Energy Demand. European Journal for Studies in Energy Demand, Efficiency and Resource Use Feed

Great Britain’s Mixed Progress in Decarbonising Neighbourhoods and the Implications for Net-Zero

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Carbon & Place project (www.carbon.place) has created annual consumption-based carbon footprints for each of the 43,064 Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) in Great Britain from 2010 to 2020. LSOAs are statistical neighbourhoods with a population of around 1,500–3,000. Neighbourhood carbon footprints offer a detailed insight into the spatial and socio-economic distribution of energy consumption and carbon footprints that can shed light on where, by whom, and why consumption occurs and where it can be reduced. In this paper, we show updated data for 2021 and 2022, adding the post-COVID recovery and explore the differing rates of decarbonisation across Great Britain over the last thirteen years. While the consumption-based carbon footprint of the median neighbourhood has changed little over this period, rising by 1.7%. There is evidence of divergence, with some footprints falling by 22% while others have risen by 18%. This is in the context of UK territorial emissions having fallen by a third over the period, but a greater share of consumption-based emissions is embedded in imports from abroad and international travel. We examine the distinctive characteristics of areas with falling and rising carbon footprints and try to understand why decarbonisation is and is not occurring in various places and what this means for place-based decarbonisation policy in the UK. In particular, we discuss the trade-offs of how local policies such as poverty alleviation may result in locally rising carbon footprints, but from a low base, and how identifying the highest carbon neighbourhoods may allow for targeted policies that may be more effective at reducing overall carbon emissions, even if emissions in many local areas are rising slightly.

Evaluation of energy transition pathways for the instant coffee industry

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Instant coffee (IC) manufacturing is among the most energy-intensive processes in the food and beverage industry, requiring substantial amounts of heat and electricity, and generating significant CO2 emissions. This study evaluates multiple decarbonization pathways—including fuel switching, process electrification, CO2 capture and storage (CCS), and energy efficiency—through a systematic techno-economic assessment. Results show that conventional natural gas-based (NG) production emits above 2.5 tCO2/tIC. Fuel switching towards biomethane and biomass results in CO2 emission reductions up to 86% while remaining economically competitive. Electrification reduces energy demand by 6% and can lower emissions by up to 72% with a decarbonized electricity grid. Similarly, the carbon footprint of hydrogen-based systems strongly depends on hydrogen origin: grey hydrogen emits about 3.5 tCO2/tIC, whereas green hydrogen can achieve reductions of 68–75% compared to ‘NG’. However, hydrogen remains prohibitively expensive under current market conditions. CC enables further reductions and even net-negative emissions (–0.2 to –2.88 tCO2/tIC) when combined with bioenergy, albeit with additional energy demand (+15–26% compared to NG) and higher costs. Regional analysis highlights stronger prospects for biomethane and electrification in Nordic countries, while NG-based systems remain economically favored in Southern Europe. The study emphasizes the importance of favorable energy prices, higher carbon pricing, sustainable biomass availability, electricity grid reinforcement, and waste heat recovery integration for the long-term decarbonization of the IC industry.

Techno-economic comparison of fossil, renewable-carbon and recycling pathways for polypropylene

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Polypropylene production relies predominantly on fossil resources for process energy and carbon feedstock. This study compares fossil primary production, renewable-carbon primary routes based on biomass, renewable hydrocarbons, or CO2 and hydrogen, and recycling pathways under German industrial cost conditions within the European carbon-pricing framework. Literature-based process data are harmonised to a functional unit of 1 tonne of polypropylene pellets at the plant gate. A parametric model combines annualised capital and operating expenditure, energy and material requirements, and pathway-specific emissions. Electricity, natural-gas, hydrogen, and CO2 prices vary over time, while material-feedstock prices remain constant in the baseline. Hypothetical costs for end-of-life emissions caused by the use of fossil feedstocks are reported separately. Mechanical recycling has the lowest levelised production costs and comparatively low direct process emissions. Chemical recycling routes are more expensive because of conversion losses, additional processing, and, where conventional steam cracking is used, high direct emissions. Hydrogen-intensive power-to-X routes remain the most expensive options. Biomethanol-to-propylene and the renewable-hydrocarbon routes offer economically promising alternatives to CO2/H2-based primary production, although their competitiveness remains sensitive to feedstock prices and process-energy requirements. Pathway competitiveness therefore depends on process structure, energy prices, feedstock assumptions, and the regulatory treatment of fossil carbon embedded in products. Electrification can reduce process emissions but does not eliminate end-of-life emissions from fossil feedstocks. The results underscore the distinction between energy decarbonisation and feedstock defossilisation and show that pathway rankings remain conditional on key feedstock and technology assumptions. Industrial planning should consider these options alongside feedstock availability and product-quality constraints.

