Nadine Rott LiubovLenaKniazevaKeßler Chair for Architectural Informatics Department of Architecture Technichal University of Munich
2 Climate-Changing Neuperlach Chair of Architectural Informatics Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Petzold Critical Modeling Ivan Bratoev, Ilayda Memis, Nick Förster, Frank Petzold Nadine Rott, 03717300 Liubov Kniazeva,03762097 Lena Keßler, 03728986
3 32302422181412864 The World of Resources Energy & Justice Exploring (Through) Data Excursion: Norway & China Data PrototypingFiction Imaginaries Game BringingStructuringthePrototype to Life Reflection & Outlook Contact Table of Contents
4
The World of Resources
Triggered by climate change and the Ukraine crisis, public interest in the topics of resources and energy is increasing. Almost daily the front pages of newspapers and online platforms are filled with these topics. Mostly, either about controversial political decisions, concerning climate change as well as the attitude towards Russia, or it is about the responsibility of each individual to contribute to environmental friendliness or politically motivated energy Factssaving.and insights into the larger context are seldomly disseminated, but rather moods that urge the reader to adopt a certain opinion and attitude. In this project we would like to unite the scales of the political and the personal and make them accessible for everyone. In addition, through our concept we are testing the mediation of contexts and information through a playfully constructed online platform. The first approach to the topic turned out to be more difficult than expected, as the chosen topic meant both: everything and nothing. In the context of our cities and our daily lives, countless factors can fall under the term ‚resource‘. For example, space can be a resource, space for transportation, space for oneself, for social facilities, for activities, for religion, for education. Simply all subjects of human life need a place where they have to take place. And the combination of the needs of the individual that can be covered are a resource from which the person benefits. However, whether these needs can be satisfied with sufficient resources is usually dependent on the geographic location and income of the individual. In addition to local resources, intangible and geographically indeterminable resources can also be relevant. The Internet, for example, is a resource that has become indispensable in our everyday lives and in the world of work. In addition to these aspects, access to the Internet also means access to knowledge and education. It‘s importance became clear only recently, when because of the Corona Crisis, children‘s education was depending on a good Internet provision.
Resource & JusticeEnergy CataloguesData&DigitalTwins Neuperlach EnergyMobilityHeatingElectricityProductionUse/Cooling Efficiency Renewable Energies GeothermalWindSun Heat WasteWaterBiomassPowerHeat Fossil Fuels NuclearUraniumGasCoal PetroleumPowerPotentials?Risks? Justice Social Background -> intersectionaldifferences -> opportunities Spacial Injustice -> infrastructure -> accessability ecological inequality -> climate comparisonvisibilitytransparencyinjustice Risks Challenges Potentials Chances Data Catalogues Digital Twin commercialisedaccessabilitydatacoordinationprotectionDatapresentationofData Sets in urban modell urban scale BIM Model ? futureproof / smart City ? simmulationvisualisationcontextualisation Research: Internet Accessability in Neuperlach - 3 different phones - 3 different providers As part of the Digital Ethnography Workshop, we measured the resource ‚Internet speed‘ at the project location Neuperlach. Through the experiment with three different devices, we were able to gain an impression of the distribution and differences of local Internet accessibility. Particularly interesting were the different results of three experimental devices. All three devices are in different price ranges and all of them use a different Internet contract. The prejudice that the most expensive device with the most expensive contract would also have the fastest Internet was not confirmed. In fact, the cheapest device with the medium-priced contract had the best results.
Consumer goods such as heat, electricity and water are also resources that -if available- are needed on a daily basis. Energy itself is partly a resource and a consumer good, but also a commodity that is produced, transported and sold. Thus, the topic has a great relevance for individuals but is at the same time subject to political debates. When looking at these different scales, a variety of aspects of justice or injustice become visible. It is important to remember that there is not only one perspective. But in every area that comes into contact with energy supply and generation, other people and other realities are relevant.
