The subsurface provides multiple resources, the exploitation of which has a lasting impact on future potential provision. Establishing sustainability in terms of fundamental principles, and fitting these principles into a practical framework, is an ongoing endeavour focused mainly on surface activities. The principles of ecological economics lead to six challenges that summarize the current limitations of implementing science-based sustainable management of geological resources in the medium to deep subsurface: integrating value pluralism, defining sustainable scale, evaluating interferences in the subsurface, guaranteeing environmental justice, optimizing environmental and economic efficiency and handling uncertainties. Assessing and managing geological reservoirs is particularly challenging because of slow resource regeneration, complex spatial and temporal inter-actions, concealment and naturally dictated opportunities. In answer to the challenges, visions are proposed that outline how an indicator framework is needed for guidance, how indicators require reservoir models with extended spatial and temporal scope, how differences in social values in relation to the environment are to be considered and how real option games combined with life cycle assessment can be used for optimizing effi-ciency. These individual solutions relate to different facets of the same problem, and can be integrated into one overarching solution that takes the form of dynamic multi-criteria decision analysis.

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Meeting rooms are reserved 30% of working hours but only used for 20% of that time. By implementing a strategy where the available capacity is leased to the wider market rather than just the building users, there is a positive impact on the economic, environmental, and social factors of the building and its surroundings. This study uses the building ‘The Globe’ in The Hague as a case study, and then projects the results to the entire city. In case of The Globe, implementing a lease out strategy achieves a reduction of 36% of the annual rent of the meeting rooms to the building's tenant. The owner benefits from a revenue increase of 12.5%, with the same operational expenses (except the reservation system), leading to a proportional higher valuation of the building. Annual energy consumption may be lowered by 6.2%. This study contributes to the literature by considering the total benefits that could be obtained by more efficient use of office space that is currently underused. The application of technology generates added value for economic, environmental, and social factors. These factors are important in real estate as they (among others) have a direct link to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) analysis that investors make before proceeding with an investment.@en

Investors are currently obliged to take environment, social, and governance (ESG) issues into consideration as part of their fiduciary duty. As such, it becomes increasingly important to identify sustainable investments that also hold financial value. A sector where this is especially underdeveloped is real estate. This has a lot to do with the obfuscated conceptualization of ESG. The article identifies key gaps in the literature and practice and provides a framework to further the understanding of how ESG factors can add societal and financial value in the real estate sector. A key premise of the article is that the user in the building is grossly overlooked. Drawing on insights from behavioral social science and environmental psychology, the paper explains the role of the user in improving buildings’ ESG, also taking into account the investment value. To conclude, the article makes the case that the transition to user-centered smart real estate is the solution to improving both the environmental (E) and social (S) sustainability of buildings, as well as their investment value. Therefore, practitioners and academics are encouraged to critically evaluate and contextualize the ESG framework they are using as well as the extent to which users are considered and smart technology is employed.@en

Buildings are responsible for 40% of our worldwide energy consumption and 50% of this energy is converted for Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings. The increasing share of renewable energy production required to make the transition towards a carbon neutral energy system challenges the stability of the grid. Through demand response it becomes possible to activate these systems in support of grid balancing. However, this flexibility is currently not rewarded in the market. We simulate a domestic water heater participating in the balancing of the electricity net and calculated the revenue from this action. We simulate a water heater in connection with an Economic Model Predictive Controller (EMPC) which takes future usage, energy cost, and reward for delivering balanced power into account. We show that the choice of an EMPC controller is valid as it allows the setpoint to change if certain conditions are met, leading to a more optimal revenue stream from selling flexibility. We find that the economic benefits of participating in delivering balancing power is considerable and offset an increase in energy costs. The increase in energy consumption could be justified as the participation in net stabilisation allows the macro-system to integrate more renewable energy sources. More importantly, the simulations also show that the poorer the energy performance of the water heater, the more flexibility can be sold. From a policy point of view, a minimal energy performance should be determined before allowing participation in net stabilisation.@en

The data generated in buildings are used for all types of purposes. The quality of information used in assisting people to escape an emergency situation is of importance. In practice today, none of the data-generating systems that aid in the escape from emergency situations is validated on a regular basis. This study is based on the smart building concept. The rationale behind this concept is to provide information about a building and the usage of that building at each moment in time. An experiment was conducted to measure the impact of different types of information on participants’ choice of exit, exit time and distance travelled. Seven identical floors of one building were used with different setups to see if the choice of exit is influenced by the type of information provided at the moment of an alarm. It was found that the information does have a significant impact on the choice of exit, escape speed and distance travelled. Furthermore, it was shown that false information can increase the time it takes to leave the building and the distance travelled, impacting the survival rate. The more imperative information is visualised, the stronger its influence is on the choices made.@en

The use of anthropogenic CO2 for enhancing oil recovery from mature oil fields in the North Sea has several potential benefits, and a number of assessments have been conducted. It remains, however, difficult to realistically simulate the economic circumstances and decisions, while including the economic uncertainties that surround the relevant markets and policies, and the geological and technological uncertainties that are inherent to dealing with reservoirs and novel technologies in a challenging environment. A new method is proposed here introducing a unique combination of innovations, that include true limited foresight, project flexibility, and the consideration of realistic investment risk. The value of project is here expressed as the Net Present Value (NPV). These elements are combined in the PSS IV simulator. This is a techno-economic simulator for CO2-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR), which applies limited foresight and Real Options Analysis to make realistic investment decisions on projects with significant uncertainties and thus risk. Consecutive project decisions are taken based on a decision tree. Multiple oil fields can be approached as a single cluster project, which can provide a lower investment hurdle. In a first test case for PSS IV, the Claymore and Scott oil fields are assessed, and it is shown that economic simulations where EOR projects are regarded as a sum of the individual field assessments will undervalue projects. Simulation results show that results are in a realistic range compared to published numbers, with individual project values for the Claymore field on average of 15.8 €/barrel (bbl; standard deviation SD = 8.3) and for the Scott field of 14.3 €/bbl (SD = 8.6). Due to the inclusion of uncertainties and the application of limited foresight, results range from −6 €/bbl (loss) to over 30 €/bbl. In a cluster configuration 5 €/bbl of additional value is created.@en

CO₂-enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) has the potential to combine the environmental benefits of greenhouse gas emission reduction and the optimal use of natural resources. In economic simulations, CO₂-EOR is generally approached in a classical way, with fixed parameters and limited flexibility. We propose a more realistic approach that combines realistic investment decision making with geological and techno-economic uncertainties. A cluster of seven active oil fields in the North Sea is simulated using a newly developed software tool, allowing to assess when EOR technology replaces primary production. CO₂ can be delivered from different onshore locations via ship or pipeline. The introduction of near-realistic investment geological and economic risks in CO₂-EOR projections will allow for in-depth assessment of CO₂-EOR at the level of the North-Sea Basis, as well as of individual potential projects.

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