Data analytics to decarbonize computer life cycles beyond energy efficiency under EU product policies

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In June 2025, EU Commission Regulations (EU) 2023/1670 and 2023/1669 introduced comprehensive Ecodesign and Energy Labelling rules for smartphones and tablets, marking a milestone in sustainable product policy. For the first time, an EU-wide repairability score and reliability criteria accompany energy-related requirements, aiming to extend lifetimes through durability, reparability, and software support, while reducing life-cycle GHG emissions. This framework is seen as a blueprint for future requirements under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). This paper examines the policy rationale and technical process for balancing circularity objectives from the EU Circular Economy Action Plan with the overarching goal of decarbonizing product life cycles. The paper also presents recent empirical data on defect rates, failure modes, and component-level reliability for computers to inform a lifetime model during the revision of the outdated computer Ecodesign Regulation (EU) No 617/2013. This revision, under the current Ecodesign framework but aligned with ESPR principles, is expected to introduce an Energy Label for computers, integrating durability and reparability alongside energy performance. The analysis shows how these measures translate into lifetime extension, with quantified effects on life-cycle GHG emissions and other environmental impacts. These findings will have an impact on future EU product policies far beyond IT equipment.

Mapping methodologies for assessing impacts of sufficiency measures in the built environment

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The built environment faces systemic challenges like high energy demand, dependency on CO2-intensive material and housing shortage. While efficiency measures have been widely targeted in the built environment, sufficiency measures remain underexplored despite their potential to be cost-effective and resource-efficient. Sufficiency prioritizes optimizing existing resources, minimizing structural demand and fostering shared spaces. The limited adoption of sufficiency is partly due to a lack of robust methodologies to measure their impacts and integrate social, economic and environmental factors in a variety of spatial areas. With existing methodologies failing to assess the underutilization of the built environment, spatial planners and policymakers are limited in leveraging these strategies for sustainable transformations. This study therefore maps methodologies capable of assessing the impacts of sufficiency measures in the built environment. Through a systematic literature review of 220 initial records, 21 studies were shortlisted and analysed, whereas six methodology clusters were identified and their coverage of spatial areas and impact domains such as resource, space and mobility were assessed. Findings indicate that most studies operationalized sufficiency through space optimization or densification. Computational system models, GIS and LCA were the most commonly applied methodologies, covering a variety of impact domains and spatial areas. By systematically mapping methodologies against impact domains and spatial contexts, this study moves beyond defining sufficiency or cataloguing measures but explores how sufficiency impacts in the built environment are currently assessed, laying a foundation for developing better decision-support in sufficiency-oriented spatial planning.

