Conceptual design of a municipal energy and environmental system as an efficient basis for advanced energy planning

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2013-10, Vol.60, p.148-158
• Main Authors: Kostevšek, Anja, Petek, Janez, Čuček, Lidija, Pivec, Aleksandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Economic data; Energy; Energy and environmental management system; Energy economics; Energy policy; environmental impact; environmental management; environmental policy; Exact sciences and technology; General, economic and professional studies; infrastructure; Knowledge-based systems; metabolism; Methodology. Modelling; Municipal energy and environmental policy; Municipal metabolism; planning; renewable resources; technology; Technology transfer
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2013.07.044

Effectively implementing various energy and environmental policies contributes to the acceleration of energy performance, a reduction in negative environmental impacts, and increased deployment of renewable resources. The MEEMS (municipal energy and environmental management system) performs the almost inconceivable role of accomplishing prerequisite targets at the national level and, consequently, the European and World levels also. Therefore, a proper infrastructure for MEEMS needs to be effectively applied in order to implement policy initiatives. A novel organisational framework of MEEMS is proposed and is constituted upon three pillars: integration of the municipal metabolism approach, the KBS (knowledge-based system), and the MTIS (municipal technology innovation system). By properly addressing the dynamics of the MEES (municipal energy and environmental system), and the new conceptual organisation of MEEMS, a need for the inclusion of innovative elements can be defined regarding support mechanisms. Integration of the end-user approach defines the fundamental orientation of modern MEEMS. This new concept paves a pathway towards an intelligent energy and environmental system. This paper describes an implementation of the new conceptual design of MEEMS within the urban municipality energy system of Ptuj, Slovenia. •Combination of energy and environmental management system (MEEMS) within municipalities is proposed.•Novel MEEMS structure to accomplish more effective functioning of the system.•Accelerated energy policy implementation process is enabled with proposed MEEMS.•Key ingredients to transform present energy systems to more innovative ones are discussed.