• Energy Research

Abstract Technology acceptance represents a challenge for the successful implementation of emerging energy technologies. Building on previous literature, we developed and assessed a socio-psychological factor model, which we apply to three different energy technologies that are relevant to the German energy transition. Our model analyses factors such as trust in industry, trust in municipalities, perceived problems of the current energy system and environmental self-identity with regard to acceptance both in general (general acceptance) and in the context of a scenario featuring a nearby implementation (local acceptance). These factors are mediated by affect and perceived effects, including perceived benefits, costs and risks. We tested the applicability of our model across three different energy technologies: hydrogen fuel stations, biofuel production plants and stationary battery storage facilities. Our study confirms previous findings, which stress the relevance of psychological and social factors. It also extends the literature, testing a universal model across different technologies and examining acceptance on both the local and the general level. We explored the implications of our findings for the selected technologies and managerial practice.

AbstractReducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transport sector is one of the biggest challenges in the German energy transition. Furthermore, sustainable development does not stop with reducing GHG emissions. Other environmental, social and economic aspects should not be neglected. Thus, here a comprehensive sustainability assessment for passenger vehicles is conducted for 2020 and 2050. The discussed options are an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) fuelled with synthetic biofuel and fossil gasoline, a battery electric vehicle (BEV) with electricity from wind power and electricity mix Germany and a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) with hydrogen from wind power. The life cycle-based assessment entails 13 environmental indicators, one economic and one social indicator. For integrated consideration of the different indicators, the MCDA method Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is chosen. For the assessment, a consistent assessment framework, i.e. background scenario and system boundaries, and a detailed modelling of vehicle production, fuel supply and vehicle use are the cornerstones. The BEV with wind power is the most sustainable option in 2020 as well as in 2050. While in 2020, the second rank is taken by the ICEV with synthetic biofuel from straw and the last rank by the FCEV, in 2050 the FCEV is the runner-up. With the help of MCDA, transparent and structured guidance for decision makers in terms of sustainability assessment of motorized transport options is provided. Graphical abstract

Energy storage systems are main drivers in various fields, especially in the context of energy and mobility transition. Battery technologies are one of those options offering good technical performance in multiple stationary and mobile applications. New batteries having potentially high energy density and higher safety with lower cost are in particular ideal candidates for mobility applications. At present especially, lithium-ion batteries are used, but they are facing challenges regarding sustainability and safety issues, which can be quantitatively analyzed with Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). New developments regarding various solid-state batteries (SSBs) are very promising to tackle these challenges, but only very few studies are available on the environmental assessment of SSBs. Prospective LCA methodology is used here to analyze the environmental hotspots over the different life cycle phases for emerging SSBs. This also helps in decisions making at an early stage of development. This review critically analyzes available LCA studies on SSBs focusing on the inventory data, scope of the assessment as well as the life cycle impact assessment results. An effort has been made to compare the different LCA studies considering global warming potential indicator. As a results, the analysis highlights difficulties in comparability due to inconsistencies associated with the data sources, goal and scope, system boundaries and the method of impact assessment etc. To facilitate a consistent comparison, a unification methodology has been proposed to compare different LCAs of SSBs. Overall, the proposed methodology will help to fill the knowledge gap between different existing LCA studies on emerging solid-state battery technologies and provides recommendations for future assessments.

As environmental concerns mostly drive the electrification of our economy and the corresponding increase in demand for battery storage systems, information about the potential environmental impacts of the different battery systems is required. However, this kind of information is scarce for emerging post-lithium systems such as the magnesium-sulfur (MgS) battery. Therefore, we use life cycle assessment following a cradle-to-gate perspective to quantify the cumulative energy demand and potential environmental impacts per Wh of the storage capacity of a hypothetical MgS battery (46 Wh/kg). Furthermore, we also estimate global warming potential (0.33 kg CO2 eq/Wh) , fossil depletion potential (0.09 kg oil eq / Wh), ozone depletion potential (2.5E-08 kg CFC-11/Wh) and metal depletion potential (0.044 kg Fe eq/Wh), associated with the MgS battery production. The battery is modelled based on an existing prototype MgS pouch cell and hypothetically optimised according to the current state of the art in lithium-ion batteries (LIB), exploring future improvement potentials. It turns out that the initial (non-optimised) prototype cell cannot compete with current LIB in terms of energy density or environmental performance, mainly due to the high share of non-active components, decreasing its performance substantially. Therefore, if the assumed evolutions of the MgS cell composition are achieved to overcome current design hurdles and reach a comparable lifespan, efficiency, cost and safety levels to that of existing LIB; then the MgS battery has significant potential to outperform both existing LIB, and lithium-sulfur batteries. pre-print updated by revised version as accepted; 21 pages, 5 Figures, 1 table. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Project ID 390874152, the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association (ExNet-003) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 754382

Abstract In order to broaden the economic pillar in sustainability assessment the indicator ‘domestic value added’ is introduced. ‘Domestic value added’ aims at comparing technologies with regards to their prospective influence on the added value of a country. This is done by classifying a technology’s value added to the developed categories domestic, potential domestic and non-domestic. Within this paper methods for estimating this indicator are introduced. Two methods are proposed, presented and assessed especially considering their applicability in a sustainability assessment context. Both methods are tested on a case study comparing two alternative drivetrain technologies for the passenger car sector (battery and fuel cell electric vehicle) to the conventionally used internal combustion engine. The first method is based on a classic economic assessment whereas the second is based on Input Output analysis. The results show, that from a ‘domestic value added’ perspective the battery electric vehicle is already more advantageous than the conventionally used internal combustion engine in percentage and absolute numbers. Fuel cell electric vehicles have the highest potential to increase their ‘domestic value added’ share in the future. This paper gives practical information on how to prospectively assess ‘domestic value added’ due to substituting existing with less developed technologies or innovation.

This Paper focuses on a comparative probabilistic economic comparison of sodium sulfur batteries (NaS), Lithium-Iron Phosphate batteries (LFP), Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRB), Lead Acid batteries (PbA) and a Pumped Hydro Storage Plant (PHS). Two cases for a load leveling and peak shaving storage application were analyzed and compared. The comparison is based on a comprehensive literature review which showed remarkable deviations within most techno-economic values. This makes it difficult to assess the technologies by a deterministic approach. Therefore, a complementary probabilistic approach was developed in form of a Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). The results show clearly that among batteries, PbA have the best cost performance followed by NaS and VRB. LFP has the highest costs within all scenarios. However, PHS is the most cost efficient technology for load leveling. In the case of peak shaving the battery costs decrease significantly due to lower initial investment costs.

Energy‐storage systems are considered as a key technology for energy and mobility transition. Because traditional batteries have many drawbacks, there are tremendous efforts to develop so‐called postlithium systems. The magnesium–sulfur (MgS) battery emerges as one alternative. Previous studies of Mg–S batteries have addressed the environmental footprint of its production. However, the potential impacts of the use‐phase are not considered yet, due to its premature stage of development. Herein, a first prospective look at the potential environmental performance of a theoretical Mg–S battery for different use‐phase applications is given to fill this gap. By means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, an analysis of different scenarios and a comparison with other well‐established technologies are conducted. The results suggest that the environmental footprint of the Mg–S is comparable with that of the commercially available counterparts and potentially outperforms them in several impact categories. However, this can only be achieved if a series of technical challenges are first overcome.