Geothermal plants have been increasingly constructed in recent years to exploit the high geothermal energy potential in Germany in district heating networks at the municipal level. In order to use this potential economically, municipal planners need instruments for designing the district heating...

An increasing number of municipalities are striving for energy autonomy. This study determines in which municipalities and at what additional cost energy autonomy is feasible for a case study of Germany. An existing municipal energy system optimization model is extended to include the personal...

This paper analyses the current technical potential for utilising excess heat from German biogas plants, in order to supply local settlements through district heating. Based on a survey of around 600 biogas plant operators, the fractions of excess heat in these plants are analysed. A heuristic...

Research attention on decentralized autonomous energy systems has increased exponentially in the past three decades, as demonstrated by the absolute number of publications and the share of these studies in the corpus of energy system modelling literature. This paper shows the status quo and...

A cost-efficient and sustainable energy transition requires reliable information about the distribution of renewable energy resources. Here we draw on over 1.5 million scenicness ratings of around 200,000 geotagged photographs from Scenic-Or-Not to quantify the aesthetic value of the landscapes...

Currently, most photovoltaic (PV) modules are aligned in a way that maximizes the overall annual yields, which leads to significant peaks in electricity production and could threaten energy policy objectives such as security of supply as well as environmental sustainability. The exploitation of...

Detailed information about the potentials and costs of renewable energies is an important input factor for energy system models, as well as commercial and political decision-making processes. With its increasing locally installed capacity and hub height, wind energy plays an important role when...