6
Energy & Justice
The Production of Energy is closely related to the topic of climate change, since the individual and political choice of fossil or regenerative Energy has a huge impact on our CO2 emissions. Climate change itself will also cause injustice, as the people in the Global South who have the least stake in it are likely to suffer the most. Additionally, whether working in power plants, processing minerals, or making production parts for renewable energy sources, workers at the bottom of the pyramid are usually underpaid and exploited for their labour. Not only the production but also the accessibility and use of energy is important for justice or injustice. The energy consumption for heat production, for example, is strongly dependent on the property in which is to be heated, since infrastructural conditions can limit the use of certain energy sources, or the low efficiency of uninsulated or poorly insulated houses can drive up the costs. As a result of this paradoxical relationship, people who are already in poorer financial condition and live in uninsulated houses have to pay higher costs for heat than people who can afford more modern architecture and technology. This effect is also called energy poverty and has a large effect on the justice on the consumers side.
Renewable energy production methods are a hope for this issue, as they can take advantage of local conditions to produce electricity regionally. This can reduce the obscure effects of globalized energy production and allow local residents to benefit from local and usually cheaper energy rates. If necessary, they can even promote energy production themselves and generate electricity for their houshold and others. In this way, consumers can avoid the chain of companies involved in the energy supply and become independent. In the case of photovoltaik systems on private rooftops, their owners can purchase their own electricity independently of the electricity exchange price. For people who do not own a roof to produce solar power, there are several ways to still benefit from local solar power for example in Munich. There have already been campaigns for housowners to make their roofs available for community solar production. Then so-called solar bricks were sold to both roof owners and neighbours. To ensure that the use of regional power supply is also available for people with weaker incomes.
Why is energy getting more expensive?Power exchan ge / PlattformtradingSupplyDemand& no price difference between fossil fuels or renewable Energies Producers sell electricity to plattform price for units of energy calculated Russia‘s War againstSanctionsUkraine & Oil Embargo Less Supply Industries recover from Covid Pandemic Demand is increasing SupplierEnergy38%EnergyProducer OperatorNetwork22% Power exchan ge / WhoPlattformtradinggetsthe Money? Government&Taxes40% Electricitycostsforprivateconsuments ConsumerEnergy SupplierEnergy ProducerPrivateEnergy ProducerEnergy OperatorNetwork Power exchan ge / Plattformtrading systemsystemtransmissionoperatordistributionoperator feelevybillingunitsin years to (Leibzig)15min interregionalregionalconsumptionmeasuringtransportationinfrastructure How is Energy organised? 7
Ressource&EnergyJustice CataloguesData&DigitalTwins Sources for Data about Solar & Geothermal Energy Regional Scale Bavarian„Energie-Atlas(Bavaria)Bayern“StateGovernment City Scale (Munich) „Geoportal München“ City Government Status of the sustainable energy transition Solar Energy WaterWindBiomassEnergyPower Geothermal Energy Waste NetworksHeatand inconventional Energy Planning Basics existing Photovoltaik Systems solar Potential existing geothermal Systems geothermal Potential global solarsunshineradiationdurationareaexchange Inventory Analysisbuilding typology building age thermal transmittance Potential Analysis Solar Energy Potential Geothermal Energy Potential near-surface geothermal energy deep geothermal energy 8 Exploring (through) Data Data Catalogues & the Digital Twin In order to deepen our understanding of the regional energy potentials of Neuperlach, both, data on the geographic conditions and information on already existing infrastructure were necessary. As already described in the introduction, the reporting and provision of data in the field of energy supply is very subjective, so it was initially difficult to find reliable data sets. For Munich and Bavaria, there are data portals provided by the respective governments, from which we researched the solar energy and geothermal energy potentials for Neuperlach as examples.
