Evaluating the Relationship between the Population Trends, Prices, Heat Waves, and the Demands of Energy Consumption in Cities

Journal Article · Wed Nov 18 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Sustainability (Basel)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/su71115284· OSTI ID:1265848

Fu, Katherine ^[1]; Allen, Melissa ^[1]; Archibald, Richard ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The demands of energy consumption have been projected as a key factor that affects an economy at the city, national, and international level. Contributions to total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2012 by various urban sectors include electricity (31%), transportation (28%), industry (20%), agriculture (10%), and commercial and residential (10%). Moreover, the heavy demands of energy consumption in the cities by residents, commercial businesses, industries, and transportation are important for maintaining and sustaining sufficient economic growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between population trends, historical energy consumptions, the changes of average electricity price, average annual temperature, and extreme weather events for three selected cities: New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. These cities are exemplary of, metropolitan areas in the East, Middle, and the Western regions of the U.S. Here, we find that the total energy consumptions of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are influenced to various degrees by changes in population, temperature and the average price of electricity and that only one city, Los Angeles, does price significantly affect electricity use. Our finding has implications for policy making, suggesting that each city s climate, size and general economic priorities must be considered in developing climate change mitigation strategies and incentives.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1265848
• Journal Information: Sustainability (Basel), Vol. 7, Issue 12; ISSN 2071-1050
• Publisher: MDPI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
climate change
the demands of energy consumption
sustainable business and cities