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Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 41340

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alessandra Scognamiglio

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Guest Editor

Renewable Energy Technologies, Photovoltaic Division, Innovative devices laboratory, ENEA Research Center, 80055 Portici NA, Italy
Interests: transdisciplinarity; design for social acceptance; Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV); Landscape Integrated Photovoltaics (LIPV); food-space-energy nexus; agrivoltaics; net zero energy buildings

Prof. Agatino Rizzo

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Guest Editor

Architecture Research Group, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea 97187, Sweden
Interests: design-thinking; resourceful urbanism; urban planning; urban-energy transition; transdisciplinarity

Dr. Paolo Picchi

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Guest Editor

Research Group High Density Energy Landscapes, Academy of Architecture, Amsterdam University of the Arts, 1011 PG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Interests: renewable energy landscapes; energy communities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

While central governments work on strategies to pursue sustainable development goals (UN DESA, 2019), local governments aim to increase capacity building to put in practice new directives and objectives through concrete planning and design solutions.

Research into energy transition from carbon to renewable energy sources points to the importance, and possible conflicts, of enlarging the footprint of renewable energy generators into the public space.

The future planning of our cities will require a greater sensibility to innovative design thinking for the integration and occupation of space by ever more present photovoltaic modules, microturbines, heat pumps, electric networks, storage sites. etc.

However, the current planning system is ill-equipped to this task while there are many issues related to the public opposition to the visual, sound, and space impacts of renewables. Capacity building is frequently slowed-down by the fragmentation of local governments into different departments, leading to a separation of competences and decrease of communication. The pursuit of sustainability goals, however, requires inter/transdisciplinarity and knowledge exchange, and this claims for new approaches, such as the organization of workshops for civil servants for capacity building.

The design thinking process has to deal at once with the triple issue of making public space accessible to all, while generating energy for the public. We would like to discuss how integrated urban design with renewable energy systems can contribute to re-imaging the future public space. Some questions to be explored are: how to design new concepts for public spaces, that couple the energy generation function with other, new functions, that are people-oriented? How to involve the citizens in the process of producing the energy they need in a socially and economically sustainable way while preserving the living environment? Are there cases where creative ways of thinking have been applied to couple energy communities with community gardens and citizens urban spaces reclamation? To what extent and through what means are public administrations increasing capacity building?

(1) Outline the overall

a. The focus is the link between urban design and planning visions and approaches to build up a sustainable vision for the energy transition

b. In a social constructivist scope we want to link the energy transition challenge to social needs because we believe that a socio-technical approach can speed economic transformation better than a purely technical approach.

c. The purpose of the special issue is collecting interdisciplinary studies that tackle the energy transition challenge upon which it is possible to develop a transdisciplinary integrated design approach.

(2) Suggest how the issue will usefully supplement (relate to) existing literature. There is a lot of research on the technical aspects of the energy transition but not so much studies focus on the innovative integration of these technologies in cities through design thinking and co-creation. Very few studies report on how design thinking can be applied to increase capacity building through a workshop for civil servants in adult learning processes. Indeed we need innovative design thinking, but we need this is shared between public administrations and private citizens (public-private projects; public projects with strong participatory bases) and initiatives which will be according to EU directives even more responsible in the future to foster the energy transition.

Dr. Alessandra Scognamiglio
Prof. Agatino Rizzo
Dr. Paolo Picchi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

energy transition
urban spaces
high density landscapes
energy communities
energy-space nexus
capacity building
public administrations

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Regional Strategy, Municipality Plans and Site Designs for Energy Transition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands: How Sustainable Are Implementation Processes on Different Spatial Levels?

by Paolo Picchi, Dirk Oudes and Sven Stremke

Sustainability 2023, 15(7), 5876; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075876 - 28 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1483

