In a world with diverging emission reduction targets, national climate policies might be ineffect... more In a world with diverging emission reduction targets, national climate policies might be ineffective in reducing consumption-based CO2 emissions (carbon footprints), i.e. emissions of final demand that are embodied in domestic and international supply chains. We analyse a set of different policies in three areas with particularly high consumption-based emissions in Austria: building construction, public health, and transport. To capture both, substitution possibilities triggered by these policies and the induced emission reductions along the full global supply chain, our analysis combines a Computable General Equilibrium with a Multi-Regional Input-Output model. For building construction we find that a carbon added tax is highly effective in reducing consumption-based emissions whereas an information obligation on vacant dwellings combined with a penalty payment when vacant buildings are not made available is ineffective because of reallocated investment capital. Mandatory energy efficiency improvements in public health and mobility are found equally effective in reducing consumption-and production-based emissions while a decarbonization of domestic logistics stronger reduces productionbased emissions. Overall, the effectiveness of policies, to mitigate consumption-based emissions, is therefore determined by the backward and forward linkages of the sector addressed by the policy as well as the substitution effects within final demand.
ABSTRACT EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States, requiri... more ABSTRACT EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States, requiring a fundamental change in energy systems. In an interdisciplinary approach, starting with welfare-generating energy services instead of energy flows, we analyse restructuring options for the Austrian energy system. We extend the concept of stabilization wedges by Pacala and Socolow and integrate technological and behavioural options into a structural energy model, complemented by an economic evaluation in an input-output analysis. We apply the energy service based approach to a transformation of the Austrian energy system that meets the EU 2020 emission targets. We estimate that this would require on average additional investment of about 6 billion € p.a. over a twelve year period. This investment allows to tap savings in operating costs (predominantly energy costs) of up to 4.3 billion € at the end of the period, when using a conservative assumption of non-rising energy prices.
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer-Verlag Ber... more Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your work, please use the accepted author's version for posting to your own website or your institution's repository. You may further deposit the accepted author's version on a funder's repository at a funder's request, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after publication.
Conventional polymers are made of crude oil components through chemical polymerization. The aim o... more Conventional polymers are made of crude oil components through chemical polymerization. The aim of the project ANIMPOL is to produce biopolymers by converting lipids into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in a novel process scheme to reduce dependence on crude oil and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. PHA constitutes a group of biobased and biodegradable polyesters that may substitute fossil-based polymers in a wide range of applications. Waste streams from slaughtering cattle are used as substrate material. Lipids from rendering are used in this process scheme for biodiesel production. Slaughtering waste streams may also be hydrolyzed to achieve higher lipid yield. Biodiesel then is separated into a high-and lowquality fraction. High-quality biodiesel meets requirements for sale as fuel and low quality is used for PHA production as carbon source. Selected offal material is used for acid hydrolysis and serves as a source of organic nitrogen as well as carbon source for PHA-free biomass with high production rate in fermentation process. Nitrogen is a limiting factor to control PHA production during the fermentation process. It is available for bacterial growth from hydrolyzed waste streams as well as added separately as NH 4 OH solution. Selected microbial strains are used to produce PHA from this substrate. The focus of the paper is about an overview of the whole process with the main focus on hydrolysis, to look for the possibility of using offal hydrolysis as an organic nitrogen substitute. The process design is optimized by minimizing waste streams and energy losses through cleaner production. Ecological evaluation of the process design will be done through footprint calculation according to Sustainable Process Index methodology.
EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States requiring a funda... more EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States requiring a fundamental change of energy systems. This paper analyses restructuring options for the energy system starting from energy services instead of energy flows. In order to provide the energy services in a sustainable way the guidelines "low energylow carbon -low distance" should be used. This refers to an increase in energy efficiency, the reduction of fossil fuels and the reduction of (redundant) transport. An extended technology wedges approach is applied for Austria to illustrate emission reduction potentials of technological and behavioural changes. Two portfolios of technology wedges are quantified regarding their effects on energy flows and emissions as well as the economic impacts of investments required.
The paper deals with the application of technology wedges in industry for the reduction of greenh... more The paper deals with the application of technology wedges in industry for the reduction of greenhouse gases. According to the needs defined by energy services in industry, four wedges are defined: cogeneration, process intensification and heat integration, renewable energy and passive house standard for production halls. With these technologies, industry could cover its part in meeting international emission goals while making economical investments. Such a reduction of the dependency of industry from external energy sources is a substantial contribution to safety issues in nations and regions.
