Sustainable artificial intelligence: A corporate culture perspective

In recent years, various studies have highlighted the opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI) for our society. For example, AI solutions can help reduce pollution, waste, or carbon footprints. On the other hand, there are also risks associated with the use of AI, such as increasing inequality in society or high resource consumption for computing power. This paper explores the question how corporate culture influences the use of artificial intelligence in terms of sustainable development. This type of use includes a normative element and is referred to in the paper as sustainable artificial intelligence (SAI). Based on a bibliometric literature analysis, we identify features of a sustainability-oriented corporate culture. We offer six propositions examining the influence of specific manifestations on the handling of AI in the sense of SAI. Thus, if companies want to ensure that SAI is realized, corporate culture appears as an important indicator and influencing factor at the same time.

Impact of Flow Based Market Coupling on the European Electricity Markets

Flow Based Market Coupling is the target model for determining exchange capacities in the internal European Electricity Market. It has been in operation in Central Western Europe since 2015 and is scheduled to be extended to the wider Core region in the near future. Exchange capacities have a significant impact on market prices, exchanges and the energy mix, thus also determining the CO$${}_{2}$$ 2 footprint of electricity generation in the system. Stakeholders therefore need to develop an understanding for the impact of Flow Based Market Coupling and the parameter choice, like the minimum exchange capacities introduced in 2020, on the market outcome. This article presents a framework to model Flow Based Market Coupling and analyse the impact of different levels of regulatory induced minimum trading capacities as well as the effect of the extension towards the Core region. Electricity prices, exchange positions and the number and nature of binding constraints in the market results under different market coupling scenarios are investigated. The results show that increased level of minimum trading capacities in CWE market coupling decrease the German net export position by up to 7 TW h or 23%, while French exports increase by up to 10 TW h or 9%. The different transfer capacity in the scenarios induce a price difference of up to 13%. Increased exchange capacities allow for more base load generation with the corresponding effects for the CO$${}_{2}$$ 2 emissions of the system. The nature of coupling constraints is highly dynamic and dependent on the system state, which makes the suitability of static NTC values in energy system scenarios questionable.

Energetischer Aufwand der Bereitstellung von Primärkupfer für Deutschland

ZusammenfassungDie geologisch verfügbare Menge an Metallen wie Kupfer wird kontrovers diskutiert. Die Rohstoffpolitik sollte sich besser am eigentlich einschränkenden Faktor, der erforderlichen Energie zur Rohstoffbereitstellung, statt an dieser spekulativen Diskussion orientieren. Dazu ist ein Verständnis des energetischen Aufwands und seiner Einflussfaktoren unerlässlich. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein generisches Modell der Kupfergewinnung vorgestellt und der kumulierte Energieaufwand (KEA) sowie das Treibhausgaspotential (GWP) der Primärkupferbereitstellung für Deutschland ermittelt. Der mittels des Modells berechnete KEA beträgt 40 MJ/kg Cu, das GWP 3,3 kg CO2-Äq/kg Cu. Eine detaillierte Betrachtung zeigt, dass KEA und GWP des importierten Kupfers abhängig von der Bezugsquelle deutlich variieren. Die Bezugsquelle und die mit ihr einhergehenden geologischen und technischen Parameter stellen somit wichtige Einflussfaktoren hinsichtlich des energetischen Aufwands und der Emission von Treibhausgasen dar. Neben den Bezugsquellen spielt auch die Art des importierten Guts, d. h. Kupferkonzentrat oder Kupferkathode, eine Rolle. Der Transportaufwand ist beim Import von Kupferkonzentrat aufgrund dessen geringen Metallgehalts deutlich höher. Unter gleichen technischen Voraussetzungen ist es daher sinnvoll, dass die metallurgische Behandlung möglichst in der Nähe der Minen stattfindet. Dies gilt es jedoch im Einzelfall und unter Berücksichtigung weiterer z. B. rohstoffpolitischer Aspekte zu prüfen.

