Energy transition in the neighborhood: with climate-positive neighborhoods

Difficult political dependencies, far-reaching climate change, declining availability of raw materials – many factors are pushing for radical change in the energy sector in order to reduce costs, resource consumption and emissions. The energy consumption of cities plays a central role in this. Looking at the energy management of individual buildings is not enough for sustainable change: current concepts therefore focus on district planning. This also includes “positive energy districts”: climate-positive neighborhoods that have an annual net zero energy import and zero CO₂ emissions through technological networking between buildings, users and regional energy, mobility and ICT systems – and are even intended to achieve surplus production of renewable energies. The smart use of urban data also contributes to this. But how will this work? Are there already examples?

Cities are the black sheep when it comes to energy consumption: they are responsible for more than two thirds of energy consumption and over 70% of global CO2 emissions. Logical – after all, this is where the majority of the human population lives. If the energy transition is to be tackled, then the first effective place to start is where many people live together. At the same time, long-term change in the energy sector can only be brought about from several sides at once: Socio-economic, technological, ecological, political, as well as institutional factors must be included.

As part of a holistic urban strategy, the concept of Positive Energy Districts (climate-positive neighborhoods, PEDs for short) was therefore developed. They emerged from earlier concepts of comparable importance: these include (net) zero-energy buildings, nearly zero-energy buildings, climate-positive neighborhoods and energy-neutral districts. What these concepts have in common is the goal that a building, a neighborhood or an entire district can cover its energy needs from cost-effective, locally available and environmentally friendly renewable sources.

The first attempt at a general definition of such districts was undertaken by the PED Program Management of the JPI Urban Europe ventured. The definition of the program not only talks about an algorithm for calculating energy input and output, but also sets a framework that outlines three key requirements of climate-positive districts in the context of their respective urban and regional energy systems, which vary greatly depending on the city or municipality. The first requirement is that PEDs should only rely on renewable energy; this is one of their most important contributions to climate neutrality. Secondly, they should make energy efficiency one of their priorities in order to make the best use of available renewable energy. Thirdly, as urban areas are inevitably among the largest energy consumers, a PED must operate in a way that is optimal for its own energy system (energy flexibility).

From European sub-projects to Europe-wide effects

As part of its contribution to climate neutrality, the European Union (EU) has set itself the goal of building one hundred energy-positive districts in European countries by 2025 as part of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan. This involves both the design of new neighborhoods and innovations in existing urban districts. The public sector will tackle this together with industry – with the active participation of the local civilian population. Twenty countries are currently taking part in the initiative.

The Joint Program Initiative Urban Europe (JPI-UE) has also published a brochure with the most advanced European PED projects as well as projects with PED-related objectives.

The pioneering countries in PED implementation are the Scandinavian countries with the most projects. In 2020, for example, Finland implemented “Smart Energy Aland”, an energy-efficient, carbon-free and climate-neutral neighborhood in the Aland region. The archipelago benefits from its wind and solar conditions, which have enabled the installation of efficient solar systems and a wind farm within this framework.

The European Union’s current efforts are aimed at rolling out such projects and reducing emissions across the board. Various technologies play an important role here. But where does data usage come into play?

Data for efficient management – even in sustainable neighborhoods

Data has a fundamental function in climate-positive districts – because without data generation, processing and exchange, there can be no efficient energy management. The functionality of PEDs is based on the use of data-based technologies such as artificial intelligence, visualization of processes, geo-information systems, blockchain and others. Urban data is used in various functions to the application. This includes…

• …the management of energy systems. Highly complex and interactive energy systems, such as those needed for PEDs, cannot be operated manually: This requires intelligent support from smart technologies that, among other things, optimize the various energy flows and connect and balance local requirements – from heating systems to e-charging stations.
• …operation in the context of the local energy market. Numerous PED projects are experimenting with the development of local energy communities or energy exchange platforms using blockchain technologies, for example.
• …citizen participation. By processing and visualizing data, PED projects can be made tangible for citizens and residents can be directly involved. This also makes results more transparent. Gamification techniques can also be used to encourage consumers to become more energy efficient – for example, by setting targets and creating incentives.
• …Digital twins and visual 3D models. Digital models can be used to simulate processes, situations and their consequences on the basis of data in order to draw conclusions and take measures.

Interoperability and integration capability of the technological infrastructure are of central importance for all these functions in PEDs. Numerous systems come together there: for example, control systems from different providers in different buildings in different locations. owners and different energy companies. Ideally, the solutions developed should also work in new contexts. Standardized data usage for effective collaboration is important for this and can already be defined by the cities in tenders.

When we talk about technological infrastructure, we are of course referring to the Urban Data Platform. DKSR will therefore also be involved in a major EU project for the development of PEDs in several European cities in the coming year.

ASCEND project: Scaling energy-positive neighborhoods

The ASCEND (“Accelerate PoSitive Clean ENergy Districts”) project pursues two major goals: To make cities healthier and more resource-efficient – and to develop, accelerate and scale up an intelligent and sustainable system for positive energy districts to achieve this. 39 partner organizations and cities are working together to build two climate-positive districts in the lighthouse cities of Lyon and Munich. To this end, six transferable solution packages are being developed and implemented, which in turn will also be used in the other European consortium cities of Alba Iulia, Budapest, Charleroi, Porto, Prague and Stockholm.

 

DKSR plays a major role in two of the solution packages: firstly in the development of digital infrastructure and tools for flexible energy systems, and secondly in the establishment of so-called energy communities that share energy and balance demand among themselves. Within this framework, the project team will look at the digital pillars of climate-positive districts and create a model for cities that want to implement their own PEDs based on open standards, interoperability and data sovereignty. In addition, DKSR will create a reference model for local energy communities and develop machine learning models for energy efficiency.

The urban data platform also plays an important role in the overall project, as it also serves as an infrastructure for monitoring the project KPIs and key figures, processing and providing real-time data from and for all of the project’s neighborhoods.

Climate-positive solutions: Soon available for many

Probably the best part of the project is that the solutions will be developed in a scalable way for other cities and municipalities – and can be adopted. To make them easily accessible, DKSR will make them available to core members of the Urban Data Community via the web portal DKSR.square and the community Github: On Square you will find the project with all information already!

Do you have questions about energy-positive neighborhoods or the ASCEND project? Please contact our consultant Laura Dieguez!