IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i4p1424-d320863.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Territorial Energy Decentralisation and Ecosystem Services in Italy: Limits and Potential

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo De Pascali

    (Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Saverio Santangelo

    (Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Francesca Perrone

    (Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Annamaria Bagaini

    (Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

This article focuses on the complex relationships between energy processes and ecosystem services. It highlights the conflicts between them due to the anthropocentric value that characterizes their interrelationship. The article reports the initial results of ongoing research on energy decentralization processes in Italy, examining the Italian districts heating performance, concerning ecosystem provisioning and regulating services. The analysis is based on a sample of more than 150 Italian district-heating systems. Contrary to studies that positively evaluate processes of energy decentralization, the results of the research show some critical factors and impacts. An efficiency gap between districts heating and traditional energy systems emerged. The data processed show a critical situation in the development of local networks, highlighting that the decentralized energy model is not deeply rooted in the local area and is poorly characterized by shared governance, which instead would benefit from the integration of ecosystem services. The significant presence of large energy groups and the considerable use of fossil sources in Italy reduces the effectiveness of the decentralization of energy systems. The article presents some conclusive considerations, which outline some general guidelines for proceeding towards a more correct relationship with ecosystem services and greater integration with the territories.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo De Pascali & Saverio Santangelo & Francesca Perrone & Annamaria Bagaini, 2020. "Territorial Energy Decentralisation and Ecosystem Services in Italy: Limits and Potential," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1424-:d:320863
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1424/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1424/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Groot, Rudolf S. & Wilson, Matthew A. & Boumans, Roelof M. J., 2002. "A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 393-408, June.
    2. Adil, Ali M. & Ko, Yekang, 2016. "Socio-technical evolution of Decentralized Energy Systems: A critical review and implications for urban planning and policy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1025-1037.
    3. Gómez-Baggethun, Erik & de Groot, Rudolf & Lomas, Pedro L. & Montes, Carlos, 2010. "The history of ecosystem services in economic theory and practice: From early notions to markets and payment schemes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1209-1218, April.
    4. Hastik, Richard & Basso, Stefano & Geitner, Clemens & Haida, Christin & Poljanec, Aleš & Portaccio, Alessia & Vrščaj, Borut & Walzer, Chris, 2015. "Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 608-623.
    5. van der Schoor, Tineke & Scholtens, Bert, 2015. "Power to the people: Local community initiatives and the transition to sustainable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 666-675.
    6. Koirala, Binod Prasad & Koliou, Elta & Friege, Jonas & Hakvoort, Rudi A. & Herder, Paulien M., 2016. "Energetic communities for community energy: A review of key issues and trends shaping integrated community energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 722-744.
    7. Holland, Robert A. & Scott, Kate & Hinton, Emma D. & Austen, Melanie C. & Barrett, John & Beaumont, Nicola & Blaber-Wegg, Tina & Brown, Gareth & Carter-Silk, Eleanor & Cazenave, Pierre & Eigenbrod, Fe, 2016. "Bridging the gap between energy and the environment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 181-189.
    8. Braat, Leon C. & de Groot, Rudolf, 2012. "The ecosystem services agenda:bridging the worlds of natural science and economics, conservation and development, and public and private policy," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 4-15.
    9. Boyd, James & Banzhaf, Spencer, 2007. "What are ecosystem services? The need for standardized environmental accounting units," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 616-626, August.
    10. Bouwma, Irene & Schleyer, Christian & Primmer, Eeva & Winkler, Klara Johanna & Berry, Pam & Young, Juliette & Carmen, Esther & Špulerová, Jana & Bezák, Peter & Preda, Elena & Vadineanu, Angheluta, 2018. "Adoption of the ecosystem services concept in EU policies," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 29(PB), pages 213-222.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. F. Ignacio Aguilar & Robert B. Gibson, 2023. "Advancing a New Generation of Sustainability-Based Assessments for Electrical Energy Systems: Ontario as an Illustrative Application—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-26, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kubiszewski, Ida & Concollato, Luke & Costanza, Robert & Stern, David I., 2023. "Changes in authorship, networks, and research topics in ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Zilio, Mariana I. & Alfonso, M. Belén & Ferrelli, Federico & Perillo, Gerardo M.E. & Piccolo, M. Cintia, 2017. "Ecosystem services provision, tourism and climate variability in shallow lakes: The case of La Salada, Buenos Aires, Argentina," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 208-217.
