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The innovation of the city’s integrated energy system has become the key to China’s realization of “carbon peaks by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060”. At present, urban energy planning lacks the guidance and theoretical support of the planning system, and the planning practice lacks coordination with urban planning. In view of this, this article starts from the perspective of planning system and planning theory, and establishes a comprehensive urban energy planning work management system and a hierarchical structure system; Demonstrated the compatibility of CAS theory with urban systems and urban integrated energy systems; By exploring the definition of the main body of the urban complex system and the urban integrated energy complex system, the urban complex adaptive system diagram and the urban integrated energy complex adaptive system diagram are formed; Combining CAS theory and the content of the hierarchical structure system to form a comprehensive urban energy planning system. At the same time, on the basis of the above research, using various planning documents of the Lin-gang Special Area as materials to form a comprehensive district-level urban comprehensive energy planning method, realize the synergy of the urban comprehensive energy planning inside and outside, and provides new ideas for the research and actual planning of urban comprehensive energy planning.

Ghana currently has no future energy strategic plan or framework for its generation system apart from the Energy Policy developed by the Energy Commission (EC). The EC based its research on the year 2000 parameters and estimated the energy system up to 2020, which cannot entirely address the current challenges facing the energy sector. The main objective of this paper is to develop an integrated energy planning (IEP) framework for Ghana as a guideline for addressing energy challenges, to promote energy efficiency in both demand and transmission, CO2 emissions reduction, and the utilization of renewable energy sources (RES). The methods used are content analysis, multiple case study, and procedure for IEP framework development. The primary computer tool used for the analysis and future energy projections was Long-range Energy Alternative Planning. The demand forecast was performed using key input parameters, including Gross Domestic Product, population change and urbanization. The overall results of this study suggest 40% of non-conventional renewable energy resources into the country's energy mix, proposed energy efficiency promotion in both demand and transmission, and the utilization of RES integration to save the nation up to about 40% CO2 emissions reduction. The paper recommends strategies to reduce losses in the transmission and distribution systems of Ghana. The paper again recommends the revenues accrued from the carbon tax for maintenance work on the existing equipment, and finally, an integrated energy planning framework was developed to serve as a roadmap for Ghana's energy sector up to the year 2050.

Access to modern energy services is a precondition to improving livelihoods and building resilience against climate change. Still, electricity reaches only about half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), while about 40% live under the poverty line. Heavily reliant on the agriculture sector and increasingly affected by prolonged droughts, small-scale irrigation could be instrumental for development and climate change adaptation in SSA countries. A bottom-up understanding of the demand for irrigation and associated energy services is essential for designing viable energy supply options in an effective manner. Using Uganda as a case study, the study introduces a GIS-based methodology for the estimation of groundwater irrigation requirements through which energy demand is derived. Results are generated for two scenarios: (a) a reference scenario and (b) a drought scenario. The most critical need is observed in the northern and southern regions of the country. The total annual irrigation demand is estimated to be ca. 90 thousand m3, with the highest demand observed in the months of December through February, with an average irrigation demand of 445 mm per month. The highest energy demand is observed in the northern part of the study area in January, reaching 48 kWh/ha. The average energy demand increases by 67% in the drought scenario. The study contributes to current gaps in the existing literature by providing a replicable methodological framework and data aimed at facilitating energy system planning through the consideration of location-specific characteristics at the nexus of energy–water–agriculture.

