SolutionBundles - City Panel
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Created on January 16, 2024
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NetZeroCities Solution Bundles
Authors: Net Zero Cities Consortium, "Solution Bundles", 2023. Design: Andrea Gabaldón, Rosalía Simón, Ana Belén Gómez and Carolina PastorThis project has received funding from the innovation programe under grant agreement nº101036519
NetZeroCities Solution Bundles
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To address complex urban problems, cities require a multi-lever approach that goes beyond any single solution. This means that several solutions across levers (bundling policies, social innovations, financing instruments, etc.) can more effectively tackle complex issues that require a range of (technical) interventions. Bundles of solutions can reinforce interconnections and underpin synergies, creating a more comprehensive and effective approach. Finally, bundles of solutions can lead to greater stakeholder engagement and participation in problem-solving, as by involving different actors in the process, more inclusive and effective solutions can be addressed.
Help
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
E-mobility & Electrification
Press bottom to know more about each of them. When you are ready, select one (by clicking to the boxes) to visualize how the bundling of solutions could look like.
Back
Hereafter you can find the 4 main solution bundles. This is a beta version of the Solution Bundles tool, and currently, only two bundles have complete functions:
- E-mobility & Electrification
- Carbon capture, storage & removal
NetZeroCities Solution Bundles
Help
WS
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
E-mobility & Electrification
Back
Hereafter you can find the four main solution bundles. Press bottom to know more about each of them. When you are ready, select one (by clicking to the boxes) to visualize how the bundling of solutions could look like.
NetZeroCities Solution Bundles
E-mobility & Electrification
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Share with your team!
Empty template
Complete template
Reduction of energy & resources needs
NetZeroCities Solution BundlesWorkshop Templates
NetZeroCities Solution BundlesHow to USE
Share with your team!
- Press bottom to know more about each of the solutions.
- Press check boxes to filter part of the solutions that are not interesting for you.
Back
Handbook
- This tool offers dynamic and interactive visualizations of city systems, providing stakeholders with a clear and engaging overview of complex concepts (such as, ways of achieving electrification or carbon capture).
- Harness the power of collaborative learning by using our tool and engage with stakeholders in Workshops.
- Through shared visualizations, we can collectively deepen our understanding of city challenges and brainstorm innovative solutions.
NetZeroCities Solution BundlesHandbook Video
Back
Help
WORK IN PROGRESS
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Reduction of energy & resources needs
E-mobility & Electrification
Circular Economy
Behaviour change
Efficient design
Help
Reduction of energy & resources needs
WORK IN PROGRESS
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Digital Solutions
Green energy
Stationary energy
E-mobility & Electrification
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Capabilities
Policy & governance
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Waterfront
Sustainable agriculture
Pollinators
Green urban areas
Wetlands
Carbon Sequestration
Sustainable pavements
Soil Filter
Help
Urban water grid
Industry carbon emissions
Building carbon emissions
Vertical Green Infrastructure
Passive house
Water course measures
Water optimisation
Shading measures
Heat Island reduction
CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
E-mobility & Electrification
Reduction of emissions
Carbon capture
Nature-based Solutions
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Capabilities
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Policy & governance
Help
Sustainable agriculture
Green urban areas
Carbon Sequestration
Soil Filter
Industry carbon emissions
Building carbon emissions
Vertical Green Infrastructure
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Passive house
Shading measures
CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
E-mobility & Electrification
Reduction of emissions
Carbon capture
Nature based Solutions
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Capabilities
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Help
Policy & governance
Wetlands
Waterfront
Pollinators
Sustainable pavements
Urban water grid
Industry carbon emissions
Building carbon emissions
Passive house
Water course measures
Water optimisation
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Heat Island reduction
E-mobility & Electrification
Reduction of emissions
Carbon capture
Nature based Solutions
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Capabilities
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Help
Wetlands
Waterfront
Sustainable agriculture
Pollinators
Green urban areas
Carbon Sequestration
Sustainable pavements
Policy & governance
Soil Filter
Urban water grid
Vertical Green Infrastructure
Water course measures
Water optimisation
Shading measures
Heat Island reduction
CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
E-mobility & Electrification
Reduction of emissions
Carbon capture
Nature-based Solutions
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Capabilities
Help
Policy & governance
Wetlands
Waterfront
Pollinators
Sustainable pavements
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Urban water grid
Water course measures
Water optimisation
Heat Island reduction
Reduction of emissions
E-mobility & Electrification
Carbon capture
Nature based Solutions
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Capabilities
Help
Policy & governance
Sustainable agriculture
Green urban areas
Carbon Sequestration
Soil Filter
Vertical Green Infrastructure
Shading measures
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
Reduction of emissions
E-mobility & Electrification
Carbon capture
Nature based Solutions
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Finance and Business Models
Tools
Capabilities
Policy & governance
Help
Industry carbon emissions
Building carbon emissions
Passive house
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Reduction of emissions
E-mobility & Electrification
Carbon capture
Nature based Solutions
E-mobility & Electrification
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Finance and Business Models
Help
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Culture, social innovation & participation
Capabilities
District Heating
Policy & governance
Energy
Mobility and transport
Mobility and transport
Reduction of energy & resources needs
Help
E-mobility & Electrification
Finance and Business Models
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Culture, social innovation & participation
Capabilities
District Heating
Policy & governance
Energy
Reduction of energy & resources needs
E-mobility & Electrification
Help
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Culture, social innovation & participation
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Finance and Business Models
Capabilities
Policy & governance
District Heating
Energy
Mobility and transport
Reduction of energy & resources needs
E-mobility & Electrification
Finance and Business Models
Help
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Culture, social innovation & participation
Capabilities
District Heating
Energy
Policy & governance
Mobility and transport
Reduction of energy & resources needs
E-mobility & Electrification
Help
Finance and Business Models
Carbon capture, storage & removal
Low-carbon energy via sector coupling
Culture, social innovation & participation
Capabilities
District Heating
Energy
Policy & governance
Mobility and transport
- Bioretention Areas
- Green filter area
Green Filter area. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Soil Filter
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: www.mysmartlife.eu
Energy - Smart street lighting
Smart street lighting is characterised by the fact that the individual light point not only fulfills the function of the lighting, but also offers additional services for citizens such as environmental monitoring (noise and air quality), or public Wi-Fi improvement among others. Furthermore, it can integrate photovoltaic panels, reducing electricity consumption.
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Green noise barriers
Vertical mobile gardens
Green walls and green façades
Green fences
Green living walls. Source: https://citygreen.com
Zagreb, Croatia. ProGIreg. Source: https://progireg.eu
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Building envelope solutions
Carbon capture - Vertical Green Infrastructure
Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Storm water channels
Retention pond. Source: http://winnipeg.ca
Storm water retenetion. Source: https://www.terraforce.com
Nature based Solutions - Urban water grid
Water interventions
Definition of data driven agroforestry. Source: Ramil, Elisa & Holland, John & Anagnostou, Dimitris & Brown, Keith & Desmulliez, M.P.Y.. (2022). A review of agroforestry, precision agriculture, and precision livestock farming—The case for a data-driven agroforestry strategy. Frontiers in Sensors. 3.
- Urban farming
- Community composting
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
- Agroforestry
Carbon capture - Sustainable agriculture
Passive building design strategies: building orientation, passive heating and cooling
Improvement of energy efficiency by active and passive solutions in buildings
Joinery for low-energy houses or passive houses
Passive building solutions
Passive house solutions. Source: https://www.zestarchitecture.com
Building envelope solutions
Reduction of emissions - Passive house
Sensible thermal energy storage
Thermochemical thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage used in district heating and cooling effectively decouples demand from supply, allowing energy to be stored on a seasonal basis. District heating already incorporates sensible heat technologies such as tanks and underground storage (boreholes). The latter ones, are known as seasonal heat storage technologies and seasonal heat storage allow heat delivery to residential areas by thermal heat networks to make much better use of regional sustainable heat sources, thereby reducing the need for fossil fuels for peak demand.Thermal energy storage can store heat through a causing a chemical reaction, which usually takes place in a reversible process (thermochemical energy storage); or by changing the temperature of a material without undergoing a phase change (Sensible thermal energy storage). Even Sensible thermal energy storage is more commonly used, thermochemical energy storage can generally store more energy and for longer time periods.
Energy loop - Thermal energy storage (TES)
Decarbonisation Plans for Industry
CASOH pilot at ArcelorMittal's plant. Source: https://c4u-project.eu
C4U project
SEWGS image. Source: https://www.stepwise.eu
STEPWISE project
HeidelbergCement's Hanover cement plant. Source: https://www.heidelbergmaterials.com
LEILAC 2 project
Planning instruments
Reduction of emissions - Industry carbon emissions
ValuES
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
Low-carbon sustainable concrete
Reducing embedded emissions of buildings
Sensorized-panel. Source: http://www.endurcrete.eu
Technology Roadmap. Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry (IEA). Source: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net
Low-carbon and sustainable building materials
Reduction of emissions - Building carbon emissions
Pollinator and verges spaces
Pollinator. Source: https://www.life4pollinators.eu
Pollinators contribute to urban biodiversity, with bees, wasps, beetles, beeflies, hoverflies, butterflies, and moths being the most common. Enhancing their presence in urban areas can be achieved by planting species with the nestar and pollen needed to attract the desired insect pollinators in the city´s green spaces.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Nature based Solutions - Pollinators
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
Heat Recovery & Valorisation from process heating (of industries) or data centers can be recovered, upgraded (i.e. increase temperature to the desired one with a heat pump), and used to descarbonise district heating networks.
Industrial Heat Pump technologies or High Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHP) have been identified for applications in the supply temperature range of 100 - 150°C in the food, paper, and chemical/pharma industries, in particular in drying processes, as well as in pasteurizing, sterilizing, evaporation, and distillation. The application of heat pump technologies opens additional new options for sector coupling of electricity, heating, and cooling and provides flexibility, e.g. through heat storage in industrial plants.
Energy - Waste heat
Chester assessment tool. Source: www.chester.datuma.aiguasol.coop
Sewage heat recovery via pump systems extract thermal energy from wastewater (12-15°C) using heat exchangers and pumps. These systems can pre-heat tap water for domestic hot water and space heating in individual buildings or supply low-heat to a district heating network (DHN) in larger sewer plants and channels. Heat pumps can be integrated to raise the temperature for consumption. This solution could be implementes in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, offering a reduction in hot water demand up to 20% by raising its temperature by 10 degrees
Semtive Energy turbine. Source: https://singularityhub.com
The main issue with wind turbines are the high noise levels (which leads to a low social acceptance) and the lack of space in cities. In Finland, small wind power plants are relatively frequent: Considering operational wind farms as of 2021, 17% of wind power capacity was in plants of size < 20MW (average size 2.12MW), and 8% in plants of size less than 10MW (average size 1.86MW). Smaller wind power plants with a small footprint are more easily integrated near cities or suburban areas
Energy - Wind power production
Typical diagram of wind-turbine system. Source: Syahputra, Ramadoni & Soesanti, Indah. (2019). Performance Improvement for Small-Scale Wind Turbine System Based on Maximum Power Point Tracking Control. Energies.
