Assessing the energy intensity of peri-urbanisation: A master plan approach

Abstract

The present study explores the effects of peri-urban land use planning on residential and transportation energy use and on related CO2 emissions on the urban fringe of Tartu, a medium sized town in Estonia, by matching energy demand with the operational scale of physical planning, with master plans and dwellings serving as survey elements. Three life cycle assessment (LCA) categories are covered: the energy use of manufacturing building materials, the energy needs of the operational use of dwellings, and the energy use of private car transportation in a total of 239 master planned settlements. The results show that detached single-family houses consume an average of 41.2MWh of energy and emit 19.7t of CO2 annually and are approximately 2.5–2.9 times as energy and CO2 emission intensive as apartment dwellings and 1.5–1.6 times as intensive as semi-detached dwellings. Although no significant variation in energy use per square metre was found, the results indicate that single-family dwellings tend to have larger floor areas per person and located further away from the city centre. Therefore, they require more energy, especially in operational phases and transportation sectors, underlining a need for a more effective land use planning framework for peri-urban areas.