Funding Information: This work has been facilitated by the financial support from Eni S.p.A Italy by virtue of the Eni Award 2017 prize and the Witte Endowment. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved. With the vast rural population, the availability of locational renewable energy resources and limited finances in low-income (developing) countries, there is the need for an integrated and holistic energy planning framework to unlock their potential for achieving energy-based economic development. The integrated rural energy planning framework provides a unified road map for energy planning and system design with renewable energy integration geared towards improving energy access in rural areas. Therefore, this study presents the application of case studies to this framework to foster improved localized renewable energy access in low-income (developing) countries. Using rural Nigeria as the geographic scope, the site identification and selection and the locational estimation of annual energy demand steps of the framework are performed for rural areas. Utilizing GIS-based tools, rural communities are identified, and their viable renewable energy resources are estimated. Adopting the reference building approach, seasonal disaggregated energy demand profiles are obtained at community scale with an hourly time-step. These are obtained in the absence of smart-metering equipment and measured datasets on energy use. The obtained results provide insights to inform localized energy policy design by combining rural electrification with energy conservation strategies. This framework has wide applicability across areas with similar energy access and rural development issues especially in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia.

The planning of energy ambitious neighborhood pilots in Norway typically begin with the creation of holistic and socially ambitious visions based on extensive stakeholder collaboration, citizen insight generation and vision setting. However, as projects move from planning to implementation, the exploratory innovation methods are replaced by exploitative approaches. ‘The holistic vision and in particular, citizens’ described needs, fail to transfer into the implementation phase. This paper identifies four main challenges as to why this happens and link these to theory on ambidextrous organizations that need to exploit existing knowledge while reaching into the future with its rapidly changing goals and technological opportunities. Implementing stakeholders are familiar with exploitative tools, which build on earlier experience and capabilities of the selected implementing stakeholders, and the implementation stage leaves little time and resources for innovation on a lower hierarchical level. While extensive research on smart and integrated planning focus on ‘breaking down the silos’ meaning sectors and disciplines, our findings argue that the need to manage ambidextrous organizations and support both exploratory and exploitative innovation is equally important. An ambidextrous organization is one that has the ability to be efficient in its management of today's business while being adaptable for coping with the changing demand of tomorrow. We propose a model in which the organizational style and management style of innovative neighborhood pilots focus more on how to transfer knowledge and learn from the bottom-up and horizontally through management that foster both innovation models. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Il Green Deal pone al centro delle politiche la necessità di agire per raggiungere gli obiettivi di neutralità climatica entro il 2050. In questo contesto il ruolo del patrimonio edilizio esistente è rilevante. Nonostante esso sia responsabile del 40% dei consumi energetici, solo l’1% viene coinvolto in interventi di ristrutturazione profonda. Sulla scia delle strategie Smart City e al fine di migliorare queste prestazioni, l’Europa propone sperimentazioni come i Positive Energy Districts e le strategie Industria 4.0. Il contributo analizza casi studio e progetti innovativi con l’obiettivo di identificare le azioni strategiche più rilevanti e utilizza un caso reale, nella città di Bologna, come contesto base da cui sviluppare una riflessione. The Green Deal places at the centre of its policies the need to act in order to achieve climate neutrality goals by 2050. In this context, the role of cities and, in particular, of already existing buildings is relevant. Although they are responsible for 40% of energy consumption, only 1% are involved in major restructuring processes. In the context of smart city strategies and to improve their performances, Europe proposes various approaches such as Positive Energy Districts and Industry 4.0. This paper analyses case studies and innovative European projects with the aim of identifying the most relevant strategic actions. Eventually, it presents a real case in the city of Bologna as a basepoint for the reflection proposed.

Reasonable regional integrated energy planning is an important prerequisite for the construction of a Near-Zero Carbon Emission Demonstration District (NCEDD). An integrated energy planning scheme that is based on a three-step planning method with the objective of achieving an NCEDD is proposed in this paper. First, the planning objectives should be determined. After that, the planning strategies should be established. Finally, the planning approaches should be proposed according to the previously determined objectives and strategies. A case study considering the integrated energy planning of the Meishan International Near-Zero Carbon Emission Demonstration District (MINCEDD) is investigated to explain the planning method. In addition, the planning results, which are indicated as indexes, are explained, analyzed, and compared to the ones of other districts. The indexes include a proportion of renewable energy to primary energy (73% by 2030 and 108% by 2050), a proportion of renewable power to total power consumption (98% by 2030 and 111% by 2050), and CO2 emission reduction rates (70% by 2030 and 100% by 2050) and are more advanced than other districts in China. This planning scheme and method can provide a reference for the integrated energy planning of NCEDDs in developed urban areas.