Abstract

Energy transition has a prominent role in 21st-century urban agendas. Worldwide, cities pursue the local implementation of international, national and regional agendas aiming at a sustainable energy transition. Landscape integration, multifunctionality and community participation are three of the key concepts here. These concepts are interpreted differently across the different spatial levels. The object of this paper is to analyse the application of the three sustainability concepts at the regional, local and site levels for the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The results show that the degree of implementation of the concepts depends on what factors are considered important at each spatial level. At the regional and local levels, landscape integration with regards to social factors such as finances and co-ownership drive successful implementation, thanks to the organisation of effective participatory processes. At the site level, landscape integration and multifunctionality with regards to spatial factors such as the ecological, recreational and historical landscape factors drive successful implementation through effective landscape design activities. However, the sustainability of the energy transition implementation process is affected by a lack of social-ecological systems thinking. Participation processes—if present—focus either on social or spatial factors but fail to interconnect them. The regional and local levels that currently demonstrate major abstraction and separation of social and spatial factors would benefit from effective exchange with the site level. At that scale, design activities are the arena to combine and reconcile social and spatial factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues)

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31 pages, 13617 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Solar Typologies: A Comparative Analysis of Urban Form and Solar Potential

by Simone Giostra, Gabriele Masera and Rafaella Monteiro

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9023; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159023 - 22 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2205

Abstract

Efficient use of energy in the construction sector is a pillar of the European Union’s 2050 climate protection goals, yet legislation makes no explicit reference to urban morphology or building form, which are recognized as key to energy performance in buildings. Rapidly changing energy standards and new requirements for on-site energy production demand a vigorous scrutiny of established urban typologies that are largely the product of an older energy regime. The research explores a set of 312 building shapes with floor-to-area ratio (FAR) of 3 within a given plot to identify emerging trends, ranges, and correlations between geometric variables, visual comfort, and energy indicators. Cases are grouped and evaluated in relation to three main urban typologies to highlight unique features related to each typology. The paper also compares two groups of results related to passive and active solar potential, respectively, to identify formal traits that are specific to each of these two design strategies. Finally, the research ranks design options based on total energy use taking into account the energy need for artificial lighting as well as contributions from both passive energy savings and active energy production. Results show that energy demand across cases varies by a factor 2 for passive strategies and a factor 5 when active potential is considered based on shape alone. Best results are clearly positioned at the two extremes of the geometric and proportional range. On the one hand, low-rise compact bar and courtyard buildings that are perhaps most prevalent in our cities today may be effectively retrofitted to meet active energy targets. On the other hand, extremely tall and slim towers appear to be the only typology in the study with the potential to achieve zero-energy status by virtue of their form alone. The work sheds light on the formal implications of EU energy mandates and offers a glimpse of how buildings may adapt to the combined selective pressures of high on-site energy fraction and low energy use to shape our future cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues)

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18 pages, 1575 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Conceptual Approach to the Stakeholder Mapping of Energy Lab in Poor Urban Settings

by Xue-Qing Chen and Josephine K. Musango

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6233; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106233 - 20 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2172

Abstract

Various efforts are presently being undertaken to set up and maintain open, inclusive, participatory, and transparent processes, whilst at the same time, strengthening stakeholder partnerships in implementing SDGs remains a challenge. This paper enriched the discussion of multi-stakeholder approaches through a dynamic multi-level system view of stakeholder mapping, along with important theoretical frameworks and key empirical results to tackle the lack of security of energy services in poor urban settings. The study attempted to develop comprehensive cases for Africa-based experiences of the pilot project launched through a set-up of an energy living lab in the Groenheuwel community, as well as achieve an improved understanding of social-technical benefits of gendered energy security and innovative solutions at the household level. The contents are two-fold. The first part assesses the theoretical models available for stakeholders and outcome mapping. The second part focuses on the preliminary identification of stakeholders and their primary interests at all levels. The results of this study found that the energy living lab in poor urban settings recognised the importance of stakeholder mapping and the development of new solutions. Findings indicated that all stakeholders should support the government in the development of policies and strategies. Findings also suggested that key players should proactively agree and negotiate with the local government on energy outcome measures. It was also found that multi-stakeholder involvement improved transparency and accountability for decision making. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues)