The impact of low-carbon technology adoption on peak electricity demand

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

This study is relevant to UK distribution network operators, energy policymakers, and researchers working on residential electrification strategy. Using longitudinal smart meter data from over 1,800 UK households within the Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) Observatory (January 2024 to March 2025), we employ a normalised Energy Use Intensity (EUI) framework (W/m2) to observe the “as-operated” behaviour of multi-technology households, covering heat pumps (HP), electric vehicles (EV), photovoltaics (PV), and battery energy storage systems (Batt), compared to gas-heated controls across varied UK building fabrics. Unlike the Nordics which have long relied on electrified heating, the UK is in mid-transition from a gas-dominated system, making the identification of peak demand signatures from real metered data particularly policy-critical. In gas-heated homes, the evening electrical load historically remains low; peak power density averaged 6.4 W/m2 during the 17:00 to 21:00 winter peak. When heating is electrified via HPs, this peak density nearly triples to 18.5 W/m2, shifting the primary thermal load onto the local grid during its most constrained hours. The data reveal a significant gap in standard thermal models: in gas-heated terraced houses, the least-insulated homes recorded a lower peak gas power density (17.4 W/m2) compared to partially-insulated homes (23.6 W/m2), suggesting that heat loss does not always translate to instantaneous peak loads in practice. The results suggest that while insulation reduces total annual energy intensity, it does not significantly mitigate high-amplitude evening power density. However, the integration of system stacking (HP combined with PV and Battery Storage) showed a 22% reduction in cumulative evening grid reliance during cold weather (<5.5°C). Furthermore, in battery-equipped EV households, peak evening demand was maintained at just 4.2 W/m2, though these households still rely heavily on gas for heating, peaking at 25.8 W/m2; this figure therefore reflects electrical decoupling of transport only, not whole-home decarbonisation. These findings have direct implications for UK distribution network planning: combining onsite generation and storage with electrified heating delivers more robust peak management than insulation-only interventions, and the persistence of gas use in HP combined with PV and Battery Storage households signals that the electrification transition is currently partial rather than complete.

Modelling the relaxation of EU CO2 emission standards for cars and vans in Germany with TEMPS

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The EU CO2 emission standards for cars and vans under Regulation (EU) 2019/631 constitute a key European policy instrument for emission reduction in light-duty vehicle transport. Although emission reductions in domestic transport are likely to be insufficient to meet national targets the European Commission proposed a relaxation of the CO2 standards as part of its automotive package presented in December 2025. This paper analyses the interactions between weakened CO2 standards, CO2 pricing, and resulting greenhouse gas emissions in the German transport sector. The analysis is based on the TEMPS model, which projects vehicle fleet development, energy demand, and emissions by combining TCO-based vehicle choice with calibrated logit parameters, fleet turnover, transport-demand responses and an endogenous, revenue-neutral representation of manufacturer price adjustments for compliance with fleet standards. The weakened standards reduce the BEV share in new registrations by up to 13 percentage points and lead to additional cumulative tank-to-wheel emissions of 29.4 Mt CO2e through 2040. Offsetting this effect by a higher CO2 price trajectory requires €406 in 2040, compared with €191 in the reference scenario. Weaker standards, combined with higher CO2 prices, therefore shift mitigation from vehicle electrification towards behavioural responses such as modal shift and reduced transport demand. While this illustrates only one possible compensation scenario, it nevertheless shows that weakening fleet standards shifts a larger mitigation burden towards carbon pricing and demand-side responses. The higher fuel costs implied by the compensation scenario may raise distributional and political concerns, although household-level distributional effects are not quantified in this study.

Future cooling demand and economic viability of different cooling solutions in multifamily buildings in Sweden

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of heatwaves in Northern Europe, making overheating in residential buildings an increasingly important challenge. At the same time, Swedish and European building-energy regulations emphasize low primary energy use and the transition towards zero-emission buildings, potentially limiting the implementation of active comfort cooling. This study investigates how current regulations influence the feasibility of comfort cooling in Swedish multifamily housing, evaluates the economic performance of alternative cooling solutions, and explores stakeholder perspectives on future cooling needs. The study combines a review of previous research and regulatory frameworks, dynamic building simulations, a techno-economic assessment of four cooling strategies for a representative 100-apartment multifamily building in Sweden, and an exploratory stakeholder consultation involving seven representatives from housing companies, housing cooperatives, industry organizations, and cooling-system suppliers. Cooling demand was simulated under varying climatic conditions, solar-gain characteristics, and indoor temperature setpoints. Economic performance was evaluated over a 30-year period using a Monte Carlo-based net present value (NPV) framework with 10,000 simulations incorporating uncertainty in electricity prices and district-cooling tariffs. The simulated cooling demand ranged from approximately 1 to 33 kWh/m² annually depending on climate conditions, solar-gain levels, and indoor temperature requirements. Among the evaluated alternatives, district cooling connected during construction achieved the most favourable economic performance, with a mean NPV of –0.64 MEUR, compared with –1.04 MEUR for individual apartment cooling units. The ranking of alternatives remained consistent across the Monte Carlo simulations, indicating robust economic advantages for early district-cooling integration. The regulatory analysis indicates that current primary-energy requirements leave limited room for introducing comfort cooling in new multifamily buildings without additional efficiency measures or onsite renewable electricity production. The stakeholder consultation revealed a broad consensus that cooling demand in Swedish multifamily buildings will increase substantially in the coming decades. Respondents identified energy-performance requirements, primary-energy regulations, and economic considerations as the main barriers to implementation, while solar-integrated cooling solutions were highlighted as a promising pathway for future developments. The findings suggest that cooling is likely to become an increasingly important component of residential building design and that district cooling can provide an economically attractive solution where suitable infrastructure is available.