Nowadays, Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs), represent a great tool for European municipalities and regions to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate their own energy and climate actions, and in doing so contribute to GHG reduction and adaptation achievements. The study analysed the SEAPs of four small Italian islands (SIIs) to evaluate specific impact of transportations taking into account interactions with local renewable energy. Assessing the forecasts for 2020 and 2030 scenarios, in accordance with European and National laws in force, the aim of this paper is to assess an integrated flowchart for planning transport sector and to harmonize it with renewable energy sources (RES) at the local scale.

This dissertation focuses on an integration of energy modeling tools to explore energy transition pathways for emerging economies. The spate of growth in the global South has led to a global energy transition, evidenced in part by a surge in the development of large scale energy infrastructure projects for the provision of reliable electricity service. The rational of energy security and exigency often usher these large scale projects through to implementation with minimal analysis of costs: social and environmental impact, ecological risk, or opportunity costs of alternative energy transition pathways foregone. Furthermore, development of energy infrastructure is inherently characterized by the involvement of a number of state and non-state actors, with varying interests, objectives and access to authority. Being woven through and into social institutions necessarily impacts the design, control and functionality of infrastructure. In this dissertation I therefore conceptualize energy infrastructure as lying at the intersection, or nexus, of people, the environment and energy security. I argue that energy infrastructure plans and policy should, and can, be informed by each of these fields of influence in order to appropriately satisfy local development needs. This case study explores the socio-techno-environmental context of contemporary mega-dam development in northern Borneo. I describe the key actors of an ongoing mega-dam debate and the constellation of their interaction. This highlights the role that information may play in public discourse and lends insight into how inertia in the established system may stymie technological evolution. I then use a combination of power system simulation, ecological modeling and spatial analysis to analyze the potential for, and costs and tradeoffs of, future energy scenarios. In this way I demonstrate reproducible methods that can support energy infrastructure decision making by directly addressing data limitation barriers. I offer a platform for integrated analysis that considers cost perspectives across the nexus. The management of energy transitions is a growing field, critically important to low carbon futures. With the broader implications of my study I hope to contribute to a paradigm shift away from the dominant large-scale energy infrastructure as a means of energy security discourse, to a more encompassing security agenda that considers distributed and localized solutions.

Integrated Energy Planning is gaining currency in the development planning process of developing countries. In Ghana, with the setting up of the National Energy Board (NEB), efforts are being made to draw up a comprehensive energy plan for the country. To undertake this task requires information on various sectors of the national economy. Such information to facilitate the planning effort is not readily available. This paper reviews the framework for Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) and discusses the relevant information which must be acquired in the development of the energy data base.

