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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Land use and energy utilization. Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7301490· OSTI ID:7301490

Land use plays an important role in structuring the basic patterns in which energy is consumed in many areas of the U.S. Thus, in considering policies at a national or local level, which are aimed at either utilizing energy supplies in a more efficient manner, or in establishing the compatibility of new energy supply, conversion, and end use technologies with our existing social patterns of energy use, it is important to understand the interdependencies between land use and energy. The Land Use-Energy Utilization Project initiated in July 1974 was designed to explore the quantitative relationships between alternative regional land-use patterns and their resultant energy and fuel demands and the impacts of these demands on the regional and national energy supply-distribution systems. The project studies and analyses described briefly in this report provide a framework for delineating the energy system impacts of current and projected regional land-use development; a base of information dealing with the energy intensiveness of assorted land-use activities; models that enable Federal and regional planners to estimate the ranges of potential energy savings that could be derived from employing alternative land-use activity configurations; and a user manual for allowing local land use planners to carry out their own land use-energy impact evaluations. Much remains to be done to elucidate the complicated interdependencies between land use and energy utilization: what is accomplished here is an initial structuring of the problem. On the other hand, the recent increase in interest in establishing new ways for the U.S. to achieve energy conservation suggests that actions will be taken in the near future to tie land-use development to national and local targets for conservation.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA); State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-C-02-0016
OSTI ID:
7301490
Report Number(s):
BNL-50635
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English