Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Multi-Sectoral Energy Transformation Pathways: Methodological Approach and Case Study for Germany

Tobias Junne, Sonja Simon, Jens Buchgeister, Maximilian Saiger, Manuel Baumann, Martina Haase, Christina Wulf and Tobias Naegler
Additional contact information
Tobias Junne: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Sonja Simon: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Jens Buchgeister: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Maximilian Saiger: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Manuel Baumann: Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
Martina Haase: Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
Christina Wulf: Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation (IEK-STE), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany
Tobias Naegler: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-28

Abstract: In order to analyse long-term transformation pathways, energy system models generally focus on economical and technical characteristics. However, these models usually do not consider sustainability aspects such as environmental impacts. In contrast, life cycle assessment enables an extensive estimate of those impacts. Due to these complementary characteristics, the combination of energy system models and life cycle assessment thus allows comprehensive environmental sustainability assessments of technically and economically feasible energy system transformation pathways. We introduce FRITS, a FRamework for the assessment of environmental Impacts of Transformation Scenarios. FRITS links bottom-up energy system models with life cycle impact assessment indicators and quantifies the environmental impacts of transformation strategies of the entire energy system (power, heat, transport) over the transition period. We apply the framework to conduct an environmental assessment of multi-sectoral energy scenarios for Germany. Here, a ‘Target’ scenario reaching 80% reduction of energy-related direct CO 2 emissions is compared with a ‘Reference’ scenario describing a less ambitious transformation pathway. The results show that compared to 2015 and the ‘Reference’ scenario, the ‘Target’ scenario performs better for most life cycle impact assessment indicators. However, the impacts of resource consumption and land use increase for the ‘Target’ scenario. These impacts are mainly caused by road passenger transport and biomass conversion.

Keywords: energy system modelling; energy scenario; environmental impact assessment; life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/8225/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/8225/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:19:p:8225-:d:424262

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().