Energy consumption is at the core of economic development, but its severe impacts on resources depletion and climate change have justified a call for its general reduction across all economic activities. Lowering households’ energy demand is a key factor to achieve carbon dioxide emission reductions as it has an important energy-saving potential. Households in the European Union (EU28) countries have a significant weight (25%) in the total final energy consumption. However, a wide range of variation is observed within the residential sector from 7.6 to 37.4 GJ per capita/annum, with the lowest consumption indicator observed in Southern EU countries. Energy consumption in the residential sector is a complex issue, explained by a combination of different factors. To pinpoint how to reduce energy consumption effectively while deliver energy services, we need to look not just at technology, but also to the factors that drive how and in what extent people consume energy, including the way they interact with technology (i.e., energy efficiency). The main objective of this research is to understand the differences in energy consumption arising from different socio-demographic, technologic, behavioral and economic characteristics of residential households. This research brings to the spotlight the needs and benefits of looking deeper into residential sector energy consumption in a southern European country. Portugal and the municipality of Évora, in particular, were selected as case studies. Residential sector consumption is a moving target, which increase the complexity of adequate policies and instruments that have to address the bottleneck between increase demand for e.g. climatization due to current lack of thermal comfort and to comply with objectives of increased energy efficiency which ultimately intend to reduce energy consumption. This calls for different levels of knowledge to feed multiscale policies. This dissertation expands the understanding of energy consumption patterns at households, consumers’ role in energy consumption profiles, indoor thermal comfort, and the levels of satisfaction from energy services demand. In a country potentially highly impacted by climate change, with low levels of income and significant lower energy consumption per capita compared to the EU28 average, looking into these issues gains even more importance. The work combines detailed analysis at different spatial (national, city and consumers level) and time scales (hour to annual) taking advantage of diverse methods and datasets including smart meters’ data, door to door surveys and energy simulation and optimization modelling. The results identify (i) ten distinct residential sector consumer groups (e.g., under fuel poverty); (ii) daily and annual consumption patterns (W, U and flat); (iii) major energy consumption determinants such as the physical characteristics of dwellings, particularly the year of construction and floor area; climatization equipment ownership and use, and occupants’ profiles (mainly number and monthly income). It is (iv) recognized that inhabitants try to actively control space heating, but without achieving indoor thermal comfort levels. The results also show (v) that technology can overweight the impact of practices and lifestyle changes for some end-uses as space heating and lighting. Nevertheless, important focus should be given to the evolution in the future of uncertain parameters related with consumer behavior, especially those on climatization, related to thermal comfort and equipment’s use. Furthermore, the research work presents a (vi) bottom-up methodology to project detailed energy end-uses demand, and (vii) an integrated framework for city energy planning. This work sets the ground for the definition of tailor-made policy recommendations for targeted consumer groups (e.g., vulnerable consumers) and climatization behavior/practices to reduce peak demand, social support policies, energy efficiency instruments and measures, renewable energy sources integration, and energy systems planning.

Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are considered as one of the pioneer strategies to guide cities in their energy planning process towards climate neutrality in an attractive, innovative and human-centered way. The concept of PED is the result of a long co-creation process and integrates several multidimensional features, aiming to promote the sustainable development of urban areas and the transition of cities towards a climate neutral energy system. The paper provides an overview of the first outcomes of WG1 “PED Mapping, Characterization and Learning”, in the research COST Action CA19126 “Positive Energy Districts European Network” (PED-EU-NET). This study describes activities that focus on creating a comprehensive PED-Database by mapping existing concepts, strategies, projects, technological and non-technological solutions related to PEDs in Europe. The main objective of the Database is to support municipalities through the decision-making process by providing strategies for building and running a successful PED that can provide alternatives to consider, and is powered by an interactive web-based map. The design of the Database framework is supported by a step-by-step methodology adopted in the framework of the CA19126 in order to develop the PED-Database as an interactive, updatable and user-friendly tool., This article is based upon work from COST Action 19126 Positive Energy Districts European Network PED-EU-NET (https://pedeu.net/ Accessed on 16 November 2021), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology, www.cost.eu Accessed on 16 November 2021). The authors acknowledge COST Action 19126 WGs and other international initiatives-in particular IEA Annex 83, JPI Urban Europe, Smart Cities Marketplace and EERA Joint Programme on Smart Cities-for the fruitful and continuous collaboration in PED-Database development. Paolo Civiero acknowledges this project has funding received from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspring PLUS) and the Government of Catalonia's Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ). Michal Kuzmic acknowledges the funding received from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the SPARCS grant agreement No 864242. Beril Alpagut acknowledges the funding received from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the MAKING-CITY project agreement No 824418. Giulia Turci and Serena Pagliula acknowledge TRACE research team from University of Bologna and the funding received from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the GRETA project agreement No 101022317.