Renewable Energy in Cities
UNSDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Abstract
As of 2021, cities occupy only 3% of Earth's land, yet they are responsible for 60-80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions. The current infrastructure of the largest cities in the world will not be able to accommodate the high demands of a growing urbanization, which calls for serious action to be taken. Renewable energy brings many benefits to cities, including better living conditions and modern public amenities.
Sustainable energy is energy that satisfies the current generations' needs without jeopardizing the future generations' capacity to fulfill their own. Seeking clean energy sources, that can be replenished rather than having sources depleted, is central to achieving renewable energy in our cities.
Having cities take the first big step in battling climate change sets them up as the strong forefront in the transitioning to cleaner energy.
New research reveals how cities are addressing this issue by signing agreements that shift their municipal operations or entire towns away from fossil-fuel power and toward renewable energy. The purpose of this article is to analyze datasets in order to find out what impact and process countries have on the transition to clean and renewable energy in their cities.
Sustainable energy is energy that satisfies the current generations' needs without jeopardizing the future generations' capacity to fulfill their own. Seeking clean energy sources, that can be replenished rather than having sources depleted, is central to achieving renewable energy in our cities.
Having cities take the first big step in battling climate change sets them up as the strong forefront in the transitioning to cleaner energy.
New research reveals how cities are addressing this issue by signing agreements that shift their municipal operations or entire towns away from fossil-fuel power and toward renewable energy. The purpose of this article is to analyze datasets in order to find out what impact and process countries have on the transition to clean and renewable energy in their cities.
Visualizations
Worldwide view
Conclusions
Our analysis of the acquired datasets reveals that there are many countries taking steps towards the transitioning to renewable energy. However, the extent in which they have taken action varies greatly among a worldwide scale. There are many cities with little to no improvement and others with drastically significant changes applied entirely.
Looking forward, with rapid urbanization and the growing impact of global climate change at the local level, cities should pay greater attention to long-term urban energy systems planning, the integration of local energy resources, microclimates and climate change, and transportation infrastructure changes.
Looking forward, with rapid urbanization and the growing impact of global climate change at the local level, cities should pay greater attention to long-term urban energy systems planning, the integration of local energy resources, microclimates and climate change, and transportation infrastructure changes.
