Urban Energy Transition: From Fossil Fuels to Renewable Power

This compendium of 29 chapters from 18 countries contains both fundamental and advanced insight into the inevitable shift from cities dominated by the fossil-fuel systems of the industrial age to a renewable-energy based urban development framework. The cross-disciplinary handbook covers a range of diverse yet relevant topics, including: carbon emissions policy and practice; the role of embodied energy; urban thermal performance planning; building efficiency services; energy poverty alleviation efforts; renewable community support networks; aspects of household level bio-fuel markets; urban renewable energy legislation, programs and incentives; innovations in individual transport systems; global urban mobility trends; implications of intelligent energy networks and distributed energy supply and storage; and the case for new regional monetary systems and lifestyles. Presented are practical and principled aspects of technology, economics, design, culture and society, presenting perspectives that are both local and international in scope and relevance.

Table of Contents:
Urban energy transition: an introduction 1 Principles and drivers *Solar City: reconnecting energy generation and use to the technical and social logic of solar power *Urbanization, increasing wealth and energy transitions: comparing experiences between the USA, Japan and rapidly developing Asia Pacific economies *Undoing atmospheric harm: civil action to shrink the carbon footprint *Direct versus embodied energy: the need for urban lifestyle transitions *Energy, development and sustainable monetary systems 2 Policy, practice and dynamics *Energy and urban environmental regimes *Climate change and cities: the making of a climate friendly future *City energy networking in Europe *Energy use and CO2 production in the urban passenger transport systems of 84 international cities: findings and policy implications 3 Aspects of technology: opportunities and applications *Storage systems for reliable future power supply networks *The Media Laboratory City Car: a new approach to sustainable mobility *Towards the intelligent grid: a review of the literature *Innovations in rural and peri-urban areas 4 Transforming the built environment *Towards the renewable built environment *Counteracting urban heat islands in Japan *Ecodesign and the transition of the built environment *Financing the energy refurbishment of buildings *Sustainability on the urban scale: green urbanism – new models for urban growth and neighbourhoods 5 International urban agendas *Barcelona and the power of solar ordinances: political will, capacity building and people’s participation *Reducing carbon emissions in London: from theory to practice *Urban energy and carbon management in Leicester Oxford’s carbon emissions reduction: plans and tools *Integrating energy in urban planning in Vietnam and Thailand *Sustainable energy systems and the urban poor: Nigeria, Brazil, the Philippines *Energy planning in South African cities *Household markets for ethanol – prospects for Ethiopia *Lagos, Nigeria: Sustainable energy technologies for an emerging African mega-city *Freedom from fossil fuel and nuclear power: the scope for local solutions in the United States

About the Author :
Peter Droege directs the Liechtenstein Institute for Strategic Development, the global advisory and research organization for the rapid transition to regenerative communities, cities, regions and infrastructure. Professor Droege serves also as President of Eurosolar, the European Association for Renewable Energy, and as General Chairman, World Council for Renewable Energy. A recipient of the European Solar Prize in Education, Peter Droege initiated the Chair for Sustainable Spatial Development at the University of Liechtenstein while holding a Conjoint Professorship at the Faculty of Engineering, School of Architecure and the Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia. Professor Droege has authored or edited numerous books, including Intelligent Environments (Elsevier 1997), Urban Energy Transition, 1st Edition: From Fossil Fuels to Renewable Power (Elsevier 2008).