Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

Cities Are Crucial to the Future of Energy

Renewable Energy World: Last month, politicians, energy executives, and energy experts met in Istanbul for the 23rd World Energy Congress. A new report written by Arup for the congress outlines that although cities consume the majority of the world’s energy and house the majority of its people, they have little control over how energy is produced, distributed, or used. Arup’s report discusses five innovations that could give cities better control over their energy futures, ranging from financial mechanisms to new technologies.

Urban areas matter in global energy discussions for a simple reason: they use almost two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 percent of all greenhouse gases. According to the United Nations, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Buildings consume 51 percent of the world’s nonindustrial energy and cities will become even more relevant to global energy planning as urban centers grow.

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