Danish Case Research Articles

Influence of Temporal- and Spatial Resolutions on Building Performance Simulation Models: A Danish Residential Building Case Study

This study aims to assess the accuracy of a building performance simulation (BPS) model developed in IDA ICE software, focusing on heating energy use and indoor air temperatures in a low-energy multi-story residential building located in Northern Denmark. Six apartments were analyzed, and a comparative analysis was conducted between the measured parameters and the results obtained from BPS models with different spatial and temporal resolutions. The findings indicate that while the BPS models can provide reasonably accurate estimates of heating energy use, they may not fully capture the nuanced response to factors such as indoor air temperature This highlights the importance of incorporating qualitative inputs and environmental variables into these BPS models, including heating and/or cooling setpoints, internal gains, and weather conditions. Overall, this study provides insights into the limitations and opportunities of BPS models for accurately estimating heating energy use and indoor air temperatures in low-energy residential buildings.

Towards positive energy islands – a Danish case study

The Danish island of “Ærø” has the ambition of becoming the first Danish island to be self-sufficient in renewable energy and CO2 neutral by 2025, as well as fossil fuel free by 2030. This work investigates the feasibility of re-designing part of the island’s energy system to become the first Danish positive energy island (PEI), evaluating various design scenarios and opportunities for improving and modifying the current energy supply and distribution scheme. The district is modelled considering all building specifications and characteristics and the energy supply systems using the urban scale modelling tool City Energy Analyst (CEA). A simulation of the base-case scenario is performed to calibrate the performance. Different energy improvement strategies targeting building envelopes and energy generation and supply systems are created and implemented in CEA. Six improvement packages are created and simulated. It is demonstrated that a PEI could be built in the district under consideration through a comprehensive energy improvement package of envelope-targeting techniques, energy system upgrades, and the expansion of renewable energy systems. The package includes LED lighting, heat pump installation, and photovoltaic-thermal units. This will enable meeting the annual net need for electricity while producing 20% excess heat.

Proactive Prevention: Denmark’s Domestic Practices of Human Rights Compliance

Abstract Fuelled by an ambition to solve the puzzle of the stark contrast between Denmark’s increasingly negative presence in the international press and its leading performance in European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) compliance statistics, this article presents the results of a mixed-method study of the country’s domestic human rights’ protection and implementation practices. The story that emerges is not one of compliance, but of proactive prevention with a tinge of strategic risk-taking and prompt implementation. The majority of the Danish action within the compliance sphere takes place before one can even talk about compliance—domestically before the international spotlight is prompted to shine on Denmark by an adverse judgment against it. The article shows how each branch of power has an idiosyncratic way of working towards the prevention of human rights’ breaches. Yet, domestic prevention and international statistics say little about the quality of implementation and human rights’ protection. The article offers a concrete illustration of the blind spots of compliance data in the absence of qualitative research related to domestic practices and proves that there are lessons to be learned from studying even the most exemplary compliers. This makes the Danish case study an important contribution to the broader literature on the ways in which the ECtHR influences states other than through the implementation of judgments. Importantly, it also shows that while the proactive prevention of adverse ECtHR judgments can mean the same as the proactive prevention of human rights’ breaches, this is not always the case.

Early implementation of the sustainable development goals in construction projects: A Danish case study

The 2030 Agenda is an ambitious step towards sustainable development for the construction industry, which holds great potential for contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, challenges remain regarding the implementation of the goals. This study aims to investigate the level of integration of the SDGs at an early stage of a new school and kindergarten project in Denmark, which seeks to implement 14 of the SDGs and 50 targets actively throughout the project, along with exploring the decision-making process. The case study consists of two parts: interviews with the actors involved in developing the project's vision plan, hereunder prioritising the SDG and targets, followed by an analysis of the building brief, investigating the utilisation of the SDGs and targets. The interview results were designed and analysed through the lens of the values-rules-knowledge model. The results showed that the perceived level of integration of the SDGs differed among the involved actors, and that the targets that were most successfully implemented at this stage were SDGs 4, 9, 12 and 13. The main conclusion were that the SDGs were not a main driver in the decision-making process, due to the lack of measurability and benchmarking in building projects. The results contribute to the current effort toward implementing the SDGs in construction on a project-specific level, and the novelty lies in the analysis of the decision-making process through the values-rules-knowledge-model, the calculation of the SDG implementation percentage, and providing a best-practice example for SDG implementation in a construction project. The authors recommend further research focusing on case studies involving practical examples of SDG implementation in construction projects to support the operationalisation of the SDGs.

