Understanding the Relationship between Energy Consumption and Urban Form

Abstract

A large proportion of energy demand comes from urban areas, mostly from buildings and transport, the use of which has impacts on climate and air quality through the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The research in this paper investigates the relationship between the selected urban form characteristics and energy consumption in England, in order to understand how one influences the other. The influence of urban form is recognized in many aspects of cities, such as human behavior and transport dynamics. Consequently, it is also expected to have a significant impact on energy consumption and to be a key component in future urban sustainability. Urban energy consumption is calculated at a large geographic scale of analysis combining the consumption of both buildings and commute transport. Urban form indicators are obtained for the same land-parcels and correlations between the two calculated. The results demonstrate that a variety of urban form characteristics influence energy consumption. Some measures show little correlation with energy consumption, whereas other density measures show a significant scaling relationship. Therefore, density indicators such as population density are suggested as a means to explain urban energy consumption. Additionally, the results reveal that the relationship between energy consumption and urban characteristics follows a sublinear scaling relationship and hence show an economy of scale. This analysis suggests that better energy efficiency is achieved by areas with higher population density, which provides new insights to urban policy-makers and planners seeking to design strategies to cut carbon emissions and energy consumption.

Updated Models of Passenger Transport Related Energy Consumption of Urban Areas

“…Apparently, the exponent β R1 = 0.78 from Equation (8) is different from the exponent value of 0.5 in Equation 7, which represents the square root. Moreover, β R0 = 0.44 is different but in the same order of magnitude than 2/ √ N = 0.286 from Equation (7). The goodness of fit of the model in Equation (8) with R 2 = 0.69 is marginally higher with respect to the model in Equation (7).…”

“…The goodness of fit of the model in Equation (8) with R 2 = 0.69 is marginally higher with respect to the model in Equation (7). These minor differences are not surprising, given the simplifying assumptions made during the derivation of Equation (7). The results of the two models are plotted in Figure 3.…”

“…Consequently, reducing transport-related energy consumption is one of the main objectives of transport planners with the aim to achieve a more sustainable mobility. There are only two empirical evidences in literature [5,6] that demonstrate a particular relation between transport energy consumption and population density [7]. The cited works have been early publications and only bivariate perspectives have been considered which led to some criticism.…”

Impact of Urban Morphology on Energy Consumption of Vertical Mobility in Asian Cities—A Comparative Analysis with 3D City Models

“…Osorio et al [11] investigated the relationship between selected urban form characteristics and energy consumption in England, in order to understand how one influences the other. This analysis suggested that better energy efficiency is achieved by areas with higher population density, which provides new insights to urban policy-makers and planners seeking to design strategies to cut carbon emissions and energy consumption.…”

“…Possible applications, advantages and disadvantages of these technologies are explained in de Almeida, Patrão [19], (pp. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Choices between the use of hydraulic and geared traction technology cannot be clearly defined at urban scale without the detailed data.…”