Abstract
By combining daily (operations) and embodied energy demands, this work estimates life-cycle energy demands for residents and workers in different city settings. Using life-cycle analyses (LCAs) of different neighborhood types in Austin, Texas, this analysis fabricates five different city types, reflecting actual accessibility and resident and employment density profiles. Five residential and three commercial neighborhood types are distributed across 16-kilometer (10-mile) radius regions, with demographics held constant, for comparability. As expected, per-capita daily energy demands decrease with increased resident and employment density. Interestingly, embodied energy savings via increases in density are substantial. Though embodied energy makes up only 10-20 percent of total life-cycle energy, per-capita savings via density suggest it should be included in planning analyses. Overall, average life-cycle per-capita energy use ranges from 140 gigajoule (GJ)/ year/capita in the least dense Orlando-style setting to around 90 GJ/ year/capita in the maximum-density scenario, corresponding to a 35 percent reduction in per-capita energy demand. Energy reductions for Phoenix, Austin, and Seattle settings (relative to an Orlando-based de- sign) are 18, 22, and 24 percent per-capita, respectively. Results provide a rare view of how total annual energy demands in both residential and commercial sectors are affected by density.
Highlights
Cities are facing unprecedented growth from rising population, migration, and urbanization
Though embodied energy makes up only 10-20 percent of total life-cycle energy, per-capita savings via density suggest it should be included in planning analyses
Energy use phases include operational energy (OE), embodied energy (EE), and their total life-cycle energy (TOT). These model results provide a quantitative estimate of how city form influences per-capita energy-use rates at an aggregate level. These findings suggest that city form, measured by jobs accessibility, population, and employment density, are likely to affect per-capita energy consumption
Summary
Cities are facing unprecedented growth from rising population, migration, and urbanization. Urban areas are projected to grow by 2.6 billion over the same time span. This suggests that over the 35 years, cities will absorb all new population growth plus an influx from rural areas. Human populations are growing quickly, and urban areas are growing faster. The Journal of Transport and Land Use is the official journal of the World Society for Transport and Land Use (WSTLUR) and is published and sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies. This paper is published with sponsorship from WSTLUR and the Institutes of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, Berkeley
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