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Cogeneration of heat and electricity is an important pillar of energy and climate policy. To plan the production and distribution system of combined heat and power (CHP) systems for residential heating, suitable methods for decision support are needed. For a comprehensive feasibility analysis, the integration of the location and capacity planning of the power plants, the choice of customers, and the network planning of the heating network into one optimization model are necessary. Thus, we develop an optimization model for electricity generation and heat supply. This mixed integer linear program (MILP) is based on graph theory for network flow problems. We apply the network location model for the optimization of district heating systems in the City of Osorno in Chile, which exhibits the “checkerboard layout” typically found in many South American cities. The network location model can support the strategic planning of investments in renewable energy projects because it permits the analysis of changing energy prices, calculation of break-even prices for heat and electricity, and estimation of greenhouse gas emission savings.

Cogeneration of heat and electricity is an important pillar of energy and climate policy. To plan the production and distribution system of combined heat and power (CHP) systems for residential heating, suitable methods for decision support are needed. For a comprehensive feasibility analysis, the integration of the location and capacity planning of the power plants, the choice of customers, and the network planning of the heating network into one optimization model are necessary. Thus, we develop an optimization model for electricity generation and heat supply. This mixed integer linear program (MILP) is based on graph theory for network flow problems. We apply the network location model for the optimization of district heating systems in the City of Osorno in Chile, which exhibits the “checkerboard layout” typically found in many South American cities. The network location model can support the strategic planning of investments in renewable energy projects because it permits the analysis of changing energy prices, calculation of break-even prices for heat and electricity, and estimation of greenhouse gas emission savings.

Nature-based solutions may actively reduce hydro-meteorological risks in urban areas as a part of climate change adaptation. However, the main reason for the increasing uptake of this type of solution is their many benefits for the local inhabitants, including recreational value. Previous studies on recreational value focus on studies of existing nature sites that are often much larger than what is considered as new NBS for flood adaptation studies in urban areas. We thus prioritized studies with smaller areas and nature types suitable for urban flood adaptation and divided them into four common nature types for urban flood adaptation: sustainable urban drainage systems, city parks, nature areas and rivers. We identified 23 primary valuation studies, including both stated and revealed preference studies, and derived two value transfer functions based on meta-regression analysis on existing areas. We investigated trends between values and variables and found that for the purpose of planning of new NBS the size of NBS and population density were determining factors of recreational value. For existing NBS the maximum travelling distance may be included as well. We find that existing state-of-the-art studies overestimate the recreational with more than a factor of 4 for NBS sizes below 5 ha. Our results are valid in a European context for nature-based solutions below 250 ha and can be applied across different NBS types and sizes.

Nature-based solutions may actively reduce hydro-meteorological risks in urban areas as a part of climate change adaptation. However, the main reason for the increasing uptake of this type of solution is their many benefits for the local inhabitants, including recreational value. Previous studies on recreational value focus on studies of existing nature sites that are often much larger than what is considered as new NBS for flood adaptation studies in urban areas. We thus prioritized studies with smaller areas and nature types suitable for urban flood adaptation and divided them into four common nature types for urban flood adaptation: sustainable urban drainage systems, city parks, nature areas and rivers. We identified 23 primary valuation studies, including both stated and revealed preference studies, and derived two value transfer functions based on meta-regression analysis on existing areas. We investigated trends between values and variables and found that for the purpose of planning of new NBS the size of NBS and population density were determining factors of recreational value. For existing NBS the maximum travelling distance may be included as well. We find that existing state-of-the-art studies overestimate the recreational with more than a factor of 4 for NBS sizes below 5 ha. Our results are valid in a European context for nature-based solutions below 250 ha and can be applied across different NBS types and sizes.

A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is a strategic (long period) transportation plan aimed to improve welfare of both people and workers living in the city as well as in its surrounding area. Compared to “traditional” urban transportation plans, SUMP moves the focus from traffic (vehicles) to people with significant advancements in the direction of a sustainable mobility jointly with the quality of life. According to the recent European Guidelines, this type of strategic plan has to be built on existing planning practices and take due consideration: the integration, the participation, and evaluation. Starting from these considerations, in absence of a detailed national guideline implementing SUMP, the aim of this paper was to apply an innovative theoretical decision-making approachfor the development of the Naples (Italy) SUMP. This case study appears to be interesting because of the specificity of Naples, that is the third largest Italian city and metropolitan area with the highest population density. In 2016, the city of Naples has efficiently concluded and ratified a first formalization of acts: 'The analysis of mobility system' and ‘The statement of strategic objectives

A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is a strategic (long period) transportation plan aimed to improve welfare of both people and workers living in the city as well as in its surrounding area. Compared to “traditional” urban transportation plans, SUMP moves the focus from traffic (vehicles) to people with significant advancements in the direction of a sustainable mobility jointly with the quality of life. According to the recent European Guidelines, this type of strategic plan has to be built on existing planning practices and take due consideration: the integration, the participation, and evaluation. Starting from these considerations, in absence of a detailed national guideline implementing SUMP, the aim of this paper was to apply an innovative theoretical decision-making approachfor the development of the Naples (Italy) SUMP. This case study appears to be interesting because of the specificity of Naples, that is the third largest Italian city and metropolitan area with the highest population density. In 2016, the city of Naples has efficiently concluded and ratified a first formalization of acts: 'The analysis of mobility system' and ‘The statement of strategic objectives

Abstract In recent years, Distributed Energy Systems (DESs) have been recognized as a good option for sustainable development of future energy systems. With growing environmental concerns, design optimization of DESs through economic assessments only is not sufficient. To achieve long-run sustainability of energy supply, the key idea of this paper is to investigate exergy assessments in DES design optimization to attain rational use of energy resources while considering energy qualities of supply and demand. By using low-temperature sources for low-quality thermal demand, the waste of high-quality energy can be reduced, and the overall exergy efficiency can be increased. Based on a pre-established superstructure, the aim is to determine numbers and sizes of energy devices in the DES and the corresponding operation strategies. A multi-objective linear problem is formulated to reduce the total annual cost and increase the overall exergy efficiency. The Pareto frontier is found to provide different design options for planners based on economic and sustainability priorities, through minimizing a weighted-sum of the total annual cost and primary exergy input, by using branch-and-cut. Numerical results demonstrate that different optimized DES configurations can be found according to the two objectives. Moreover, results also show that the total annual cost and primary exergy input are reduced by 20% - 30% as compared with conventional energy supply systems.