Technical note: High-density mapping of regional groundwater tables with steady-state surface nuclear magnetic resonance – three Danish case studies

Abstract. Groundwater is an essential part of the water supply worldwide, and the demands on this water source can be expected to increase in the future. To satisfy the need for resources and to ensure sustainable use of resources, increasingly detailed knowledge of groundwater systems is necessary. However, it is difficult to directly map groundwater with well-established geophysical methods as these are sensitive to both lithology and pore fluid. Surface nuclear magnetic resonance (SNMR) is the only method with a direct sensitivity to water, and it is capable of non-invasively quantifying water content and porosity in the subsurface. Despite these attractive features, SNMR has not been widely adopted in hydrological research, the main reason being an often-poor signal-to-noise ratio, which leads to long acquisition times and high uncertainty in terms of results. Recent advances in SNMR acquisition protocols based on a novel steady-state approach have demonstrated the capability of acquiring high-quality data much faster than previously possible. In turn, this has enabled high-density groundwater mapping with SNMR. We demonstrate the applicability of the new steady-state scheme in three field campaigns in Denmark, where more than 100 SNMR soundings were conducted with a depth of investigation of approximately 30 m. We show how the SNMR soundings enable us to track water level variations at the regional scale, and we demonstrate a high correlation between water levels obtained from SNMR data and water levels measured in boreholes. We also interpret the SNMR results jointly with independent transient electromagnetic (TEM) data, which allows us to identify regions with water bound in small pores. Field practice and SNMR acquisition protocols were optimized during the campaigns, and we now routinely measure high-quality data at 8 to 10 sites per day with a two-person field crew. Together, the results from the three surveys demonstrate that, with steady-state SNMR, it is now possible to map regional variations in water levels with high-quality data and short acquisition times.

Danish nearshore wind energy policy: Exploring actors, ideas, discursive processes and institutions via discursive institutionalism

AbstractThis article explores Danish renewable energy policy and policymaking, focusing on the development of nearshore wind energy and the role played by various actors, their competing ideas, the discursive processes in which they participate, and the institutional settings where exchanges occur. The research employs a case study design, concentrating on the Vesterhav Syd nearshore windfarm project. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews, the paper exploits Discursive Institutionalism and one of its recent refinements, labelled Ideational Power that highlights power over, through and in ideas. The data gathered provides compelling evidence of the ways in which actors struggle for dominance, each seeking to persuade others of their preferred policy problem definition and solutions: a process that oscillates between highly technical coordinative discourses among government agencies and business organisations and more politicised communicative discourses among a wider set of actors that includes community groups. Significantly, this case reveals the power of various policy stakeholders in Danish energy policy, suggesting that once decisions are taken at the national level of governance to construct a windfarm, only limited influence can be exerted by local groups on the outcomes. Our findings raise wider questions about such processes beyond the Danish case.

Impacts of flexible-cooling and waste-heat recovery from data centres on energy systems: A Danish case study

The fast development of large data centres increases energy demand, pressuring energy systems and potentially hindering progress towards climate targets. Nevertheless, data centres are also a potential sector-coupling interface supporting the energy transition through demand flexibility in electricity markets and waste-heat recovery for district heating systems. In this respect, this paper quantifies the economic and environmental benefits of integrating large data centres into highly renewable energy systems, using Denmark as a case study and focusing on the transition until 2035. The Balmorel energy system model optimises the investments and operation of the energy system along with the data centre's portfolio of flexible-cooling and waste-heat equipment. The results illustrate that waste-heat recovery displaces conventional heat pumps in district heating, indirectly reducing investments in photovoltaic capacity while increasing electricity exports. Integration reduces Danish energy system costs by 5.1% and carbon emissions by 1.4% throughout this period. More importantly, this study highlights the significance of optimal integration, which saves up to 63% of costs and 180% of emissions that non-integrated data centres would otherwise incur. While these figures depend on local conditions, they emphasise the high costs to society of non-integration and the need for appropriate policies to support such integration.

