In recent years increasing shares of variable renewable energy sources (RES) have changed the structure of electricity markets especially in Western Europe remarkably. Due to this development, currently, the whole electricity system is at a crucial crossing. On the one hand, the way to a sustainable electricity system based mainly on RES could be paved in the next years. In this context we emphasize especially the considerable price decreases of PV which has brought this technology close to cost-effectiveness on household level. On the other hand, there are forces which try to retain the old centralized fossil and nuclear-based generation planned economies, e.g. France and England.
The core objective of this work is to provide insights how to integrate even larger quantities of variable RES-E into the electricity system by using market-based principles and how, straightforward, a sustainable electricity system could work. This market-based approach should ensure that competitive forces rather governmental interferences shape the future of the energy system and that in principle no comprehensive capacity mechanisms are necessary.
Our major finding is that we suggest a market-based approach to ensure that competitive forces rather than governmental interferences as capacity mechanisms shape the future of the energy system. Most important is to include a broad portfolio of flexibility options to balance variations in residual load. The most important options are:
In addition, to harvest the full potential of flexibilityoptions the links have to be extended to transport and heat Yet, currently the market does not yet provide the proper price signals to trigger these options because today we have actually a very flat and low price curve over a year.
The major conclusions of this analysis are: The transition towards a competitive and sustainable future electricity system will be based on an approach of “new thinking” which is to accept a paradigm shift in the whole electricity system. This includes switching to a more flexible and smarter system allowing a greater scope for demand participation, storage options and other flexibility measures. Developing such a system implies also that no politically motivated capacity mechanisms are needed.
The evolution of such a creative system of integration of RES in Western Europe may also serve as a role model for electricity supply systems largely based on RES in other countries world-wide.
Prof. Reinhard Haas
Vienna University of Technology
Vienna, Austria
Reinhard Haas is university professor of Energy Economics at Vienna University of Technology in Austria. He teaches Energy Economics, Regulation and Competition in Energy markets, and Energy Modeling
His current research focus is on (i) evaluation and modelling of dissemination strategies for renewables; (ii) modelling paths towards sustainable energy systems; (iii) liberalisation vs regulation of energy markets; (iv) energy policy strategies.
He works in these fields since more than 15 years and has published various papers in reviewed international journals. Moreover, he has coordinated and coordinates projects for Austrian institutions as well as the European Commission and the International Energy Agency.
Water resources globally are affected by a complex mixture of stressors resulting from a range of drivers, including urban and agricultural land use, hydropower generation and climate change. Understanding how stressors interfere and impact upon ecological status and ecosystem services is essential for developing effective River Basin Management Plans and shaping future environmental policy. This paper details the nature of these problems for Europe's water resources and the need to find solutions at a range of spatial scales. In terms of the latter, I explain aims and approaches of the EU-funded project MARS (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress) and its conceptual and analytical framework that provide knowledge, understanding and tools needed to address multiple stressors by water mangers and various sectoral developers.
Dr. Lidija Globevnik
TC Vode and University of Ljubljana, Faculty for Civil Engineering and Geodesy
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Dr. Lidija Globevnik basic expertize are river basin management, hydrology, river sediment transport processes and flood risk management. She participate in water management policy cycle in Slovenia and is a president of the Slovenian Water Managers Association. She develops communication methods and tools for work with stakeholders and public. Through the company TC VODE she works for European Environment Agency - European Topic Centre for Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC/ICM Waters). Here she participates in development of European water information system WISE (WISE: http://water.europa.eu/), FLIS programe (Forward Looking Information and Services) and prepares yearly European bathing water quality assessments. As a water resources scientist at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy of the University of Ljubljana she is participating in 7th FP project MARS (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water resources under multiple stress).
“Sustainability” is an issue attracting a lot of attention. Just a quick search on 7 May 2016 in SCOPUS <www.scopus.com> has shown 117,182 publications containing this word. However, looking for both “Sustainability” and “Assessment” in the title and keywords brought just 18,109 papers and the search for “Sustainability” and “Measurement” revealed even less — 3,906 papers dealing with both issues.