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31 pages, 6223 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards the Energy Transition of the Building Stock with BIPV: Innovations, Gaps and Potential Steps for a Widespread Use of Multifunctional PV Components in the Building Envelope

by Valeria D’Ambrosio, Mario Losasso and Enza Tersigni

Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12609; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212609 - 15 Nov 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1835

Abstract

The scenario that emerges from scientific research on the use of BIPV systems in architecture shows that photovoltaic technologies and systems have reached a significant development in production and installation, becoming a strategic approach in the field of energy efficiency and enabling a progressive decarbonisation of the building stock. Still, knowledge and methods of architectural integration are not fully developed, especially in Italy. The present paper reports the results of a research activity that, systematising the main criteria and indicators for assessing the integrability of BIPVs in architecture, has led to the development of BIPV Product and Case Study Catalogues that define an up-to-date state of the art on aspects of design and technological innovation using BIPV systems and components. Catalogues have been created with the objective of contributing to the growth of knowledge on the most up-to-date methods of design by implementing a ‘technology transfer’ from good practice, in which photovoltaic systems are an integral part of the design concept and construction techniques of the architecture. The analysis related to the production of BIPV systems and components and their application in architectural projects allows one to highlight the main critical factors in the diffusion throughout the country and to identify the main research demand arising from the specific national situation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues)

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38 pages, 10114 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Trans-Disciplinary Vocabulary for Assessing the Visual Performance of BIPV

by Alessandra Scognamiglio

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5500; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105500 - 14 May 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2813

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that the visual dimension of photovoltaics (PV) is fundamental for social acceptance. In this sense, the so-called Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) is a possible catalyzer, as PV is hidden (integrated) into building envelope morphologies that are familiar to the public. It is crucial to be able to design and assess a BIPV system so that its visual performance is optimal. Many studies exist in this regard, but still they do not deliver a clear theoretical organization of the concepts used for defining the visual performance of BIPV. This paper elaborates a trans-disciplinary systemic formalization of BIPV and proposes a vocabulary focusing on the formal perception of BIPV as a part of the building’s envelope system. The proposed vocabulary is based on a set of 11 visual keywords; as the proposed method unifies the formal and the cognitive information contents. It will facilitate the dialogue among different stakeholders (e.g., architects, clients, modules manufacturers, and public authorities) and, in general, the visual performance assessment of BIPV. In consequence, it allows for objective comparison and thus informed decision-making. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues)

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Review

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38 pages, 9501 KiB

Open AccessReview

Agrivoltaic Systems Design and Assessment: A Critical Review, and a Descriptive Model towards a Sustainable Landscape Vision (Three-Dimensional Agrivoltaic Patterns)

by Carlos Toledo and Alessandra Scognamiglio

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6871; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126871 - 17 Jun 2021

Cited by 91 | Viewed by 29453

Abstract

As an answer to the increasing demand for photovoltaics as a key element in the energy transition strategy of many countries—which entails land use issues, as well as concerns regarding landscape transformation, biodiversity, ecosystems and human well-being—new approaches and market segments have emerged that consider integrated perspectives. Among these, agrivoltaics is emerging as very promising for allowing benefits in the food–energy (and water) nexus. Demonstrative projects are developing worldwide, and experience with varied design solutions suitable for the scale up to commercial scale is being gathered based primarily on efficiency considerations; nevertheless, it is unquestionable that with the increase in the size, from the demonstration to the commercial scale, attention has to be paid to ecological impacts associated to specific design choices, and namely to those related to landscape transformation issues. This study reviews and analyzes the technological and spatial design options that have become available to date implementing a rigorous, comprehensive analysis based on the most updated knowledge in the field, and proposes a thorough methodology based on design and performance parameters that enable us to define the main attributes of the system from a trans-disciplinary perspective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Transition and Cities: Renewable Energy Storage, Production and Social Issues)

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