{"id":17262,"date":"2022-01-20T14:07:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T14:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=17262"},"modified":"2023-11-17T11:51:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T11:51:12","slug":"customer-led-energy-transition-for-sustainable-smart-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/customer-led-energy-transition-for-sustainable-smart-cities\/17262\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer led energy transition for sustainable smart cities"},"content":{"rendered":"
The vertical relationship between energy utilities and their customers is paving the way for new partnership and innovation, as citizens increasingly take a prominent role in the leadership of the energy transition<\/a>. Cities are slowly transitioning to become smart, sustainable cities, with a focus on economic opportunity, mobility, and social interaction.<\/p>\n The \u2018smart\u2019 element of energy usage in cities not only refers to the way it is generated, but also the way it is deployed, meeting users\u2019 needs in the most efficient and environmentally friendly manner \u2013 and utilities have a central role in facilitating this switch.<\/p>\n According to the United Nations,\u00a0by 2050 more than two thirds of humanity will be urbanised. In Europe, three in every four people live in cities, according to World Bank data.<\/p>\n Although, as we revise metropolitan life for a new, post-pandemic and net-zero carbon age, smart, sustainable city planners are having to reconsider the purpose, sustainability and attractiveness of cities.<\/p>\n The electrical challenge of meeting citizens\u2019 expectations in maintaining their standard of living while progressively reducing the environmental impact of producing that energy is especially acute in conurbations.<\/p>\n However, that challenge also presents an opportunity, because those same citizens are now increasingly being co-opted by local authorities and energy utility companies to become the solution.\u00a0The concept of \u2018prosumers\u2019 – citizens who both produce and consume energy – is developing rapidly.<\/p>\n \u201cProsumers are currently leading the energy transition, which is providing new opportunities for renewable energy consumption, avoiding environmental pollution while offering self-sufficiency,\u201d explained Dr Johannes Slacik, a researcher at Johannes Kepler University in Linz<\/a>, Austria.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in Germany, where the sun shines on average much less than, for example, in Spain, one prosumer household with photovoltaic panels can provide for the energy needs of itself and one-and-a-half other households.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes a lot for some energy utilities to give up their traditional top-down product distribution. Their existing business models are still largely focused on economic output and not on low-profit partnerships,\u201d commented Slacik.<\/p>\n Slacik is advising a EU-funded Horizon project, eCREW<\/a>, which promotes household-utility cooperation through prosumers active in community renewable energy webs, in order to boost energy efficiency.<\/p>\n This vision of the partnership is also working effectively in another Horizon initiative, MAtchUP<\/a>, a smart city project that developsinnovative solutions for urban living, including in the energy sector, that can serve as models for the sustainable cities of the future.<\/p>\nRethinking sustainable cities<\/h3>\n
Consumer led energy transition<\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong>Slacik\u2019s work foregrounds encouraging energy utilities to adopt new, horizontal relationships with their customers. He believes that\u00a0smaller utilities are already building successful partnerships with those customers, based in part on a prosumer model<\/strong>, and that utilities prepared to show innovation and leadership will reap the rewards of the energy transition for sustainable cities.<\/p>\n