- Develop an innovative and generic approach for energy retrofitting for historical buildings with conservation compatible energy retrofit packages, which allow buildings to be heated at a low temperature (<55 ° C), while preserving the historic values, improving indoor thermal comfort and minimizing environmental impact;
- Investigate low temperature heat sources (with a special focus on aquathermal energy from surface water) and storage capacity that must be implemented to supply sufficient heat in the inner city;
- Develop an integrated vision of the gradual energy transition of the inner city starting with local heat and cold grids (clusters) which can later be linked to become an entire system.
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Urban Energy (AMS Institute)
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High-hanging fruit research programme
The multiyear research program intends to support the municipality in identifying energy reduction measures for the historical area of Amsterdam and in addition to solely focus on sustainable heating solutions available locally. Our objectives are listed under "More Information" below.
This programme is a partnership with TU Delft, chair Climate Design and sustainability (Prof. Andy van den Dobbelsteen). -
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Smart-BEEjs Project
Smart-BEEjS is a consortium of 8 universities and research centers under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, Innovative Training Networks (ITN). The core consortium is supported by 16 non-academic entities, in the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
The project promotes the development of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs). PEDs are local developments and networks of homes, workplaces and mobility systems which, together, generate more energy than is consumed. This is achieved through a combination of lower energy usage, the local generation of renewable energy and new business models across the energy marketplaces. Our work is demonstrated on the project deliverables. -
Project
ATELIER
ATELIER is the smart city project of 8 European cities that are committed to implement positive energy districts in their cities and that want to disseminate the lessons learned to other European cities. Amsterdam and Bilbao are the Lighthouse cities that will showcase urban solutions related to smart heating, cooling, electricity and electro mobility as to reach positive energy districts, while the cities of Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen, Krakow, Matosinhos, and Riga are Fellow cities that will replicate and adapt successful smart urban solutions in their cities.
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Energy Lab Southeast
By 2050, the municipality of Amsterdam aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 95% compared to the emissions in 1990, with the goal of not exceeding the earth's natural limits (boundaries). To achieve this goal, Amsterdam is working towards a city that is free of natural gas, emissions, and energy neutral.
Amsterdam Zuidoost is taking it one step further and aims to be energy-neutral by 2040. The development of Amsterdam Zuidoost offers opportunities to combine sustainability with poverty reduction and social improvement. For example, by improving the living comfort of homes during renovation projects, Or by creating local employment during large-scale renovations. This is called a social energy transition.
Achieving this requires collaboration from many different parties. Both from the government and the residents, as well as from businesses and researchers. The Energy Lab Southeast brings these parties together. The goal is to contribute directly to the challenges and projects in Amsterdam Southeast with scientific expertise.We focus on a number of scalable pilots and experiments in Amsterdam Southeast that are carried out by various companies, public organizations and residents. Here we bring together practice, policy, research and education. In a scientific ‘Werkplaats’, we monitor these pilots to draw lessons for scaling up, and we work with a team of researchers from different disciplines to collaborate with the municipality on relevant issues.
The Energy Lab Southeast facilitates the exchange of knowledge between different projects, organizations, and disciplines. The knowledge is shared widely so that the innovations can be applied throughout Amsterdam and beyond.
Methods and themes
By experimenting together in various "Living Labs," we develop and test innovations. We do this together with businesses, residents, the government, and science. In the Living Labs, we learn what really works. The experiments are monitored from a scientific perspective. We learn how these innovations can be applied in urban environments. By organizing workshops and events, knowledge is exchanged between different projects, organizations, and disciplines
The practical experiments are carried out around three themes:
1: Local smart energy systems
In the ArenApoort area, a scalable community energy platform is being developed and tested for a wide variety of stakeholders.2: Sustainable renovation of homes
In Reigersbos, efforts are being made to scale up the renovation approach for homes. This approach involves renovating/renewing the facades and developing various renovation packages for the VvE's to create comfortable homes with a healthy living environment.3: Low temperature district heating networks
In Amstel III, a new and sustainable district heating network is being developed that uses rest heat from a data center. By researching both the limitations in the current market and the technical requirements of low temperature district heating projects, we are developing a blueprint for such networks.In this collection, you will find more information about the Energy Lab Southeast and its three themes. For more information, please visit: www.energielabzuidoost.nl.
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URSES+
Transitioning to renewable energy solutions comes with uncertainties in terms of energy infrastructure, flexible use of car charging stations that were studied in a battery of 8 collaborative research projects.