Relief of environmentthe yesyes Acquisition costs between 5,000 and 10,000 euros variable according to type and size approx. 1,350 euros per kWp (watt peak)
Heating & Cooling
In the heating and cooling sector in 2021 the percentage of renewable energies was 16,5%
About 1/3 of Germany‘s CO2 emissions are caused by the warming and cooling sector
More than 50% of the energy consumption in Germany is due to heating and cooling
Photovoltaik Solarthermie Solar Energy Produced electricityheat
Relief of environmentthe yesyes Acquisition costs between 5,000 and 10,000 euros variable according to type and size approx. 1,350 euros per kWp (watt
Efficiency at temperatureshigh highlow Benefit Production of heat for hot water and heating Supply of electrical end devices in householdthe Size of collectors / space required usually somewhat smaller usually somewhatbigger Savings in heating and water costsin electricity costs
Efficiency at temperatureshigh highlow Benefit Production of heat for hot water and heating Supply of electrical end devices in householdthe
The german warming and cooling sector is still dominated by fossil energies
Photovoltaikpeak)
retawdloC retawtoH city plantgeothermal heatingdistrictnetworkheat or cold thermal water, ~3-4 km underground, ~100°C
9
Size of collectors / space required usually somewhat smaller usually somewhatbigger Savings in heating and water costsin electricity costs
How can this percentage be increased ?Geothermal Energy
Solar energy has to be considered differentiated, because the solar radiation is used either for heat and hot water production or for electricity generation. For each process different modules are needed and also the potentials are not the same, because other attributes of the radiation are Geothermalimportant.energy is obtained by pumping water through pipes about 3-4km into the earth, where it is heated by the surrounding natural heat. In this respect, geothermal energy is mainly used for heat generation.
Solarthermie
Produced electricityheat
Distribution of global radiation in Neuperlach. This is the amount of radiation that hits one square meter of horizontal surface in the course of a year. Thermal water temperature of Neuperlach and its surrounding. It shows the temperature in 3000m depth which is a potential map for district heating networks.
On the left side is a potential map for photovoltaic plants, on the right side a map about the potential for solar thermal systems. One is used for electricity the other for heat production.Thisisanexample for unmatching data sets. The maps are both from the same source (Bayern Atlas) and supposed to provide the same Data. It is visible that the data provided is not equal, which was a common problem during research.
10
Inconsistent data sets and claims that either cannot be verified with data or are evidently contradictory to the data basis were a constant theme during the research phase. This phenomenon was strongly dependent on the originators of the data. The Stadtwerke München, Munich‘s basic supplier, for example, also claims on its website that 90% of Munich‘s electricity is supplied from renewable sources, i.e. 6,300,000 MWh. When checking where this information comes from, one quickly encounters the energy unit „households“ with which produced electricity quantities are indicated. If the coefficient of consumtion of a household is compared with the different data, one notices how inconsistent and fuzzy energy data is published and that the energy value for a ‚household‘ is determined differently in almost every statement. Another confusing aspect is, that the data published by Bavaria speak of a quota of 2% renewable energies. Although the data is one year apart, such a large discrepancy to the Stadtwerke München information is still concerning.
About Munich How much Energy (Electricity) is used per Year? How much of it is produced by renewable sources? ca.7 000 000 MWh (SWM) 6 300 000 MWh (SWM) 90% 357 000 MWh (SWM) 10 000 homes (SWM) 36 800 homes (SWM) 8 900 MWh + 540 000 homes(SWM) 365 900 MWh + 586 800 homes (SWM)
11
How this kind of international distribution of electricity production promotes injustice is shown in the following example of a wind farm in Norway. This project is not an isolated case but one of many projects that are supposed to make energy supply more sustainable. In Munich there are currently exactly two wind turbines. However, wind turbines are constantly being built internationally to supply renewable electricity to Munich. In Stokkfjellet, Norway, 21 wind turbines were to be built, 31 wind turbines in the Sørmarkfjellet area, 14 in Hundhammerfjellet and 14 on the island of Frøya. The big problem with this plan is, that these areas are reindeer breeding areas, traditionally farmed by the indigenous Sámi people. The implementation of such projects requires a certain infrastructure, which does not yet exist. The 180m high wind turbines have to be transported to the site on trucks and for that roads are needed. So far, large areas at which the wind farms are planned are undeveloped, and therefore so perfectly suitable for the reindeer, which are considered to be extremely fearful.
There are cases of two other wind power projects, partly owned by the SWM, in the Norwegian areas of Storheia and Roan, where 151 wind turbines are installed. The operation was later classified as illegall and SWM was ordered to demolish the turbines. They would violate Article 27 of the UN „International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights“, which calls for full protection of the culture of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities.
According to that 49% is not produced regionally. Since the production of fossil raw materials for energy generation mainly depends on the local occurrence of the materials, fossil energy in Germany is mainly produced in the Ruhr region. The situation is different for the distribution of nuclear power plants.
