Developing a city energy modelling tool and approach

Panel: 4. Mobility, transport, and smart and sustainable cities

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Nick Lomax, Energy Saving Trust
Mark Barrett, UCL Energy Institute, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Energy Saving Trust and UCL Energy Institute have developed a new model, tool, and approach to assist in energy planning decisions. As energy systems become more devolved and less centralised, cities will play an increasingly important role in defining energy infrastructure. Decisions relating to energy consumption and generation are also becoming more complex and often involve multiple stakeholders with varying, and sometimes conflicting, objectives. SiCEDS allows city stakeholders to produce, share and understand the impact of decisions on a variety of outputs. The model includes the energy and consumed and generated by domestic and commercial buildings in a city. The initial model has been piloted in Birmingham and Exeter, with funding from InnovateUK.

The SiCEDS tool allows stakeholders to build scenarios by altering a variety of inputs including:

• the future energy efficiency mix of buildings

• the source of heat for buildings

• the volume, modal split and power of transport

• the level and efficiency of local generation

The SiCEDS tool will then produce outputs for the city across a time horizon to 2050. These outputs include the overall level of energy demand, the level of CO2 and NOX emissions, the peak demand on the grid and the level of fuel poverty.

The outputs can be viewed in time series charts, maps and exported as tables for further analysis. The process that has been developed alongside the tool is designed to allow stakeholders to efficiently develop and collaborate on different scenarios. Stakeholders could include local authority planning, development and energy officers, private developers, community energy companies, landowners, planning consultants and others.

The aim of the approach is to improve the efficiency with which different local energy and transport demand scenarios can be generated and shared. The approach has been demonstrated in the cities of Birmingham and Exeter and can now be rolled out within other cities globally.