Treiber und Hemmnisse betrieblicher Effizienzmaßnahmen – Vernetzung als Erfolgsfaktor

ZusammenfassungProduzierende Unternehmen können durch betriebliche Effizienzmaßnahmen einerseits einen Beitrag zur Minderung des Klimawandels leisten und andererseits ökonomische Vorteile generieren. Hinsichtlich Energieeffizienz wurde bereits umfangreich bestätigt, dass verschiedene Hemmnisse die Umsetzung von Maßnahmen verhindern. Als Gegenstück wurden Treiber ausgemacht, die Energieeffizienzmaßnahmen begünstigen. Bezüglich Materialeffizienz sind solche Untersuchungen noch selten, dennoch kann auch hier von Treibern und Hemmnissen ausgegangen werden. Da Energie- und Materialeffizienz im betrieblichen Kontext nicht strikt getrennt werden können und sich oft bedingen, stellt sich die Frage, welche Unterschiede es zwischen beiden Bereichen hinsichtlich Treibern und Hemmnissen gibt und wie sich diese bei Ressourceneffizienzmaßnahmen, die beide Bereiche kombinieren, verhalten. Anhand von Erkenntnissen hierzu können geeignete Strategien entwickelt werden. Daher wurden erfolgreich umgesetzte Energieeffizienz- und Materialeffizienzmaßnahmen sowie Maßnahmen, die in beiden Bereichen zu Steigerungen führten, hinsichtlich ihrer Treiber und Hemmnisse untersucht und verglichen. Hierfür wurde eine qualitative Inhaltsanalyse von Fallbeispielbeschreibungen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich die Hemmnisse der untersuchten Beispiele hinsichtlich der Effizienzbereiche nicht wesentlich unterscheiden, wohl aber die Treiber. So waren für alle Effizienzbereiche ökonomische Vorteile ausschlaggebend, Material- und Ressourceneffizienzmaßnahmen waren zudem stark von ökologischen Bestrebungen getrieben. Vernetzung innerhalb der Unternehmen und entlang der Wertschöpfungskette, die hauptsächlich in Studien zu Materialeffizienz als Treiber thematisiert wurde, erwies sich in den Beispielen für alle Effizienzbereiche als wichtiger Erfolgsfaktor.

Automatic energy demand and system simulation at district level

The importance of climate protection and sustainability is steadily increasing all over the world. However, there is a large potential for reducing emissions in the heating demand reduction and renewable heat supply of buildings that needs to be addressed. Therefore, a method was developed within the scope of this work that allows local decision-makers such as energy supply companies, project developers and the public sector to calculate, evaluate and compare different scenarios to make buildings and city districts more sustainable based on few and widely available input data. It includes both the determination of the heat demand and measures for its reduction as well as the selection and simulation of centralised and decentralised supply systems. A combination of different methods from the fields of geoinformatics, heuristic decision-making and object-oriented modelling is used. The latter forms a focal point in the work with the development of a data model for energy system components to enable automatic simulation. The applicability as well as the transferability of the method is shown in several case studies. Based on the simulations results, which can be related to CO2 emissions as well as costs, recommendations for the implementation of measures can be given and implemented.The paper is a summary of the dissertation with the title “Automatische Simulation von Wärmebedarf und -versorgung auf Quartiersebene” by the first author at Karlsruhe Institute for Technology.

