The war in Ukraine seems to have dealt the definitive blow to the energy transition and the road to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda on climate and energy. Yet, perhaps it is also possible to turn unfortunate circumstances into an opportunity for change. This is what was suggested by the Director General of the Bank of Italy, Luigi Federico Signorini, in a speech titled ‘Choices for sustainable development, between emergency and transition’, in which he argued that the road mapped out must be pursued with determination so that the right decisions can be taken on the issue of sustainable development.
In light of these considerations, it is possible to analyse the recent Report on circular economy in Italy by the Circular Economy Network (CEN), which shows a positive trend with regard to almost all the indicators examined: consumption of renewable energy, resource productivity and circularity rate.
Is it possible to tackle the severe problems caused by the war on the energy market and use them to make strategic decisions, turning a limitation into an opportunity? And what can Deep Blue do to facilitate the transition processes towards the sustainable technologies of the future?
Sustainability during the war and the pandemic: The circular economy report
The crisis triggered first by the pandemic and then by the invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the weaknesses of the European economy in the energy sector, with energy and gas prices more than doubling in countries that, like Italy, depended on Russian natural gas for a large portion of their needs. The effects spread like wildfire to all other sectors, forcing entrepreneurs around the world to incur higher expenses for raw materials, which were already unavailable due to the high demand in the post-pandemic period.
It is precisely the role of raw materials that is the key to the analysis of the 2022 Report on the Circular Economy in Italy: the crisis is not only the result of fortuitous circumstances, indeed it represents a structural trend, characterised by the ongoing consumption of limited resources. Despite this, the report paints a relatively positive image of our country in the European context and praises the efforts of the European Community, which led to the approval of a new Circular Economy Action Plan in February 2021.
Among the five largest economies analysed by the Report (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland), Italy is the country with the lowest per capita consumption of materials, with 7.4 tonnes per inhabitant, against Poland’s 17.4, the country ranking highest. We also do well with regard to the purchasing power of the resources consumed, generating 3.5 euros of GDP for every kilogram of resources consumed, 60% more than the European average, and with regard to the use of recycled materials, which is 21.6% compared to the EU average of 12.8%. The overall recycling rate reflects these positive figures, reaching 68% against the European average of 35%.
In some sectors, however, the situation is the opposite: in the area of eco-innovation, which accounts for investments in the development of sustainable projects, Italy is only 13th with an index of 79, compared to 154 in Germany and 143 in Finland. We also struggle in soil consumption, with a high amount of land covered by artificial surfaces, amounting to 7.1% against the EU average of 4.2%.
A change in course is possible, and, as Signorini suggests, now is the time to act and make important decisions, to turn the tide both in terms of energy and product recovery. But to do this, having a recovery plan is not enough, it is necessary to reach out to people and develop a new culture based on responsible energy habits, encouraging the purchase of products that are less harmful to the environment and human health.
RENAISSANCE: ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENT LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Deep Blue’s idea of the future is based on innovation and sustainability, which is why we contribute to European projects in the field of renewable energy and energy communities. In this field, we act as facilitators and communicators, to ensure that the widest possible segment of the population is informed about the possibilities of renewable energy and the benefits of the circular economy.
One example of this is Renaissance, a project funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme that aims to provide innovative and universally understandable tools for the analysis, management and monitoring of emerging energy communities. As the actor responsible for the communication and territorial promotion of the project’s objectives and results, Deep Blue has worked to engage citizenship, making the public more aware of energy consumption and contributing to improving the general perception of collective production and consumption patterns of renewable energy and associated technologies.
Renaissance’s tools have supported the different stakeholders in the emerging energy communities in the four European pilot sites, providing preliminary assessments of energy systems and future scenarios, customised hardware and software components, and operational guidelines necessary for the development of semi-autonomous, circular and carbon-neutral electricity grids. The project’s four pilot sites presented very different situations, all sharing a common goal: creating communities capable of providing for their own energy needs or, even better, able to feed the excess energy produced into the national grid.
SUCCESS STORIES: DEEP BLUE IN THE RENAISSANCE PILOT SITES
Of particular note is the work done on university campuses at the Technical University of Thrace, Greece, and at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels in Jette, Belgium.
In Kimmeria, Greece, students on the campus reside in a community where circularity and the use of renewable energy are at the centre of daily life: the project has enabled them to fully understand the impact of their behaviour and habits on the overall energy bill, making them no longer simply passive consumers, but protagonists of change. In short, real ‘prosumers’. Rebecca Hueting, who supervised Deep Blue’s work in the Renaissance project, said: “With the support of local partners, we have contributed to the development of a sustainable culture by creating challenges and polls to involve the students on a daily basis, with prizes at the end of the year for the most energy-conscious students”. An example of gamification, which took the form of the creation of a videogame on a scientific issue called ‘Can you renew it?’, an online experience aimed at improving awareness of the tools available and at learning about them in a simple and fun way.
Similar work was done at the Jette Hospital Campus in Brussels, which includes the university hospital and some facilities of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
The energy community aims to increase its autonomy from the grid in order to operate in isolation as a micro-grid, and is already able to produce large amounts of energy and store it to run for up to five days in so-called island mode, which ensures that critical wards can function also if there is no connection to the grid. Also in this case, Deep Blue’s work focused on raising student awareness with the EnerJettic project: “By installing smart-meters to monitor and intelligently manage the temperature inside the campus housing, we were able to make students aware of their energy consumption, providing them with information and ideas to improve their energy efficiency”, said Rebecca Hueting.
At the Manzaneda Galicia Ski Resort in Galicia, the energy community is linked to the winter and summer tourism sector and was created to power the ski facilities, starting with the snow cannons, ski lifts and sports facilities at the resort. Due to the distance from the grid connection, Manzaneda opted for a system of photovoltaic panels and BESS battery systems for storage, which drastically reduce the amount of energy absorbed from the grid. “In this case, Deep Blue’s awareness-raising operation was aimed at the customers of the facilities”, said Nikolas Giampaolo of Deep Blue: “Making citizens feel part of a sustainable project, which is able to self-produce its own resources so as not to contaminate the surrounding nature, is a fundamental step to create a sustainable culture able to reach also non specialists.”
Finally, the last pilot site of the Renaissance project involved Eemnes, a small municipality in the Netherlands about 35 km from Amsterdam that aims to become an energy neutral district by 2030. Through activities such as regular meetings, training events and active information for citizens, organised with the support of Deep Blue experts, the energy community has welcomed around 200 households in just a few months.
These experiences teach us that the crisis can be turned into an opportunity for growth, but only if drastic and courageous choices are made. Habits must change, to embrace a circular culture aimed at recycling and reuse with the contribution of renewable energy: in this process, Deep Blue’s mission is to be a point of reference and a guide for all stakeholders in the sector.
