Reducing energy consumption in urban households is essential for reaching the necessary climate research and policy targets for CO2 reduction and sustainability. The dominant approach has been to invest in technological innovations that increase household energy efficiency. This article moves beyond this approach, first by emphasising the need to prioritise reducing energy demand over increasing energy efficiency and, second, by addressing the challenge of energy consumption at the level of the community, not the individual household. It argues that energy consumption is shaped in and by social communities, which construct consciousness of the energy implications of lifestyle choices. By analysing a specific type of community, a digital community, it looks at the role that communication on online discussion boards plays in the social process of questioning energy needs and shaping a “decent lifestyle”. The article explores three social processes of community interaction around energy practices – coercive, mimetic, and normative – questioning the ways in which they contribute to the activation of energy discursive consciousness. In conclusion, the article reflects on the potential implications of these social processes for future research and interventions aimed at reducing energy demand. To illustrate how the three selected social processes influence one another, the article builds on the results of a research project conducted in Amsterdam, analysing the potential contribution of online discussion boards in shaping energy norms in the Sustainable Community of Amsterdam Facebook group.
Recent years have shown the emergence of numerous local energy initiatives (prosumer communities) in the Netherlands. Many of them have set the goal to establish a local and sustainable energy provision on a not-for-profit basis. In this study we carried out exploratory case studies on a number of Dutch prosumer communities. The objective is to analyse their development process, to examine the barriers they encounter while organising their initiative, and to find how ICT could be applied to counteract these barriers and support communities in reaching their goals. The study shows that prosumer communities develop along a stepwise, evolutionary growth path, while they are struggling with organising their initiative, because the right expertise is lacking on various issues (such as energy technology, finance and legislation). Participants stated that, depending on the development phase of their initiative, there is a strong need for information and specific expertise. With a foreseeable growing technical complexity they indicated that they wanted to be relieved with the right tools and services at the right moment. Based on these findings we developed a generic solution through the concept of a prosumer community shopping mall. The concept provides an integrated and scalable ICT environment, offering a wide spectrum of energy services that supports prosumer communities in every phase of their evolutionary growth path. As such the mall operates as a broker and clearing house between 2 prosumer communities and service providers, where the service offerings grow and fit with the needs and demands of the communities along their growth path. The shopping mall operates for many prosumer communities, thus providing economies of scale. Each prosumer community is presented its own virtual mall, with specific content and a personalised look-and-feel.
The energy transition is a highly complex technical and societal challenge, coping with e.g. existing ownership situations, intrusive retrofit measures, slow decision-making processes and uneven value distribution. Large scale retrofitting activities insulating multiple buildings at once is urgently needed to reach the climate targets but the decision-making of retrofitting in buildings with shared ownership is challenging. Each owner is accountable for his own energy bill (and footprint), giving a limited action scope. This has led to a fragmented response to the energy retrofitting challenge with negligible levels of building energy efficiency improvements conducted by multiple actors. Aggregating the energy design process on a building level would allow more systemic decisions to happen and offer the access to alternative types of funding for owners. “Collect Your Retrofits” intends to design a generic and collective retrofit approach in the challenging context of monumental areas. As there are no standardised approaches to conduct historical building energy retrofits, solutions are tailor-made, making the process expensive and unattractive for owners. The project will develop this approach under real conditions of two communities: a self-organised “woongroep” and a “VvE” in the historic centre of Amsterdam. Retrofit designs will be identified based on energy performance, carbon emissions, comfort and costs so that a prioritisation strategy can be drawn. Instead of each owner investing into their own energy retrofitting, the neighbourhood will invest into the most impactful measures and ensure that the generated economic value is retained locally in order to make further sustainable investments and thus accelerating the transition of the area to a CO2-neutral environment.
The SPRONG group, originating from the CoE KennisDC Logistiek, focuses on 'Low Impact in Lastmile Logistics' (LILS). The LILS group conducts practical research with local living labs and learning communities. There is potential for more collaboration and synergy for nationwide scaling of innovations, which is currently underutilized. LILS aims to make urban logistics more sustainable and facilitate necessary societal transitions. This involves expanding the monodisciplinary and regional scope of CoE KennisDC Logistiek to a multidisciplinary and supra-regional approach, incorporating expertise in spatial planning, mobility, data, circularity, AI, behavior, and energy. The research themes are:- Solutions in scarce space aiming for zero impact;- Influencing behavior of purchasers, recipients, and consumers;- Opportunities through digitalization.LILS seeks to increase its impact through research and education beyond its regions. Collaboration between BUas, HAN, HR, and HvA creates more critical mass. LILS activities are structured around four pillars:- Developing a joint research and innovation program in a roadmap;- Further integrating various knowledge domains on the research themes;- Deepening methodological approaches, enhancing collaboration between universities and partners in projects, and innovating education (LILS knowledge hub);- Establishing an organizational excellence program to improve research professionalism and quality.These pillars form the basis for initiating and executing challenging, externally funded multidisciplinary research projects. LILS is well-positioned in regions where innovations are implemented and has a strong national and international network and proven research experience.Societal issue:Last-mile logistics is crucial due to its visibility, small deliveries, high costs, and significant impact on emissions, traffic safety, and labor hours. Lastmile activities are predicted to grow a 20% growth in the next decade. Key drivers for change include climate agreements and energy transitions, urban planning focusing on livability, and evolving retail landscapes and consumer behavior. Solutions involve integrating logistics with spatial planning, influencing purchasing behavior, and leveraging digitalization for better data integration and communication. Digital twins and the Physical Internet concept can enhance efficiency through open systems, data sharing, asset sharing, standardization, collaboration protocols, and modular load units.Key partners: Buas, HR, HAN, HvAPartners: TNO, TU Delft, Gemeente Rotterdam, Hoger Onderwijs Drechtsteden, Significance, Metropolitan Hub System, evofenedex, Provincie Gelderland, Duurzaam Bereikbaar Heijendaal, Gemeente Alphen aan den Rijn, Radboud Universiteit, I&W - DMI, DHL, TLN, Noorderpoort, Fabrications, VUB, Smartwayz, RUG, Groene Metropoolregio.
Air-to-Water (A2W) systems are innovative technologies which make possible to supply drinking water to regions without any nearby surface or ground water source. Such systems use green energy (solar, wind) to condense air humidity and provide fresh water in rather remote locations. As water production is area dependent, they operate at relatively small fluxes (few cubic meters per day, per unit), which makes them especially suitable for small isolated communities that are not supplied by municipal water supply services. Even though they have reached quite high technology redness level (TRL), in-situ, real scale, tests are still required to optimize energy performance and evaluate production at very specific meteorological conditions. In this project we propose an in-situ evaluation of the performance of a real scale A2W system produced by a Dutch company (Dutch Rain Maker, model AW-25) in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. The cooperation with a HBO institute (Water Technology lectoraat, NHL Stenden) will provide the necessary analytical and technical support as well as extra expertise to conduct the tests. The project uses the opportunity given by the state government of Ceará State which built an infra-structure to provide space for in-situ tests for experts and companies who would like to test water technology solutions for arid regions. Finally, it is also intended to help establishing partnerships between European SME and Brazilian end users, i.e. municipalities of the Ceará state and small agriculture companies in the region.
