Prosuming – energy sufficiency and rebound effects: Climate impact of changing household consumption patterns in Germany

Nesrine Ouanes; Jan Kegel; Jan Wiesenthal; Clara Lenk; Hannes Bluhm; Julika Weiß; Lukas Torliene

doi:10.14512/tatup.31.2.18

Authors

Nesrine Ouanes Institute for Ecological Economy Research (DE) nesrine.ouanes@ioew.de
Jan Kegel Institute for Ecological Economy Research (DE) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1729-4503 Jan.kegel@ioew.de
Jan Wiesenthal Institute for Ecological Economy Research & Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9760-0026 jan.wiesenthal@ioew.de
Clara Lenk Institute for Ecological Economy Research (DE) Clara.Lenk@ioew.de
Hannes Bluhm Institute for Ecological Economy Research & Europa-Universität Flensburg (DE) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5488-134X hannes.bluhm@ioew.de
Julika Weiß Institute for Ecological Economy Research (DE) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4555-159X julika.weiss@ioew.de
Lukas Torliene Institute for Ecological Economy Research (DE) lukas.torliene@ioew.de

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.31.2.18

Keywords:

energy rebound, prosumer self-consumption, sufficiency, life cylce assessment

Abstract

Changes in energy consumption patterns after becoming a prosumer household are rarely associated with negative environmental effects, as prosuming is intuitively assumed to be emission-reducing. This paper demonstrates the importance of sufficiency-oriented energy prosumer behavior for climate neutrality goals by quantifying GHG emissions for photovoltaic (PV) prosumers at the German household and energy system level. Based on the results, recommendations are derived for promoting energy sufficiency in prosumer households.

References

AEE (2020): Installierte Leistung Photovoltaik. Übersicht zur Entwicklung Erneuerbarer Energien in allen Bundesländern. Available online at https://www.foederal-erneuerbar.de/uebersicht/bundeslaender/BW|BY|B|BB|HB|HH|HE|MV|NI|NRW|RLP|SL|SN|ST|SH|TH|D/kategorie/solar/auswahl/183-installierte_leistun, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

AGEB – AG Energiebilanzen e. V. (2021): Evaluation tables of the energy balance for Germany. Energy data for the years 1990 to 2020. Available online at https://ag-energiebilanzen.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/awt_2020_e.pdf, last accessed on 27. 04. 2021.

Barros, Murillo; Salvador, Rodrigo; Piekarski, Cassiano; de Francisco, Antonio; Freire, Fausto (2020): Life cycle assessment of electricity generation. A review of the characteristics of existing literature. In: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 25 (1), pp. 36–54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-019-01652-4

BDEW – Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft e. V. (2021): Die Energiewende braucht einen PV‑Boom. Berlin: BDEW.

BMI – Bundesministerium des Innern für Bau und Heimat (2018): ÖKOBAUDAT – Process data set. Available online at https://oekobaudat.de/OEKOBAU.DAT/datasetdetail/process.xhtml?lang=en&uuid=10c531c8-329c-479a-bbe9-17990ca5dfd6&version=20.19.120, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

BMWK – Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (2022): Entwurf eines Gesetzes zu Sofortmaßnahmen für einen beschleunigten Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien und weiteren Maßnahmen im Stromsektor. Berlin: BMWK

Brandes, Julian et al. (2021): Studie. Wege zu einem klimaneutralen Energiesystem. Freiburg: ISE.

Bundesnetzagentur (2020): Genehmigung des Szenariorahmens 2021–2035. Bonn: BNetzA.

Bundesnetzagentur (2021): Marktstammdatenregister. Available online at https://www.marktstammdatenregister.de/MaStR, last accessed on 07. 04. 2021.

co2online (2022): Stromspiegel für Deutschland 2021. Available online at https://www.stromspiegel.de/fileadmin/ssi/stromspiegel/Broschuere/stromspiegel-2021.pdf, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

dena – Deutsche Energie-Agentur (2021): Leitstudie Aufbruch Klimaneutralität. Eine gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe. Berlin: dena.

DIN – Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V. (2006): Environmental management. Life cycle assessment, Requirements and guidelines (ISO 14044:2006).

Dromaque, Christophe; Grigoriou, Rafaila (2018): The role of data for consumer centric energy markets and solutions. Brussels: ESMIG.

Dütschke, Elisabeth; Galvin, Ray; Brunzema, Iska (2021): Rebound and spillovers. Prosumers in transition. In: Frontiers in Psychology 12, p. 636109 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.636109

DWD – Deutscher Wetterdienst (2021): Globalstrahlungskarten. Monats- und Jahressummen. Available online at https://www.dwd.de/DE/leistungen/solarenergie/lstrahlungskarten_su.html?nn=16102, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

EC JRC IES – European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability (2010): International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook. General guide for life cycle assessment. Detailed guidance. Luxembourg: European Commission.