12
The nearest nuclear power plant is only 75 km away from Neuperlach. If one researches further into renewable energies, the distribution of the production locations is not only distributed nationally but distributed Europe-wide.
Particularly mentionable in the research on renewable energies was the excessive use of the word regional. Even on the official SWM site a statement that 51% of the electricity for Munich is produced regionally can be found.
Excursion: Norway & China
The court decision could probably also apply to other wind farms, but the possibility of profit is enough high that the SWM have so far stuck to their collaboration for the newly planned wind farms. Not only in Norway huge wind farms are built for Munich but also in Sweden, Finland, Poland, Croatia, France, England and Denmark. Not always, but too often, the local minorities suffer from the large projects.
13
Another problematic discovery we made during our research was the production difficulties Germany has regarding parts for photovoltaic plants. The German policy relies on buying its production parts internationally and therefore reduces its own regional production.
This creates a perplexing situation where Germany, for ethical reasons, does not want to buy oil from Russia and therefore relies on photovoltaic systems and other renewables. However, they cannot produce these themselves and therefore import 95% of the solar panels assembled in Germany from China, the country that largely obtains the oil from Russia, which Germany boycotts. Estimations suggest that up unto 30% of the raw material polysilizium that is needed for the production of photovoltaic systems is produced in forced labour by Uyghurs.
14 After our initial research we put our collected material and information together, in order to gain a bigger overview of our topic. Through the ideation workshop we took a step back and reassembled our so far project. What perspectives are missing? What challenges did occur so far? And how could this topic be more accessible? More transparent and more visible? Our conclusion was that change for the injustice connected to Energy and Resources could partly be solved by informing the people who make decisions about energy use everyday: the consumers. And because of the very big target group we wanted to make the information as accessible as possible. It became our plan to develop a tool that presents information to the user in a motivational and fun way. Datafiction
It is not just that I am supplied by energy from fossil fuels even though my provider tells me I pay them for renewable energies.
After putting our thoughts in order we created the concept of our second approach: a webbased game that shows the connection of scales and lets the player decide how energy is organised in the future. We captured this idea in a comic which is shown on the next page. Our first approach was a ‚Google-Streetviewlike walkthrough game‘ that tells you more about your environment than you can explore by yourself. By showing the climate related information in a locationbased context the chances but also the challenges and risks get more clear to the user. But what was missing for our goal was the connection of different scales. Because the connection of the resource consumer and the resource production is very important to give people the chance to change their impact on injustice.
Another step towards our ideation was writing a manifest about what seemed to be injust and which aspects of the topic were important to us. By doing so we also manifested the Ideation for our planned game. To give an example from our manifesto: “It is not just that someone sold my land to another country so they can put up their wind park there.
15
It is not just that I pay more for my energy because I live in a rental flat that is old and badly insulated.
It should be possible to see the whole life of every small piece of Energy. Where is it produced, how is it transported to the user.”
Everything should be super transparent.
This girl is frustrated with the way politicians handle the Energy Supply and wants to do it differently. So she googles and finds our game where she can inform herself... ... and experiment with decisions in different scales. The Data that is shown is easily understandable and connected to Neuperlach.
She simulates expanding renewable Energies at Neuperlach ... ...and directly sees the consequences all around the globe. She can play in a Reality mode with all the directives of the government or be creative in an Utopia Mode. All her choices and decisions can get recapitulated in the results after playing.
17
Prototyping Imaginaries
From this point on we built a game structure and planned what kind of actions should be possible in the game and which scales would be important to see the big picture.
Another reason for using the global scale is the representation of existing interactions and interrelations between local decisions and international trade relations which could make the energy business more understandable for the player.
Finally we decided on the scales Neuperlach / Munich, Bavaria, Europe and a global view. The players should have the possibility to see existing infrastructure on site, in order to recognize potentials and risks and to add new infrastructure like wind turbines and solar panels. Potentials and existing infrastructure should also be visible in a larger range, so we have also wanted to add the Bavaria Scale. Some energy generation concepts such as larger wind farms are hardly possible in the city. The already mentioned injustice in the European neighbouring countries should also be visible and the user should be able to interact between the countries with import and export functions.
