ABSTRACT
Figure 6.2 depicts energy demand and renewable energy in and around cities. The top part of the diagram shows the city itself, with increasing building height and accompanying floor area per plan area leading to greater population density and its associated energy service demands. Also shown schematically are the renewable energy sources typically found with some abundance inside and outside the city, solar energy inside, and all sources outside. Apart from solar energy and environmental heat, cities do not usually have significant renewable energy resources, and a city’s total exploitable renewable energy resource is generally less than its total energy demand. This is because of the density of land use and associated energy demand in a city, and because cities are generally located where resources of wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal, tidal and wave energy are small within or near the city’s boundary. Cities were originally located with regard to
strategic considerations such as proximity to water, food, other settlements and navigable rivers and seas, rather than positioned with renewable energy resources in mind. There is no particular reason to require that renewable energy is generated within the city if it is not cost effective; the aim is to provide society with sustainable energy, whether it comes from the city or from remote wind turbines or hydropower.
