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ENERGY4ALL aims at developing energy configurations as a common pool resource, testing thecommunity dimension in the design and implementation of emergent Positive Energy Districts (PED)and Energy Communities (EC). The project explores an inclusive governance model throughsupportive toolboxes for the design and implementation of participatory energy governance andreplicable pathways for PEDs/ECs.The project operates with an open definition of EC, including both as a set of households producingand consuming energy, as well as users of a common public resource to increase energy efficiency.ENERGY4ALL conceptualises ECs as featuring three constitutive elements in mutual relationship:resource, community and governance. These elements are explored in different cases within the fourpilot cases, Stavanger (Norway), Styria (Austria), Budapest (Hungary) and Rome (Italy), with coverageof various characteristics including urban and industrial sites, territorial scales from household todistrict, and multi-stakeholder involvement of public authorities, private enterprises, researchinstitutions and local citizen groups.

The realisation, respectively maintance of equivalent living conditions in all sub-areas is a focal objective of spatial planning policy in Austria. In this context, the provision of services of general interest is of particular importance. In this project, selected social infrastructures for people of old age will be investigated in order to identify the underlying principles and minimum standards and their relevance for area-wide provision. This will be done by analysing laws as well as relevant documents and obtaining expert opinions. In addition, the governance processes that underpin the status quo of provision are analyised in a selected case study region.

Up to now, the selection of priority areas for the implementation of sustainable heating technologies has focused on the determination of heat demand densities. In the federal provinces, there are very different instruments of energy planning and spatial planning. Especially Vienna can be seen as best practice here with its current climate protection areas. Other federal states have some catching up to do here. At the same time, various laws are currently being developed at the EU level, which will influence decisions regarding heating technologies (e.g. in RED III, introduction of so-called "go-to areas" for certain renewables). On the national level, the EEC will set essential framework conditions, especially the centralization requirement of formerly decentralized heating systems. The objective of the "CleanHeatSelector" project is to develop a decision-making framework for the selection of priority areas for the implementation of sustainable heating technologies. Specifically, the following sub-goals are targeted: - Analysis of the national and international legal framework (in particular RED III, but also the Energy performance of buildings directive, etc.) as well as the relevant contents of the EEC, EAEC, EGG, etc. - Analysis of the energy spatial planning instruments of selected federal states, especially Vienna as a best-practice example, but also the respective instruments of Styria, Salzburg and Upper Austria are analyzed. - Creation of a technology matrix, in which for characteristic areas in Austria (combination of demand characteristics and generation potentials e.g..: Waste heat, geothermal energy, etc.) different heating technologies are evaluated (economic, ecological, acceptance), including an assessment of the risks. - Consolidation of the results and preparation of policy recommendations for the selection of priority areas for the implementation of sustainable heating technologies.

Supervised Theses and Dissertations