Mother tongue education in four Nordic countries - problem, right or resource?

The Declaration of a Nordic Language Policy stipulates that all Nordic residents have the right to preserve and develop their mother tongue and their national minority languages. Hence, this article investigates the question of mother tongue education for linguistic minority students. Through four ‘telling cases’, the article explores how four Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, orient towards mother tongues, Indigenous and national minority languages in their educational policies. Drawing on Ruíz’ (1984) framework of orientations in language planning, we investigate the following question: In what ways are mother tongues framed as rights, resources, or problems in four telling cases of educational policy in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden? The analysis of the telling cases shows that although all four countries provide various forms of mother tongue education, thus apparently aligning with the intentions in the Declaration of a Nordic Language Policy, there are important differences between the provisions. Nevertheless, across the four countries, the official national languages are placed at the top of a language ideological hierarchy. The official national languages are followed by national minority languages as mother tongues. These languages are awarded rights but are not considered resources for the whole population (e.g., Ruíz, 1984). The Danish telling case inserts a supranational layer in the hierarchy, namely mother tongues with status as official languages in the European Union. The hierarchy of mother tongues thus reflects how some types of mother tongues are more readily granted rights and considered to be resources than others.

Architecture as a Means of Developing Social Exchange: Learning from a Danish Case Study of Refurbishment and Urban Transformation in a Disadvantaged Housing Area

Architecture as a Means of Developing Social Exchange: Learning from a Danish Case Study of Refurbishment and Urban Transformation in a Disadvantaged Housing Area

Embodied competencies and smart home technology in energy use: three ways users integrate smart heating systems in everyday practices

Smart heating systems are increasingly entering the domestic sphere. Such smart home technology (SHT) intends to provide comfort, control, and convenience in the home as well as energy efficiency and energy flexibility. However, the success of these promises depends on users’ ability to implement the SHT in everyday practices. In previous research, the importance of embodied competences acquired through previous experiences has gotten little attention. In this paper, we argue that broad scale implementation of SHT requires more knowledge on the interaction between previous experience in the formation of new competences and domestic heating practices.In this paper, we explore how users integrate new smart technologies into their everyday heating practices in different ways by focusing on embodied competences. Based on 24 qualitative household interviews with SHT users, conducted through two Danish case studies, we identified three ways of approaching and integrating SHT in heating practices. First, the reluctant appears hesitant when adopting SHT and loses interest quickly. Second, the compliant follows orders and does what is expected by the new setup. Third, the committed encompasses a playful approach and shows strong interest in SHT design.From this background, we find that embodied competences and previous experience are essential for how users adopt and integrate SHT in everyday life. For example, some users’ previous experience, here younger and technically interested individuals, may match well with the logics of SHT, and for some users, here older and less tech-interested individuals, previous experience may not match well with SHT.

The Danish Supreme Court’s Decisions on Withholding Tax on Dividends and Interest

In this article, the author discusses the final decisions from January and May 2023 of the Danish Supreme Court in the Danish beneficial ownership cases. The Supreme Court ruled on the consequences of the ECJ preliminary rulings but also took a position on questions of principle on the interpretation of tax treaties and domestic Danish tax law. The Supreme Court ruled that the Danish companies were liable for Danish withholding tax.

GHG emissions from building renovation versus new-build: incentives from assessment methods

A variety of life cycle assessment (LCA) calculation methods and rules exist in European countries for building performance evaluation based on new-build. However, the increased focus on the retention and renovation of the existing building stock raises questions about the appropriateness of these the methods and rules when applied to renovation cases. Using a real renovation case, Danish, Finnish and Swedish LCA-based greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) assessments are assessed for how they position building renovation in relation to demolition and new-build reference values. The influence of these three different methods is examined for future development policies. Results show that upfront emissions for renovation are significantly lower for all approaches. The Swedish approach had the lowest GHG emissions compared with a scenario with demolition and new-build due to the method, which only includes upfront emissions of new materials. The Danish and Finnish renovation cases each performed worse in comparison with the new-build future emissions, specifically from operational energy use. Therefore, method development should consider incentives for upfront and future emissions. Furthermore, methods could account for the existing materials in the building, which are included in the Danish and Finnish approaches. This would provide incentive for renovation and reuse. Policy relevance Future policymaking needs to consider the influence of LCA methods on climate impact assessment of building renovations. The temporal differences occur when renovation is compared with demolition and new-build. Policy needs to take account of these temporal differences for apportioning GHG emissions between upfront and future emissions. A key question is whether existing materials should be included in the assessment as this would incentivise the reuse of these materials. Differences in accounting for the impacts of biogenic carbon in materials yields different results. This is a key issue in carbon accounting and will influence future practice.