Photovoltaic panels on green roof were found to be, on average, 3.63% more efficient on any given day from the fact the green roof remained far cooler than the traditional concrete, meaning the panels did not overheat and therefore underperform.
PV panels on the roof. Source: pv magazine International
Green roof improves solar panel efficiency by 3.6% on average The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, Australia, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has...
Energy - Photovoltaic panels (PV)
Method energy communities
Case study of Valencia
Energy communities can be understood as a way to organize collective energy actions around open, democratic participation and governance, and the provision of benefits for the members or the local community. Energy communities can support the adoption of electrification (through implementation of PVs, heat pumps, batteries, etc.)
User engagement Changes at home, neighborhood, and environment are necessary in order to achieve goals related to energy conservation and the generation of sustainable energy. The extent to which residents are involved in the process of making sustainable decisions has an important impact on the speed and outcome of such projects. Informative sessions and social media campaigns, climate-related action offices for local support (such as the ones in Valencia), will be needed.
Citizen Participation Platforms allow citizens to take on an active part in city governmental decisions. In this platforms citizens can access and provide useful data, and local governments receives feedback making cities more democratic and dynamic.
For engaging stakeholders, the following actions can be considered:
Citizen Participation Platforms
Depending on the configurations and available resources, geothermal water can be used directly if at sufficiently high temperatures, using heat exchangers. Alternatively, water from rivers or sea can be pumped to the users (known as 5G District heating networks) and at the substations, a heat pump can be used to increase the temperature.
Energy loop - From 3G to 5G District Heating and Cooling networks
Integrating Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) into photovoltaic installations enhances efficiency by optimizing radiation absortion and minimizing heat transfer losses. This results in an improvement performance ratio, eneabling heat production even during winter with low-light conditions and cold temperatures.
Solar Farm. Source: 'https://www.rescoop.eu
June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire - REScoopStories Homepage news-and-events stories June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire Community energy is key to action...Rescoop
Large solar-photovoltaic systems (or solar parks) can provide carbon-free electricity to cities. The main issue encountered in cities is the lack of space and the "not in my backyard" phenomenon. There are many options to finance it, but great examples can be found such as the Westmill Solar Co-operative, which counts over 20,000 polycrystalline PV panels and generates around 5GWhr per year in Oxfordshire.
Energy - Large scale solar production
- Green shading structures
- Green covering shelters
Shelters in Valladolid (Spain), Source: URBAN GreenUP project
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Shading measures
- Promote PV
Best practice: Save – Upgrade Plan in Cyprus.. Source: https://www.fundingprogrammesportal.gov.cy/en/
- System level circular economy approaches
- Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
- Parking policies, management and fees, smart parking
Enabling instruments provide the legal framework and guidelines necessary for integrating NbS and carbon capture measures into urban and environmental planning.
- Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP)
Policy & governance
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
Major raw materials commonly used in battery electric vehicles. Source: Compiled from data in Hawkins et al., 2013; Mathieux et al., 2017; EC, 2018a; 2018b.
Easy access to public charging for EVs (including taxis, city utility vehicles, private cars, etc.) is a necessity in transition toward zero-emission electric transport. The charging infrastructures can be provided in various locations & forms, i.e. on-street charging infrastructure for residents & (fast) charging hubs.
Mobility and transport - Public charging system for EVs
ValuES
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool
Walking tour in Hiedanranta. Source: https://unalab.eu/
Green corridors for active and cooler mobility
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Regreen topics. Source: https://www.regreen-project.eu
Carbon capture - Green urban areas
Green resting areas, parks and urban forests, parklets
Passive building design strategies: building orientation, passive heating and cooling
Improvement of energy efficiency by active and passive solutions in buildings
Joinery for low-energy houses or passive houses
Passive building solutions
Passive house solutions. Source: https://www.zestarchitecture.com
Building envelope solutions
Reduction of emissions - Passive house
As part of the Hydro4U project, a shaft power plant will be built as a demonstration plant at an already defined location in Kyrgyzstan. Source:https://hydro.zek.at
Holsvirkjun Installation. Source: https://www.global-hydro.eu
Micro-hydropower plants can be installed for generating "green electricity" from pressure (water head) or kinetic energy (water flow) available in existing urban water networks.
Energy - Hydropower
ValuES
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: www.mysmartlife.eu
Energy - Smart street lighting
Smart street lighting is characterised by the fact that the individual light point not only fulfills the function of the lighting, but also offers additional services for citizens such as environmental monitoring (noise and air quality), or public Wi-Fi improvement among others. Furthermore, it can integrate photovoltaic panels, reducing electricity consumption.
Decarbonisation Plans for Industry
CASOH pilot at ArcelorMittal's plant. Source: https://c4u-project.eu
C4U project
SEWGS image. Source: https://www.stepwise.eu
STEPWISE project
HeidelbergCement's Hanover cement plant. Source: https://www.heidelbergmaterials.com
LEILAC 2 project
Planning instruments
Reduction of emissions - Industry carbon emissions
Heat Recovery & Valorisation from process heating (of industries) or data centers can be recovered, upgraded (i.e. increase temperature to the desired one with a heat pump), and used to descarbonise district heating networks.
Industrial Heat Pump technologies or High Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHP) have been identified for applications in the supply temperature range of 100 - 150°C in the food, paper, and chemical/pharma industries, in particular in drying processes, as well as in pasteurizing, sterilizing, evaporation, and distillation. The application of heat pump technologies opens additional new options for sector coupling of electricity, heating, and cooling and provides flexibility, e.g. through heat storage in industrial plants.
Energy - Waste heat
Chester assessment tool. Source: www.chester.datuma.aiguasol.coop
Sewage heat recovery via pump systems extract thermal energy from wastewater (12-15°C) using heat exchangers and pumps. These systems can pre-heat tap water for domestic hot water and space heating in individual buildings or supply low-heat to a district heating network (DHN) in larger sewer plants and channels. Heat pumps can be integrated to raise the temperature for consumption. This solution could be implementes in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, offering a reduction in hot water demand up to 20% by raising its temperature by 10 degrees
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
- Green shading structures
- Green covering shelters
Shelters in Valladolid (Spain), Source: URBAN GreenUP project
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Shading measures
Technical requirements for e-scooters. Source: https://micromobilityforeurope.eu/
In recent years, electrification of vehicles has led to new shared micromobility services (e.g. shared e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, e-mopeds) enabling users to have short-term access to an active or low-speed motorized transportation mode on an as-needed basis.
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.ituran.com
Mobility and transport - Shared micromobility
Method energy communities
Case study of Valencia
- Energy communities can be understood as a way to organize collective energy actions around open, democratic participation and governance, and the provision of benefits for the members or the local community. Energy communities can support the adoption of electrification (through implementation of PVs, heat pumps, batteries, etc.)
- User engagement Changes at home, neighborhood, and environment are necessary in order to achieve goals related to energy conservation and the generation of sustainable energy. The extent to which residents are involved in the process of making sustainable decisions has an important impact on the speed and outcome of such projects. Informative sessions and social media campaigns, climate-related action offices for local support (such as the ones in Valencia), will be needed.
- Citizen Participation Platforms allow citizens to take on an active part in city governmental decisions. In this platforms citizens can access and provide useful data, and local governments receives feedback making cities more democratic and dynamic.
For engaging stakeholders, the following actions can be considered:
Citizen Participation Platforms
Sensible thermal energy storage
Thermochemical thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage used in district heating and cooling effectively decouples demand from supply, allowing energy to be stored on a seasonal basis. District heating already incorporates sensible heat technologies such as tanks and underground storage (boreholes). The latter ones, are known as seasonal heat storage technologies and seasonal heat storage allow heat delivery to residential areas by thermal heat networks to make much better use of regional sustainable heat sources, thereby reducing the need for fossil fuels for peak demand.Thermal energy storage can store heat through a causing a chemical reaction, which usually takes place in a reversible process (thermochemical energy storage); or by changing the temperature of a material without undergoing a phase change (Sensible thermal energy storage). Even Sensible thermal energy storage is more commonly used, thermochemical energy storage can generally store more energy and for longer time periods.
Energy loop - Thermal energy storage (TES)
Amsterdam
Bundesverband CarSharing e.V. (bcs), 2022. Source: https://carsharing.de2
Munich
Valencia
Case estudies:
Car sharing models present a reliable, flexible, and cost-efficient alternative to car ownership (especially when using electric or sustainable vehicles) supplements the sustainable modes of walking, cycling and public transport.Car-sharing systems can be station-based, or free-floating.
Mobility and transport - Car sharing
Best practice: Loans for Energy Efficiency (EE).Source: https://energy-cities.eu
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
- Participatory budgeting
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) – Shared savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Related payments
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Staggered savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Guaranteed savings
- Energy Performance Contract (EPC)
- Green Loan
- Blended finance for Energy Efficiency (EE)
Finance and Business Models
Decarbonisation Plans for Industry
CASOH pilot at ArcelorMittal's plant. Source: https://c4u-project.eu
C4U project
SEWGS image. Source: https://www.stepwise.eu
STEPWISE project
HeidelbergCement's Hanover cement plant. Source: https://www.heidelbergmaterials.com
LEILAC 2 project
Planning instruments
Reduction of emissions - Industry carbon emissions
Energy Management Systems
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.bable-smartcities.el
Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS)
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.
Energy - Automation and Control Systems (BACS)/Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)
Energy Management Systems
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.bable-smartcities.el
Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS)
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.
Energy - Automation and Control Systems (BACS)/Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)
Salt Marshes
River floodplains
Sandy shores
Mangrove forests
Mangrove forest. Photo by Akarawut Lohachavoenvanich/iStock. Source: https://thecityfix.com
Water interventions Solutions for Coastal Climate adaptation
Nature based Solutions - Waterfront
- Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Walking tour in Hiedanranta. Source: https://unalab.eu/
Green corridors for active and cooler mobility
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Regreen topics. Source: https://www.regreen-project.eu
Carbon capture - Green urban areas
Green resting areas, parks and urban forests, parklets
Buying more efficient appliances is a commitment not only to reduce consumption and make savings, it is also a commitment to the more sustainable use of energy, to achieving better results, reducing our workload and improving our daily lives.
