• Energy Research

The dataset includes 90 global food system and land use scenarios developed with the model BioBaM-GHG 2.0. The scenarios have been developed for assessing the global potential of forest regeneration for climate mitigation to 2050 under various food system pathways, i.e. diets, crop yield developments, land requirements for energy crops, and two variants of grassland use. The scenarios include the following data on country level: Land use and land-use change, cropland area by crop group, grazing area by quality classes, crop production by crop groups, crop consumption by crop groups and use types, crop wastes (losses), net imports/exports, production and consumption of animal products, grass supply and demand, GHG emissions from land-use change, GHG emissions from agricultural activities, and total cumulated GHG emissions. The main model result in this context, cumulative carbon sequestration from forest regeneration until 2050, is calculated as difference between the parameters "GHG emissions from land use change (cumulative) (Mt CO2e)" and "GHG emissions from land use change excluding C stock changes from natural succession (cumulative) (Mt CO2e)". Please refer to the related publication "Exploring the option space for land system futures at regional to global scales: The diagnostic agro-food, land use and greenhouse gas emission model BioBaM-GHG 2.0" (Kalt et al., 2021 - currently under review at Ecological Modelling) for further information. This work was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within project P29130-G27 GELUC.

Electricity infrastructures are crucial for economic prosperity and underpin fundamental energy services. This article provides global datasets on installed power plant capacities, transmission and distribution grid lengths as well as transformer capacities. A country-level dataset on installed electricity generation capacities during 1980 to 2017, comprising 14 types of power plants and technologies, is obtained by combining data from three different online databases. Transmission grid lengths are derived from georeferenced data available from OpenStreetMap, augmented with data from national and international statistics. Data gaps are filled and historical developments estimated by applying a linear regression model. Statistical data on distribution grids lengths are collected for 31 countries that make up almost 50% of the global electricity consumption. Estimates for distribution grid lengths in the remaining countries are again obtained through linear regression. Data on installed transformer capacities are sparsely available from market intelligence reports and specialist journals. For most countries, they are estimated from typical transformer-to-generator ratios, i.e. based on power plant capacities. Global generation capacity expansion since 1980 was dominated by coal-fired (mainly China and India) and gas-fired plants (mainly industrialized countries and Middle East). Solar and wind power accounted for the second and third largest capacity additions since 2010 (after coal-fired plants). The total length of transmission circuits worldwide is estimated at 4.7 million kilometres, and the length of distribution grids between 88 and 104 million km. China accounts for 41% of the expansion of global transmission grids, and 32% of the expansion of distribution grids since 1980. In 2017, China's electricity grids were approximately as large as the grids of all western industrialized countries combined. The globally installed capacity of transformers is estimated between 36 and 45 Teravolt-Ampere, with transmission and distribution transformers accounting for above 40% each, and generator step-up transformers for the rest. The data provided in this article are used for estimating global material stocks in electricity infrastructures in the related research paper [1] and can be used in energy system models, for econometric analyses or development indices on country level and many more purposes.

To date the concept of the bioeconomy—an economy based primarily on biogenic instead of fossil resources—has largely been associated with visions of “green growth” and the advancement of biotechnology and has been framed from within an industrial perspective. However, there is no consensus as to what a bioeconomy should effectively look like, and what type of society it would sustain. In this paper, we identify different types of narratives constructed around this concept and carve out the techno-political implications they convey. We map these narratives on a two-dimensional option space, which allows for a rough classification of narratives and their related imaginaries into four paradigmatic quadrants. We draw the narratives from three different sources: (i) policy documents of national and supra-national authorities; (ii) stakeholder interviews; and (iii) scenarios built in a biophysical modelling exercise. Our analysis shows that there is a considerable gap between official policy papers and visions supported by stakeholders. At least in the case of Austria there is also a gap between the official strategies and the option space identified through biophysical modelling. These gaps testify to the highly political nature of the concept of the bioeconomy and the diverging visions of society arising from it.

Electricity infrastructures are key for the provision of fundamental energy services and economic prosperity. Profound knowledge on past development and current stocks of electricity infrastructures is of crucial importance, e.g. for assessing the challenges of decarbonizing the power sector or providing universal access to electricity. By combining data from various sources and through modelling of transmission and distribution infrastructures, we present a global inventory of electricity infrastructures and corresponding material stocks. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with stock-building materials are minor in relation to combustion emissions from conventional power plants. Still, increased awareness of these aspects is warranted due to the high material intensities of some renewable energy technologies and the considerable grid expansion needed to accommodate large shares of intermittent energy sources and ensuring reliable electricity supply for a rising world population.