Eco-efficiency of system alternatives of the urban water-energy-waste nexus

Wastewater systems in developed cities contribute significantly to public health. The related systems are energy and resource intensive and do not recover nutrients in an efficient and effective way. Separating wastewater to greywater and blackwater at the source and exploiting organic municipal solid waste as an additional feed to an adjunct biogas plant could support efforts to make use of the potentials to reduce the environmental impacts, to increase the energy efficiency of winning nutrients, and to implement an additional, locally available energy source. However, the implementation of such systems is seen as expensive.The overarching aim of the paper is to analyze the eco-efficiency of transforming the current separately organized wastewater-energy-waste systems to an integrated one. The study differs between three system alternatives. The least invasive system change assumes a separation of wastewater at the source without a complete overhaul of the current system; the most elaborated one takes the current wastewater system fully out of operation. The reference for the current system is the existing system of a German medium-sized urban neighborhood. The analysis considers the eco-efficiency of two resource-related (fossil and metal depletion) and three emissions-related (climate change, photochemical oxidant formation and terrestrial acidification) impacts.Under the conditions of the settlement investigated, a transformation to the system alternatives will generate in all cases a weak eco-efficiency, i.e. the higher costs of implementing a new system counteracts with the noteworthy environmental improvement. Of the three options, the most elaborated one sees the best performance.

A holistic approach to model electricity loads in cities

Time-resolved, occupancy-dependent electricity load profiles at building level for city quarters or entire cities are important for planning authorities, project developers, utilities or other stakeholders in order to develop energy saving strategies and meet climate targets. Firstly, this information enables a more accurate modelling of renewable energy systems. Secondly, aspects like sector coupling, storage decisions and the impact of technologies such as electric vehicles or heat pumps on the grid can be considered. Thirdly, it allows a more detailed economic analysis. This paper contains the newly added features to the simulation environment SimStadt, which is used for strategic modelling of sustainable urban or regional areas with a spatial resolution at the building level. SimStadt interlinks 3D CityGML models with parameters for buildings physics to simulate energy demands and renewable energy potential. It was enhanced by the development of an electricity load profile generator with variable resolution and the addition of an hourly resolved PV potential analysis including a variable economic analysis. This enables e.g. the evaluation of photovoltaic potential with the associated investment, operating and levelized costs over the lifetime of hundreds of individual buildings in parallel. Together with additional electric building demand from heat pumps, electric vehicles or load shifting options through the use of battery storage, it will be possible to assess and compare the feasibility, benefits and economic viability of energy/electricity-related urban renewal measures in even greater detail and with a holistic perspective. The simulation platform enables the development of granular sustainable urban (sub)strategies and energy concepts through a holistic, time-resolved, building-specific approach to support transformation of the building stock to a sustainable, low-carbon one.

The feasibility of energy autonomy for municipalities: local energy system optimisation and upscaling with cluster and regression analyses

The sheer number of alternative technologies and measures make the optimal planning of energy system transformations highly complex, requiring decision support from mathematical optimisation models. Due to the high computational expenses of these models, only individual case studies are usually examined. In this article, the approach from the author’s PhD thesis to transfer the optimisation results from individual case studies to many other energy systems is summarised. In the first step, a typology of the energy systems to be investigated was created. Based on this typology, representative energy systems were selected and analysed in an energy system optimisation model. In the third step, the results of the representative case studies were transferred to all other energy systems. This approach was applied to a case study for determining the minimum costs of energy system transformation for all 11,131 German municipalities from 2015 to 2035 in the completely energy autonomous case. While a technical potential to achieve energy autonomy is present in 56% of the German municipalities, energy autonomy shows only low economic potential under current energy-political conditions. However, energy system costs in the autonomous case can be greatly reduced by the installation and operation of base-load technologies like deep-geothermal plants combined with district heating networks. The developed approach can be applied to any type of energy system and should help decision makers, policy makers and researchers to estimate optimal results for a variety of energy systems using practical computational expenses.

A survey on the user acceptance of PV battery storage systems

This study presents the results of an analysis of user acceptance of PV battery storage systems. A structural equation model is developed based on Davis’ technology acceptance model (TAM). It is expanded by integrating elements of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB). The main factors influencing the acceptance of PV battery storage systems are evaluated and analyzed. Empirical findings indicate that survey participants’ acceptance of PV battery storage systems is mainly influenced by their behavioral beliefs, perceived knowledge about battery storage systems, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness of PV battery storage systems. The results indicate a high degree of acceptance for PV battery storage systems.