Bioenergy Villages Research Articles

Bioenergy villages in Germany: Bringing a low carbon energy supply for rural areas into practice

An increasing number of rural municipalities wants to meet their entire energy demand with biomass. This article gives a system analytic view on these “bioenergy villages” by balancing pros (reduction of CO2 emissions) and cons (increasing costs, land use) using the example of a model municipality in Germany. The results indicate that a 100% energy supply based on biomass from within the boundaries of a rural municipality is technically possible but less reasonable with respect to land use competition and costs of energy supply. Whereas heat and power demand in bioenergy villages can be covered with relatively little land use and to relatively low costs, the production of transport fuel based on energy crops (rape seed) leads to significant negative impacts. For a cost-efficient decarbonization of rural areas it can therefore be recommended to particularly expand the utilization of biomass for heat and power production and to reconsider the transport fuel production.

Transdisciplinary Evaluation of Energy Scenarios for a German Village Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) can assist local decision processes towards selecting renewable energy systems as it is able to manage qualitative data and offers opportunities to integrate knowledge from local stakeholders. However, little experience is available regarding practical applications of MCDA in real decision processes in communities on their path towards a renewable energy supply. Within the “Bioenergy-Region Ludwigsfelde” project, an MCDA evaluation has been applied to a small village on its way to becoming a “bioenergy village”. Here, MCDA has been combined with already established tools accompanying the process to becoming a “bioenergy village”, such as planning workshops, citizens’ meetings and best-practice trips. A comprehensive set of sustainability criteria was applied aimed at addressing the questions of local actors. An emphasis was placed on social criteria that comprise the perceived values of local impacts. In general, it was observed that MCDA provides many benefits for this application context. In particular, the group weighting using the SIMOS method demonstrated good results in the process. However, for real-world applications of MCDA, the challenge of data compilation in particular must be addressed.

Bioenergy Villages and Regions in Germany: An Interview Study with Initiators of Communal Bioenergy Projects on the Success Factors for Restructuring the Energy Supply of the Community

Because of the serious problems related to an energy supply based mainly on fossil and nuclear fuels, the development of renewable energy sources is urgently needed. In Germany, many villages and communities take energy production into their own hands, following the principle of a community-related energy supply. Today, approximately 50 villages or communities in Germany have restructured their energy consumption patterns to rely primarily on locally available renewable energy sources for their electricity and heat. This article describes a qualitative interview study concerning the success factors for the implementation of bioenergy villages. The interviews were conducted with 25 individuals who initiated the restructuring of energy production in their villages toward bioenergy and other renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind energy.

Bioenergy Village—Ecological and Social Aspects in Implementation of a Sustainability Project

In the project described here the electricity and heat supply of an entire German village has been changed from conventional to biomass energy sources in 2005. This lighthouse project, the first "bioenergy village" in Germany, has been initiated by a scientist team from the Universities of Göttingen, Kassel, and Berlin and was realized by the active participation of the population of the village Juehnde in Southern Lower Saxony (800 inhabitants). The ongoing ecological, economical, and social changes are analyzed to enable the transfer of the model to other interested villages in Germany and worldwide. The technical concept consists of three components: (1) An anaerobic digestion plant (supplied by energy crops and liquid manure) with a combined heat and power generator (CHP) producing electricity and heat energy, (2) a central heating plant fired by locally produced wood chips for additional heat demand during the winter, and (3) a hot water pipeline distributing the heat energy to the connected households. The history of the project, the social implementation, and the first results of the ecological and social changes in the village are reported.