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Electric vehicles are considered as one of the most effective technologies for reducing current greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. Although in many countries, local and national governments have introduced incentives and subsidies to facilitate the electric vehicle market penetration, in Sweden, such benefits have been limited. Results from a survey carried out among private owners of electric vehicles are presented in this paper, including the analysis of the respondents socio-demographic characteristics, reasons for choosing an electric vehicle, charging locations and driving preferences, among others. The main results characterize current electric vehicle drivers as male, well-educated, with medium-high income; electric vehicles are used mainly for private purposes and charged at home during night time. Furthermore, the paper presents an analysis of the impact of large-scale penetration of electric vehicles on existing power distribution systems. The findings presented in this paper provide important insights for assuring a sustainable large-scale penetration of electric vehicles by learning from the experiences of early adopters of the technology and by analyzing the impact of different EV penetration scenarios on the power distribution grid.

The increasing population living in cities is leading to higher resource utilization, which strains the cities’ability to focus on sustainability. Adoption of different technologies can transform cities into ‘‘smartcities” that utilize energy in a more efficiently.This paper presents results from a technology assessment tool developed together with six mid-sizedEuropean cities. The main areas of focus have been evaluated based on the cities’ priorities: transportation(both public and private) and consumers’ perspectives on the use of smart electricity meters. The useof electric vehicles in Sweden, and a techno-economic evaluation of biogas-derived biomethane and electricityuse in public transportation have been analyzed. The main conclusions show an overall higher efficiencyfor biogas-derived electricity use in electric buses; a need for higher consumer engagementthrough more detailed information provision for both increasing EV market penetration and electricitysavings; and a need to establish detailed technology assessments for successful technology adoption incities.

The development of smart grids is expected to shift the role of buildings in power networks from passive consumers to active players that trade on power markets in real-time and participate in the operation of networks. Although there are several studies that report on consumer views on buildings with smart grid features, there is a gap in the literature about the views of the energy and buildings sectors, two important sectors for the development. This study fills this gap by presenting the views of key stakeholders from the Swedish energy and buildings sectors on the active building concept with the help of interviews and a web survey. The findings indicate that the active building concept is associated more with energy use flexibility than self-generation of electricity. The barriers to development were identified to be primarily financial due to the combination of the current low electricity prices and the high costs of technologies. Business models that reduce the financial burdens and risks related to investments can contribute to the development of smart grid technologies in buildings, which, according to the majority of respondents from the energy and buildings sectors, are to be financed by housing companies and building owners. 

About 35% of Europe’s building stock is over 50 years old and consumes about 175 kWh/m2 for heating, between 3-5 times the amount required by the newly constructed buildings. Annually, between1 and 1.5% new buildings are built and only between 0.2 and 0.5% are removed, therefore the focus needs to be put on the renovation of the existing building stock. The implementation of energy conservation measures (ECMs) in the residential sector becomes a very important strategy to meet the EU´s 20% energy consumption reduction of the 20-20-20 goals. The main challenge, however, is to determine which of the ECMs strategies are the best to provide not just with the best energy consumption reduction, but also with the best environmental impact and economic benefits. This paper addresses this issue and analyses the impact of different ECMs by focusing not only on the buildings themselves, but on the energy supply network and the overall energy system as a whole. To achieve this, we review five case studies in Sweden that use different ECMs as well as other alternatives, such as: distributed generation (DG) and energy storage. Results suggest that although there is no standard protocol that would fit all renovation projects, the existing methodologies fall short to provide the best overall impact on the energy system and that a broader analysis of the local conditions should be carried out before performing large building renovation projects.

Large-scale deployment of reliable smart electricity metering networks has been considered as the first step towards a smart, integrated and efficient grid. On the consumer's side, however, the real impact is still uncertain and limited. This paper evaluates the consumer's perspective in the city of Vasteras, Sweden, where full implementation of smart meters has been reached. New services, such as consumption feedback and the possibility to choose dynamic electricity pricing contracts, have been available from the adoption of this infrastructure. A web-based survey evaluating customers' perception of these new services was carried out. The survey included consumers' personal information, preferences about the type of information and the frequency of delivery and the preference for electricity pricing contracts. The results showed that the electricity consumption information offered by distribution system operators (DSOs) today is not detailed enough for customers to react accordingly. Additionally, while variable pricing contracts are becoming more popular, the available pricing schemes do not encourage customers to increase their consumption flexibility. Therefore, more detailed information from the smart meters should be made available, including disaggregated electricity consumption per appliance that would allow consumers to have more control over their energy consumption activities.