Hidden barriers to energy-efficient renovation in social housing: an analytical framework integrating transaction cost theory and behavioral insights

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The European Union targets major reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, positioning energy-efficient renovation (EER) as a key strategy for advancing decarbonization and alleviating energy poverty. In the Netherlands, this policy agenda has direct implications for the social housing sector, where housing associations (HAs) manage about one-third of the housing stock and are subject to targets for upgrading dwellings with low energy labels (E/F/G). These requirements intensify pressure to accelerate organisational decision-making and the delivery of EER projects. Although static barriers, such as financial, legal, technical, and social, are well known, a persistent gap concerns “hidden barriers” that delay or disrupt EER due to governance complexity, coordination burdens, and decision-making frictions across project phases. To address this gap, Transaction Cost Theory (TCT) and Behavioural Insights (BI) are integrated as the theoretical foundation through a narrative literature review. An analytical framework is then developed to operationalize four theoretical components: (1) phase-based governance, (2) transaction costs as hidden barriers, (3) stakeholders and their interactions, and (4) behavioural insights accelerating TCs. The framework suggests that behavioural factors can systematically amplify transaction costs, explaining delays in multi-actor, tenant-sensitive EER projects. Against the backdrop of the EER incentive structure, the proposed framework follows the actual EER process, uncovering hidden barriers as they dynamically emerge throughout the process. The analytical framework provides a basis for future empirical research to help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers identify and address “hidden barriers” that hinder EER delivery in social housing.

A systematic translational mapping comparing smart readiness indicator (SRI) and BACS standard (EN ISO 52120-1) under EPBD 2024 recast

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2024/1275) introduces two frameworks for assessing smart building capabilities: the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) and the Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) standard efficiency classification defined in EN ISO 52120-1:2022 (hereafter ‘BACS standard’). Both apply to large non-residential buildings with an effective rated output for heating or cooling systems above 290 kW and are linked to digital building logbooks under Article 16 of the EPBD. However, the methodological compatibility between the two assessment systems remains unclear, particularly regarding how they measure energy efficiency and compliance with regulatory standards. This study compares the SRI and BACS standard across nine analytical dimensions, including assessment paradigm, domain coverage, granularity, aggregation logic, and translation feasibility, highlighting the greater functional detail embedded in the SRI methodology. Drawing on measurement theory and multi-criteria decision analysis, this research demonstrates that the two frameworks operate in fundamentally different measurement spaces: the SRI uses ordinal functionality levels within a compensatory multi-criteria framework, whereas the BACS standard applies ratio-scale efficiency factors within a non-compensatory classification structure. A translational mapping linking SRI Method B services to BACS standard control functions is developed to assess practical interoperability. Results show that 56% of SRI services map directly, 31% partially, and 13% have no equivalent representation, with major gaps in electricity management, dynamic envelope technologies, and EV charging. The SRI2MARKET pilot evidence indicates that even top-tier BACS Class A buildings achieved an average SRI score of approximately 43%, corresponding to SRI Class E, across 172 pilot assessments in seven EU Member States (Pascual & Boneta, 2024), as several non-energy SRI domains remain unaddressed. These findings highlight structural incompatibility between the frameworks but demonstrate that procedural convergence can reduce double-assessment burdens during the 2026–2027 EPBD implementation period.