Figgener, Jan et al. (2021): The development of stationary battery storage systems in Germany. Status 2020. In: Journal of Energy Storage 33, p. 101982. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2020.101982

Frondel, Manuel; Kaestner, Kathrin; Sommer, Stephan; Vance, Colin (2020): Photovoltaics and the solar rebound. Evidence for Germany. In: SSRN Electronic Journal USAEE Working Paper No. 20-475, 38 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3716945

Gährs, Swantje et al. (2021): Potenziale der Digitalisierung für die Minderung von Treibhausgasemissionen im Energiebereich. Berlin: UBA.

Gährs, Swantje; Deisböck, Alexander; Cremer, Noelle; Cremerius, Paula (2020): Regionale Flexibilitäten in Haushalten und Supermärkten. Berlin: IÖW.

Galvin, Ray (2020): I’ll follow the sun. Geo-sociotechnical constraints on prosumer households in Germany. In: Energy Research & Social Science 65, p. 101455. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101455

Galvin, Ray; Dütschke, Elisabeth; Weiß, Julika (2021): A conceptual framework for understanding rebound effects with renewable electricity. A new challenge for decarbonizing the electricity sector. In: Renewable Energy 176, pp. 423–432. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.05.074

Galvin, Ray; Schuler, Johannes; Atasoy, Ayse Tugba; Schmitz, Hendrik; Pfaff, Matthias; Kegel, Jan (2022): A health research interdisciplinary approach for energy studies. Confirming substantial rebound effects among solar photovoltaic households in Germany. In: Energy Research and Social Sci-ence 86, pp. 102429. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102429

Kegel, Jan; Lenk, Clara; Ouanes, Nesrine; Wiesenthal, Jan; Weiß, Julika (2022): Prosumerverhalten und Energiewende. Berlin: IÖW.

Kratschmann, Martina; Dütschke, Elisabeth (2021): Selling the sun. A critical review of the sustainability of solar energy marketing and advertising in Germany. In: Energy Research and Social Science 73, pp. 121471. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.101919

KSG – Klimaschutzgesetz (2021): Federal Climate Change Act. Available online at https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_ksg/index.html, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

Lauf, Thomas; Memmler, Michael; Schneider, Sven (2021): Emissionsbilanz erneuerbarer Energieträger. Bestimmung der vermiedenen Emissionen im Jahr 2020. Dessau-Roßlau: UBA.

Lenk, Clara; Torliene, Lukas; Weiß, Julika; Wiesenthal, Jan (2022): Wie wirken Rebound-Effekte von Prosumern? Berlin: IÖW.

Li, Xingzhi; Lim, Ming K.; Ni, Du; Zhong, Bo; Xiao, Zhi; Hao, Haitian (2020): Sustainability or continuous damage. A behavior study of prosumers’ electric-ity consumption after installing household distributed energy resources. In: Journal of Cleaner Production 264, pp. 121471. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121471

Lund, Henrik; Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Christensen, Per; Schmidt, Jannick Hoejrup (2010): Energy system analysis of marginal electricity supply in conse-quential LCA. In: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 15 (3), pp. 260–271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-010-0164-7

Oberst, Christian; Schmitz, Hendrik; Madlener, Reinhard (2019): Are prosumer households that much different? Evidence from stated residential energy consumption in Germany. In: Ecological Economics 158, pp. 101–115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.12.014

Prognos; Öko-Institut; Wuppertal-Institut (2021): Klimaneutrales Deutschland 2045. Wie Deutschland seine Klimaziele schon vor 2050 erreichen kann. Berlin: s.n. Available online at https://static.agora-energiewende.de/fileadmin/Projekte/2021/2021_04_KNDE45/A-EW_209_KNDE2045_Zusammenfassung_DE_WEB.pdf, last accessed on 11. 05. 2022.

Rehberger, Max; Hiete, Michael (2015): Considering supply and demand of electric energy in life cycle assessments. A review of current methodolo-gies. In: Materiaux et Techniques France, 103 (1), pp. 1051–1059. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/mattech/2015006

Solomon, Susan (2007): Climate change 2007. The physical science basis. Working Group I contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Available online at https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ar4_wg1_full_report-1.pdf, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

SPD; Bündnis 90/Die Grünen; FDP (2021): Mehr Fortschritt wagen. Bündnis für Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit und Nachhaltigkeit. Koalitionsvertrag zwischen SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen und FDP. Berlin: grün gedruckt.de. Available online at https://www.spd.de/fileadmin/Dokumente/Koalitionsvertrag/Koalitionsvertrag_2021-2025.pdf, last accessed on 27. 04. 2022.

Weiß, Julika; Gährs, Swantje; Galvin, Ray (2021): Rebound-Effekte und Prosumer. Die Rolle der Rahmenbedingungen für den Stromverbrauch bei Photovoltaik-Erzeugern. In: Ökologisches Wirtschaften 36 (1), pp. 17–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14512/OEW360117

Zamagni, Alessandra; Guinée, Jeroen; Heijungs, Reinout; Masoni, Paolo; Raggi, Andrea (2012): Lights and shadows in consequential LCA. In: The Inter-national Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 17 (7), pp. 904–918. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0423-x