The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), Shell, TKI Urban Energy and AMS Institute partnered to address energy challenges in Amsterdam enabling an accelerated transition to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy systems. The resulting “Uncertainty Reduction in Smart Energy Systems“ (URSES+) program consists of 8 projects to reduce the inherent uncertainty for actors in the energy chain by developing the necessary knowledge and tools.Amsterdam Builds Coalition - Towards a Zero-Emission Built Environment (ABC)
Amsterdam Builds Coalition (ABC) will investigate how mental, technological, institutional and organizational barriers impede the realization of a new, sustainable residential area. Various ABC partners developed a technical concept for Centrumeiland in IJburg. For instance, an infrastructure for low temperature heating will be installed and combined with new sanitation facilities. In another example, waste water treatment will contribute to an affordable, sustainable energy supply. The aim of ABC is to establish new forms of cooperation between residents, private parties, institutions and local government to realize this energy concept.Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage Smart Grids+
Aquifer thermal energy systems optimizes the use of underground space in areas with high concentrationof buildings. This URSES project examines how adjacent aquifer thermal energy systems can organize the use of the sub-surface by coordinating with one another to save energy as well. These self-organizing systems will be implemented at a site in Amsterdam by TU Delft and its partners.Distributed Intelligence for Smart Power Routing & Matching 2
Metropolitan areas with large event spaces like the ArenA play an important role in the application of intelligent energy systems; they can improve the efficiency and integrate renewable energy sources. The “Distributed Intelligence for Smart Power Routing & Matching 2” (DISPATCH 2) project will explore implemented solutions to verify advanced planning and network management mechanisms to tackle energy management. Verifying such solutions in a realistic test environment helps achieve rapid adoption and use of pioneering energy management solutions. By including large, dynamic energy consumers into this research, the project optimizes for better use in the future energy network.Energy-Based Analysis & Control of the Grid: Dealing with Uncertainty & Markets in an Urban Environment
In this project, new models and pricing mechanisms will be developed to factor in variations in distribution networks in urban areas. New methods need to be developed due to the increased use of electric cars, charging stations, and solar panel electricity generation. The goal is to use urban electricity networks efficiently and prevent capacity problems in the network.Future-Proof Flexible Charging: Dealing with Uncertain Prices & Network Constraints
Charging electric vehicles spontaneously can support the transition to solar and wind energy in metropolitan areas where electric vehicles improve the quality of life. Ideally, flexible charging needs coincide with periods of abundant sun and wind when electricity prices are lower, yet how to plan this? Batteries also need to be sufficiently charged in a short amount of time. This URSES project explores how much energy is generated using sun and wind depending on the weather and on charging flexibility of drivers. Recently developed planning algorithms can accommodate these uncertainties. The research team will partner up with Jedlix, a Dutch car charging company, to evaluate the benefits of these algorithms.Modelling and Designing “Car as Power Plant” Systems in a Real-Life Environment at Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam & Amsterdam Arena Stadium
“Car as Power Plant” (CaPP) is a project using parked fuel cell cars as power plants. The Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam in Noord will function as a controlled research location and thereby increase our understanding of how CaPP can be applied beyond the four walls of a university.Smart Energy Systems in the Amsterdam Area: Electric Vehicles as a Gateway to Smart and Sustainable Energy Use
The increase of electric cars in the Amsterdam area results in capacity problems for the electricity network. Ideally, drivers use their vehicles more sustainably such as through smart charging and by generating sustainable energy. This project will test the pivotal role of pro-environmental self-identity, which goes hand in hand with more environmentally-friendly behavior. The research explores how people can adopt environmentally-friendly behavior by increasing their pro-environmental self-identity. Also, business models will be developed to stimulate the desired behavior.Storing Renewable Energy in Urban Households
Storing renewable energy in households and neighborhoods contributes to a low-carbon energy system. This URSES project focuses on the social and organizational aspects of successful storage implementation in urban regions. Since such implementation of storage requires rethinking cooperation between existing and new participants in the field of smart energy, the needs of end users need to be considered. The project aims to contribute to the design of socially robust and sustainable storage models and services.This programme is a collaboration with TU Delft.
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Buiksloterham Integrated Energy System
Omdat de traditionele energievoorziening niet meer voldoende is, moet er zo snel mogelijk zoveel mogelijk hernieuwbare energie gebruikt worden. Dit nieuwe energiesysteem moet flexibel zijn, en gebruik maken van lokale bronnen. De benodigde flexibiliteit van het nieuwe energiesysteem heeft te maken met het veranderende vraag en aanbod door het gebruik van zonne- en windenergie en de dalende energievraag van de nieuwbouw. BIES is uitgevoerd met het doel kansrijke varianten voor een flexibel en geïntegreerd energiesysteem voor woon- en werkgebieden te ontwikkelen. Zowel technische als systemische randvoorwaarden zijn daarin betrokken, net als welkome innovaties van producten en diensten die aan dergelijke systemen bij kunnen dragen. Testcase is Buiksloterham in Amsterdam Noord: een hoogstedelijke ontwikkelingslocatie.