From Joule to Carnot: ex-post electricity savings achieved through residential air-to-air heat pumps

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Electrification and energy demand reduction represent two primary pillars of the energy transition, alongside climate change adaptation (ESABCC 2026). Within this framework, we conduct an ex-post evaluation of electricity savings resulting from replacing direct resistive electric heating (REH) with air-to-air heat pumps (AAHPs). The dataset comprises 88 residential dwellings selected from a survey led by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME). As energy savings vary significantly across households, we combine weather-normalised daily consumption models with multivariate statistical techniques (clustering and distributional regression) to evaluate overall electricity savings and explain their variability using survey data. Daily smart-meter data collected pre- and post-retrofit were weather-normalised using local degree-day adjustments. Statistical methods (Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines, Factor Analysis for Mixed Data, and Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape) were applied to quantify energy savings and identify key explanatory factors, such as floor space, secondary heating systems, and usage patterns. The spline regressions provided baseline temperature-dependent consumption profiles. Factor analysis and hierarchical clustering revealed four distinct household archetypes based on secondary equipment and dwelling type. Finally, distributional modelling demonstrated that even detailed survey data cannot capture all factors driving energy savings, highlighting the inherent complexity of predicting real-world performance. The empirical results show substantial variation in actual energy savings across households. Furthermore, cooling consumption during summer remains low and does not offset the net heating savings. These findings demonstrate the value of AAHPs for decarbonizing space heating while illustrating the statistical limits of predicting individual-level energy savings from field survey data.

The Power of Rules: Regulation as Consumer Protection in the Buildings Sector

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

This perspective paper examines the effectiveness of regulatory approaches in promoting energy efficiency in sectors characterised by long investment cycles, using recent discussions around the German Building Energy Act (Gebäudeenergiegesetz, GEG) as a case study. Although regulation is often criticised for restricting individual autonomy, analysis shows that such criticism overlooks regulation’s protective role in guiding long-term investment decisions. The GEG has long applied conditional renovation requirements: whenever building components such as roofs, exterior walls, or windows are replaced, minimum thermal insulation standards must be met. In 2023, this logic was extended to heating systems, stipulating that at least 65% of the energy used had to be renewable when a system was replaced. This requirement was subsequently repealed in 2026 and replaced by a less prescriptive regulatory framework. Its introduction triggered an intense public debate, with critics arguing that it constituted excessive interference with personal freedom compared to alternative policy instruments such as carbon pricing. Our contribution challenges this argument. While different policy instruments can, in principle, achieve climate targets, our analysis reveals significant differences in their ability to protect consumers from lock-in effects, misleading investment signals, and substantial expenses linked to long-lived building components, including heating systems. These risks are further amplified by infrastructure-related consequences, particularly the development of gas grids. Our analysis also highlights the importance of information and incentive asymmetries, especially in landlord–tenant relationships, which further increase the need for robust regulatory frameworks. Overall, our findings suggest that well-designed regulations can be highly effective in promoting timely investments in energy efficiency and low-carbon heating, thereby supporting climate targets while ensuring a high level of consumer protection.

Coordinating the sun: governance and system efficiency in Sweden’s solar expansion

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Energy efficiency is usually framed as a demand-side concern, yet the pace of renewable expansion increasingly depends on how efficiently supply-side systems integrate new capacity. This paper reframes efficiency as a governance question, examining how policy design, institutional coordination, and planning practices shape system-level efficiency outcomes during the rapid expansion of large-scale solar PV. Using Sweden as a critical case, the study combines qualitative analysis of policy and strategy documents with interviews across public authorities, grid operators, developers, industry representatives, and civil society. Rather than evaluating the technical performance of solar PV, it traces the observable consequences of governance arrangements: grid congestion, curtailment, investment risk, and a growing reliance on compensatory measures such as storage integration and conditional grid connections. The findings show that rapid deployment, in the absence of anticipatory coordination, produces reactive governance responses that sustain expansion but at the cost of rising transaction costs, procedural complexity, and uncertainty. These challenges stem not from technological limitations but from temporal and institutional misalignment between infrastructure planning, spatial regulation, and market development. Sweden’s experience suggests that renewable-led transitions require more than accelerated deployment: system efficiency depends on aligning governance processes with the pace of technological change, with implications for how other national contexts design their own governance frameworks.

