Energiewende im Unternehmen

Die Energiewende in den Unternehmen wird bestimmt von gesetzlichen Vorgaben, vom „Business Case“ und der persönlichen Werthaltung einzelner Unternehmer/innen. Wir haben untersucht, ob und wie auch ganz normale Mitarbeiter/innen, Initiativen für die Energiewende am Arbeitsplatz entwickel

Assessing the potential contribution of excess heat from biogas plants towards decarbonising German residential heating

This paper analyses the current technical potential for utilising excess heat from German biogas plants, in order to supply local settlements through district heating. Based on a survey of around 600 biogas plant operators, the fractions of excess heat in these plants are analysed. A heuristic is developed to match biogas plants (heat sources) with local settlements (sinks) in order to determine a least-cost district heating supply for residential buildings. Two criteria are employed, namely the CO2 abatement costs and the payback period, which represent the macro- and microeconomic perspectives respectively. Based on the survey, a mean fraction of 40% excess heat is determined, which is in agreement with other empirical studies. Extrapolating this fraction to the German biogas plant stock leads to technically feasible CO2 savings of around 2.5 MtCO2/a. Employing the criteria of CO2 abatement costs and payback period yields about 2 MtCO2/a below CO2 abatement costs of 200 €/tCO2 and below a payback period of 9 years respectively. This represents about 0.25% of the total German CO2 emissions in 2016 or around 2.5% of all CO2 in residential buildings. If threshold values of 80 €/tCO2 and 5 years are employed, to reflect the German government’s suggested external cost of carbon and an expected payback period from an investor’s point of view respectively, the carbon reduction potential is about 0.5 MtCO2 and 0.75 MtCO2 respectively. These potentials are concentrated in around 3,500 of 11,400 municipalities, where district heating from biogas plants could reduce CO2 emissions per capita by an average of 250 kgCO_2/a and cover 12% of the total heating demand

Energieautarkie: Definitionen, Für- bzw. Gegenargumente, und entstehende Forschungsbedarfe

Ambitionierte europäische und nationale Zielvorgaben in der Energiepolitik führen in den letzten Jahren zu einem Umbruch der Energiewirtschaft, der vor allem durch den Ausbau von erneuerbaren Energien geprägt ist. Die Charakteristika dieser Energieträger bedingen, dass ihre Erschließung wenigstens teilweise dezentral erfolgen muss. Der Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien ist somit stark lokal und regional geprägt, wie z.B. in Deutschland durch die hohe Investition privater Personen in erneuerbare Energieanlagen und der Trend der Bürgerenergie deutlich wird. Das Letztgenannte resultiert aus diversen sozioökonomischen Motivationen wie dem Bedürfnis, eine aktive Rolle in der Energieversorgung zu übernehmen und sich unabhängiger von zentralen Strukturen zu machen. Der Begriff der Energieautarkie hat sich in diesem Kontext etabliert und Forschungsfragen aufgeworfen, von denen dieser Beitrag einigen nachgeht. Die Ziele dieses Artikels sind, die sozialen und ökonomischen Motive der Akteure sowie die technischen Für- und Gegenargumente für Energieautarkie zu identifizieren und zu hinterfragen. Dabei werden Definitionen und Bewertungsmethoden diskutiert und konkrete Forschungsbedarfe abgeleitet. Die Auswertung zeigt einen mangelnden Konsens in der Literatur auf, weswegen eine Arbeitsdefinition von Energieautarkie vorgeschlagen wird. Unter den sozialen Motivationen und Voraussetzungen für Energieautarkie werden diverse Aspekte thematisiert und es zeigt sich, dass viele Konsumenten bereit sind, mehr für lokale Energie zu bezahlen. Die techno-ökonomischen Aspekte sind ausschlaggebend: der Grad der möglichen Energieautarkie ist durch die technischen Gegebenheiten bestimmt, insbesondere müssen ausreichende erneuerbare Energien-Potenziale vorhanden sein. Anderseits gibt es drei wesentliche technische Gegenargumente für die Energieautarkie, nämlich der Größendegressionseffekt, der Glättungseffekt und die Versorgungssicherheit. Forschungsbedarfe werden in mehreren Bereichen identifiziert. Empirische Forschung zu der Frage der Übertragbarkeit von Energieautarkie-Ansätzen und standardisierte Rahmenwerke sind notwendig, um die Vergleichbarkeit zwischen und Übertragbarkeit von diversen Projekten zu ermöglichen. Vor allem bei der Erschließung von nachfrageseitigen Potenzialen zur Lastverschiebung und Energieeffizienz scheinen die hier diskutierten Energieautarkieprojekte noch nicht so weit zu sein. Die Eignung und das Zusammenspiel zwischen unterschiedlichen Kommunen sowie die Frage nach dem optimalen Aggregationsgrad sind noch zu klären. Schließlich ergibt sich ein Forschungsbedarf für Bewertungsmethoden und Indikatoren, um Energieautarkie auf der Ebene von einzelnen Kommunen und ihre Auswirkungen auf das übergeordnete Energiesystem flächendeckend zu bewerten

Privates Engagement für erneuerbare Energien in Unternehmen

Das private Engagement für die Energiewende auch am Arbeitsplatz einzubringen, bleibt vielen engagierten Bürgern verwehrt. Barrieren in Unternehmen stehen dem oftmals entgegen. Freiräume zur Gestaltung können ein Weg sein, um grüne Ideen am Arbeitsplatz umzusetzen

Decision-making processes on sustainable packaging options in the European food sector

