy and urban planning for energy. It evolved from single, unintegrated, simple “building” based interventions into PED concepts looking forward to reaching energy and climate targets which will lead to an integrated energy planning. The paper further explores this PED approach in the city of Trencin, including the challenges it had to overcome during the implementation, as well as perspectives for its future development. The aim of the project further on is to create a standardized concept ready to be the core of specific urban energy transitions planning processes.

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