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Schools as energy-embassy in the Bijlmermeer-neighbourhood
The transition to cleaner, more efficient energy systems is not yet going fast enough. Can schools function as energy-ambassies to speed up this process?The concept is simple: in an integrated approach in which education is enriched with topics such as sustainability, energy saving and the development of ‘’21st century skills’’. The pupils become active in making their school and the neighborhood around it more sustainable.
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'ALIGN4energy' starting to support decision making for sustainable heating systems
To support citizens, policy makers and energy system developers to synchronize investment timelines, interests, and preferences, 'ALIGN4energy' has started on November 1st, 2022 as a multiyear research and development project.
The challenging energy transition
In the transition away from fossil-fueled residential heating systems, the current pace of energy-efficient renovation is far too slow. Individuals, groups of citizens, associations of owners (VVE's), and/or housing corporations tend to delay investments due to a lack of information and/or funds. In addition, they often face large coordination and transaction costs which hinder rapid action.
For policymakers, the large-scale decarbonization of the residential sector is a complex process that is challenging to steer. Especially when the energy system effects (or network effects) of individual or collective investments are taken into account. The latter determine the total economic cost of the transition, as investments balanced at the system level offer potential for large savings.
ALIGN4energy
To tackle these problems, a transdisciplinary consortium of scientists and practitioners kicked-off ALIGN4energy last October. ALIGN4energy is a four-year project that combines digital citizen engagement and personalized behavioral interventions to enable system-optimal clean energy investments at scale. This is part of the Nederlandse Wetenschapsagenda (Dutch National Science Agenda).
Customized information
The proposed research project activates multidisciplinary scientists from human systems (social and behavioral sciences, policy appraisal), the technical energy system (built environment, smart networks/grids), the interface between the human and technical energy systems (transaction cost theory, energy system modeling), artificial intelligence (learning algorithms) as well as policy experts and stakeholders like municipalities. By integrating insights from all these disciplines with insights from relevant stakeholders, the project will deliver co-created results such as state-of-the-art participation manuals, energy models, and integrated decision support logic for online platforms. These include customized information and tailored behavioral interventions to improve the complementarity of system investments and their operational impact on convenience-sustainability criteria to bring about lasting change.
In practice, the latter means that the project will deliver open-source state-of-the-art software that can be used in online tooling to support decision-making for heating systems on an individual level, collective level (with e.g. the housing association) or the energy system level. The project will work closely with various existing online tools, such as Building Blocks (https://buildingblocks.energy/) and Buurtwarmtewijzer (https://buurtwarmtewijzer.nl/home), The BuurtWarmteWijzer (Community Energy Compass) is co-founded and developed by AMS graduate (2016) Eline Burger.
Exploring heating solutions with the COLONY-tooling for each individual household and researching collective opportunities and implications on energy-infrastructure. (Image provided by The Early Birds)
“We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with our partners from Align4energy. We expect to provide valuable input to the Align4energy researchers and in return we hope the results (in particular from Artificial Intelligence) generated by the project will offer us opportunities to further improve our BuurtWarmteWijzer (Community Energy Compass) manual, citizen participation platform and COLONY-model.”
Eline Burger - co founder The Early Birds
Similar to Buurtwarmtewijzer, Habitata (developed by Building Block.energy), is a citizen platform for facilitating collective sustainable investment decisions in the built environment and will participate in the project.
Copyright: Building Blocks BV
AMS Institute AMS Institute takes the lead in knowledge dissemination in the project, aimed at early disclosure of new insights to practitioners, as ongoing initiatives in society can highly benefit from state-of-the-art instruments and insights. AMS Institute also facilitates the integration of co-development of research and development in the testbeds in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam, i.e. in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer and the City of Amsterdam.
For more information or collaborations please contact Paul Voskuilen.
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SPACERGY
SPACERGY builds upon the need of planning authorities to develop new models to implement energy transition strategies in the urban environment, departing from the exploitation or reciprocity between the space and energy systems. Several policies have been made by each EU nation, but effective and practical tools to guide the urban transformations towards a carbon neutral future present several challenges. The first challenge is to confront long term changes in envisioning how a specific socio-cultural context can respond to the application of solutions for energy efficiency. Secondly, the engagement of communities in bottom-up approaches mainly includes the sphere of urban planning that underestimates the importance of relating spatial transformations with the energy performances generated in the urban environment. The third challenge regards the tools used for the assessment of the energy performance and the necessity of enlarging the scale in which energy demand is analyzed, from the scale of the building to that of the district. In this context, the project explores the role of mobility, spatial morphologies, infrastructural elements and local community participation in regards to the smart use of local resources.
