Experiences from the urban planning process of a solar neighbourhood in Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

Many cities have set ambitious goals regarding the production of renewables within cities using advanced energy planning. The crux of those ambitious plans and goals is to put them into action using different legislative instruments, like a zoning plan. In this article, the experiences of an action research project with the aim to support local urban planners developing a zoning plan that creates favourable conditions for solar energy in Malmö, Sweden, are described. The Swedish planning process, national legal framework and financial conditions for PV systems are described first. Then, different scenarios for optimising the zoning plan were studied, using mainly the economic performance as a key indicator. The results showed that the detailed development plan does create both barriers and drivers for the implementation of PV systems in new buildings. At the same time, it also became clear that the legal and financial framework are equally decisive. By describing the lesson learnt, the method can be applied to other (inter)national contexts.

Cost-Optimal Net Zero Energy Communities

“…However, urban planners currently lack sufficient knowledge on how their decisions may affect the potential energy performance of future buildings, for example, regarding solar energy generation [6]. In particular, it is currently not clear how the implications of urban planning on the energy and economic performance of energy systems should be evaluated [7].…”

“…The question of identifying this optimal scale is therefore regarded as an open one, requiring further research to provide researchers and practitioners with rigorous and systematic tools that can quantify the gains and losses of considering different scales [1,5]. Density too has been identified as a particularly important parameter, which is defined at the urban planning stage and significantly affects energy performance [7].In practice, the density and scale of urban development are the result of complex urban planning processes, which involve various policies and mechanisms, including zoning regulations and local subsidy schemes [8]. While urban planning is carried out through a large number of different processes and at different levels in each country, one can generally distinguish between two stages [9]:…”

“…The question of identifying this optimal scale is therefore regarded as an open one, requiring further research to provide researchers and practitioners with rigorous and systematic tools that can quantify the gains and losses of considering different scales [1,5]. Density too has been identified as a particularly important parameter, which is defined at the urban planning stage and significantly affects energy performance [7].…”

“…The cost of the energy systems is obviously another crucial variable, since it is a basic consideration that will determine their actual development [7]. Yet the relationship between the scale and density of NZE communities and their costs remains unexplored.…”

Feasibility Study Of Rooftop Photovoltaic Power System For A Research Institute Towards Green Building In Vietnam

“…Therefore, governments in the world issued policies towards greener cities and societies by using energy efficiency strategies, renewable energy sources and strategies to fight climate change to decrease the energy consumption of buildings [2][3][4][5]. As a kind of sustainable renewable energy source, solar energy can be selected to reduce the pollution and improve energy saving performance of buildings, cities [6][7][8]. Currently, solar power technology is developing very fast in the world, with a total installed solar power capacity of 509 GW [9].…”