Efficeint domestic appliances. Source: Endesa
Is it worthwhile buying more efficient domestic appliances?Even though they tend to be more expensive, in the long run it is worth buying more efficient domestic appliances. In addition to saving energy and...
Energy - Efficient appliances
- Urban garden bio-filter
- Urban carbon sink
Global carbon stores and fluxes. Source: Maslin, Mark. (2019). Climate change: essential knowledge for developing holistic solutions to our climate crisis. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. 3.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
Low-carbon sustainable concrete
Reducing embedded emissions of buildings
Sensorized-panel. Source: http://www.endurcrete.eu
Technology Roadmap. Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry (IEA). Source: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net
Low-carbon and sustainable building materials
Reduction of emissions - Building carbon emissions
Restore water-courses
River and stream renaturalization
Water interventions
- Initial state
- The initial phase of the project should involve removing the bank fixation to restore the natural structure of the watercourse
- Upon the restoration of the watercourse, natural water flow and sediment transport will facilitate the reintroduction of native flora and fauna
- Restoring watercourses requires time and land to achieve an ecological balance.
Steps of river restoration. Source: Binder, Walter & Göttle, Albert & Shuhuai, Duan. (2015). Ecological restoration of small water Courses, Experiences from Germany and from Projects in Beijing. International Soil and Water Conservation Research.
Nature based Solutions - Water course measures
Smart communities with microgrids
Smart Heating and Cooling sustainable manufacturing
Smart EV charging
Demand response is a method for matching the demand for energy to the available supply of energy (ISO/IEC 15067-3:2012), increasing the grid reliability, reducing the need to build new capacity and reducing the use of fossil-based peak electric generation.It could be implicit demand response with time-varying electricity prices; or explicit demand response, where (mainly large consumers) can sell their flexibility to the electricity markets or aggregators.Examples of demand response are Smart EV charging, Smart Heating and Cooling (building -level intelligence) sustainable manufacturing, and smart communities with microgrids.
Energy - Demand management “as Demand response”
At building level, geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps can be used to descarbonise the heating and cooling production. Generally speaking, geothermal will reach hi gher efficiency levels than aerothermal, and will be invisible to the user, but requires higher investment costs (due to the drilling), and environmental permits (country dependent). Heat pumps can be coupled with solar, in several ways, and batteries for optimising the energy management.
PVT coupled with HPs and other systems, and PVT coupled with a reversible heat pump and a tank to produce space heating and domestic hot water needs. Source: https://netzerocities.app/s
Optimization energy
Batteries
Heatpump
Geotermia
Sistemas híbridos (PVT, PV+HP, ...)
Energy - geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps
Smart communities with microgrids
Smart Heating and Cooling sustainable manufacturing
Smart EV charging
Demand response is a method for matching the demand for energy to the available supply of energy (ISO/IEC 15067-3:2012), increasing the grid reliability, reducing the need to build new capacity and reducing the use of fossil-based peak electric generation.It could be implicit demand response with time-varying electricity prices; or explicit demand response, where (mainly large consumers) can sell their flexibility to the electricity markets or aggregators.Examples of demand response are Smart EV charging, Smart Heating and Cooling (building -level intelligence) sustainable manufacturing, and smart communities with microgrids.
Energy - Demand management “as Demand response”
Decarbonisation Plans for Industry
CASOH pilot at ArcelorMittal's plant. Source: https://c4u-project.eu
C4U project
SEWGS image. Source: https://www.stepwise.eu
STEPWISE project
HeidelbergCement's Hanover cement plant. Source: https://www.heidelbergmaterials.com
LEILAC 2 project
Planning instruments
Reduction of emissions - Industry carbon emissions
Green noise barriers
Vertical mobile gardens
Green walls and green façades
Green fences
Green living walls. Source: https://citygreen.com
Zagreb, Croatia. ProGIreg. Source: https://progireg.eu
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Building envelope solutions
Carbon capture - Vertical Green Infrastructure
- Natural inland wetlands
- Constructed wetland
Constructed wetland scheme. Source: https://www.archdaily.com
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Wetlands
Carbon capture - Carbon Sequestration
- Soil carbon sequestration
- Smart-soils and phytoremediation
Conceptualization of C sequestration potentials in arable land. Source: Amelung, W., Bossio, D., de Vries, W. et al. Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy. Nat Commun 11, 5427 (2020).
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Amsterdam
Bundesverband CarSharing e.V. (bcs), 2022. Source: https://carsharing.de2
Munich
Valencia
Case estudies:
Car sharing models present a reliable, flexible, and cost-efficient alternative to car ownership (especially when using electric or sustainable vehicles) supplements the sustainable modes of walking, cycling and public transport.Car-sharing systems can be station-based, or free-floating.
Mobility and transport - Car sharing
Energy efficiency, wind, and solar provide around half of emissions savings to 2030 in the IEA scenarios. It is important that, before implementing greener solutions in the systems, the energy and resources needs are reduced at the lowest possible by:
- Increasing the number of zero or nearly zero energy buildings in the city, and/or reducing the need for heating and cooling by improving the building envelopes. Either by policy incentives, one-stop shops, or/and an increase in the capacitation of the technical staff (in the city level and of the stakeholders).
- Increasing the use of efficient appliances in the building sector. Furthermore, to some extent, increase the amount of open data available (e.g., through the connection of IoT to data platforms) for underpinning new services to citizens and stakeholders.
- Material recirculation — reducing emission intensity per tonne of material.
- Product material efficiency — using fewer materials per product.
- New circular business models — fewer products to achieve the same useful service.
Amsterdam
Bundesverband CarSharing e.V. (bcs), 2022. Source: https://carsharing.de2
Munich
Valencia
Case estudies:
Car sharing models present a reliable, flexible, and cost-efficient alternative to car ownership (especially when using electric or sustainable vehicles) supplements the sustainable modes of walking, cycling and public transport.Car-sharing systems can be station-based, or free-floating.
Mobility and transport - Car sharing
Definition of data driven agroforestry. Source: Ramil, Elisa & Holland, John & Anagnostou, Dimitris & Brown, Keith & Desmulliez, M.P.Y.. (2022). A review of agroforestry, precision agriculture, and precision livestock farming—The case for a data-driven agroforestry strategy. Frontiers in Sensors. 3.
- Urban farming
- Community composting
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
- Agroforestry
Carbon capture - Sustainable agriculture
- Floating gardens
- Rain garden
- Floodable park
Rain garden. Source: https://www.courtenay.ca
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Water optimization
Floodable park. Source: https://urbantoronto.ca
- Cooling trees
- Urban heat island effect mitigation (Evaporative cooling)
Outdoor Misting Systems. Source: outdoor misting systems for cooling - Bing images
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Heat Island reduction
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Technical requirements for e-scooters. Source: https://micromobilityforeurope.eu/
In recent years, electrification of vehicles has led to new shared micromobility services (e.g. shared e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, e-mopeds) enabling users to have short-term access to an active or low-speed motorized transportation mode on an as-needed basis.
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.ituran.com
Mobility and transport - Shared micromobility
Mobility as a Service?. Source: https://maas-alliance.eu/homepage/what-is-maas/
- Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
- Parking policies, management and fees, smart parking
Enabling instruments provide the legal framework and guidelines necessary for integrating NbS and carbon capture measures into urban and environmental planning.
- Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP)
Policy & governance
- Floating gardens
- Rain garden
- Floodable park
Rain garden. Source: https://www.courtenay.ca
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Water optimization
Floodable park. Source: https://urbantoronto.ca
As part of the Hydro4U project, a shaft power plant will be built as a demonstration plant at an already defined location in Kyrgyzstan. Source:https://hydro.zek.at
Holsvirkjun Installation. Source: https://www.global-hydro.eu
Micro-hydropower plants can be installed for generating "green electricity" from pressure (water head) or kinetic energy (water flow) available in existing urban water networks.
Energy - Hydropower
Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Storm water channels
Retention pond. Source: http://winnipeg.ca
Storm water retenetion. Source: https://www.terraforce.com
Nature based Solutions - Urban water grid
Water interventions
Best practice: Loans for Energy Efficiency (EE).Source: https://energy-cities.eu
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
- Participatory budgeting
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) – Shared savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Related payments
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Staggered savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Guaranteed savings
- Energy Performance Contract (EPC)
- Green Loan
- Blended finance for Energy Efficiency (EE)
Finance and Business Models
Mobility hubs include the deployment of e-charging stations across different levels sharing public infrastructure, and utilizing parking lots, canopies, and benches also as multifunctional points of charge.They are a means to seamlessly link various modes of transport in order to enable inter-modal trip chains as an alternative to the private car and allow easy access to new forms of sustainable mobility or shared transport (from rail, to buses, shared cars, shared bikes) with mutli-modal supportive infrastructure and different sort of facilities such as delivery or pick-up points. Mobility hubs can be distributed throughout urban, suburban and rural areas to enable access to sustainable transport options and should be planned with public tr ansport as backbone.
Mobility and transport - Mobility hubs
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- Digital Twin
Analytics modelling solutions
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Educational activities suring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Educational, Capacity Building instruments
Capabilities
Digitaler Zwilling München. Source: Technical University of Munich
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Semtive Energy turbine. Source: https://singularityhub.com
The main issue with wind turbines are the high noise levels (which leads to a low social acceptance) and the lack of space in cities. In Finland, small wind power plants are relatively frequent: Considering operational wind farms as of 2021, 17% of wind power capacity was in plants of size < 20MW (average size 2.12MW), and 8% in plants of size less than 10MW (average size 1.86MW). Smaller wind power plants with a small footprint are more easily integrated near cities or suburban areas
Energy - Wind power production
Typical diagram of wind-turbine system. Source: Syahputra, Ramadoni & Soesanti, Indah. (2019). Performance Improvement for Small-Scale Wind Turbine System Based on Maximum Power Point Tracking Control. Energies.
Green Charge demo pilot Oslo. Source: https://www.greencharge2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Green-Charge-Demo-Card-OSL.D2-Charge-point-operation-demo.pdf
- Zero emission electric cars
- Fleet decarbonisation
Mobility and transport - E-mobility
An Electric Vehicle (EV) uses electric power instead of an internal combustion engine powered by other fuel types like diesel fuel or gasoline. It has been increasingly recognized that EV may provide an opportunity to reduce global GHG emissions (UN Habitat, 2014) and increase air quality, if powered by renewable energy sources. The use of second life batteries and improved battery performance may in the future further reduce the need of raw materials and the related environmental impact.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle. Source: https://afdc.energy.gov
Mobility and transport - Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in urban transport
In the urban transport, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are complementary to Full Electric Vehicles (BEV), allowing a transition to zero emission vehicles (when hydrogen production uses renewable energy sources) today for applications that remain hard to decarbonise due to their operational needs (e.g. garbage trucks and taxi fleets).