Buildings account for more than 40 % of the total energy demand in the European Union (EU). The energy sector is responsible for 80 % of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, of which more than a third are emitted as a result of energy use in buildings. Given these numbers and the large potential for energy savings in buildings, the energy and buildings sectors emerged as key contributors to fulfilling the European climate targets. Effective cooperation between these two key sectors can contribute significantly to the efficacy of the European climate strategy. However, there may be factors that negatively impact the relationship between the energy and buildings sectors and put cooperation in climate-friendly developments at risk. Based on 23 semi-structured interviews and a web survey answered by key stakeholders, this paper provides a snapshot of the current level of cooperation between the energy and buildings sectors in Sweden and identifies factors that impact the interdependencies between the two sectors.

The findings show that the current business models in energy supply and the regulations in place limit the development of mutually beneficial cases between the energy and buildings sectors. This paper contributes to improved knowledge for policymaking that affects both sectors and highlights issues for further study.

This report covers evaluation of some renovation projects and compares energy saving effects versus renovation costs.

It can be seen that advanced renovation to passive house standard is significantly more expensive than “normal” renovation, but also gives significant improvement by a 62 % reduction of total energy and 85 % reduction in heat demand. The cost associated with the renovation is somewhere in the range of 130–570 €/m², depending on how the total renovation costs are split between energy and other aspects. Probably somewhere in-between is most correct. This can be compared to mostly better heat control by measuring temperature in every third apartment and controlling heat supply to keep a constant temperature. This gives the possibility to have a significantly lower set point, 21 ºC instead of 24 ºC as earlier. Together with some other actions, 34 % energy savings were achieved at a cost of 28 €/m². Also renovations with significantly more actions were evaluated, where the cost also is in-between.

From this we can conclude that with more advanced and costly renovations we can achieve very strong reductions, which may be feasible if the renovation demand is high anyhow, while cheap and low cost actions can be good enough for quite good buildings.

Also behavior with respect to energy use was evaluated. We here can see that the use is very different in different apartments depending on behavior. Energy information actions were giving positive effects on energy demand for the majority of investigated tenants, while approximately 25 % did not reduce or even increased their consumption.

The smart metering infrastructure in Sweden allows electricity providers to offer electricity RTP (real time pricing) to homeowners, together with other dynamic pricing contracts across the country. These contracts are supposed to encourage users to shift power consumption during peak hours to help balance the load in the power system. Of all the available contracts in Sweden, monthly-average price holds the largest share, in response to the low electricity prices during the last three years. It is not clear if RTP will become a popular dynamic pricing scheme since daily price fluctuations might keep customers away from this type of contract. Literature review suggests that RTP adoption is only beneficial when combined with the use of customer demand flexibility, but it does not provide enough information about users adopting RTP without changing their electricity usage profile. This paper studies the economic impact if customers would shift to RTP contracts without adopting demand-side management. To achieve this, electricity costs from a large group of households were calculated and compared between both pricing schemes using the hourly consumption data of a 7-year period. Results suggest that the RTP electricity contract offer a considerable economic savings potential even without enabling consumer demand-side management. 

Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered one of the most promising solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced in the transport sector. EVs have many potential advantages (e.g., in terms of avoided local and global pollutant emissions and noise reduction), but may also create new problems (e.g., in terms of stress on the electric distribution network or congested public transport lanes). The ultimate pollution emission benefit depends strongly on the fuel mix for electricity generation. Numerous governments at all levels worldwide have started to provide monetary and other incentives to render EVs more attractive for users, including research, development, and dissemination (RD&D) support, vehicle subsidies, provision of charging infrastructure, and privileged usage of bus lanes and dedicated parking lots. This chapter presents the different barriers explaining the slow market penetration of EVs so far, consumer perceptions and misconceptions, as well as lessons learned by policy makers and new empirical evidence and insights. Early adopter characteristics and selected examples where EV uptake has been particularly fast are also described. The conclusions show that subsidy and other incentive programs need to be carefully designed in scope, contents, and duration. In light of information deficiencies and misperceptions, information provision to potential EV adopters seems to be a no-regret policy option.

Buildings are expected to play a key role in the development and operation of future smart energy systems through real-time energy trade, energy demand flexibility, self-generation of electricity, and energy storage capabilities. Shifting the role of buildings from passive consumers to active players in the energy networks, however, may require closer cooperation between the energy and buildings sectors than there is today. Based on 23 semi-structured interviews and a web survey answered by key stakeholders, this study presents the views of the energy and buildings sectors on the current energy challenges in a comparative approach. Despite conflicting viewpoints on some of the issues, the energy and buildings sectors have similar perspectives on many of the current energy challenges. Reducing CO₂ emissions is a shared concern between the energy and buildings sectors that can serve as a departure point for inter-sectoral cooperation for carbon-reducing developments, including the deployment of smart energy systems. The prominent energy challenges were identified to be related to low flexibilities in energy supply and use, which limit mutually beneficial cases, and hence cooperation, between the energy and buildings sectors today.