Electric domestic aviation. Is the Danish case feasible?

The aim of this work is to clarify whether electric-powered aviation can comply with requirements from the Danish government for a zero-emission carbon dioxide footprint by 2030 on domestic flight routes. The battery types are presented, in an attempt to determine whether electric air transportation can become commercially viable. The gap in evaluating the feasibility of moving by electric aircraft by 2030 is met through this research, by analysing the feasibility, through current developments, of delivering enough energy in terms of Wh/kg as compared to conventional fuel for a combustion-driven aircraft. The calculations, based on lithium (Li)-ion batteries with an energy density of 260 Wh/kg, showed that the goals will be met only with the development of new battery technology. The results indicate that there will be a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 17%. According to aircraft manufacturers, it will be possible to accommodate up to 186 passengers in a fully electric-driven aircraft, which can meet the demand for domestic flights in Denmark. Other types of batteries, such as lithium–sulfur (Li–S) and lithium–oxygen (Li–O2) are relevant to investigate because of their higher energy density and usage of natural minerals other than just lithium.

The psychological turn in higher education and the new taxonomy of attitudes and emotions: Denmark as a case study

This article explores the increased concern with students’ well-being in higher education as a mode of governance that goes hand in hand with new mechanisms of exclusion. Focussing on a new student survey in Denmark that measures students’ well-being, we show how the well-being agenda is entangled with a new ‘taxonomy of attitudes and emotions’ that align with neoliberal ideals about the self-efficient and self-governing individual. Implied is a notion of learning as a smooth and effortless process, which may lead to individualization of structural challenges. With particular although not exclusive reference to the Danish case, we suggest that this new entanglement between well-being and learning represents a narrowing view on the role and purpose of higher education, which devalues the educational value of doubt, bewilderment and moments of uncertainty. Paradoxically, the well-being agenda may therefore lead to the pathologization of widespread student experiences.

Final Danish Decision on Beneficial Ownership with Respect to Dividends Following the ECJ Decision in the “Danish Cases”

This note describes the Danish Supreme Court’s final decision in the beneficial ownership cases with respect to dividends in response to the ECJ’s 2019 decisions in Skatteministeriet v. T Danmark (Case C-116/16) and Skatteministeriet v. Y Denmark (Case C-117/16).

Small states shelter diplomacy: Balancing costs of entrapment and abandonment in the alliance dilemma

Shelter theory has emerged as a promising but unrealized alternative to existing theories of bandwagon and hiding in the literature. It describes how small states can utilize the structural power of great powers to achieve political aims through the formation of asymmetric alliances. At present it is not clear exactly what shelter diplomacy aims to achieve, what type of costs it protects small states against and to what degree asymmetric shelters are useful when the preferences between the small state and the shelter partner widen. The article addresses these gaps. It develops a realist inspired model of shelter diplomacy that specifies when, how and with what effects small states can utilize the structural powers of great powers. It demonstrates how shelter diplomacy can help small states balance the costs of abandonment and entrapment in the alliance dilemma through construction of both asymmetric and symmetric shelters. The main contributions are to bring shelter diplomacy into the International Relations mainstream literature and develop a new theoretical middle position between the more well-described bandwagon and hiding strategies. The model is applied to a Danish case that demonstrates how small states have utilized and adopted dynamic shelter strategies in the European integration process.

How to ensure occupant comfort and satisfaction through deep building retrofit? Lessons from a Danish case study

The pace of building retrofit is expected to increase significantly in the coming decade if the European Union is to meet its ambitious climate targets. This study explores successes and challenges with current retrofit efforts, with focus on indoor environmental quality and occupants’ satisfaction with the technical installations. A survey, indoor environmental monitoring and semi-structured interviews were carried out in a Danish social housing area undergoing a deep energy retrofit. The retrofit considerably improved winter thermal comfort and indoor air quality, which was a great source of satisfaction for the occupants. Overheating was however identified as an important concern in summer. The mechanical ventilation units suffered from faults which caused discomfort, in particular dry air, noise and draft. Occupants lacked knowledge on ventilation and manual control over it, which led a share of them to mitigate discomfort in alternative ways, by obstructing diffusers or disconnecting the units. To avoid the risks linked to such behaviors, new retrofit efforts should pay particular attention to user-friendliness of technical installations, clear communication of technical information to the residents and a close monitoring of the installations’ performance and occupants’ satisfaction after move-in.