Carbon capture - Carbon Sequestration
- Soil carbon sequestration
- Smart-soils and phytoremediation
Conceptualization of C sequestration potentials in arable land. Source: Amelung, W., Bossio, D., de Vries, W. et al. Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy. Nat Commun 11, 5427 (2020).
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
ValuES
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool
Salt Marshes
River floodplains
Sandy shores
Mangrove forests
Mangrove forest. Photo by Akarawut Lohachavoenvanich/iStock. Source: https://thecityfix.com
Water interventions Solutions for Coastal Climate adaptation
Nature based Solutions - Waterfront
- Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Photovoltaic panels on green roof were found to be, on average, 3.63% more efficient on any given day from the fact the green roof remained far cooler than the traditional concrete, meaning the panels did not overheat and therefore underperform.
PV panels on the roof. Source: pv magazine International
Green roof improves solar panel efficiency by 3.6% on average The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, Australia, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has...
Energy - Photovoltaic panels (PV)
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
- Bioretention Areas
- Green filter area
Green Filter area. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Soil Filter
Best practices for SMEs in implementing. DEESME’s Final Project. Source: https://deesme.eu/
7. Energy efficiency is a long-term procedure
6. Wide participation in the project management team
5. Training personnel and managerial staff
4. Quantification of energy related problems
3. Communicate success to internal stakeholders and external stakeholders
2. Top management commitment. sets their commitment on sustainability and energy efficiency for all employees.
1. Complete & accurate data. Complete and accurate data comes from an energy audit, which provides a complete data set for taking decisions on energy issues.
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.EMS typically has three parts:
- Measurement: Collection of information on energy consumption
- Monitor: Metering sensors that track energy consumption
- Control: Control system that provide instruction to the EMS interface and actual control debice
Energy - Energy Management System (EMS)
Citizen Participation Platforms allow citizens to take on an active part in city governmental decisions. In this platforms citizens can access and provide useful data, and local governments receives feedback making cities more democratic and dynamic.
Method energy communities
Case study of Valencia
Energy communities can be understood as a way to organize collective energy actions around open, democratic participation and governance, and the provision of benefits for the members or the local community. Energy communities can support the adoption of electrification (through implementation of PVs, heat pumps, batteries, etc.)
User engagement Changes at home, neighborhood, and environment are necessary in order to achieve goals related to energy conservation and the generation of sustainable energy. The extent to which residents are involved in the process of making sustainable decisions has an important impact on the speed and outcome of such projects. Informative sessions and social media campaigns, climate-related action offices for local support (such as the ones in Valencia), will be needed.
For engaging stakeholders, the following actions can be considered:
Citizen Participation Platforms
- Green shading structures
- Green covering shelters
Shelters in Valladolid (Spain), Source: URBAN GreenUP project
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Shading measures
Major raw materials commonly used in battery electric vehicles. Source: Compiled from data in Hawkins et al., 2013; Mathieux et al., 2017; EC, 2018a; 2018b.
Easy access to public charging for EVs (including taxis, city utility vehicles, private cars, etc.) is a necessity in transition toward zero-emission electric transport. The charging infrastructures can be provided in various locations & forms, i.e. on-street charging infrastructure for residents & (fast) charging hubs.
Mobility and transport - Public charging system for EVs
Green pavements: hard drainage pavements; green parking pavements
Hard drainage-flood prevention
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS)
Lamb Drove, Residential SuDS, Cambourne, Cambridge. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Wallands Primary School Rainscape SUDs case study. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Sustainable pavements
Solar thermal technologies convert sunlight directly into heat. The generated heat is used for domestic hot water heating, space heating, or process heating, and the solar systems are designed to provide the right temperature needed for the application.
Solar Thermal panel. Source: https://www.isover-technical-insulation.com
Energy loop - Solar thermal technologies
According to the IEA, the direct use of low‐emissions electricity in place of fossil fuels is one of the most important drivers of emissions reductions in the Net‐Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, accounting for around 20% of the total reduction achieved by 2050. It can tackle the following areas if the electricity generation sector becomes cleaner:
- Underpin the massive reduction in transport emissions through, e-vehicles, e-micro mobility, e-chargers, or fuel cells vehicles
- Electrification in the building sector will allow achieving emission reduction faster: electrifying cooking, and especially the production of heating and cooling, as 40% of residential buildings could be fitted with heat pumps. If electrification is applied, the demand for electricity will increase and therefore, the production of electricity must be from low-carbon sources (solar photovoltaics, wind, hydropower, etc., and when it is not possible, apply CCS)
- Electrify hydrogen production through electrolysers, and therefore, its use in industry for heat production and chemicals and its use in transport. Hydrogen would be green if, again, low-carbon sources are used (Certification schemes might be needed). Another way of producing hydrogen is found in RES Generation: Sector Coupling.
- Electrify heat process generation (in the heavy and light industries) through the use of high-temperature heat pumps. Other ways are found in RES Generation: Sector Coupling, like solar concentration.
- Electrify district heating and cooling networks by means of distributed generation (heat pumps at substation levels, such as booster heat pumps) or through large-scale heat pumps (in the main heating or cooling plants). Waste heat is integrated through the use of heat pumps too, and industrial-urban symbiosis (integration of waste heat from data centers, supermarkets, industry, etc.).
- Natural inland wetlands
- Constructed wetland
Constructed wetland scheme. Source: https://www.archdaily.com
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Wetlands
At building level, geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps can be used to descarbonise the heating and cooling production. Generally speaking, geothermal will reach hi gher efficiency levels than aerothermal, and will be invisible to the user, but requires higher investment costs (due to the drilling), and environmental permits (country dependent). Heat pumps can be coupled with solar, in several ways, and batteries for optimising the energy management.
PVT coupled with HPs and other systems, and PVT coupled with a reversible heat pump and a tank to produce space heating and domestic hot water needs. Source: https://netzerocities.app/s
Optimization energy
Batteries
Heatpump
Geotermia
Sistemas híbridos (PVT, PV+HP, ...)
Energy - geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps
Parts of the DH system in Ferrara. Source: Final Project Report (upgrade DH)
Example of a DH network with a primary, secondary and tertiary grid which is separated by substations (Sub.) and which supplies heat to different types of consumers (Source: D. Rutz)
The first step towards the renovation of the district heating system is to refurbish the buildings. Once all buildings are refurbished, the district heating can be adapted by reducing the supply temperature to 60°C, which allows the inclusion of renewable energy sources (solar thermal, waste heat) and heat pumps as energy sources in the grid.If not all buildings are refurbished, another possibility is to reduce the supply temperature of a part of the district heating system and use the return heat from the traditional part to supply the part of the grid with a lower temperature (cascade use of heat).
Energy loop - Renovación de DH&CN (1G y 2G)
ValuES
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle. Source: https://afdc.energy.gov
Mobility and transport - Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in urban transport
In the urban transport, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are complementary to Full Electric Vehicles (BEV), allowing a transition to zero emission vehicles (when hydrogen production uses renewable energy sources) today for applications that remain hard to decarbonise due to their operational needs (e.g. garbage trucks and taxi fleets).
Green pavements: hard drainage pavements; green parking pavements
Hard drainage-flood prevention
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS)
Lamb Drove, Residential SuDS, Cambourne, Cambridge. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Wallands Primary School Rainscape SUDs case study. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Sustainable pavements
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
Energy efficiency, wind, and solar provide around half of emissions savings to 2030 in the IEA scenarios. It is important that, before implementing greener solutions in the systems, the energy and resources needs are reduced at the lowest possible by:
- Increasing the number of zero or nearly zero energy buildings in the city, and/or reducing the need for heating and cooling by improving the building envelopes. Either by policy incentives, one-stop shops, or/and an increase in the capacitation of the technical staff (in the city level and of the stakeholders).
- Increasing the use of efficient appliances in the building sector. Furthermore, to some extent, increase the amount of open data available (e.g., through the connection of IoT to data platforms) for underpinning new services to citizens and stakeholders.
- Material recirculation — reducing emission intensity per tonne of material.
- Product material efficiency — using fewer materials per product.
- New circular business models — fewer products to achieve the same useful service.
Photovoltaic panels on green roof were found to be, on average, 3.63% more efficient on any given day from the fact the green roof remained far cooler than the traditional concrete, meaning the panels did not overheat and therefore underperform.
PV panels on the roof. Source: pv magazine International
Green roof improves solar panel efficiency by 3.6% on average The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, Australia, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has...
Energy - Photovoltaic panels (PV)
According to the IEA, the direct use of low‐emissions electricity in place of fossil fuels is one of the most important drivers of emissions reductions in the Net‐Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, accounting for around 20% of the total reduction achieved by 2050. It can tackle the following areas if the electricity generation sector becomes cleaner:
- Underpin the massive reduction in transport emissions through, e-vehicles, e-micro mobility, e-chargers, or fuel cells vehicles
- Electrification in the building sector will allow achieving emission reduction faster: electrifying cooking, and especially the production of heating and cooling, as 40% of residential buildings could be fitted with heat pumps. If electrification is applied, the demand for electricity will increase and therefore, the production of electricity must be from low-carbon sources (solar photovoltaics, wind, hydropower, etc., and when it is not possible, apply CCS)
- Electrify hydrogen production through electrolysers, and therefore, its use in industry for heat production and chemicals and its use in transport. Hydrogen would be green if, again, low-carbon sources are used (Certification schemes might be needed). Another way of producing hydrogen is found in RES Generation: Sector Coupling.
- Electrify heat process generation (in the heavy and light industries) through the use of high-temperature heat pumps. Other ways are found in RES Generation: Sector Coupling, like solar concentration.
- Electrify district heating and cooling networks by means of distributed generation (heat pumps at substation levels, such as booster heat pumps) or through large-scale heat pumps (in the main heating or cooling plants). Waste heat is integrated through the use of heat pumps too, and industrial-urban symbiosis (integration of waste heat from data centers, supermarkets, industry, etc.).
Regulatoy framework for energy communities
Comparative analysis of the regulatory framework in Sun4All pilot cities
- Facillitating framework for energy communities with PV
Best practice: Save – Upgrade Plan in Cyprus.. Source: https://www.fundingprogrammesportal.gov.cy/en/
- Promote PV
- System level circular economy approaches
Enabling instruments provide the legal framework and guidelines necessary for integrating NbS and carbon capture measures into urban and environmental planning.