A prospective model of the residential heating equipment stock for decarbonisation scenarios

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

France has committed to achieving net-zero emissions in the residential sector by 2050, a target that largely depends on replacing fossil-fuel heating systems with low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps, district heating, or green gases. Public policies (including energy performance standards, renovation subsidies, and the phase-out of fossil boilers) are expected to strongly influence household investment decisions. However, their effects on the pace and structure of residential decarbonisation remain difficult to assess with existing aggregated energy models.This paper develops a prospective model to simulate the evolution of the residential heating-system stock. By explicitly representing equipment ageing, replacement events, and replacement decisions at the dwelling level, the model is designed to assess how public policies shape technology trajectories and energy-carbon outcomes over time. This paper presents the construction and validation of the framework; the simulation of explicit policy instruments is the subject of ongoing work.The framework relies on an annual simulation in which each dwelling is associated with a main heating system. Equipment lifetimes are modelled using Weibull survival functions calibrated from technical reference quantiles by technology, generating probabilistic end-of-life events. When replacement occurs, technology choice is governed by a three-matrix decomposition combining technical feasibility (dwelling type and existing system), territorial constraints (urban density, local energy availability), and household characteristics (income, tenure status, and energy performance class). The stock is updated year by year, and aggregated indicators (technology shares, final energy consumption, CO2 emissions) are computed.Validation focuses on the 2022–2024 period through comparison with observed heating-equipment market shares. The model is then applied to three energy carrier decarbonisation scenarios extending to 2050 to evaluate their implications for residential energy demand and CO2 emissions.

From Split Incentives to Shared Responsibility: Evaluation of Germany’s Carbon Cost Allocation Law for Rental Buildings

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The introduction of the EU Emissions Trading System 2 (EU-ETS 2) will extend carbon pricing to the buildings and transport sectors across Europe. While carbon pricing is a central pillar of the EU’s decarbonization strategy, its effectiveness in the rental buildings sector is inherently limited: landlords make investment decisions, but tenants bear the energy costs. The split-incentive problem weakens the price signal and risks undermining both fairness and climate impact. In 2023, Germany introduced an innovative policy response: a graduated cost-splitting mechanism between landlords and tenants that links the share of carbon price costs to the building’s energy performance. This paper presents the first empirical evaluation of this policy, combining stakeholder interviews, a survey covering around 400 landlords, metering companies and property managers, and analysis of metered consumption data to assess how the cost-splitting mechanism is being applied in practice. The results show that the mechanism performs reliably across most building segment: In buildings where consumption-based metering and billing are in place, implementation is straightforward, and disputes are rare. By contrast, in single family homes and flats with individual heating units, administrative burdens and errors increase. The findings indicate that Germany’s model offers valuable lessons for other Member States preparing for EU-ETS 2, demonstrating that targeted cost allocation rules can strengthen both the effectiveness and the fairness of carbon pricing in the buildings sector.

What Transformer Early-Replacement Models Teach Us: Functional and Communicative Design Principles for Impact-Assessment Tools

