Assessing Resource Efficiency of City Neighbourhoods: A Methodological Framework for Structuring and Practical Application of Indicators in Urban Planning

Today, changing framework conditions of living and working in cities drive urban planning processes for refurbishment, notably at the level of neighbourhoods, and provide a window of opportunity to enhance resource efficiency and sustainable urban development. Indicators, as part of sustainability assessment methods, may support the identification of the most beneficial planning alternatives or the selection of measures. However, the fact that a multitude of indicators are proposed in the literature discourages their actual use and hampers a sound application for decision support. To tackle these challenges, a manual has been developed proposing a framework for the use of indicators in urban planning. In this contribution, the theoretical foundations of the proposed framework are analysed. A conceptual outline of the framework is presented, which as its core has a typology of indicators, and its embedding in urban planning processes is discussed. The framework combines a theoretically concise unifying structure with a flexible practical approach for application in diverse areas of resource efficiency. Thus, it shall enhance transparency as well as comparability in the use of indicators, foster communication between stakeholders and in the long run support the application of indicators and use of sustainability assessment methods as regular parts of urban planning

Abandoned agricultural lands in Central and Eastern Europe: biomass production as a sustainable future land management option, and its socio-economic and environmental implications

Following the collapse of the ‘Eastern Bloc’ in 1989, a large area of agricultural land was abandoned in Central and Eastern Europe. This was not only due to the biophysical marginality of the lands but also as a result of comprehensive political, institutional and socio-economic changes during the post-socialist transitions. Since the mid-2000’s the re-cultivation for food crops has already started on some of these lands in Central and Eastern Europe, which indicates potential sustainability challenges. In this context, one of the possible sustainable land management options for abandoned agricultural land is the introduction of a low intensive crop production system such as perennial biomass crops. In a large number of global studies, the use of abandoned agricultural land for biomass production had been suggested to prevent further land use change (LUC) effects due to the expansion of energy crop production worldwide (1)(2). Perennial biomass crops, in particular, are also expected to remedy a number of natural resource management problems such as soil acidification, soil erosion and water quality degradation and to enhance biodiversity in the arable landscape (3). In addition, the production of biomass crops on abandoned agricultural land has potential to create new opportunities for the economically marginal rural regions in Central and Eastern Europe, which are facing serious agricultural decline and the resulting socio-economic challenges. In our research we focused on four countries in Central and Eastern Europe – Ukraine, Romania, Poland and Latvia - to analyse the drivers for land abandonment and the environmental implications, and derived possible land management options for abandoned agricultural land from a literature review. We then suggested the potential land management scenarios of biomass production on these lands using a case study in north-eastern Poland considering the potential trade-offs between socio-economic and environmental effects of the biomass production scenarios

Ökobilanz-Bericht für den Flugzeugvorentwurf von Flugtransportalternativen eines 19-Sitzer Kleinflugzeugs

Life Cycle Assessment of electrified aircraft transportatio

Assessing Resource Efficiency of City Neighbourhoods: A Methodological Framework for Structuring and Practical Application of Indicators in Urban Planning

Today, changing framework conditions of living and working in cities drive urban planning processes for refurbishment, notably at the level of neighbourhoods, and provide a window of opportunity to enhance resource efficiency and sustainable urban development. Indicators, as part of sustainability assessment methods, may support the identification of the most beneficial planning alternatives or the selection of measures. However, the fact that a multitude of indicators are proposed in the literature discourages their actual use and hampers a sound application for decision support. To tackle these challenges, a manual has been developed proposing a framework for the use of indicators in urban planning. In this contribution, the theoretical foundations of the proposed framework are analysed. A conceptual outline of the framework is presented, which as its core has a typology of indicators, and its embedding in urban planning processes is discussed. The framework combines a theoretically concise unifying structure with a flexible practical approach for application in diverse areas of resource efficiency. Thus, it shall enhance transparency as well as comparability in the use of indicators, foster communication between stakeholders and in the long run support the application of indicators and use of sustainability assessment methods as regular parts of urban planning

Hybrid Materials: Still Challenging for Ab Initio Theory?

Hybrid inorganic/organic systems (HIOS) open new avenues for tailoring them with respect to desired features and functions by exploiting the respective advantages of their components. Therefore, these materials are actively explored in many experimental studies and devices. On the theory side, similar investigations are rather scarce as such interfaces, in addition to exhibiting large unit cells, require highest-level theories to be described reliably. Consequently, hybrid materials pose a challenge for electronic structure theory, starting from density-functional theory to methods beyond, particularly many-body perturbation theory. This concerns both conceptual aspects and computational bottlenecks. In this perspective, the performance of state-of-the-art theoretical approaches applied to HIOS is summarized, mainly focusing on optoelectronic properties. Recent achievements, open challenges, and urgent needs are addressed.Peer Reviewe

How Much Excess Heat Might Be Used in Buildings? A Spatial Analysis at the Municipal Level in Germany

Excess heat can make an important contribution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the heating and cooling sector. Due to the local character of heat, the local excess heat potential is decisive for using excess heat. However, the spatially distributed potential and the subdivision of the potential into different subsectors have not been sufficiently investigated in Germany. Here we analyse the excess heat potential in Germany according to different subsectors and spatially distributed to the municipal level. We use data of more than 115,000 records on exhaust gas and fuel input from over 11,000 industrial sites. We calculate the site-specific excess heat potential and check its plausibility using the fuel input of the respective industrial sites. Finally, we compare the excess heat potential with the residential heat demand at the municipal level. Our results show that the excess heat potential in Germany is about 36.6 TWh/a, and that in 148 municipalities, the annual excess heat potential is greater than 50% of the annual heat demand. In conclusion, there is a large potential for excess heat utilisation in Germany. In some regions, more excess heat is available throughout the year than is needed to provide space heat and hot water