    3. Danley, Brian & Widmark, Camilla, 2016. "Evaluating conceptual definitions of ecosystem services and their implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 132-138.
    4. Häyhä, Tiina & Franzese, Pier Paolo, 2014. "Ecosystem services assessment: A review under an ecological-economic and systems perspective," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 289(C), pages 124-132.
    5. Espécie, Mariana de Assis & de Carvalho, Pedro Ninô & Pinheiro, Maria Fernanda Bacile & Rosenthal, Vinicius Mesquita & da Silva, Leyla A. Ferreira & Pinheiro, Mariana Rodrigues de Carvalhaes & Espig, , 2019. "Ecosystem services and renewable power generation: A preliminary literature review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 39-51.
    6. Pistorius, Till & Schaich, Harald & Winkel, Georg & Plieninger, Tobias & Bieling, Claudia & Konold, Werner & Volz, Karl-Reinhard, 2012. "Lessons for REDDplus: A comparative analysis of the German discourse on forest functions and the global ecosystem services debate," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 4-12.
    7. Braat, Leon C. & de Groot, Rudolf, 2012. "The ecosystem services agenda:bridging the worlds of natural science and economics, conservation and development, and public and private policy," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 4-15.
    8. Marie Balková & Lucie Kubalíková & Marcela Prokopová & Petr Sedlák & Aleš Bajer, 2021. "Ecosystem Services of Vegetation Features as the Multifunction Anti-Erosion Measures in the Czech Republic in 2019 and Its 30-Year Prediction," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    9. Häyhä, Tiina & Franzese, Pier Paolo & Paletto, Alessandro & Fath, Brian D., 2015. "Assessing, valuing, and mapping ecosystem services in Alpine forests," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 12-23.
    10. Carbajo, Ruth & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2018. "Renewable energy research and technologies through responsible research and innovation looking glass: Reflexions, theoretical approaches and contemporary discourses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 792-808.
    11. Valencia Torres, Angélica & Tiwari, Chetan & Atkinson, Samuel F., 2021. "Progress in ecosystem services research: A guide for scholars and practitioners," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    12. Alfred Krogmann & Peter Ivanič & Hilda Kramáreková & Lucia Petrikovičová & František Petrovič & Henrich Grežo, 2021. "Cultural Tourism in Nitra, Slovakia: Overview of Current and Future Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-22, May.
    13. Dominati, E. & Mackay, A. & Green, S. & Patterson, M., 2014. "A soil change-based methodology for the quantification and valuation of ecosystem services from agro-ecosystems: A case study of pastoral agriculture in New Zealand," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 119-129.
    14. Dickinson, Dawn C. & Hobbs, Richard J., 2017. "Cultural ecosystem services: Characteristics, challenges and lessons for urban green space research," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 179-194.
    15. Maia de Souza, Danielle & Lopes, Gabriela Russo & Hansson, Julia & Hansen, Karin, 2018. "Ecosystem services in life cycle assessment: A synthesis of knowledge and recommendations for biofuels," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(PB), pages 200-210.
    16. Hao Wang & Sander Meijerink & Erwin van der Krabben, 2020. "Institutional Design and Performance of Markets for Watershed Ecosystem Services: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-26, August.
    17. Claudia Kettner & Angela Köppl & Sigrid Stagl, 2014. "Towards an Operational Measurement of Socio-ecological Performance. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 52," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47154, April.
    18. Warneryd, Martin & Håkansson, Maria & Karltorp, Kersti, 2020. "Unpacking the complexity of community microgrids: A review of institutions’ roles for development of microgrids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Bianchi, Ettore & Accastello, Cristian & Trappmann, Daniel & Blanc, Simone & Brun, Filippo, 2018. "The Economic Evaluation of Forest Protection Service Against Rockfall: A Review of Experiences and Approaches," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 409-418.
    20. Havinga, Ilan & Bogaart, Patrick W. & Hein, Lars & Tuia, Devis, 2020. "Defining and spatially modelling cultural ecosystem services using crowdsourced data," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1424-:d:320863. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.