Policy & governance
Green noise barriers
Vertical mobile gardens
Green walls and green façades
Green fences
Green living walls. Source: https://citygreen.com
Zagreb, Croatia. ProGIreg. Source: https://progireg.eu
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Building envelope solutions
Carbon capture - Vertical Green Infrastructure
Passive building design strategies: building orientation, passive heating and cooling
Improvement of energy efficiency by active and passive solutions in buildings
Joinery for low-energy houses or passive houses
Passive building solutions
Passive house solutions. Source: https://www.zestarchitecture.com
Building envelope solutions
Reduction of emissions - Passive house
Carbon capture - Carbon Sequestration
- Soil carbon sequestration
- Smart-soils and phytoremediation
Conceptualization of C sequestration potentials in arable land. Source: Amelung, W., Bossio, D., de Vries, W. et al. Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy. Nat Commun 11, 5427 (2020).
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Green Charge demo pilot Oslo. Source: https://www.greencharge2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Green-Charge-Demo-Card-OSL.D2-Charge-point-operation-demo.pdf
- Zero emission electric cars
- Fleet decarbonisation
Mobility and transport - E-mobility
An Electric Vehicle (EV) uses electric power instead of an internal combustion engine powered by other fuel types like diesel fuel or gasoline. It has been increasingly recognized that EV may provide an opportunity to reduce global GHG emissions (UN Habitat, 2014) and increase air quality, if powered by renewable energy sources. The use of second life batteries and improved battery performance may in the future further reduce the need of raw materials and the related environmental impact.
Definition of data driven agroforestry. Source: Ramil, Elisa & Holland, John & Anagnostou, Dimitris & Brown, Keith & Desmulliez, M.P.Y.. (2022). A review of agroforestry, precision agriculture, and precision livestock farming—The case for a data-driven agroforestry strategy. Frontiers in Sensors. 3.
- Urban farming
- Community composting
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
- Agroforestry
Carbon capture - Sustainable agriculture
Integrating Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) into photovoltaic installations enhances efficiency by optimizing radiation absortion and minimizing heat transfer losses. This results in an improvement performance ratio, eneabling heat production even during winter with low-light conditions and cold temperatures.
Solar Farm. Source: 'https://www.rescoop.eu
June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire - REScoopStories Homepage news-and-events stories June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire Community energy is key to action...Rescoop
Large solar-photovoltaic systems (or solar parks) can provide carbon-free electricity to cities. The main issue encountered in cities is the lack of space and the "not in my backyard" phenomenon. There are many options to finance it, but great examples can be found such as the Westmill Solar Co-operative, which counts over 20,000 polycrystalline PV panels and generates around 5GWhr per year in Oxfordshire.
Energy - Large scale solar production
Smart communities with microgrids
Smart Heating and Cooling sustainable manufacturing
Smart EV charging
Demand response is a method for matching the demand for energy to the available supply of energy (ISO/IEC 15067-3:2012), increasing the grid reliability, reducing the need to build new capacity and reducing the use of fossil-based peak electric generation.It could be implicit demand response with time-varying electricity prices; or explicit demand response, where (mainly large consumers) can sell their flexibility to the electricity markets or aggregators.Examples of demand response are Smart EV charging, Smart Heating and Cooling (building -level intelligence) sustainable manufacturing, and smart communities with microgrids.
Energy - Demand management “as Demand response”
Restore water-courses
River and stream renaturalization
Water interventions
- Initial state
- The initial phase of the project should involve removing the bank fixation to restore the natural structure of the watercourse
- Upon the restoration of the watercourse, natural water flow and sediment transport will facilitate the reintroduction of native flora and fauna
- Restoring watercourses requires time and land to achieve an ecological balance.
Steps of river restoration. Source: Binder, Walter & Göttle, Albert & Shuhuai, Duan. (2015). Ecological restoration of small water Courses, Experiences from Germany and from Projects in Beijing. International Soil and Water Conservation Research.
Nature based Solutions - Water course measures
Restore water-courses
River and stream renaturalization
Water interventions
- Initial state
- The initial phase of the project should involve removing the bank fixation to restore the natural structure of the watercourse
- Upon the restoration of the watercourse, natural water flow and sediment transport will facilitate the reintroduction of native flora and fauna
- Restoring watercourses requires time and land to achieve an ecological balance.
Steps of river restoration. Source: Binder, Walter & Göttle, Albert & Shuhuai, Duan. (2015). Ecological restoration of small water Courses, Experiences from Germany and from Projects in Beijing. International Soil and Water Conservation Research.
Nature based Solutions - Water course measures
Heat Recovery & Valorisation from process heating (of industries) or data centers can be recovered, upgraded (i.e. increase temperature to the desired one with a heat pump), and used to descarbonise district heating networks.
Industrial Heat Pump technologies or High Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHP) have been identified for applications in the supply temperature range of 100 - 150°C in the food, paper, and chemical/pharma industries, in particular in drying processes, as well as in pasteurizing, sterilizing, evaporation, and distillation. The application of heat pump technologies opens additional new options for sector coupling of electricity, heating, and cooling and provides flexibility, e.g. through heat storage in industrial plants.
Energy - Waste heat
Chester assessment tool. Source: www.chester.datuma.aiguasol.coop
Sewage heat recovery via pump systems extract thermal energy from wastewater (12-15°C) using heat exchangers and pumps. These systems can pre-heat tap water for domestic hot water and space heating in individual buildings or supply low-heat to a district heating network (DHN) in larger sewer plants and channels. Heat pumps can be integrated to raise the temperature for consumption. This solution could be implementes in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, offering a reduction in hot water demand up to 20% by raising its temperature by 10 degrees
Walking tour in Hiedanranta. Source: https://unalab.eu/
Green corridors for active and cooler mobility
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Regreen topics. Source: https://www.regreen-project.eu
Carbon capture - Green urban areas
Green resting areas, parks and urban forests, parklets
[1] https://netzerocities.app/resource-2644
A carbon sink absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The ocean, soil, and forests are the world's largest carbon sinks. [1]Carbon capture can be sequestered through the biological process (i.e., indirect capture of CO2 through carbon sinks) or technology applications (direct CO2 capture). CO2 can be stored to be removed later through its use as a feedstock to produce fuels or products or stored permanently in geological formations.Carbon sinks will be mainly linked with other solutions via water (as natural sinks will consume it), energy (for those sinks that need some energy to maintain them or for CCS), and materials.
- Cooling trees
- Urban heat island effect mitigation (Evaporative cooling)
Outdoor Misting Systems. Source: outdoor misting systems for cooling - Bing images
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Heat Island reduction
- Floating gardens
- Rain garden
- Floodable park
Rain garden. Source: https://www.courtenay.ca
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Water optimization
Floodable park. Source: https://urbantoronto.ca
Method energy communities
Case study of Valencia
- Energy communities can be understood as a way to organize collective energy actions around open, democratic participation and governance, and the provision of benefits for the members or the local community. Energy communities can support the adoption of electrification (through implementation of PVs, heat pumps, batteries, etc.)
- User engagement Changes at home, neighborhood, and environment are necessary in order to achieve goals related to energy conservation and the generation of sustainable energy. The extent to which residents are involved in the process of making sustainable decisions has an important impact on the speed and outcome of such projects. Informative sessions and social media campaigns, climate-related action offices for local support (such as the ones in Valencia), will be needed.
- Citizen Participation Platforms allow citizens to take on an active part in city governmental decisions. In this platforms citizens can access and provide useful data, and local governments receives feedback making cities more democratic and dynamic.
For engaging stakeholders, the following actions can be considered:
Citizen Participation Platforms
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- Digital Twin
Analytics modelling solutions
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Educational activities suring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Educational, Capacity Building instruments
Capabilities
Digitaler Zwilling München. Source: Technical University of Munich
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
- Natural inland wetlands
- Constructed wetland
Constructed wetland scheme. Source: https://www.archdaily.com
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Wetlands
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- Digital Twin
Analytics modelling solutions
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Educational activities suring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Educational, Capacity Building instruments
Capabilities
Digitaler Zwilling München. Source: Technical University of Munich
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Technical requirements for e-scooters. Source: https://micromobilityforeurope.eu/
In recent years, electrification of vehicles has led to new shared micromobility services (e.g. shared e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, e-mopeds) enabling users to have short-term access to an active or low-speed motorized transportation mode on an as-needed basis.
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.ituran.com
Mobility and transport - Shared micromobility
Best practice: Loans for Energy Efficiency (EE).Source: https://energy-cities.eu
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
- Participatory budgeting
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) – Shared savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Related payments
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Staggered savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Guaranteed savings
- Energy Performance Contract (EPC)
- Green Loan
- Blended finance for Energy Efficiency (EE)
Finance and Business Models
Definition of data driven agroforestry. Source: Ramil, Elisa & Holland, John & Anagnostou, Dimitris & Brown, Keith & Desmulliez, M.P.Y.. (2022). A review of agroforestry, precision agriculture, and precision livestock farming—The case for a data-driven agroforestry strategy. Frontiers in Sensors. 3.
- Urban farming
- Community composting
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
- Agroforestry
Carbon capture - Sustainable agriculture
- Green shading structures
- Green covering shelters
Shelters in Valladolid (Spain), Source: URBAN GreenUP project
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Shading measures
Best practices for SMEs in implementing. DEESME’s Final Project. Source: https://deesme.eu/
7. Energy efficiency is a long-term procedure
6. Wide participation in the project management team
5. Training personnel and managerial staff
4. Quantification of energy related problems
3. Communicate success to internal stakeholders and external stakeholders
2. Top management commitment. sets their commitment on sustainability and energy efficiency for all employees.
1. Complete & accurate data. Complete and accurate data comes from an energy audit, which provides a complete data set for taking decisions on energy issues.
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.EMS typically has three parts:
- Measurement: Collection of information on energy consumption
- Monitor: Metering sensors that track energy consumption
- Control: Control system that provide instruction to the EMS interface and actual control debice
Energy - Energy Management System (EMS)
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Salt Marshes
River floodplains
Sandy shores
Mangrove forests
Mangrove forest. Photo by Akarawut Lohachavoenvanich/iStock. Source: https://thecityfix.com
Water interventions Solutions for Coastal Climate adaptation
Nature based Solutions - Waterfront
- Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Buying more efficient appliances is a commitment not only to reduce consumption and make savings, it is also a commitment to the more sustainable use of energy, to achieving better results, reducing our workload and improving our daily lives.
Efficeint domestic appliances. Source: Endesa
Is it worthwhile buying more efficient domestic appliances?Even though they tend to be more expensive, in the long run it is worth buying more efficient domestic appliances. In addition to saving energy and...
