Ģirts Bohvalovs

Latvia’s waste management sector generates annually increasing waste volume, more than doubling to 2.71 Mt in 2023 from 1.26 Mt in 2004. The current national policy aims to address this challenge to reduce waste generation and landfilling by promoting circular economy principles. The long-term strategy is focused on achieving climate neutrality in 2050 with a 58% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2017 levels. This study performed a comprehensive analysis of European Directives, National Policy Plans, Regulations, and IPCC reports for the waste management sector. Relevant data has been systematically extracted from these documents and analyzed. In this study, a System Dynamics approach has been used to capture complex interactions within the waste management sector. The System Dynamics model has been developed to assess and evaluate the current state of Latvia’s waste management sector and incorporate various policies. The model has been validated on historically available data and structural analysis. Policies regarding ways to minimize waste generation, greenhouse gas emissions and their associated effects on socioeconomics have been analyzed using the model. An interactive decision-making interface has been developed on top of the model to be used by stakeholders for various scenario analyses. The interface allows users to analyze Business-as-Usual (BAU), optimistic, worst-case scenario, and custom scenarios by providing own inputs and policy mix. Two stakeholder workshops have been performed where waste management experts and policymakers performed scenario assessments using the developed interface. Discussions with the stakeholders during the workshops have shown trust and support for the model, and they report that it is beneficial to incorporate the model into the national policy analysis and planning.

– In the context of the EU Green Deal and the Paris Agreement, the transition to renewable energy sources and the deployment of energy storage systems are fundamental for a sustainable and low-emission tomorrow. However, given the diversity of municipalities in terms of resources, infrastructure, and socio-economic conditions at local energy transition level, main actors face numerous challenges related to the implementation of new renewable energy generation projects, lack of capacity to initiate, install, and develop new projects, for which the underlying unifying factor is economic and lack of knowledge/specialists. Hence there is a need for a modelling platform that can model scenarios for the deployment of different energy generation/storage technologies in municipalities, thus saving financial resources and assessing risks and potential before the actual deployment. This research paper is a follow-up to previous publications in which the authors characterized Baltic Sea region municipalities through benchmarking and identified their storage potential and engagement in the energy transition. The focus of this case study, however, is the development of a modelling platform using systems dynamics approach to provide local public authorities support in decision-making for energy system planning. The model was validated and piloted in six municipalities – Tukums, Gulbene, Wejherowo, Tomellila, Mikolajki Pomorskie and Taurage. A scenario modelling approach based on existing municipal parameters was used for piloting. The study reveals the outcomes of different simulated scenarios in each of the municipalities and provides insights and resources to address the challenges of energy storage deployment. The study analyses the potential and means of municipalities to move towards an energy transition, but each municipality is different, and one approach does not fit all. The findings mainly address renewable energy production, storage, costs and emissions. The results of the pilots are a useful tool for municipalities to understand possible actions to reduce emissions, become more sustainable to meet EU targets whilst maintaining a stable and reliable energy supply.

The transition from a fossil fuel-based energy system to renewable energy sources has become a crucial consideration in both national-scale planning processes and local-scale energy system planning. Research has been conducted to seek technical solutions for a specific district of a university campus located on the peninsula of Riga to implement a smart energy system with multiple energy sources, storage systems, and energy efficiency measures. The solutions for the transformation of Energy Island to an Energy Community include power generation by building integrated solar panels with different power storage alternatives, such as thermal storage, batteries, hydrogen, and fuel cells. The simulation also evaluates the potential for heat recovery and waste heat integration from the data center and cooling systems to cover the heat demand. The interlinkage with energy efficiency improvements through improved building management systems provides an opportunity to increase RES utilization rates and improve overall energy efficiency. To provide a holistic overview of the future development of the urban area, the research also compares the connection to the district heating network. Results show that the analyzed energy community can achieve up to 80% of the RES self-consumption level as cost-optimal solutions by combining off-site wind turbine, solar PV panels, water source heat pumps, waste heat recovery and adjusted power storage.

A vital component of achieving climate neutrality in the future involves bolstering energy efficiency measures in educational institutions and improving the overall knowledge on sustainable solutions. To achieve fruitful outcomes, the active involvement of various stakeholders, such as managers, teaching staff, and students, is indispensable. By implementing energy-efficient building systems, advancing the use of renewable energy sources, and incorporating sustainable practices into the curriculum, educational institutions can decrease their environmental impact and conserve resources for future generations. Active participation from all stakeholders, including managers, teaching staff, and students, is essential for the success of these efforts. Providing students with a comprehensive education on sustainability equips them to apply this knowledge in their future professions, thus contributing to a more sustainable society. To gain insights into the existing state of sustainability within educational systems, a comprehensive study of educational institutions was undertaken. To assess and compare schools’ sustainability, a composite indicator was developed. The study’s findings reveal that the implementation of mandatory and optional measures can lead to a substantial reduction in primary energy consumption by 39% and greenhouse gas emissions by 34% in educational institutions. The average abandonment costs for mandatory measures are 5.87 EUR/kgCO₂/year, but the average value for optional measures is 33.80 EUR/kgCO₂/year. It is suggested demonstration projects be implemented in institutions where specialists in RE, mechatronics, building engineering systems, and environmental technologies are trained by showcasing technologies needed for the transition to climate neutrality.

Energy communities are paving the way for new cooperation opportunities related to energy consumption and energy production. Individuals unite in energy communities to reduce the costs related to energy consumption. Although previous work has mainly focused on energy exchange inside the community. This work aims to investigate the Pareto-optimal solutions to the transformation of a historical district into an energy community. For energy efficiency and production measure calculation, a system dynamics model is developed. Multiobjective differential evolution optimization method is employed for the evaluation of energy efficiency and production measures with a focus on net present value, self-sufficiency, annual emission reduction, and specific heat consumption. The optimization target functions can be increased at a cost in net present value. Replacement of household appliances and windows enables significant energy demand reductions while maintaining positive net present value. Electricity production from photovoltaic panels offers an additional pathway to increase selfsufficiency share while maintaining positive net present value.

Power demand-side management has been identified as one of the possible elements towards a more flexible power system in case of increased capacities of variable renewable energy sources—solar and wind energy. The market coordinators or aggregators are introduced to adjust the electricity consumption by following the market situation. However, the role of aggregators is mainly analysed from the economic perspective, and the demand side management is performed to maximise the utilisation of low price power during off-peak hours. However, this research focuses on analysing the introduction of aggregators as a future player to increase the total share of renewable power and decrease the surplus solar and wind electricity occurrence. An in-depth system dynamics model has been developed to analyse the hourly power production and power consumption rates at the national level for the Latvia case study. The results show that introducing aggregators and load shifting based on standard peak shaving can increase the share of surplus power and does not benefit from increased utilisation of solar and wind power. On the contrary, demand-side management based on available RES power can decrease the surplus power by 5%.