Sector Coupling for Smart Cities
#SmartCities #SectorCoupling #SustainableBuildings
Digitalization offers new opportunities in the energy industry. Particular potential is offered by a sector coupling of the areas electricity, heating and cooling, industry and transport. Develope innovative concepts with Vattenfall that use existing infrastructures and buildings for an efficient and sustainable energy supply in order to take an important step towards the goal of "fossil free in one generation".
✅ Completed 🏁 Winner Congrats Guardians of the Energy & Team Zector
🏆 Prize 15,000 € prize pool in the overall DE 4.0 project + invitation to the Federal Chancellery + promotion of further implementation + chance for further cooperation with Vattenfall
Submission Template
For the processing of the use cases within the DEUTSCHLAND 4.0 project a common submission template is available. This template will help you to structure your ideas and approaches and to find answers to all relevant questions.
SUBMISSION TEMPLATE (English version)
In addition to this submission template, you will find specific requirements and guiding questions for your Use Case in the "Guiding Questions" tab, which you should consider when preparing your submission.
You can also complement your submission with prototypes, pitch decks, images and video material, higher-level concepts or specific application-related instruments - simply submit these documents together with the submission template via our platform.
The aim is to ensure that solutions within the overall project cover a broad spectrum through this approach: from concrete digital product ideas to higher-level visions
Key Questions
As described in the introduction, a significant part of the relevant buildings are existing buildings. The central question, which is derived from this, is how to use the existing infrastructure in the best possible way for a combination of district heat/CHP and heat pump as well as storage medium.
The challenge here is to heat the building with the existing infrastructure: use of the existing piping, replacement of the radiators if necessary, to enable a reduction of the flow temperature and to define a control logic for the heat generators, based on a coupling of the sectors.
- What are the technical possibilities to use the existing infrastructure (e.g. piping)?
- How and with which medium can the coverage of base load and peak load be optimally guaranteed?
- Which media should be integrated sensibly? Are heat pumps, storage media of all kinds, electric panel heating on windows, solar, facades a possible solution?
- How can or must smart meter technology be used? Can this be made possible, for example, through combined gateways for electricity and heat?
- How do you control or regulate optimally under the conditions of firmly defined parameters such as costs, profitability and sustainability or CO2 balance?
- How can a profitable business model be developed from a company's point of view?
- What new incentives, if any, need to be integrated so that sector coupling works for existing buildings/areas?
Criteria & specifications
It is always about the aspect of sustainability, not about saving costs. These are to be used for derivation, because increased costs result from increased material and energy consumption. Due to the complexity of the topic, the focus should lie on the following building types: functional buildings, office buildings or bridges. Single-family houses should be considered less.
In international comparison, some countries are already further ahead. In the United Kingdom, BIM is always prescribed as a working standard. We therefore do not need a purely German calculation, but an analysis that can be transferred to other markets. Good figures are available in the Scandinavian countries in particular, where construction processes and buildings are often analyzed in great detail.
Approaches that have already been pursued or are being excluded
Nemetschek is currently collecting the existing customer projects, in which concrete figures on savings are given. For example, a general contractor who has saved 110,000 m² of paper or a hospital whose cleaning and heating can be managed better and more resource-efficiently with smart building solutions.
These projects always show the selective benefit. We lack a comprehensive case because we do not have a project simulation for an entire building life cycle.