Energy - Efficient appliances
Cases of ZEZ-Fs in Planning and Implementation: Rotterdam
Phases of city logistics: from outside the city to last-mile delivery. Source: https://www.mecalux.com
Mobility and transport - Last mile delivery
Electrified urban freight delivery and other sustainable options for last mile delivery can be promising climate and energy solutions to reduce emissions coming from logistics, in the effort to contribute to low-emission zones as these are now envisaged in a number of cities.
Best practice: Loans for Energy Efficiency (EE).Source: https://energy-cities.eu
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
- Participatory budgeting
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) – Shared savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Related payments
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Staggered savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Guaranteed savings
- Energy Performance Contract (EPC)
- Green Loan
- Blended finance for Energy Efficiency (EE)
Finance and Business Models
Semtive Energy turbine. Source: https://singularityhub.com
The main issue with wind turbines are the high noise levels (which leads to a low social acceptance) and the lack of space in cities. In Finland, small wind power plants are relatively frequent: Considering operational wind farms as of 2021, 17% of wind power capacity was in plants of size < 20MW (average size 2.12MW), and 8% in plants of size less than 10MW (average size 1.86MW). Smaller wind power plants with a small footprint are more easily integrated near cities or suburban areas
Energy - Wind power production
Typical diagram of wind-turbine system. Source: Syahputra, Ramadoni & Soesanti, Indah. (2019). Performance Improvement for Small-Scale Wind Turbine System Based on Maximum Power Point Tracking Control. Energies.
Passive building design strategies: building orientation, passive heating and cooling
Improvement of energy efficiency by active and passive solutions in buildings
Joinery for low-energy houses or passive houses
Passive building solutions
Passive house solutions. Source: https://www.zestarchitecture.com
Building envelope solutions
Reduction of emissions - Passive house
Pollinator and verges spaces
Pollinator. Source: https://www.life4pollinators.eu
Pollinators contribute to urban biodiversity, with bees, wasps, beetles, beeflies, hoverflies, butterflies, and moths being the most common. Enhancing their presence in urban areas can be achieved by planting species with the nestar and pollen needed to attract the desired insect pollinators in the city´s green spaces.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Nature based Solutions - Pollinators
- Urban garden bio-filter
- Urban carbon sink
Global carbon stores and fluxes. Source: Maslin, Mark. (2019). Climate change: essential knowledge for developing holistic solutions to our climate crisis. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. 3.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/gie_-_position_paper_-_sector_coupling_p2g.pdf
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/news/urban-symbiosis-recommendations-cities-re-use-resources_en
“'Urban symbiosis' aims to break linear relationships between consumption and waste by returning outputs as inputs, e.g. recycling wastewater or water from industrial processes [1]”. The current bundle aims to decarbonize via sector coupling: using heating and cooling, electricity or fuels (like hydrogen) or carbon dioxide to make the link between sectors, from the metropolitan to the district level.Sector coupling could be defined as the “interconnection of the energy-consuming sectors with power-producing sectors at large […]”[2} such as X-to-Power and Power-to-X elements, where “X” can be green hydrogen (or other fuels) or heat.It can tackle the following areas if the electricity generation sector becomes cleaner:
- Underpin the massive reduction in transport emissions through, not only electrification but also through fuel cells vehicles (especially in heavy transport like trucks; hydrogen trains, hydrogen boats, etc.) and green hydrogen generation.
- Hydrogen valleys will become important for that matter. Not only for the production of green hydrogen but also to create an industry hub that connects industry for hydrogen generation (electrolysers), infrastructure (h2 local networks), transport (trucks, etc.), and hydrogen use as raw material (for steel, for ammonia, chemical industry, etc.)
- Gas infrastructures to transport and store green gases could also provide flexibility to the power system through the use of fuel cells.
- But it is not the only way, also electricity storage via batteries (as explained in RES Generation: Low carbon electrification) could also be an option.
- Electrify heat process generation (in heavy and light industry) through the use of high temperature heat pumps, and the integration of waste heat from multiple sources and temperature levels (data centers, pulp/food/chemical industries, etc.), creating the necessary framework and contracts to make that happen.
- Also, waste can be shared: such as pulp waste that can be used for the production of biogas (which later on, can be an input for a co-generation plant connected to a DHN).
- Bioretention Areas
- Green filter area
Green Filter area. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Soil Filter
As part of the Hydro4U project, a shaft power plant will be built as a demonstration plant at an already defined location in Kyrgyzstan. Source:https://hydro.zek.at
Holsvirkjun Installation. Source: https://www.global-hydro.eu
Micro-hydropower plants can be installed for generating "green electricity" from pressure (water head) or kinetic energy (water flow) available in existing urban water networks.
Energy - Hydropower
- Urban garden bio-filter
- Urban carbon sink
Global carbon stores and fluxes. Source: Maslin, Mark. (2019). Climate change: essential knowledge for developing holistic solutions to our climate crisis. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. 3.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- Digital Twin
Analytics modelling solutions
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Educational activities suring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Educational, Capacity Building instruments
Capabilities
Digitaler Zwilling München. Source: Technical University of Munich
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Best practice: Loans for Energy Efficiency (EE).Source: https://energy-cities.eu
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
- Participatory budgeting
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) – Shared savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Related payments
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Staggered savings
Energy Performance Contract (EPC) - Guaranteed savings
- Energy Performance Contract (EPC)
- Green Loan
- Blended finance for Energy Efficiency (EE)
Finance and Business Models
Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Storm water channels
Retention pond. Source: http://winnipeg.ca
Storm water retenetion. Source: https://www.terraforce.com
Nature based Solutions - Urban water grid
Water interventions
Pollinator and verges spaces
Pollinator. Source: https://www.life4pollinators.eu
Pollinators contribute to urban biodiversity, with bees, wasps, beetles, beeflies, hoverflies, butterflies, and moths being the most common. Enhancing their presence in urban areas can be achieved by planting species with the nestar and pollen needed to attract the desired insect pollinators in the city´s green spaces.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Nature based Solutions - Pollinators
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
Semtive Energy turbine. Source: https://singularityhub.com
The main issue with wind turbines are the high noise levels (which leads to a low social acceptance) and the lack of space in cities. In Finland, small wind power plants are relatively frequent: Considering operational wind farms as of 2021, 17% of wind power capacity was in plants of size < 20MW (average size 2.12MW), and 8% in plants of size less than 10MW (average size 1.86MW). Smaller wind power plants with a small footprint are more easily integrated near cities or suburban areas
Energy - Wind power production
Typical diagram of wind-turbine system. Source: Syahputra, Ramadoni & Soesanti, Indah. (2019). Performance Improvement for Small-Scale Wind Turbine System Based on Maximum Power Point Tracking Control. Energies.
Energy Management Systems
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.bable-smartcities.el
Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS)
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.
Energy - Automation and Control Systems (BACS)/Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
As part of the Hydro4U project, a shaft power plant will be built as a demonstration plant at an already defined location in Kyrgyzstan. Source:https://hydro.zek.at
Holsvirkjun Installation. Source: https://www.global-hydro.eu
Micro-hydropower plants can be installed for generating "green electricity" from pressure (water head) or kinetic energy (water flow) available in existing urban water networks.
Energy - Hydropower
- Cooling trees
- Urban heat island effect mitigation (Evaporative cooling)
Outdoor Misting Systems. Source: outdoor misting systems for cooling - Bing images
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Heat Island reduction
Integrating Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) into photovoltaic installations enhances efficiency by optimizing radiation absortion and minimizing heat transfer losses. This results in an improvement performance ratio, eneabling heat production even during winter with low-light conditions and cold temperatures.
Solar Farm. Source: 'https://www.rescoop.eu
June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire - REScoopStories Homepage news-and-events stories June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire Community energy is key to action...Rescoop
Large solar-photovoltaic systems (or solar parks) can provide carbon-free electricity to cities. The main issue encountered in cities is the lack of space and the "not in my backyard" phenomenon. There are many options to finance it, but great examples can be found such as the Westmill Solar Co-operative, which counts over 20,000 polycrystalline PV panels and generates around 5GWhr per year in Oxfordshire.
Energy - Large scale solar production
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
Buying more efficient appliances is a commitment not only to reduce consumption and make savings, it is also a commitment to the more sustainable use of energy, to achieving better results, reducing our workload and improving our daily lives.
Efficeint domestic appliances. Source: Endesa
Is it worthwhile buying more efficient domestic appliances?Even though they tend to be more expensive, in the long run it is worth buying more efficient domestic appliances. In addition to saving energy and...
Energy - Efficient appliances
Amstelland Meerlanden‘s electric bus fleet. Source: https://www.sustainable-bus.com/
Major raw materials commonly used in battery electric vehicles. Source: https://code.europa.eu
Bus fleet electrification combined with the use of renewable energy is an opportunity for cities to make public transport greener and healthier. It has the potential of a significantly higher impact than the electrification of cars since buses have more operating hours per day and a higher annual fuel consumption.
Mobility and transport - Bus fleet electrfication
Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Storm water channels
Retention pond. Source: http://winnipeg.ca
Storm water retenetion. Source: https://www.terraforce.com
Nature based Solutions - Urban water grid
Water interventions
Citizen Participation Platforms allow citizens to take on an active part in city governmental decisions. In this platforms citizens can access and provide useful data, and local governments receives feedback making cities more democratic and dynamic.
Method energy communities
Case study of Valencia
Energy communities can be understood as a way to organize collective energy actions around open, democratic participation and governance, and the provision of benefits for the members or the local community. Energy communities can support the adoption of electrification (through implementation of PVs, heat pumps, batteries, etc.)
User engagement Changes at home, neighborhood, and environment are necessary in order to achieve goals related to energy conservation and the generation of sustainable energy. The extent to which residents are involved in the process of making sustainable decisions has an important impact on the speed and outcome of such projects. Informative sessions and social media campaigns, climate-related action offices for local support (such as the ones in Valencia), will be needed.
For engaging stakeholders, the following actions can be considered:
Citizen Participation Platforms
Solar thermal technologies convert sunlight directly into heat. The generated heat is used for domestic hot water heating, space heating, or process heating, and the solar systems are designed to provide the right temperature needed for the application.
Solar Thermal panel. Source: https://www.isover-technical-insulation.com
Energy loop - Solar thermal technologies
Regulatoy framework for energy communities
Comparative analysis of the regulatory framework in Sun4All pilot cities
- Facillitating framework for energy communities with PV
Best practice: Save – Upgrade Plan in Cyprus.. Source: https://www.fundingprogrammesportal.gov.cy/en/
- Promote PV
- System level circular economy approaches
Enabling instruments provide the legal framework and guidelines necessary for integrating NbS and carbon capture measures into urban and environmental planning.