Food packaging improves shelf life and allows longer transportation distances in global food supply chains, but it is also responsible for huge volumes of waste. The transition to sustainable packaging by food companies has often been slow and inconsistent. How decisions on (sustainable) packaging are made within companies in the food sector remains mostly opaque to research. To explore the decision-making process and identify barriers for cleaner, more resource efficient food packaging, we carried out 17 interviews in four European countries across different food sectors using the theoretical decision-making process of Nutt (1984) as an analytical framework. Through qualitative content analysis, we found that decision-making processes often lack structure and extend over long stretches of time. Frequently, they are initiated in response to packaging material manufacturers or suppliers. Switching to more sustainable packaging often implies costly investments into new machinery. Economic sustainability takes precedence over ecological sustainability. We recommend companies move to life-cycle cost models for packaging decisions, commit to mono- and other recyclable materials, and establish structured decision-making processes with clear cut-off criteria so as to streamline implementation decisions. Our results further support a call for progressive legislation towards a circular economy in the packaging sector.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pricing of Biomethane Products Targeted at Private Households in Germany—Product Attributes and Providers’ Pricing Strategies

In the effort to combat global warming, renewable energies play a key role. However, most efforts are still focused on the electricity market, so renewables remain underrepresented in the heat market. Biomethane derived from biogas is an intriguing option for using renewable energy to generate heat in residential homes. However, biomethane comes at a significantly higher cost than natural gas, meaning providers have to ask a price premium from consumers. Determining a pricing strategy is thus of crucial importance. Besides cost, providers have to consider consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the product. We propose that they could draw on existing research on WTP for green electricity, albeit with some important modifications and scarce research on biomethane. To explore this proposition, we performed a first-of-its-kind analysis of providers’ pricing strategies for biomethane, using both providers’ published data and data provided in response to e-mail queries. Based on the features and prices of 165 biomethane-based gas products for private households in Germany, we find that features that could, according to existing research, elicit a higher WTP are not priced accordingly. As the consumer market for biomethane is still in its early development, our results suggest opportunities for providers to ask higher prices for certain biomethane-based gas products

What Drives Senegalese SMEs to Adopt Renewable Energy Technologies?

Renewable energy technology (RET) can help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies to both meet the need for a stable energy supply and contribute to the fight against climate change. In Senegal, SMEs have the opportunity through RET to become electricity prosumers. Whether it works as such in Senegalese SMEs is one of the questions we were able to address through qualitative interviews with 23 SMEs and 13 experts. Using qualitative content analysis, we examined what factors promote the adoption of RET by these SMEs. We also examined how well the established Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT2) can serve as a guiding framework for this type of investigation. We find that effort expectancy is generally underestimated. Performance expectancy, when high, may influence the adoption process positively, while social influence does not seem to play a role. Both SMEs and experts point to customer service and government support for SMEs adopting RET as important facilitating conditions. The cost of RET is another factor influencing the adoption of these technologies. However, we regard the UTAUT2 as only partially helpful for the Senegalese context, due to the informal sector economy in Senegal. This leads us to add the factors knowledge, communication channels and entrepreneurial orientation. Moreover, we question the unequivocally positive notion of prosumerism for African contexts, as the idea draws its motivating power from a Western mindset

Consumer preferences for renewable gas options: Qualitative insights into the German heating market

One of the key social aspects of renewable energy use is consumer demand. In the residential heating sector, where long-lived fossil-fuel systems are slow to be replaced, consumer demand for drop-in renewable gases like biomethane or Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) could play an important role in short-term decarbonization. As this sector is a major emitter of CO2 in Europe, robust green demand could be key to fulfilling the targets set in the Paris Agreement. Yet existing research focuses on the supply side and technical aspects of renewable gases, leaving the demand side and consumer preferences for these gases largely neglected. To close this gap, we conducted a qualitative study based on two empirical strands: 22 interviews with heating consumers, and a set of interviews and focus groups with 27 industry experts. The study was situated in Germany, which as one of the world’s largest biogas producers is a society with a history of relations with renewable gas technologies. Our results show that choosing a heating option is a low-involvement decision, but one made by a complex calculus where the environmental benefits of renewable gases count positively, but large-scale biogas production and perceived energy crop monocultures count negatively. SNG is still largely unknown and regarded neutrally. Industry experts evaluate voluntary markets for renewable gases as small, cost-driven and made up of consumers weaned on low-cost products. Our results can help policy makers worldwide support voluntary renewable energy markets and provide energy practitioners with approaches to increasing consumer engagement with their product

Towards marketing biomethane in France—French consumers’ perception of biomethane

Abstract Background French energy policy calls for ambitious growth in the biogas sector, with the quantity of biomethane fed into the public grid targeted at 8 TWh per year by 2023. Although today biomethane in France serves predominantly as vehicle fuel, the domestic heating market, with its high share of gas heating, should see biogas growth in the future, provided consumer demand can develop and suppliers can emerge savvy enough to respond to that demand. Methods Towards this end, we conducted qualitative interviews with some mixed-methods elements with French consumers in the South of France to explore their knowledge of and attitudes towards biogas as well as their preferences for specific product features of biomethane-based gas products. Results We found that today’s consumers have little knowledge of biogas production and feel uncertain and doubtful about products. They can name reasons, both environmental and financial, for and against biogas. They favor biomethane products from agricultural residues and biodegradable household waste, rejecting energy crops. In principle, they value local production by small suppliers, find ecolabels helpful, and look favorably upon extra environmental benefits accruing from the sale of biogas. However, consumers labor under misconceptions regarding the costs of biomethane production. Conclusion Crafting communication strategies that address widespread consumer doubt and consumer perceived risk is the challenge suppliers face in order to allow consumers to make a well-based decision