Daniela Velte

Foresight is a vital prerequisite in order to bring our current energy system onto the path of sustainable development. Which technologies may be available in 25 years from now? Which technologies will be needed in the future? The European Energy Delphi project – EurEnDel aimed at bri- ing orienting knowledge to these two questions. Trying to show a glimpse of European Energy Futures in the year 2030. This book contains the main results of the EurEnDel project. It includes the findings of the European Energy Delphi survey and the resulting recommendations for R&D policy. In comparison to other industry sectors, energy has two very remarkable features: For one, transformations are very slow. Life-times of power plants are 30 years and longer. Thus the decisions we take today will still have impacts 30 to 50 years from now – which makes sound foresight so important. On the other hand, the energy system is strongly dependent on national political decisions. Priority setting may change quite drastically with new parties coming to power, at least for individual country. This is one of the reasons, why predictions in the energy field can be extremely difficult. Combining these two characteristics it becomes evident why foresight in the energy field must not be restricted to an analysis of what the future could be like, but must always assess what the future should be like. This book tries to weave together these two traces which were inh- ent in the EurEnDel project.

Foresight is a vital prerequisite in order to bring our current energy system onto the path of sustainable development. Which technologies may be available in 25 years from now? Which technologies will be needed in the future? The European Energy Delphi project – EurEnDel aimed at bri- ing orienting knowledge to these two questions. Trying to show a glimpse of European Energy Futures in the year 2030. This book contains the main results of the EurEnDel project. It includes the findings of the European Energy Delphi survey and the resulting recommendations for R&D policy. In comparison to other industry sectors, energy has two very remarkable features: For one, transformations are very slow. Life-times of power plants are 30 years and longer. Thus the decisions we take today will still have impacts 30 to 50 years from now – which makes sound foresight so important. On the other hand, the energy system is strongly dependent on national political decisions. Priority setting may change quite drastically with new parties coming to power, at least for individual country. This is one of the reasons, why predictions in the energy field can be extremely difficult. Combining these two characteristics it becomes evident why foresight in the energy field must not be restricted to an analysis of what the future could be like, but must always assess what the future should be like. This book tries to weave together these two traces which were inh- ent in the EurEnDel project.

Sustainable development will not be possible without fundamental improvements in resource productivity and energy efficiency, the adaptation of material flows into natural cycles as well as a radical change in production and consumption patterns. In essence, what is required is not only an ecological approach to product design but also new marketing and consumption patterns for products that can satisfy our needs in a more environmentally sound way. In recent years there has been growing interest in the possibilities of eco-services to achieve some of these aims. Ecologically oriented leasing, renting, pooling and sharing, where the emphasis is placed on the sale of a product's use rather than on the product itself, offer great possibilities for innovation and environmental impact reduction. At the same time, there are opportunities to create new commercial enterprises, produce added value to production and distribution functions, and therefore create jobs. Up until now, however, there has been little research about the state of the art in eco-services, how new services can be developed, what the attitudes of consumers are to services rather than products and what the consequences of such a structural adjustment would be for firms. Eco-service Development addresses this lack of research, first by providing a comprehensive inventory and analysis of current eco-services in four European countries: Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Spain. It then systematically explores the options open to market participants, the potential for environmental impact reduction, potential barriers to eco-services (such as consumer and producer resistance) and, finally, with what political and legal instruments ecologically oriented services can best be promoted. The book analyzes eight consumer sectors – washing, cleaning, cooking, entertainment, gardening, do-it-yourself, mobility and leisure time – from the point of view of both supply and demand and highlights the optimization potential and development perspectives for commercial new use eco-service concepts. This book is the most comprehensive analysis yet published of how eco-services are being implemented and how they could best be encouraged and contains valuable lessons for policy-makers, interested businesses and all those in the academic community searching for ways to dematerialize the economy.