Policy & governance
Parts of the DH system in Ferrara. Source: Final Project Report (upgrade DH)
Example of a DH network with a primary, secondary and tertiary grid which is separated by substations (Sub.) and which supplies heat to different types of consumers (Source: D. Rutz)
The first step towards the renovation of the district heating system is to refurbish the buildings. Once all buildings are refurbished, the district heating can be adapted by reducing the supply temperature to 60°C, which allows the inclusion of renewable energy sources (solar thermal, waste heat) and heat pumps as energy sources in the grid.If not all buildings are refurbished, another possibility is to reduce the supply temperature of a part of the district heating system and use the return heat from the traditional part to supply the part of the grid with a lower temperature (cascade use of heat).
Energy loop - Renovación de DH&CN (1G y 2G)
Buying more efficient appliances is a commitment not only to reduce consumption and make savings, it is also a commitment to the more sustainable use of energy, to achieving better results, reducing our workload and improving our daily lives.
Efficeint domestic appliances. Source: Endesa
Is it worthwhile buying more efficient domestic appliances?Even though they tend to be more expensive, in the long run it is worth buying more efficient domestic appliances. In addition to saving energy and...
Energy - Efficient appliances
Heat Recovery & Valorisation from process heating (of industries) or data centers can be recovered, upgraded (i.e. increase temperature to the desired one with a heat pump), and used to descarbonise district heating networks.
Industrial Heat Pump technologies or High Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHP) have been identified for applications in the supply temperature range of 100 - 150°C in the food, paper, and chemical/pharma industries, in particular in drying processes, as well as in pasteurizing, sterilizing, evaporation, and distillation. The application of heat pump technologies opens additional new options for sector coupling of electricity, heating, and cooling and provides flexibility, e.g. through heat storage in industrial plants.
Energy - Waste heat
Chester assessment tool. Source: www.chester.datuma.aiguasol.coop
Sewage heat recovery via pump systems extract thermal energy from wastewater (12-15°C) using heat exchangers and pumps. These systems can pre-heat tap water for domestic hot water and space heating in individual buildings or supply low-heat to a district heating network (DHN) in larger sewer plants and channels. Heat pumps can be integrated to raise the temperature for consumption. This solution could be implementes in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, offering a reduction in hot water demand up to 20% by raising its temperature by 10 degrees
- Natural inland wetlands
- Constructed wetland
Constructed wetland scheme. Source: https://www.archdaily.com
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Wetlands
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
Solar thermal technologies convert sunlight directly into heat. The generated heat is used for domestic hot water heating, space heating, or process heating, and the solar systems are designed to provide the right temperature needed for the application.
Solar Thermal panel. Source: https://www.isover-technical-insulation.com
Energy loop - Solar thermal technologies
- Floating gardens
- Rain garden
- Floodable park
Rain garden. Source: https://www.courtenay.ca
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Water optimization
Floodable park. Source: https://urbantoronto.ca
Amstelland Meerlanden‘s electric bus fleet. Source: https://www.sustainable-bus.com/
Major raw materials commonly used in battery electric vehicles. Source: https://code.europa.eu
Bus fleet electrification combined with the use of renewable energy is an opportunity for cities to make public transport greener and healthier. It has the potential of a significantly higher impact than the electrification of cars since buses have more operating hours per day and a higher annual fuel consumption.
Mobility and transport - Bus fleet electrfication
Low-carbon sustainable concrete
Reducing embedded emissions of buildings
Sensorized-panel. Source: http://www.endurcrete.eu
Technology Roadmap. Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry (IEA). Source: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net
Low-carbon and sustainable building materials
Reduction of emissions - Building carbon emissions
- Bioretention Areas
- Green filter area
Green Filter area. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - Soil Filter
Green noise barriers
Vertical mobile gardens
Green walls and green façades
Green fences
Green living walls. Source: https://citygreen.com
Zagreb, Croatia. ProGIreg. Source: https://progireg.eu
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Building envelope solutions
Carbon capture - Vertical Green Infrastructure
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- European Environment Agency (EEA)
Relevant agencies
- NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances
- NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance
Challenges for NbS and IG. Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Regulatory instruments
Policy & governance
Low-carbon sustainable concrete
Reducing embedded emissions of buildings
Sensorized-panel. Source: http://www.endurcrete.eu
Technology Roadmap. Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry (IEA). Source: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net
Low-carbon and sustainable building materials
Reduction of emissions - Building carbon emissions
Cases of ZEZ-Fs in Planning and Implementation: Rotterdam
Phases of city logistics: from outside the city to last-mile delivery. Source: https://www.mecalux.com
Mobility and transport - Last mile delivery
Electrified urban freight delivery and other sustainable options for last mile delivery can be promising climate and energy solutions to reduce emissions coming from logistics, in the effort to contribute to low-emission zones as these are now envisaged in a number of cities.
Cases of ZEZ-Fs in Planning and Implementation: Rotterdam
Phases of city logistics: from outside the city to last-mile delivery. Source: https://www.mecalux.com
Mobility and transport - Last mile delivery
Electrified urban freight delivery and other sustainable options for last mile delivery can be promising climate and energy solutions to reduce emissions coming from logistics, in the effort to contribute to low-emission zones as these are now envisaged in a number of cities.
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: www.mysmartlife.eu
Energy - Smart street lighting
Smart street lighting is characterised by the fact that the individual light point not only fulfills the function of the lighting, but also offers additional services for citizens such as environmental monitoring (noise and air quality), or public Wi-Fi improvement among others. Furthermore, it can integrate photovoltaic panels, reducing electricity consumption.
Salt Marshes
River floodplains
Sandy shores
Mangrove forests
Mangrove forest. Photo by Akarawut Lohachavoenvanich/iStock. Source: https://thecityfix.com
Water interventions Solutions for Coastal Climate adaptation
Nature based Solutions - Waterfront
- Grassed swales and water retention pounds
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle. Source: https://afdc.energy.gov
Mobility and transport - Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in urban transport
In the urban transport, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are complementary to Full Electric Vehicles (BEV), allowing a transition to zero emission vehicles (when hydrogen production uses renewable energy sources) today for applications that remain hard to decarbonise due to their operational needs (e.g. garbage trucks and taxi fleets).
Green Charge demo pilot Oslo. Source: https://www.greencharge2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Green-Charge-Demo-Card-OSL.D2-Charge-point-operation-demo.pdf
- Zero emission electric cars
- Fleet decarbonisation
Mobility and transport - E-mobility
An Electric Vehicle (EV) uses electric power instead of an internal combustion engine powered by other fuel types like diesel fuel or gasoline. It has been increasingly recognized that EV may provide an opportunity to reduce global GHG emissions (UN Habitat, 2014) and increase air quality, if powered by renewable energy sources. The use of second life batteries and improved battery performance may in the future further reduce the need of raw materials and the related environmental impact.
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
At building level, geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps can be used to descarbonise the heating and cooling production. Generally speaking, geothermal will reach hi gher efficiency levels than aerothermal, and will be invisible to the user, but requires higher investment costs (due to the drilling), and environmental permits (country dependent). Heat pumps can be coupled with solar, in several ways, and batteries for optimising the energy management.
PVT coupled with HPs and other systems, and PVT coupled with a reversible heat pump and a tank to produce space heating and domestic hot water needs. Source: https://netzerocities.app/s
Optimization energy
Batteries
Heatpump
Geotermia
Sistemas híbridos (PVT, PV+HP, ...)
Energy - geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps
Energy Management Systems
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: https://www.bable-smartcities.el
Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS)
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.
Energy - Automation and Control Systems (BACS)/Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)
Mobility hubs include the deployment of e-charging stations across different levels sharing public infrastructure, and utilizing parking lots, canopies, and benches also as multifunctional points of charge.They are a means to seamlessly link various modes of transport in order to enable inter-modal trip chains as an alternative to the private car and allow easy access to new forms of sustainable mobility or shared transport (from rail, to buses, shared cars, shared bikes) with mutli-modal supportive infrastructure and different sort of facilities such as delivery or pick-up points. Mobility hubs can be distributed throughout urban, suburban and rural areas to enable access to sustainable transport options and should be planned with public tr ansport as backbone.
Mobility and transport - Mobility hubs
Solar thermal technologies convert sunlight directly into heat. The generated heat is used for domestic hot water heating, space heating, or process heating, and the solar systems are designed to provide the right temperature needed for the application.
Solar Thermal panel. Source: https://www.isover-technical-insulation.com
Energy loop - Solar thermal technologies
Schematic representation of a complex imHLA. Source: www.mysmartlife.eu
Energy - Smart street lighting
Smart street lighting is characterised by the fact that the individual light point not only fulfills the function of the lighting, but also offers additional services for citizens such as environmental monitoring (noise and air quality), or public Wi-Fi improvement among others. Furthermore, it can integrate photovoltaic panels, reducing electricity consumption.
Integrating Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) into photovoltaic installations enhances efficiency by optimizing radiation absortion and minimizing heat transfer losses. This results in an improvement performance ratio, eneabling heat production even during winter with low-light conditions and cold temperatures.
Solar Farm. Source: 'https://www.rescoop.eu
June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire - REScoopStories Homepage news-and-events stories June success story: Ten years harvesting the sun's energy in Oxfordshire Community energy is key to action...Rescoop
Large solar-photovoltaic systems (or solar parks) can provide carbon-free electricity to cities. The main issue encountered in cities is the lack of space and the "not in my backyard" phenomenon. There are many options to finance it, but great examples can be found such as the Westmill Solar Co-operative, which counts over 20,000 polycrystalline PV panels and generates around 5GWhr per year in Oxfordshire.
Energy - Large scale solar production
Walking tour in Hiedanranta. Source: https://unalab.eu/
Green corridors for active and cooler mobility
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Regreen topics. Source: https://www.regreen-project.eu
Carbon capture - Green urban areas
Green resting areas, parks and urban forests, parklets
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
Restore water-courses
River and stream renaturalization
Water interventions
- Initial state
- The initial phase of the project should involve removing the bank fixation to restore the natural structure of the watercourse
- Upon the restoration of the watercourse, natural water flow and sediment transport will facilitate the reintroduction of native flora and fauna
- Restoring watercourses requires time and land to achieve an ecological balance.
Steps of river restoration. Source: Binder, Walter & Göttle, Albert & Shuhuai, Duan. (2015). Ecological restoration of small water Courses, Experiences from Germany and from Projects in Beijing. International Soil and Water Conservation Research.
Nature based Solutions - Water course measures
Photovoltaic panels on green roof were found to be, on average, 3.63% more efficient on any given day from the fact the green roof remained far cooler than the traditional concrete, meaning the panels did not overheat and therefore underperform.
