Obstacles in energy planning at the urban scale

Cost-Optimal Net Zero Energy Communities

“…This underlines the importance of addressing the technological design of energy systems at the initial stage of the urban planning of energy-efficient communities, before the urban density, the unbuilt areas and the building types are set.Sustainability 2020, 12, 2432 2 of 15 on energy performance, despite the fact that these are important available operating parameters. Thus, Cajot et al [5] note that the intermediate community or neighborhood scale appears to be an ideal compromise between the advantages of either the urban scale or building scale in energy planning. These include the advantages of a limited complexity and of a reduced number of stakeholders on the one hand, and the opportunities of energy and cost efficiencies at a larger scale on the other hand.…”

“…However, it is still unclear how to set the exact boundaries of an urban project, given the influence of local conditions on the optimal scale of relevance for energy planning. The question of identifying this optimal scale is therefore regarded as an open one, requiring further research to provide researchers and practitioners with rigorous and systematic tools that can quantify the gains and losses of considering different scales [1,5]. Density too has been identified as a particularly important parameter, which is defined at the urban planning stage and significantly affects energy performance [7].In practice, the density and scale of urban development are the result of complex urban planning processes, which involve various policies and mechanisms, including zoning regulations and local subsidy schemes [8].…”

Multicriteria Decisions in Urban Energy System Planning: A Review

“…-The role and background of DMs, their number, the inclusion of citizens, and the effect these aspects may have on the choice of MCDA method is a facet, which was not investigated in the scope of this review. Given the tendency of urban planning to involve wider groups of stakeholders [e.g., in collaborative planning approaches (Teriman et al, 2010;Cajot et al, 2017)], this research question could highlight which methods are most suitable for decisions including large groups. Certain studies reviewed here have been more explicit in describing these stakeholder interactions and could be a starting point for analysis (Yedla and Shrestha, 2003;Nigim et al, 2004;Tzeng et al, 2005;Dytczak and Ginda, 2006;Wang et al, 2011;Vafaeipour et al, 2014).…”

Green energy in municipal planning documents

“…Changing the scale of analysis from a building level to a city district level, while taking into account energy neighborhood and energy efficiency, and the residents being generally aware of the costs and benefits of such action, results in solutions based on a deliberate compromise. However, the local specifics of the place will always be a dominant factor in the final decision that planners make to determine profits and losses for specific variants of solutions [25].…”