SARS‐CoV‐2 placentitis and severe pregnancy outcome after maternal infection: A Danish case series

SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy may cause viral inflammation of the placenta, resulting in fetal demise even without fetal or newborn infection. The impact of timing of the infection and the mechanisms that cause fetal morbidity and mortality are not well understood. To describe placental pathology from women with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, a SARS-CoV-2 immunohistochemistry-positive placenta and late miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, or medically indicated birth due to fetal distress. The triad of trophoblastic necrosis, inflammatory intervillous infiltrates, and increased perivillous fibrinoid deposition was present in all 17 placentas; the pregnancies resulted in eight stillbirths, two late miscarriages (19 and 21 weeks' gestation), and seven liveborn children, two of which died shortly after delivery. The severity of maternal COVID-19 was not reflected by the extent of the placental lesions. In only one case, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in lung tissue samples from the fetus. The majority events (miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal distress resulting in indicated birth, or livebirth, but neonatal death) happened shortly after maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed. Seven of eight sequenced cases were infected with the Delta (B.1.617.2) virus strain. We consolidate findings from previous case series describing extensive SARS-CoV-2 placentitis and placental insufficiency leading to fetal hypoxia. We found sparse evidence to support the notion that SARS-CoV-2 virus had infected the fetus or newborn.

A framework to measure readiness and barriers for the implementation of Industry 4.0: A case approach

Large businesses perceive the vital usefulness of Industry 4.0. They recognize how beneficial its implementation is to reinforce business competitiveness and to conserve, or even better, to increase their market share. Hence, top business management has embraced the challenge of the time: to evaluate the current level of digitization with the objective of proceeding to a full digitization phase in the future. With this concern, this paper proposes a framework to assist industries in promoting Industry 4.0 through two phases. In the initial phase, the case company’s level of readiness is evaluated, and in the second phase, the barriers that exist within the implementation of Industry 4.0 (based on the company’s readiness, obtained from the previous phase) are analyzed. Both phases have been carried out at a Danish case industry which is a third-tier supplier of anti-noise shims and back plates for manufacturers of disc brake linings. In the first phase, the assessment of readiness for Industry 4.0 demonstrates that the case industry is not fully ready; instead, they reside in the position of Industry 3.5 (in the middle of 3.0 and 4.0 revolutions). The limiting barriers to change for Industry 4.0 implementation are identified during the systematic literature review and analyzed using the DEMATEL method based on the industrial decision-makers’ responses in the second phase. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates the most influential barrier category is the policy & organization category. The barrier “leadership” is considered the greater influencer of all since it responds in some way to almost all 21 barriers. Thus, leadership is the most significant barrier a company must overcome to adopt the Industry 4.0 concept. In addition, firms are challenged by the organizational changes that the adoption of Industry 4.0 will bring, and the tool of organizational change management will be handy.

Fostering competence: a narrative case study of developing a two-dimensional curriculum in Denmark

ABSTRACT This article examines curricular development within compulsory science and mathematics education (grades k-9) in Denmark during a 20-year transition towards competency-oriented curricula. The article contains two main parts. In the first part, we describe the Danish case, emphasizing how international and national trends at the turn of the millennium led to the development of competency-oriented curricula based on a two-dimensional framework. In this framework, subject goals are separated into competency and subject matter goals. In the second part, we explore teachers’ perspectives on potentials and challenges when implementing competency-oriented teaching. Teachers found the two-dimensional framework useful when translating curricula into teaching practice. This analysis also identified four key aspects that support teachers’ work within this framework: Maintaining two-dimensionality, coherent competency goals, goals that are both purposeful and teachable, and a feasible content structure. We conclude the article by proposing a model that combines these four aspects and by suggesting possible avenues for future research and developmental processes.