PV panels on the roof. Source: pv magazine International
Green roof improves solar panel efficiency by 3.6% on average The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, Australia, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has...
Energy - Photovoltaic panels (PV)
At building level, geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps can be used to descarbonise the heating and cooling production. Generally speaking, geothermal will reach hi gher efficiency levels than aerothermal, and will be invisible to the user, but requires higher investment costs (due to the drilling), and environmental permits (country dependent). Heat pumps can be coupled with solar, in several ways, and batteries for optimising the energy management.
PVT coupled with HPs and other systems, and PVT coupled with a reversible heat pump and a tank to produce space heating and domestic hot water needs. Source: https://netzerocities.app/s
Optimization energy
Batteries
Heatpump
Geotermia
Sistemas híbridos (PVT, PV+HP, ...)
Energy - geothermal/aerothermal heat pumps
- Urban garden bio-filter
- Urban carbon sink
Global carbon stores and fluxes. Source: Maslin, Mark. (2019). Climate change: essential knowledge for developing holistic solutions to our climate crisis. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. 3.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Carbon capture - CO2 atmospheric emissions reduction
Photovoltaic panels on green roof were found to be, on average, 3.63% more efficient on any given day from the fact the green roof remained far cooler than the traditional concrete, meaning the panels did not overheat and therefore underperform.
PV panels on the roof. Source: pv magazine International
Green roof improves solar panel efficiency by 3.6% on average The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, Australia, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has...
Energy - Photovoltaic panels (PV)
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- Digital Twin
Analytics modelling solutions
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Educational activities suring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Educational, Capacity Building instruments
Capabilities
Digitaler Zwilling München. Source: Technical University of Munich
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool
Best practices for SMEs in implementing. DEESME’s Final Project. Source: https://deesme.eu/
7. Energy efficiency is a long-term procedure
6. Wide participation in the project management team
5. Training personnel and managerial staff
4. Quantification of energy related problems
3. Communicate success to internal stakeholders and external stakeholders
2. Top management commitment. sets their commitment on sustainability and energy efficiency for all employees.
1. Complete & accurate data. Complete and accurate data comes from an energy audit, which provides a complete data set for taking decisions on energy issues.
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.EMS typically has three parts:
- Measurement: Collection of information on energy consumption
- Monitor: Metering sensors that track energy consumption
- Control: Control system that provide instruction to the EMS interface and actual control debice
Energy - Energy Management System (EMS)
Green pavements: hard drainage pavements; green parking pavements
Hard drainage-flood prevention
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS)
Lamb Drove, Residential SuDS, Cambourne, Cambridge. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Wallands Primary School Rainscape SUDs case study. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Sustainable pavements
Amstelland Meerlanden‘s electric bus fleet. Source: https://www.sustainable-bus.com/
Major raw materials commonly used in battery electric vehicles. Source: https://code.europa.eu
Bus fleet electrification combined with the use of renewable energy is an opportunity for cities to make public transport greener and healthier. It has the potential of a significantly higher impact than the electrification of cars since buses have more operating hours per day and a higher annual fuel consumption.
Mobility and transport - Bus fleet electrfication
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/gie_-_position_paper_-_sector_coupling_p2g.pdf
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/news/urban-symbiosis-recommendations-cities-re-use-resources_en
“'Urban symbiosis' aims to break linear relationships between consumption and waste by returning outputs as inputs, e.g. recycling wastewater or water from industrial processes [1]”. The current bundle aims to decarbonize via sector coupling: using heating and cooling, electricity or fuels (like hydrogen) or carbon dioxide to make the link between sectors, from the metropolitan to the district level.Sector coupling could be defined as the “interconnection of the energy-consuming sectors with power-producing sectors at large […]”[2} such as X-to-Power and Power-to-X elements, where “X” can be green hydrogen (or other fuels) or heat.It can tackle the following areas if the electricity generation sector becomes cleaner:
- Underpin the massive reduction in transport emissions through, not only electrification but also through fuel cells vehicles (especially in heavy transport like trucks; hydrogen trains, hydrogen boats, etc.) and green hydrogen generation.
- Hydrogen valleys will become important for that matter. Not only for the production of green hydrogen but also to create an industry hub that connects industry for hydrogen generation (electrolysers), infrastructure (h2 local networks), transport (trucks, etc.), and hydrogen use as raw material (for steel, for ammonia, chemical industry, etc.)
- Gas infrastructures to transport and store green gases could also provide flexibility to the power system through the use of fuel cells.
- But it is not the only way, also electricity storage via batteries (as explained in RES Generation: Low carbon electrification) could also be an option.
- Electrify heat process generation (in heavy and light industry) through the use of high temperature heat pumps, and the integration of waste heat from multiple sources and temperature levels (data centers, pulp/food/chemical industries, etc.), creating the necessary framework and contracts to make that happen.
- Also, waste can be shared: such as pulp waste that can be used for the production of biogas (which later on, can be an input for a co-generation plant connected to a DHN).
Carbon capture - Carbon Sequestration
- Soil carbon sequestration
- Smart-soils and phytoremediation
Conceptualization of C sequestration potentials in arable land. Source: Amelung, W., Bossio, D., de Vries, W. et al. Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy. Nat Commun 11, 5427 (2020).
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
- Promote PV
Best practice: Save – Upgrade Plan in Cyprus.. Source: https://www.fundingprogrammesportal.gov.cy/en/
- System level circular economy approaches
- Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
- Parking policies, management and fees, smart parking
Enabling instruments provide the legal framework and guidelines necessary for integrating NbS and carbon capture measures into urban and environmental planning.
- Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP)
Policy & governance
Pollinator and verges spaces
Pollinator. Source: https://www.life4pollinators.eu
Pollinators contribute to urban biodiversity, with bees, wasps, beetles, beeflies, hoverflies, butterflies, and moths being the most common. Enhancing their presence in urban areas can be achieved by planting species with the nestar and pollen needed to attract the desired insect pollinators in the city´s green spaces.
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Nature based Solutions - Pollinators
- Cooling trees
- Urban heat island effect mitigation (Evaporative cooling)
Outdoor Misting Systems. Source: outdoor misting systems for cooling - Bing images
Urban carbon storage and sequestration, and singular green infrastructure
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Heat Island reduction
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Digital solutions enable real-time monitoring optimizing NbS effectiveness and precision in carbon capture measures.
- CO2 Emission Trading Platforms
Urban Digital Platforms
- Measuring & Monitoring (green & digital transition)
Digital Public Goods
Capabilities - Digital Solutions
Visualized KPIs. Source: https://netzerocities.app
Five trading platform developed by startus. Source: https://www.startus-insights.com
Best practices for SMEs in implementing. DEESME’s Final Project. Source: https://deesme.eu/
7. Energy efficiency is a long-term procedure
6. Wide participation in the project management team
5. Training personnel and managerial staff
4. Quantification of energy related problems
3. Communicate success to internal stakeholders and external stakeholders
2. Top management commitment. sets their commitment on sustainability and energy efficiency for all employees.
1. Complete & accurate data. Complete and accurate data comes from an energy audit, which provides a complete data set for taking decisions on energy issues.
Energy Management System (EMS) comprises an optimal integration of Distributed Energy Resources (generation, storage an consumption with special relevance of renewable energy), active participation of new energy profiles (active consumers, prosumers, aggregators...), hybridation of energy vectors and artificial intelligence.EMS typically has three parts:
- Measurement: Collection of information on energy consumption
- Monitor: Metering sensors that track energy consumption
- Control: Control system that provide instruction to the EMS interface and actual control debice
Energy - Energy Management System (EMS)
Mobility hubs include the deployment of e-charging stations across different levels sharing public infrastructure, and utilizing parking lots, canopies, and benches also as multifunctional points of charge.They are a means to seamlessly link various modes of transport in order to enable inter-modal trip chains as an alternative to the private car and allow easy access to new forms of sustainable mobility or shared transport (from rail, to buses, shared cars, shared bikes) with mutli-modal supportive infrastructure and different sort of facilities such as delivery or pick-up points. Mobility hubs can be distributed throughout urban, suburban and rural areas to enable access to sustainable transport options and should be planned with public tr ansport as backbone.
Mobility and transport - Mobility hubs
Smart communities with microgrids
Smart Heating and Cooling sustainable manufacturing
Smart EV charging
Demand response is a method for matching the demand for energy to the available supply of energy (ISO/IEC 15067-3:2012), increasing the grid reliability, reducing the need to build new capacity and reducing the use of fossil-based peak electric generation.It could be implicit demand response with time-varying electricity prices; or explicit demand response, where (mainly large consumers) can sell their flexibility to the electricity markets or aggregators.Examples of demand response are Smart EV charging, Smart Heating and Cooling (building -level intelligence) sustainable manufacturing, and smart communities with microgrids.
Energy - Demand management “as Demand response”
Major raw materials commonly used in battery electric vehicles. Source: Compiled from data in Hawkins et al., 2013; Mathieux et al., 2017; EC, 2018a; 2018b.
Easy access to public charging for EVs (including taxis, city utility vehicles, private cars, etc.) is a necessity in transition toward zero-emission electric transport. The charging infrastructures can be provided in various locations & forms, i.e. on-street charging infrastructure for residents & (fast) charging hubs.
Mobility and transport - Public charging system for EVs
Connecting Nature
NZC
proGIreg
Business model ensure project´s economy viability, long term effectiveness, scalability and replicability by attracting investments, securing funding and generating revenues streams. Moreover, considering diverse stakeholders facilitates alignment with the local economy.
Finance and Business Models
[1] https://netzerocities.app/resource-2644
A carbon sink absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The ocean, soil, and forests are the world's largest carbon sinks. [1]Carbon capture can be sequestered through the biological process (i.e., indirect capture of CO2 through carbon sinks) or technology applications (direct CO2 capture). CO2 can be stored to be removed later through its use as a feedstock to produce fuels or products or stored permanently in geological formations.Carbon sinks will be mainly linked with other solutions via water (as natural sinks will consume it), energy (for those sinks that need some energy to maintain them or for CCS), and materials.
Green pavements: hard drainage pavements; green parking pavements
Hard drainage-flood prevention
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS)
Lamb Drove, Residential SuDS, Cambourne, Cambridge. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Wallands Primary School Rainscape SUDs case study. Source:https://www.susdrain.org
Water interventions
Nature based Solutions - Sustainable pavements
ValuES
iTree
SESAME tool. CEREMA (in French)
Evaluating the impact of NbS
EPESUS city (Ekodenge)
GeoIKP
Nature4CITIES
NBS Scenarios Generation Tool
Online Tools
NBS selection tool