The project addresses a knowledge gap in relation to interactions and synergies between spatial programming, energy and mobility systems planning and stakeholder involvement necessary to improve models of development and governance of urban transformations. Based on detailed spatial morphology and energy use modeling, SPACERGY develops new toolsets and guidelines necessary to advance the implementation of energy efficient urban districts. New toolsets are tested in three urban areas under development in the cities of Zurich, Almere, and Bergen, acting as living laboratories for real-time research and action in collaboration with local stakeholders. The results of this research project support planners and decision makers to facilitate the transition of their communities to more efficient, livable and thus prosperous urban environments.
Authors
Daniela Maiullari - TU Delft
Martín Mosteiro Romero - ETH Zürich
Remco de Koning - HVL Bergen
Arjan van Timmeren - TU Delft
Akkelies van Nes - HVL Bergen
Arno Schlueter - ETH Zürich
Find the list of partners involved in this project inside the document.
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Oplossingsrichtingen voor congestie in middenspanningsnetten
Congestie in elektriciteitsnetten komt steeds vaker voor, ofwel omdat er lokaal heel veel duurzame opwek wordt gerealiseerd ofwel dat er teveel vraag is naar elektriciteit. De beperking komt uit de beschikbare capaciteit van het bestaande elektriciteitsnetwerk. In Amsterdam is er voornamelijk beperking op basis van vraag (congestie levering). De eerste concrete beperkingen in het elektriciteitsnetwerk van Amsterdam werden op 24 juni 2021 door Liander gemeld in een vooraankondiging van verwachte congestie van het middenspanningsnet voor de regio Buiksloterham-Zuid/Overhoeks. Het middenspanningsnet is de verbindende schakel tussen het hoogspanningsnet en het laagspanningsnet.
Dit onderzoeksproject is gestart met de bedoeling om netbeheerder Liander en de gemeente Amsterdam te ondersteunen bij het zoeken naar oplossingsrichtingen en een korte termijn aanpak voor congestieproblemen. De oplossingen hiervoor moeten ook bruikbaar zijn als het congestieproblemen zich elders voordoen. Dit omdat verwacht wordt dat dit soort problemen zullen terugkeren in Amsterdam of andere stedelijke gebieden. De hier gepresenteerde analyse is het resultaat van de samenwerking van het Advanced Metropolitan Solutions Institute in Amsterdam (AMS Institute) en de onderzoeksgroep Intelligent Electric Power Grids (IEPG) van de Technische Universiteit Delft (TU Delft).Lees hier de vooraankondiging door Liander.
De volgende onderzoekers hebben meegewerkt aan dit project:
Prof. Peter Palensky (TU Delft)
Associate Prof. Jose Rueda Torres (TU Delft)
Assistant Prof. Pedro Vergara (TU Delft)
Aleksandar Boričić, Ph.D. candidate (TU Delft)
Aihui Fu, PhD candidate (TU Delft)
Paul Voskuilen (AMS Institute) -
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PV Advent Calendar
In an effort to aid the energy transition and meet the Paris agreement goals, the City of Amsterdam wants to take a step forward by deploying photovoltaic (PV) technology on buildings. However, currently the municipality and house owners are not fully aware of the real PV potentials on their roof-tops and of the challenges they will be facing when exchanging energy with the Low Voltage (LV) grid. Therefore, the real solar panel implementation potential on roof-tops in Amsterdam – considering the city's local grid infrastructure – should be assessed.
The project is facilitating a concrete and usable tool and insight to help Amsterdam to speed up solar panel integration in the city, which is lagging behind. For a first, it is integrally assessing the PV potential (spatial and economically), its electric grid integration, natural installation moments and alternative roof purposes.
PV energy yield considering grid components
In this project an accurate solar panel potential map is created, indicating the maximum possible PV energy yield per building, considering all surfaces receiving sufficiently high irradiation.Furthermore, a grid impact model will test how much generated power the grid can actually take in from each building cluster, before problems will arise for the relevant grid components.
Additional conflicting aspects for PV adoption are considered, such as natural installation moments as well concurrent roof purposes. To illustrate, roof reconstructions could already be planned and in many cases Amsterdam's roofs are currently used as terraces.