In a world with diverging emission reduction targets, national climate policies might be ineffect... more In a world with diverging emission reduction targets, national climate policies might be ineffective in reducing consumption-based CO2 emissions (carbon footprints), i.e. emissions of final demand that are embodied in domestic and international supply chains. We analyse a set of different policies in three areas with particularly high consumption-based emissions in Austria: building construction, public health, and transport. To capture both, substitution possibilities triggered by these policies and the induced emission reductions along the full global supply chain, our analysis combines a Computable General Equilibrium with a Multi-Regional Input-Output model. For building construction we find that a carbon added tax is highly effective in reducing consumption-based emissions whereas an information obligation on vacant dwellings combined with a penalty payment when vacant buildings are not made available is ineffective because of reallocated investment capital. Mandatory energy efficiency improvements in public health and mobility are found equally effective in reducing consumption-and production-based emissions while a decarbonization of domestic logistics stronger reduces productionbased emissions. Overall, the effectiveness of policies, to mitigate consumption-based emissions, is therefore determined by the backward and forward linkages of the sector addressed by the policy as well as the substitution effects within final demand.
ABSTRACT EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States, requiri... more ABSTRACT EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States, requiring a fundamental change in energy systems. In an interdisciplinary approach, starting with welfare-generating energy services instead of energy flows, we analyse restructuring options for the Austrian energy system. We extend the concept of stabilization wedges by Pacala and Socolow and integrate technological and behavioural options into a structural energy model, complemented by an economic evaluation in an input-output analysis. We apply the energy service based approach to a transformation of the Austrian energy system that meets the EU 2020 emission targets. We estimate that this would require on average additional investment of about 6 billion € p.a. over a twelve year period. This investment allows to tap savings in operating costs (predominantly energy costs) of up to 4.3 billion € at the end of the period, when using a conservative assumption of non-rising energy prices.
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer-Verlag Ber... more Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your work, please use the accepted author's version for posting to your own website or your institution's repository. You may further deposit the accepted author's version on a funder's repository at a funder's request, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after publication.
Conventional polymers are made of crude oil components through chemical polymerization. The aim o... more Conventional polymers are made of crude oil components through chemical polymerization. The aim of the project ANIMPOL is to produce biopolymers by converting lipids into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in a novel process scheme to reduce dependence on crude oil and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. PHA constitutes a group of biobased and biodegradable polyesters that may substitute fossil-based polymers in a wide range of applications. Waste streams from slaughtering cattle are used as substrate material. Lipids from rendering are used in this process scheme for biodiesel production. Slaughtering waste streams may also be hydrolyzed to achieve higher lipid yield. Biodiesel then is separated into a high-and lowquality fraction. High-quality biodiesel meets requirements for sale as fuel and low quality is used for PHA production as carbon source. Selected offal material is used for acid hydrolysis and serves as a source of organic nitrogen as well as carbon source for PHA-free biomass with high production rate in fermentation process. Nitrogen is a limiting factor to control PHA production during the fermentation process. It is available for bacterial growth from hydrolyzed waste streams as well as added separately as NH 4 OH solution. Selected microbial strains are used to produce PHA from this substrate. The focus of the paper is about an overview of the whole process with the main focus on hydrolysis, to look for the possibility of using offal hydrolysis as an organic nitrogen substitute. The process design is optimized by minimizing waste streams and energy losses through cleaner production. Ecological evaluation of the process design will be done through footprint calculation according to Sustainable Process Index methodology.
EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States requiring a funda... more EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States requiring a fundamental change of energy systems. This paper analyses restructuring options for the energy system starting from energy services instead of energy flows. In order to provide the energy services in a sustainable way the guidelines "low energylow carbon -low distance" should be used. This refers to an increase in energy efficiency, the reduction of fossil fuels and the reduction of (redundant) transport. An extended technology wedges approach is applied for Austria to illustrate emission reduction potentials of technological and behavioural changes. Two portfolios of technology wedges are quantified regarding their effects on energy flows and emissions as well as the economic impacts of investments required.
The paper deals with the application of technology wedges in industry for the reduction of greenh... more The paper deals with the application of technology wedges in industry for the reduction of greenhouse gases. According to the needs defined by energy services in industry, four wedges are defined: cogeneration, process intensification and heat integration, renewable energy and passive house standard for production halls. With these technologies, industry could cover its part in meeting international emission goals while making economical investments. Such a reduction of the dependency of industry from external energy sources is a substantial contribution to safety issues in nations and regions.
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