Toward a certification protocol for Positive Energy Districts (PED). A methodological proposal

Marco Volpatti; Elena Mazzola; Marta Carla Bottero; Adriano Bisello

doi:10.6093/1970-9870/10301

Marco Volpatti Politecnico di Torino - Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning - DIST https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1541-5885
Elena Mazzola Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering – ICEA Università degli Studi di Padova, Padoa, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1433-8630
Marta Carla Bottero Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning - DIST Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8983-2628
Adriano Bisello Institute for Renewable Energies Eurac Research Centre, Bozen, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-067X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/1970-9870/10301

Keywords: Sustainable developmente, Positive energy district (PED), Neighborhood assessment tools

Abstract

In order to achieve the ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets, set by the Sustainable Development Goals, it is crucial to act on cities. Indeed, cities are responsible for 67% of the world's primary energy consumption and about 70% of energy-related CO2 emissions. To support the urban energy transition, a broad implementation of zero-emission districts or, even better, positive energy districts (PEDs) is expected. PEDs can be defined as energy-efficient and energy-flexible urban areas that aim to provide a surplus of clean energy to the city by using renewable energies. However, in developing the PEDs concept, it is necessary to consider not only the technical issue of energy systems but also the environmental, social, and economic spheres. To be effective, it is important to provide decision-makers with tools such as protocol certification for PEDs, which can effectively assess the complexity of the impacts a PEDs might have on other urban transformations from a multi-stakeholder perspective. LEED for neighborhood development, BREEAM communities, and CASBEE for cities are the most widely used and known protocols in the world for the evaluation of districts. Protocol certifications today do not consider PEDs because they are outdated, but some common characteristics can already be found within them, which allows for the possibility of reformulating scores and inserting new evaluation criteria. The aim of this research, through a review of the literature, is to analyze the current protocol certificates at the district level, identifying criteria and scores within the evaluation methods, with the aim of contributing to the definition of a PED certification protocol with effective criteria and scores to support design and development of PEDs.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Marco Volpatti, Politecnico di Torino - Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning - DIST

PhD student at the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) of the Polytechnic of Turin (Italy). His research deals with multiple benefits analysis, multicriteria analysis, and sustainable strategic and urban development assessments of Positive Energy Districts in the context of the ANNEX 83 working group of the International Energy Agency.

Elena Mazzola, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering – ICEA Università degli Studi di Padova, Padoa, Italy

PhD in Architecture, City, and Design from Iuav of Venice University, Assistant Professor at University of Padua (Italy). Her research activities are currently twofold: while the first research activity is set to explore the efficiency of buildings, the second major research theme is focused on the development of sustainable urban cities.

Marta Carla Bottero, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning - DIST Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

PhD in Environmental Geo-Engineering, Full professor in Appraisal and Evaluation at the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) at the Polytechnic of Turin (Italy). She carries out teaching and research activities on sustainability assessments of urban and territorial transformation interventions through the use of different methods and tools. She is the author of numerous Italian and international publications and a member of various scientific societies such as the Italian such as the Italian Society of Estimate and Evaluation (SIEV) and the European research group EURO Working Group Multicriteria Decision Aiding.

Adriano Bisello, Institute for Renewable Energies Eurac Research Centre, Bozen, Italy

PhD in Real Estate Economics at University of Padua (Italy), he worked as a consultant and a freelancer planner for public administrations and engineering companies. Currently, he is a senior researcher and project manager in the Urban and Regional Energy Systems research team at Eurac Research.

References

Aboagye, P. D., & Sharifi, A. (2024). Urban climate adaptation and mitigation action plans: A critical review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 189, 113886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113886

Albert-Seifried, V., Murauskaite, L., Massa, G., et al. (2022). Definitions of positive energy districts: A review of the status quo and challenges. Sustainability in Energy and Buildings 2021, 493–506

Angelakoglou, K., Nikolopoulos, N., Giourka, P., Svensson, I.-L., Tsarchopoulos, P., Tryferidis, A., & Tzovaras, D. (2019). A Methodological Framework for the Selection of Key Performance Indicators to Assess Smart City Solutions. Smart Cities, 2(2), 269–306. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2020018

Arabi, S., Golabchi, M., & Darabpour, M. (2018). Sustainable Development in Cities: A Qualitative Approach to Evaluate Rating Systems. Civil Engineering Journal, 4(12), 2990. https://doi.org/10.28991/cej-03091215

Baccarini, D. (1996). The concept of project complexity, a review. International Journal of Project Management, 14(4), Pp.201–204

Becchio, C., Bottero, M., Bravi, M., Corgnati, S., Dell’Anna, F., Mondini, G., & Vergerio, G. (2020). Integrated Assessments and Energy Retrofit: The Contribution of the Energy Center Lab of the Politecnico di Torino. In G. Mondini, A. Oppio, S. Stanghellini, M. Bottero, & F. Abastante (Eds.), Values and Functions for Future Cities (pp. 365–384). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23786-8_21

Bisello, A., Antoniucci, V., & Marella, G. (2020). Measuring the price premium of energy efficiency: A two-step analysis in the Italian housing market. Energy and Buildings, 208, 109670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109670