Abstract The transformation towards a low-carbon bioeconomy until 2050 is one of the main strategic long-term targets of the European Union. This work presents transformation scenarios for the case of Austria with GHG reduction to about 20% of Kyoto baseline. The scenarios are developed with an optimization model integrating the energy sector, land use and biomass flows. Focus is on investigating possible developments in domestic biomass supply and use. Biomass is crucial for (largely) decarbonising the energy system and replacing fossil-based and energyintensive materials. Domestic biomass use (dry mass) increases by 32% in an 'intensive' and 11% in an 'alternative' transformation scenario, while total energy consumption decreases by 40%. Transformation to a low-carbon bioeconomy could be accomplished without additional biomass imports.

Abstract The concept of energy services is used in different contexts and scientific fields mainly to emphasize that it is the services provided by energy rather than energy carriers that people demand and that generate well-being. While the value of the concept is widely acknowledged, there are remarkable differences in how energy services are conceptualized. This article proposes the ‘Energy Service Cascade’ (ESC) as a conceptual framework aimed at clarifying and bridging different approaches. The ESC is inspired by Haines-Young’s and Potschin’s (2011) ‘Ecosystem Service Cascade’, which distinguishes: a) structures, b) functions, c) services, d) benefits and e) values. When used to systematize the debates around energy services, we argue that these differentiations reflect a) energy conversion chains comprising natural structures, human-made capital and labor; b) physical functions performed by energy chains; c) services humans demand to foster well-being; d) the actual contributions to human well-being (health, life satisfaction, …); e) individual preferences and attitudes that create willingness to pay, encourage business models, etc. ‘Values’ influence how services and benefits are perceived and affect ‘structures’ through various mechanisms (investment decisions, environmental and economic policy, …). To showcase the usefulness of the ESC as conceptual framework, we provide a review of literature to reveal the differing scopes of four main contexts in which energy services are being studied. We call them ‘energy chain context’, ‘energy demand context’, ‘well-being context’ and ‘entrepreneurial context’. Given the diversity of how energy services are interpreted and the various scopes and research aims, a full harmonization of concepts seems out of reach. Nevertheless, a more unified understanding of what is considered as ‘service’ and differentiation from ‘functions’ and ‘benefits’, as provided by the ESC, could be a first step towards more systematic terminology and may support interaction between the different discourses.

The heating sector has been neglected in energy policies for quite some time, especially on the European level. Only recently, with the implementation of the European directive 2009/28/EC the sector has gained higher attention. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the heat market in Austria and of the current status and future prospects of renewable energy in the heat sector (RES-H) up to 2030. Despite the growing energy demand, the share of renewable energy in the total energy demand for space heating and hot water increased from about 20% in 1970 to about 34% in 2008. This is mainly due to ambitious RES-H support instruments and regional policy targets. For example, the government of the region of Upper Austria has implemented a target of 100% RES-H share in the space heating and hot water sector until the year 2030. However, the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for 2020 foresees only moderate growth rates for RES-H compared to recent market growth and scenarios in literature. Due to the ambitious targets and support schemes of regional governments it seems likely that RES-H deployment could growstronger than stated in the action plan.

Abstract Sustainable resource use calls for substantial changes to existing infrastructures, which lock societies into current resource use patterns. Urban mobility is a case in point: existing material stocks of infrastructure and vehicles require large amounts of materials and energy for maintenance and operation in order to provide mobility services, thereby causing considerable emissions. Understanding the stock-flow-service nexus of urban mobility is crucial for achieving progress towards absolute reductions of resource use and emissions. In this article, we investigate personal mobility in an urban context - Vienna. We use stock-driven material and energy flow analysis to quantify mobility stocks and flows for four different modes of mobility: pedestrian, bicycle, public transport and motorized individual traffic (MIT). We quantify material flows for maintenance, expansion, as well as primary energy use and emissions linked to personal mobility within city territory and compare a number of stock-flow-service indicators. Public transport was found to deliver most mobility services (38%), when services were measured as trips. Pedestrian mobility showed the lowest stock intensity of services while using less energy and generating lower emissions per service than any other mobility mode. Trips crossing the city border showed high shares of motorized individual traffic (62–63%). Traffic surfaces dominated material requirements of mobility and are mainly (78%) used by MIT. We conclude that considering stock-flow-service relations can support prioritizing future urban mobility planning, highlight the importance of infrastructure-related measures in doing so and the need for better monitoring especially of mobility service indicators.