It means that just 15.4 % of the papers related to sustainability deal with “Sustainability and Assessment” and only 3.3 % with “Sustainability and Measurement”. Is has been a considerable increase compared with similar time last year, however, it has been still just a fraction of all “sustainability” papers. This has been underlining the importance of the extended effort facilitating works and projects dealing with “Sustainability”, but not only, the research results, which combine also “Sustainability” with “Assessment” and especially “Sustainability” with “Measurement” and of crucial importance.
Various questions have been coming up in relation to sustainability measurement and assessment for an analysed process, production, supply chain etc:
i. How to define sustainability?
ii. How to assess sustainability?
iii. How to measure sustainability?
iv. Should be process specific, local, regional or global sustainability assessed?
v. How to set up a policy for sustainability?
vi. The role of system analysis approach to sustainability?
vii. How can the Environmental Performance Strategy Map help?
viii. How to specify Sustainable Process Index?
ix. Which metrics to use: Environmental/GHGE/Nitrogen/Water or some more/other footprints?
x. What are the lifecycle sustainability aspects?
xi. What is a decision point in sustainability analysis?
xii. How to obtain a sustainable design?
These questions highlight various important problems related to assessing and measuring environmental impact related to sustainability. However, they do not cover all issues related to this topic. With climate change and other negative environmental impacts, there should be an increased interest in measuring and reducing environmental burdens. The question, how to measure and following this to reduce environmental burdens is still waiting for more specific answers. The researchers, organisations, policy-makers, and others are putting efforts to develop concepts and metrics measuring environmental sustainability. The world society needs rather urgently the tools and methods to be further developed, discussed, agreed and as fast as possible implemented.
Amongst those concepts and metrics developed, environmental footprints are gaining increasing popularity and play an ever increasing role in sustainability evaluations and research. Footprints have become ubiquitous for researchers, policy-makers, and the general public. Over the past years, Carbon Footprint, or better Greenhouse Gas Footprint, has been almost the sole environmental protection indicator. Step by step the evaluations have moved to include a variety of other footprints and yet there is no generally accepted footprint or footprint family to be deemed as representative of the overall impact on the environment.
An as-wide-as possible discussion should be initiated in the near future bringing together engineers from different fields—mechanical and electrical, chemists, chemical and power engineers—to mention at least some. Very important and welcome is the involvement of agriculture researchers and practitioners as well as environmentalists. However, sustainability goes well beyond engineering. The human beings should be motivated and directed to the sustainable way of the life. This is the task of humanitarian sciences. That is it not always straightforward as examples of developing countries show—they become richer and the population likes to enjoy as much luxury and advanced life as the countries developed during the previous decades. The author has good and very valuable experience how this synergy can cross-fertilise both sides during his involvement at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at that time UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and technology) <www.tyndall.ac.uk>. The recent research demonstrated that Greenhouse Gas Footprint could be substantially reduced if the population in highly developed countries were ready to change their diet, reducing the consumption of meat.
This presentation has been benefiting from the numerous presentations at SDEWES conferences and from the joint effort of a worldwide team of researchers, who spend considerable effort to find and formulate the answers to as many as possible key questions in the recently published book.
Refrences:
Klemeš J.J. (ed), Assessing and Measuring Environmental Impact and Sustainability, 2015, Elsevier / Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK
Prof. Jiří Jaromír Klemeš
Brno University of Technology - VUT Brno
Brno, Czech Republic
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Cleaner Production. The founder and President for 24 y of PRES (Process Integration for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction) conferences. Chairperson of CAPE Working Party of EFCE, a member of WP on Process Intensification and of the EFCE Sustainability platform. He authored and co-authored more than 700 papers, h-index reaching 65. A number of books published by Elsevier, Woodhead, McGraw-Hill; Ashgate Publishing Cambridge; Springer; WILEY-VCH; Taylor & Francis).
Several times Distinguished Visiting Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and University Technology Petronas, Malaysia; Xi’an Jiaotong University; South China University of Technology, Guangzhou and Tianjin University in China; University of Maribor, Slovenia; Brno University of Technology and the Russian Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Moscow. Doctor Honoris Causa of Kharkiv National University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” in Ukraine, the University of Maribor in Slovenia, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Romania. “Honorary Doctor of Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia”. Awarded with “Honorary Membership of Czech Society of Chemical Engineering", "European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) Life-Time Achievements Award" and "Pro Universitaire Pannonica" Gold Medal.
