Sustainable Urban Energy Systems

Management of Sustainable Development 2012, Week 4

Sustainable Urban Energy Systems

Dave Hawkey (School of Social and Political Science)

[Updated 17 February 2012]

Session description

Cities are home to over half the world’s population, consume over 75% of global energy and are responsible for 80% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Focusing on heat, this session will explore opportunities for and challenges of community-scale transitions to more sustainable urban energy systems.

Essay question

The proportion of people living in cities globally is over 50% and growing. Cities are responsible for around 75% of the world’s energy consumption and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonising urban energy systems is therefore an important contribution to mitigating climate change. However, the opportunities for developing low carbon energy systems are conditioned by a range of factors including the built form of a city, routine behaviours, established infrastructure, the wider energy context (markets, ownership patterns, indigenous resources, national programmes, etc.), and the capacities of city actors to direct the development of urban energy systems. In addition, different approaches to urban energy systems have different impacts, not only on local greenhouse gas emissions but also on other environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability.

This assignment asks you to select a country and to critically engage with issues around the sustainability of energy systems in cities – what are the challenges and opportunities in your selected country, and how are they being addressed. Your essay should go beyond a technical appraisal of urban energy systems and consider the range of social and economic factors that enable or constrain change. It is permissible (but not required) to focus your essay around a single city (provided your discussion also relates to the national context). A good place to start is one of the international networks of cities, such as the EU Covenant of Mayors, which hosts the Sustainable Energy Action Plans of signatory cities.

Starting points

EU Covenant of Mayors: http://www.eumayors.eu/

Energy Cities: http://www.energy-cities.eu/

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives http://www.iclei.org/

World Bank, 2010. Cities and Climate Change: An Urgent Agenda. http://go.worldbank.org/FMZQ8HVQJ0

European Commission, 2011. Cities of tomorrow: Challenges, visions, ways forward. European Commission DG REGIO. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/citiesoftomorrow/index_en.cfm
[Accessed November 23, 2011]

Further guidance

-----Original Message-----

From: David Hawkey <>

Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:12:19 +0000

To: Simon Allen <>

Subject: Re: Management of Sustainable Development MSc class

Dear Management of Sustainable Development class,

just to clarify a couple of points about the essay: while the presentation

I gave last Thursday concentrated on district heating, the essay relates

to sustainable energy in cities more generally. It is fine to take a broad

view of urban sustainability options, or to focus in on one technology or

group of related technologies, provided they are relevant to the case you

select. Remember, though, that the essay asks you to "consider the range

of social and economic factors that enable or constrain change" and this

should be your main focus.

Many cities include transport in their Sustainable Energy Action Plans,

and it is fine for you to do the same in the essay. Energy efficiency of

buildings and energy-related behaviour change are also relevant (and it is

interesting to consider how these interact with planned changes to energy

supply systems). Broader aspects of urban environmental sustainability

with limited relevance to energy (such as urban biodiversity) are outside

the scope of the essay.

The Covenant of Mayors, and associated Sustainable Energy Action Plans

(SEAPs) are a possible starting point for information about cities' plans,

but it is not obligatory to use these, particularly if cities have

developed plans outside this process (see, for example,

http://www.sustainableglasgow.org.uk). Different cities and countries have

more or less developed approaches to sustainable urban energy systems, and

will have correspondingly different levels of experience of relevant

challenges and opportunities. However, this does not mean you have to

choose a country with advanced implementation activities, as it is

possible to produce an informed critique of early stage plans (e.g. what

issues are likely to emerge given the social, physical, economic, etc.

characteristics of your chosen case, and have they been adequately

addressed in cities' plans and aspirations?).

Best regards,

Dave

---

Dr David Hawkey

Research Fellow

Heat and the City

The University of Edinburgh

Chisholm House

High School Yards

Edinburgh

EH1 1LZ

+44 (0)131 650 2841

http://www.heatandthecity.org.uk

Sustainable Urban Energy Systems

Session description

Essay question

Starting points

Further reading

Further guidance