We experimented with differnt options to visualize our ideas. It can be challenging to display a game with many possibilities without a prototype. So we created an Adobe XD Project to design our game structure and get a better overview which data and connections are missing, to be able to research Implementedthem.into the game the interface would look like the following: You start with the main page where you can inform yourself about climate goals and the organisation of energy. There you can also decide whether you want to play Reality or Utopia Mode which brings you to another interface showing different scales. Here we want to blend in different layers of Data on which the users can find out about solutions for energy production and distribution of consequences. Also we want to show statistics of how good the user plays the game according to emissions, energy use and the risk for catastrophes. To bring in as many perspectives as possible we will use pop up text through the game and tell the user facts that did not fit into our structure or storys and events that are interesting to the topic.
19
20
The colourful types of energy are meant to work like a layer structure which unfolds when you click on it. Different datamaps are supposed to be displayed on the City Model and drag and drop models can be used to build new energy infrastructure. The choice what infrastructure and at which location is the gametask for the user. Thereby the data on the model informs the user who can then directly work with the information given. Whether the player tries to improve or destroy the energy business on earth is up to the user. But in any way the player has to deal with the data and the values given by the monitoring bars.
21
The switch between the different scales is meant to work very easily for the player. Therefore we designed it like a zoom bar so that it feels like zooming in and out. In our final prototype we planed to exchange the scale of Munich with Bavaria, as the maps for Neuperlach and Munich are very similar. The idea of Utopia mode was to free the player from restrictions and limitations by the government which were to be implemented in Reality mode and switched off in Utopia Mode. But during the process of designing we decided to let the Utopia Mode down and design the Reality Mode in a way that lets the users build whatever they want. The game will inform the users about regulations and laws but they can decide for themselves whether they wants to follow the rules or not. Like this we merged Utopia and Reality into one Game .
After organising the game we had to find a structure for our game to split it into different scenes which we then programmed independently from each other. During the development process of our prototype we had to focus on a few scales that are exemplary for the whole range instead of using a seamless zoomable globe model because of technichal limitations. We started with the district of Neuperlach as the smallest scale because in the even closer view we would display lives of individuals. This is a nice idea for a mini game that can be adapted to our later game prototype, but it‘s not how our standard game structure works, so we left that out. Bavaria was planned as the next larger scale which enables the player to understand the regional possibilities that matter for the power supply of Neuperlach, because some kinds of Energy as water power for example can‘t be implemented on the smaler Neuperlach scale. We had no time left to implement it into the game but all planed actions are technically displayed in the Neuperlach scale. As we already experienced it trough the project, the Energy business is not only a regional but a very international matter so we decided to display a globe that makes connections, possibilities and injustice visible in European and global scale. All of the scales have to be connected by an interface that is supposed to contain basic information for the player and to measure the performance of the player.
Game
Structuring
22
In order to make the game process visible to the player, we developed a monitoring system with bars charts that change according to the players decisions. We display the Energy production, the percentage of renewable Energy, CO2 emissions and the risk for catastrophes. The Energy production displays the supply of Energy in general and should not go beneath a minimum value as a certain amount of energy is needed to maintain the system. The percentage of renewables shows the state of Energy transition to motivate the player and challenge his creativeness to try out more sustainable possibilities. The CO2 emissions are supposed to show the matter of Climate Change just like the Risk of Disaster bar which is needed to measure the consequences of Energies, that are bad for the climate, except for their CO2 emissions like for example nuclear power. Additionally the player has a certain amount of time until the year 2050 is reached which is the end of our game. Also the budget is limited from which the Energy infrastructure needs to get paid from. As soon as the time or the budget is over or as soon as the CO2 emmissions or risk of disaster get too high the game is over.
