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Urban Energy Systems
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Urban Energy Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2019) | Viewed by 11765

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jan Carmeliet

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Guest Editor
Chair of Building Physics, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Interests: multiscale behaviour of porous and granular materials; urban climate; urban energy systems
Dr. Kristina Orehounig

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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Urban Energy Systems, Empa, Switzerland
Interests: sustainable concepts in building design and operation; integration of renewable energy systems; modeling and optimization of building and urban energy systems
Dr. Georgios Mavromatidis

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Guest Editor
Chair of Building Physics, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Interests: modeling and optimization of urban energy systems; decision-making under uncertainty in energy systems; development of urban retrofit strategies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is well-known that the world is rapidly urbanizing as more and more people are moving into ever-growing cities, especially in developing countries. As a result, cities with their buildings, transport infrastructure, and industry in urban and peri-urban locations are and will continue to be responsible for the greatest share of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

It is of great importance to reduce the energy and environmental impact and restructure current urban energy systems in order to successfully tackle today’s energy and environmental challenges. It is clear that reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the use of renewable energy in cities, thus improving the energy efficiency of their building stock and transport infrastructure and ensuring the access to affordable and clean energy for everyone, are necessary for a more sustainable energy future. However, the challenge remains to pave the way towards achieving these goals with the optimum mix of technology development, energy policies, and financing.

Thus, this Special Issue of Energies, “Urban Energy Systems”, is intended to disseminate and highlight the latest insights, methods, and developments seeking to improve urban sustainability and energy efficiency. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • New modelling methods and techniques for the design and operation of urban energy systems;
  • Approaches to quantify urban renewable potentials and to integrate high shares of renewable energy in today’s urban energy systems;
  • Intersectoral energy coupling, e.g., between buildings and transport infrastructure (e.g., electric vehicles);
  • Urban transformation strategies through urban planning and urban retrofit campaigns;
  • The impact of urban microclimate and climate change on urban energy demands;
  • Big data and digitalization applications for urban energy systems;
  • Harnessing the potential of machine learning for urban energy systems applications;
  • Economic, social, behavioural, and energy policy aspects of urban energy systems.

Prof. Dr. Jan Carmeliet
Dr. Kristina Orehounig
Dr. Georgios Mavromatidis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Urban energy systems;
  • Urban energy efficiency;
  • Urban renewable energy;
  • Urban transport;
  • Urban building stocks;
  • Urban retrofits;
  • Urban sustainability practices.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 9385 KiB  
Article
Impact of Natural Gas Distribution Network Structure and Operator Strategies on Grid Economy in Face of Decreasing Demand
by Daniel Then, Christian Spalthoff, Johannes Bauer, Tanja M. Kneiske and Martin Braun
Energies 2020, 13(3), 664; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13030664 - 4 Feb 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3146
Abstract
Currently, natural gas provides more than a third of the energy used in European residential buildings. As part of the general decline of fossil fuels, this gas consumption is predicted to drop in several countries by 25–100% by 2050. We model a decline [...] Read more.
Currently, natural gas provides more than a third of the energy used in European residential buildings. As part of the general decline of fossil fuels, this gas consumption is predicted to drop in several countries by 25–100% by 2050. We model a decline in gas consumption in 57 urban German distribution grids looking for the influence of grid-specific factors and different distribution network operator (DNO) strategies on grid charges. We find a functional relationship between grid length and customer amount described by a power law, with an exponent correlated with structural grid parameters. The disordered structure inherent to grids typically results in a decline in grid costs much slower than the corresponding demand. We introduce a simplified yearly cash flow calculation model based on the power law and validate it against mixed integer linear optimization. A comparison of the total costs of operation and resulting grid charges for several scenarios and strategies estimates the effects on DNO business models. Depending on a combination of DNO’s strategy and customers’ exit pattern, grid charges may increase, accelerating the substitution of gas-bound technologies that might develop into a self-reinforcing feedback loop, leading to grid defection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Energy Systems)
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17 pages, 3234 KiB  
Article
Towards a Low Emission Transport System: Evaluating the Public Health and Environmental Benefits
by Hooman Farzaneh, Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, Benjamin McLellan and Hideaki Ohgaki
Energies 2019, 12(19), 3747; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12193747 - 30 Sep 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4571
Abstract
Climate change mitigation strategies offer significant societal co-benefits such as improvement in public health, air quality, local economy, and even safety. By considering these co-benefits during the transportation planning process, local governments would be able to link their local appreciate mitigation actions into [...] Read more.
Climate change mitigation strategies offer significant societal co-benefits such as improvement in public health, air quality, local economy, and even safety. By considering these co-benefits during the transportation planning process, local governments would be able to link their local appreciate mitigation actions into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where diverse objectives should be achieved simultaneously. This study first clarifies the co-benefits approach to climate change mitigation in the transport system, by introducing an integrated multiple-impact framework known as A-S-I (Avoid-Shift-Improve) to evaluate the co-benefits. Thereafter, it applies the quantitative modeling approach to assess public health and environmental co-benefits of the implementation of the Tehran Transportation Master Plan, “the TTMP” in the city of Tehran, Iran, which includes targeted interventions such as shifting from private vehicles to the urban transport system, improving vehicle technologies and introducing alternative fuels. The results from the application of “the TTMP” reveal a significant reduction of CO2 and other local air pollutant emissions by 12.9 and 1.4 million tons, respectively, prevention of about 10,000 mortality cases, and more than USD 35 million savings by 2030. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Energy Systems)
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28 pages, 7848 KiB  
Article
Integrating Energy Demand and Local Renewable Energy Sources in Smart Urban Development Zones: New Options for Climate-Friendly Resilient Urban Planning
by Franz Zach, Florian Kretschmer and Gernot Stoeglehner
Energies 2019, 12(19), 3672; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12193672 - 25 Sep 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3608
Abstract
In recent years, most cities have experienced rapid population growth. Concurrently, international policies have called for substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the resilience of energy-supply systems has become more important. Consequently, solutions to exhaust locally-available sources must be developed to minimize [...] Read more.
In recent years, most cities have experienced rapid population growth. Concurrently, international policies have called for substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the resilience of energy-supply systems has become more important. Consequently, solutions to exhaust locally-available sources must be developed to minimize the fraction of fossil fuels for heating, cooling and electricity. This article shows an example of designing a low-temperature heating and cooling grid based on locally-available renewables and waste heat and introduces general hypotheses concerning smart energy planning in urban development zones. Taking an urban development area in Vienna, Austria, as example, it is shown that wastewater, geothermal and (office) waste heat, solar energy, and the heat content of ambient air can play an important role within a climate-friendly urban energy concept and that heating and cooling demand can be covered completely on-site. From an environmental point of view, the concept is promising, as greenhouse gas emissions and the non-renewable primary energy consumption can be reduced by over 70% compared to conventional gas heating, while, based on current (fossil) energy prices, it is economically not fully competitive. The gap could be closed e.g. by CO2 taxes on fossil energy sources or (temporal) subsidies for renewables. Additionally, reservations of stakeholders in the energy sector against this innovative approach must be dismantled. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Energy Systems)
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