Bisello, A., Bottero, M., Volpatti, M., & Binda, T. (2024). Multicriteria Spatial Economic Decision Support Systems to Support Positive Energy Districts: A Literature Review. In A. Bisello, D. Vettorato, M. Bottero, & D. Kolokotsa (Eds.), Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions: Results of SSPCR 2022 (pp. 15–31). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39206-1_2

Bisello, A., Grilli, G., Balest, J., Stellin, G., & Ciolli, M. (2017). Co-benefits of smart and sustainable energy district projects: An overview of economic assessment methodologies. In Smart and Sustain. Plan. For Cities and Reg. (pp. 127–164). Springer International Publishing; Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44899-2_9

Boschetto, P., Bove, A., & Mazzola, E. (2022). Comparative Review of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools. Sustainability, 14(5), 3132. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053132

Bossi, S., Gollner, C., & Theierling, S. (2020). Towards 100 positive energy districts in europe: Preliminary data analysis of 61 European cases. Energies, 13(22). https://doi.org/10.3390/en13226083

Bottero, M., Mondini, G., & Oppio, A. (2016). Decision Support Systems for Evaluating Urban Regeneration. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 223, 923–928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.319

BREEAM. (2014). BREEAM Communities. https://bregroup.com/products/breeam/breeam-technical-standards/breeam-communties/

CASBEE for cities v.2015. (n.d.). 2021. https://sustainable-infrastructure-tools.org/tools/casbee-for-cities/

Derkenbaeva, E., Halleck Vega, S., Hofstede, G. J., & van Leeuwen, E. (2022). Positive energy districts: Mainstreaming energy transition in urban areas. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 153, 111782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.111782

EBC, I. (2022). IEA EBC—Annex 83—Positive energy districts.

EPA green. (2017). https://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/green-buildings-epa

European Commission. (2021). Economic Appraisal Vademecum 2021-2027—General Principles and Sector Applications. https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/publications/guides/2021/economic-appraisal-vademecum-2021-2027-general-principles-and-sector-applications

Fistola, R., Gaglione, F., & Zingariello, I. (2023). The small smart city: Renewable energy sources in little town of Italy. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 183-199 Pages. https://doi.org/10.6093/1970-9870/9850

Gaglione, F. (2023). Policies and practices of transition towards climate-neutral and smart cities. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 227-231 Pages. https://doi.org/10.6093/1970-9870/9822

Gargiulo, C., Pinto, V. & Zucaro, F. (2012). City and mobility: Towards an integrated approach to resolve energy problems. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/920

Guarino, F. et al. (2022). State of the Art on Sustainability Assessment of Positive Energy Districts: Methodologies, Indicators and Future Perspectives. In Littlewood, J. R., Howlett, R. J., & Jain, L. C. (Eds.), Sustainability in Energy and Buildings 2021 (pp. 479–492). Springer Nature: Singapore

Guida, C., & Martinelli, V. (2023). City vs Energy consumptions: The role of new technologies. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 221-226 Pages. https://doi.org/10.6093/1970-9870/9836

IEA. (2020). CO2 emissions in MT by sector, World 1990-2018. Https://Www.Iea.Org/Data-and-Statistics

Karner, K., Theissing, M., & Kienberger, T. (2017). Modeling of energy efficiency increase of urban areas through synergies with industries. Energy, 136, 201–209. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.12.139

Kroll, C., Warchold, A., & Pradhan, P. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are we successful in turning trade-offs into synergies? Palgrave Communications, 5(1), 140. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0335-5

LEED. Checklist: LEED Neighborhood Development.” (2023). https://www.usgbc.org/resources/neighborhooddevelopment-v2009-checklist-xls

Lwasa, S. et al. (2022). Urban systems and other settlements. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Mazzeo, G. (2017). Planning Assignments of the Italian Metropolitan Cities. Early Trends. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/5021

Mazzola, E., Mora, T. D., Peron, F., & Romagnoni, P. (2017). Proposal of a methodology for achieving a LEED O+M certification in historic buildings. Energy Procedia, 140, 277–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.11.142

Niu, C., & Zhang, W. (2023). Causal effects of mobility intervention policies on intracity flows during the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of zonal locations in the transportation networks. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 101957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101957

Suppa, A. R., Cavana, G., & Binda, T. (2022). Supporting the EU Mission “100 Climate-Neutral Cities by 2030”: A Review of Tools to Support Decision-Making for the Built Environment at District or City Scale. In O. Gervasi, B. Murgante, S. Misra, A. M. A. C. Rocha, & C. Garau (Eds.), Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2022 Workshops (pp. 151–168). Springer International Publishing

Volpatti, M., Mazzola, E., Bottero, M. C., & Bisello, A. (2024). The Role of Positive Energy Districts through the Lens of Urban Sustainability Protocols in the Case Studies of Salzburg and Tampere. Buildings, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14010007

Wangel, J., Wallhagen, M., Malmqvist, T., & Finnveden, G. (2016). Certification systems for sustainable neighbourhoods: What do they really certify? Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 56, 200–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2015.10.003

Yin, L., Sharifi, A., Liqiao, H., & Jinyu, C. (2022). Urban carbon accounting: An overview. Urban Climate, 44. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101195