A solar panel installation calendar
Ultimately, a solar panel installation calendar, indicating the ideal time for building clusters to start implementation of PV systems in certain districts of the city, will be the main outcome from this project.A 3D visualization will show how the city appearance will change over the years with increasing PV penetration levels.
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De Kracht van de Buurt: Het succes en de spreiding van bottom-up initiatief op de energiemarkt
Dit is een project dat onderzoekt in hoeverre het stimuleren van lokale initiatieven op de energiemarkt succesvol bijdraagt aan energiebesparing en energiebewustzijn. Dit project is een samenwerking tussen Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Hanzehogeschool Groningen en Fudura B.V. (Enexis). De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen is penvoerder. Om dit te onderzoeken heeft Enexis een ‘levend laboratorium’ van Buurkrachtbuurten ter beschikking gesteld. De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen heeft een grootschalig longitudinaal kwantitatief onderzoek uitgevoerd onder deelnemers en niet-deelnemers aan Buurkracht om inzicht te krijgen in de mate waarin het stimuleren van lokale initiatieven op de energiemarkt op de korte en lange termijn energiebesparing en energiebewustzijn in de buurt kan vergroten en in de factoren die voorspellen of burgers wel of niet initiatief nemen, betrokken willen zijn en betrokken willen blijven bij een lokaal energie-initiatief Het project is uitgevoerd met subsidie van het Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Nationale regelingen EZ-subsidies, Topsector Energie uitgevoerd door Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland.
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Saving Energy When Others Pay the Bill
What motivates people to use less energy, when they are not the ones paying the bill? Like for example in a hotel. A long-term, field experiment at Amsterdam’s Student Hotel started to shed some light on this question.
Many measures and interventions for energy conservation focus on financial incentives to stimulate behavior change, as in “saving energy = saving money”. However, financial incentives are some times difficult to implement, or have a really small margine on individual level. Consider for instance energy use at work - where the employer pays the bill, in hotels - where energy is included in the room price and in rental homes with all-inclusive energy, gas and water use - like student housing. Such settings require a different approach. In order to successfully stimulate energy saving in these situations, more knowledge is needed of non-financial incentives, such as social incentives and feedback, that can have a positive effect on energy saving behavior.
Goal
The project “Saving Energy When Others Pay the Bill” set out to stimulate energy conservation in situations where people do not pay the energy bill themselves. In a series of field experiments, the potentially positive effects of non-financial incentives and technological innovations on energy saving behavior are studied. Field labs has been established at several locations of The Student Hotel in Amsterdam. The project focuses on two situations: when students live in all-inclusive housing and b) when students are hotel guests. Electricity and water meters were installed in over 200 rooms to gain insight in the energy useage of the hotel guests en renters.Research questions were:
- What is the impact/effect of social incentives like public praise, commitment, gift-giving and competition on energy behavior?
- What is the impact/effect of improved knowledge about environmental issues and specific energy saving behaviors on energy behavior?
- What role do environmental attitudes of social groups play?
- And what is the effect of technological interventions on energy conservation.
Read the final report here.
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Solar Urban: Integration of solar energy in the urban environment
To reach the city's climate ambitions, we have to generate more energy within the city itself. This can be done for example by using solar panels that are placed on roofs. But what about other surfaces, such as facades, roads, and pavements?
To keep the energy transition affordable and to realize minimum demands on the grid, electricity and heat should be generated where it is consumed. By the year 2050 around 50% of the total annual electricity demand can be generated in the city using photovoltaic technology, also known as PV or solar panels. However, city landscapes and roofs full of solar panels, are not considered aestetically appealing, which will lead to social resistance. Therefore, PV and thermal systems (T) should be integrated not only on roofs, but also in facades, roads, pavements, sound barriers, and other surfaces the city is rich.
This also allows the PV(T) technology to be combined with other common functions of buildings (like thermal insulation) or non-building structures. Moreover, PV-integrated products might enable new urban functions like energy storage, air purification and gas conversion.
In the research program, the focus is on creating innovations for the urban environment. This ranges from the PV(T) technology on cell level, to module level to system level to urban level. From developing smart technology, to architecturally beautiful integration, to integration of PV(T) in the grid and urban plans. Focussing not only on the PV(T) technology itself, but including integration in a construction with multi-functionalities, facilitating faster installation and easy maintenance. Also, the effects on society and urban living are an integral part of the research.
Solar Urban is a long term research program with focus on the integration of solar energy collection (electric and thermal) in the urban environment. It is a cooperation between AMS Institute and Delft University of Technology, involving the faculties of Architecture and Electrical Engineering (including the solar energy group). The innovations are for all urban environments, but special attention is given to Amsterdam.
Related Information: