Research Overture: Powering the City

Globally, 80% of energy is primarily consumed in urban areas. To transition towards low-carbon cities, renewable energy systems could help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limit global warming, as well as enhance liveability in cities.

Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) offer on-site renewable energy generation by augmenting or replacing conventional facade materials. Current developments in technology and aesthetics, and decreasing costs makes mass deployment of BIPV in urban settings possible, which in turn impact urban form, construction and energy systems.

The talk "Powering the City: Urban Energy Demand and Supply with Building Integrated Photovoltaics" by Prof. Arno Schlueter and Asst Prof. (Adj) Markus Schlaepfer introduces the work of the Powering the City research module  module in Future Cities Lab Global.

This work aims to develop a holistic and multi-scale modelling approach to assess large scale deployment of BIPV in urban contexts under different climatic and socio-economic conditions. One of the central challenges of modelling urban energy systems is the accurate estimation of people’s movements and activities. The growing availability of large-scale data on human activity can provide new insights into the spatio-temporal distribution of people and their activities within cities, which is important not only for urban planning but also for the design and operation of efficient energy systems.
 

Research Overture

This series of seminars focuses on new research topics being developed at Future Cities Lab Global (FCL Global). Each seminar features the team leading the research to articulate their aims and aspirations, as well as the challenges they expect. It is also an opportunity for participants to help shape the research through dialogue.