The impact of MAMCA as a stakeholder engagement tool during the setup of an energy community.

As they foster active participation in their daily operations, energy communities (ECs) are often regarded as important tools for the empowerment of civil stakeholders in the energy system. To ensure the incorporation of stakeholder needs, participation must also be guaranteed throughout the design phase of the EC. Despite a general consensus on the importance of stakeholder engagement in the setup of sustainability-fostering projects, the impact of engagement initiatives often goes unassessed. This makes it difficult to determine whether their application advances stakeholder interest. Therefore, we wanted to study the effects of a specific stakeholder engagement tool (Multi Actor Multi Criteria Analysis, MAMCA) that was used in the setup phase of eight different ECs. Through a survey with 102 participants, three core aspects are assessed: 1) the effect on participants' knowledge of ECs, 2) the effect on social learning, and 3) the extent to which the engagement goals and participant expectations are fulfilled. The study results show that stakeholder appreciation of the method is high and MAMCA has important value as a learning methodology, with 96% of participants indicating their knowledge was raised significantly and 94% marking increased awareness of other viewpoints. This led to a relevant rise in willingness to join an EC (from 75% of participants to 93%). The interactive aspect and expert assistance are seen as crucial elements in the MAMCA process. More attention to raising participants' technical knowledge and feedback on the follow-up of the engagement initiative results are identified points of improvement for future applications.

Decentralized energy in flexible energy system: Life cycle environmental impacts in Belgium.

Decentralized energy systems enable a higher integration of electricity generation by renewable energy sources supported by electric storage and may significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions for electricity generation. While the environmental impact of single technologies has received great attention in recent years, the environmental impacts of decentralized energy generation and storage technologies remain unaddressed. This study presents a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of those technologies in Belgium for 2030 and 2050. The system technologies comprise single-Si photovoltaic installations combined with lithium-ion and second-life batteries. To compile the life cycle inventory (LCI), energy balances are built based on a Belgian impact energy model. The flexibility of the energy system is introduced by different EV charging strategies and distinct modes of stationary battery storage with the Belgium electricity grid, represented by four different scenarios: i) low flexibility, ii) medium flexibility, iii) high flexibility, and iv) high flexibility with high prosumer potential (PPH). The midpoint impact categories climate change, land use, mineral resource scarcity and terrestrial ecotoxicity of ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment method are analyzed. The decentralized energy generation and storage technologies in Belgium in 2050 result in 64.51 gCO2eq/kWh of consumed electricity for the medium flexibility scenario, representing a 72 % decrease compared to 2014. However, these reductions are driven by changes in the national electricity mix. Land use impacts are also reduced, up to 72 % for the high flexibility PPH scenario. In contrast, mineral resource scarcity and terrestrial ecotoxicity rise over time in the high flexibility PPH scenario in 2050 to 46 % and 66 %, respectively. A perturbation analysis is conducted to assess the sensitivity of the results, showing solar irradiation as the most sensitive parameter. One way to further reduce the environmental impacts of decentralized energy systems could be to investigate new strategies for the end-of-life of photovoltaic installations and batteries.

Life cycle assessment of battery electric vehicles: Implications of future electricity mix and different battery end-of-life management.

The environmental performance of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is influenced by their battery size and charging electricity source. Therefore, assessing their environmental performance should consider changes in the electricity sector and refurbishment of their batteries. This study conducts a scenario-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of three different scenarios combining four key parameters: future changes in the charging electricity mix, battery efficiency fade, battery refurbishment, and recycling for their collective importance on the life-cycle environmental performance of a BEV. The system boundary covers all the life-cycle stages of the BEV and includes battery refurbishment, except for its second use stage. The refurbished battery was modelled considering refurbished components and a 50% cell conversation rate for the second life of 5 years. The results found a 9.4% reduction in climate impacts when future changes (i.e., increase in the share of renewable energy) in the charging electricity are considered. Recycling reduced the BEV climate impacts by approximately 8.3%, and a reduction smaller than 1% was observed for battery refurbishment. However, the battery efficiency fade increases the BEV energy consumption, which results in a 7.4 to 8.1% rise in use-stage climate impacts. Therefore, it is vital to include battery efficiency fade and changes to the electricity sector when estimating the use-stage impacts of BEVs; without this, LCA results could be unreliable. The sensitivity analysis showed the possibility of a higher reduction in the BEV climate impacts for longer second lifespans (>5 years) and higher cell conversation rates (>50%). BEV and battery production are the most critical stages for all the other impact categories assessed, specifically contributing more than 90% to mineral resource scarcity. However, recycling and battery refurbishment can reduce the burden of the different impact categories considered. Therefore, manufacturers should design BEV battery packs while considering recycling and refurbishment.

Conventional, Hybrid, or Electric Vehicles: Which Technology for an Urban Distribution Centre?

Freight transport has an important impact on urban welfare. It is estimated to be responsible for 25% of CO2 emissions and up to 50% of particles matters generated by the transport sector in cities. Facing that problem, the European Commission set the objective of reaching free CO2 city logistics by 2030 in major urban areas. In order to achieve this goal, electric vehicles could be an important part of the solution. However, this technology still faces a number of barriers, in particular high purchase costs and limited driving range. This paper explores the possible integration of electric vehicles in urban logistics operations. In order to answer this research question, the authors have developed a fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows for electric vehicles. In particular, an energy consumption model is integrated in order to consider variable range of electric vehicles. Based on generated instances, the authors analyse different sets of vehicles in terms of vehicle class (quadricycles, small vans, large vans, and trucks) and vehicle technology (petrol, hybrid, diesel, and electric vehicles). Results show that a fleet with different technologies has the opportunity of reducing costs of the last mile.