23
In the two smaller scales the player can renovate the existing buildings in Neuperlach and is able to build new Energy infrastructure. All decisions are made by displaying topic related Data to the City Model in the Game, which is why we needed to connect the potential maps that we found during our research to the buildings in our digital model of Neuperlach. The player has many options to change Neuperlachs current infrastructure. It is possible to renovate buildings, to demolish existing Energy infrastructure as for example the existing Gas-Steam-Power-Plant, or to build new energy production methods. For Neuperlach that can be solar Energy, divided in photovoltaic systems and solar thermal Energy, wind power plants or gas-steam power plants. In the larger scale of Bavaria even more possibilities were planned as the Bavaria scale would cover solar thermal Energy, photovoltaic Energy, geothermal Energy, wind plants and parks, water power, gas, coal and nuclear power. All of the built subjects can be demolished in case the player wants to change something. But demolishing costs the player 1/4 of the building price so that demolishing canot undo the building process without loss.
24
Bringing the Prototype to Life
After connectig the Data sets to our game, we needed to implement a structure that calculates the effect that the different game actions have on other parts of the game, like the monitoring bars. For solar Energy we seperated into ‚Solar Thermal Collectors‘ and ‚Photovoltaic‘. For each category we collected information that lead to a value for each category of the monitoring bars. The values were meant to differ according to the part of the game in which the player decides to build the systems in. For each energy type we thought of ways to make the Data from the maps influence the actions outcome and implemented this into our code. To make playing easier we picked symbols for each process that change into an 3D object when they are dragged into the scene. The collision of the 3D object with the city model triggers the calculation for the value that results out of the positioning. On top of the technological aspects we created a short information text that helps the player understand the topic more easily. We did it comparable to this for all possible actions in the game.
25
26 On the game interface the player can tick the box next to the chosen action type. For each category the values for the monitoring system show up. For solar Energy the potential map is displayed on the model. For the ‚Renovations‘ button a map about the building‘s age gets visible. For others like ‚Fossil Energy‘ the existing infrastructure pops up in the model. The view is adjustable so that the game can be seen from different perspectives.
Now, we decided to create a time bar that is slowly running down, because then the player can get faster updates about the impact of the actions. If the game has to be interrupted the player needs to press ‚space‘ to pause the gameand can then resume the game later.
27
All actions that were planned for one year had to be chosen and then pressed ‚end this year‘ for the system to update the changes to the monitoring.
In earlier phases the time function was planed as a decision by the player.
28 In the globe Scale the player can trade Energy, CO2 or take out a loan. In addition to that we want to display the global consequences of local decisions by telling stories of affected people. Similar to the Neuperlach scale the player can tick which actions should be shown. The lines between the countries show the trade relations between Germany and the country. The ‚Buy‘ possibilities only work for the Energy types the country produces in real life. The opposite types can be sold to the country so for example selling wind power to Norway does not work.
29
Building in globe scale was too extensive, because we wanted to justify as much as possible from reality. To give the player still some information about the infrastructure in other countries, we decided to implement a ‚turn lights on/off‘ function into the globe so that a part of the energy use can be seen. Other Data sets like the ‚Global Power Plant Map‘ could also help to show the reasons for the trade possibilities.
We combined the two matters of energy, the use and the production, in our Game and made the player experience how injustice is related to the way of energy supply and how big and small scale decisions are related. Through this approach we wanted to give people a better understanding of how energy related injustice is connected to their own decisions and how other realities could work. In Neuperlach the freedom of choice is crucial for consumers to support change in Energy related decisions. Unequal opportunities, as the possibility to use certain energies depend on your property. Also the possibility to renovate might not be accessible to everyone. Whereas in the production field it makes a big difference where the energy comes from and that the conditions of labour and resource use are more easy to control when the distances between comsumer and production is as little as possible.
The game is no scientific simulation and the game decisions may not be realizable but yet it challenges the player to be creative and change the world according to own ideas.
30 Reflections
The structure of the game can not only be used to show the Energy & Resource system but also many other things like traffic, living space, social infrastructures or extreme weather simulations. Basically every field that ist connected to the city and data based planning can be integrated and experienced by players. The more information the game is fed with the more it gets like a digital twin that works as a collection of city Data in a webbased game. In this way the Data gets more accessible and understandable for people that are not specially educated in these topics and maybe a better understanding works motivating to get involved. Another outlook could be to use the game as an open source platform on which specialists can upload Data that can be used to educate people in this field.
31 & Outlook
32 Lena 6.03728986KeßlerSemester Bachelor Contact Nadine 8.03717300RottSemester Bachelor Liubov 2.03762097KniazevaSemesterMaster
33