Stefan Petrovic

Model for Determining Geographical Distribution of Heat Saving Potentials in Danish Building Stock

Since the global oil crisis in the 1970s, Denmark has followed a path towards energy independency by continuously improving its energy efficiency and energy conservation. Energy efficiency was mainly tackled by introducing a high number of combined heat and power plants in the system, while energy conservation was predominantly approached by implementing heat saving measures. Today, with the goal of 100% renewable energy within the power and heat sector by the year 2035, reductions in energy demand for space heating and the preparation of domestic hot water remain at the top of the agenda in Denmark. A highly detailed model for determining heat demand, possible heat savings and associated costs in the Danish building stock is presented. Both scheduled and energy-saving renovations until year 2030 have been analyzed. The highly detailed GIS-based heat atlas for Denmark is used as a container for storing data about physical properties for 2.5 million buildings in Denmark. Consequently, the results of the analysis can be represented on a single building level. Under the assumption that buildings with the most profitable heat savings are renovated first, the consequences of heat savings for the economy and energy system have been quantified and geographically referenced. The possibilities for further improvements of the model and the application to other geographical regions have been discussed.

Preferences for Offshore-Onshore Wind Power Development in Denmark – Accounting for Spatial Data

Wind energy installed capacity has been increasing steadily all over the world and is expected to continue to do so in the future, following lowering costs of technology as well as increased renewable energy goals by governments. Nonetheless, public opposition has been increasing, and the discussion regarding siting wind turbines onshore or offshore is constantly present on public discourse. By combining a stated preference study with spatial data processed utilising GIS (Geographic Information System), we explore preferences for onshore and offshore wind turbines, considering their visual impact, costs, as well as socioeconomic and spatial attributes of the respondents. Results show that in general respondents show strong preferences towards offshore wind turbines as opposed to onshore. Furthermore, spatial data is found to be significant in regards to the preferences of the respondents, particularly the respondents’ distance to the coast and potential offshore wind farms and the number of wind turbines seen from the residence. In the same line, socioeconomic indicators such as age and income prove significant to respondents’ preferences in line with previous research.