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Transformers play a key role in the European energy transition by reducing network losses and enabling the integration of renewable electricity. Early replacement of inefficient transformers can contribute significantly to energy savings, but its net impact depends on local conditions and needs to be quantified with suitable decision-support tools. This paper reviews seven existing tools that address transformers or closely related products, assessing them with a combined framework covering general characteristics (target group, granularity, scope, implementation), functional design (task-fit, user-fit, context-fit) and multimodal understanding (localisation, orientation, hierarchisation, navigation, framing, sequencing). The analysis reveals two main user groups—industry stakeholders and policymakers—and shows that there is no transformer-specific tool to estimate the impacts of early replacement policies at EU stock level. Good practices include the use of IEC and Ecodesign standards, dynamic and context-specific data, minimal mandatory inputs, layered complexity and clear visual framing (e.g. consistent shading of input cells and error highlighting). Common pitfalls include limited methodological transparency, over-aggregated outputs and multimodal weaknesses such as inconsistent colour schemes, poorly labelled graphs and unclear sequencing. Based on these findings, we identify a gap in the tool landscape, the absence of a transformer-specific tool to estimate impacts of early replacement policies at EU stock level and derive general recommendations for user-centred tool development. These include anchoring calculations in recognised standards, combining layered inputs with scenario comparison, and embedding multimodal design principles from the outset. The study demonstrates how functional and multimodal perspectives can jointly guide the assessment and development of more robust decision support tools.

Discounted LCA and Economic Assessment of Heat Pumps and PV in HORECA Laundry Services

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Commercial laundry operations serving the HORECA (Hotels, Restaurants, and Catering) sector are among the most energy-intensive activities in the hospitality supply chain, yet rigorous combined environmental and economic assessments for this segment remain scarce. This study presents an integrated environmental and economic assessment of energy transition pathways for a commercial laundry facility serving the HORECA value chain in northern Italy. Based on twelve months of monitored utility consumption data, three investment options based on photovoltaic (PV) systems and heat pump (HP) technology are evaluated against the current configuration. The analysis combines Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), carried out according to ISO 14040/14044 standards and the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) methodology, with a techno-economic evaluation based on conventional investment indicators. In addition, a Discounted LCA (DLCA) framework incorporating a PESTEL-based Social Discount Rate is applied to account for the temporal distribution of environmental impacts. Results show that the combined adoption of PV and HP technologies provides the most effective decarbonisation pathway, substantially reducing climate-change impacts and fossil resource dependence while maintaining strong economic performance. A particularly relevant finding is that heat pump deployment alone may not be economically attractive under current Italian energy market conditions, despite its environmental benefits. This result challenges the common assumption that electrification is inherently cost-effective and highlights the importance of coupling heat pumps with on-site renewable electricity generation. The DLCA results further indicate that the environmental benefits of the proposed solutions can offset their additional embodied impacts within a relatively short time horizon. Overall, the study demonstrates the value of integrating environmental and economic assessment tools to support investment decisions in small and medium-sized service-sector facilities. The proposed framework can support the evaluation of energy transition strategies in commercial laundry operations and similar energy-intensive activities within the HORECA supply chain.

Forming Markets, Forging Futures: Public Procurement and Lead Markets for European Low-Emission Steel

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Steel is a strategic material for Europe, embedded in critical sectors such as construction, transport and defence, yet responsible for approximately 5% of EU CO2 emissions. While technological pathways for low-emission steel are advancing, their large-scale deployment depends on credible demand signals capable of supporting early market formation and reducing investment uncertainty. In response, EU industrial policy increasingly positions public procurement as a strategic demand-side instrument for industrial decarbonisation and lead market creation. However, the extent to which these ambitions are translated into national policy frameworks and operational procurement practice remains unclear. This paper examines how public procurement is framed and operationalised as a lead market instrument for low-emission steel across multiple governance levels within the European Union. Adopting a multi-level governance approach, the study develops a signaller–messenger–implementer analytical framework comprising three interconnected levels: 1) the EU as policy signaller; 2) Member States as policy messengers; and 3) public buyers as implementers. The analysis combines quantitative and qualitative policy document analysis with Contract Award Notice (CAN) analysis from the EU Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) database, focusing on Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. The results show that procurement is increasingly framed strategically within EU industrial policy discourse, particularly in relation to decarbonisation, competitiveness and industrial resilience. However, substantial governance translation gaps emerge across governance levels, and operational uptake of sustainability-oriented procurement approaches remains comparatively limited. The findings suggest that the primary bottleneck in developing lead markets for low-emission steel lies less in the absence of policy ambition than in uneven governance translation, limited institutional capacity and weak implementation infrastructures.