Energizing Sustainable Cities: Findings from the Global Energy Assessment
When: Thursday, October 24, 12:30-1:45pm
Where: 160 Packard Avenue, Medford, MA 02155 – Fletcher
SPEAKER: Arnulf Grubler, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Yale University
Urban systems now house about half of the world’s population, but determine some three quarters of global economic activity and its associated energy use. The twenty-first century will be increasingly urban. Sustainable development therefore needs first to be defined and analyzed, and then realized in urban settings. Energy is one of the key challenges, but also one of the key opportunities in an urban sustainability transition. This lecture will present new data, new analysis, as well as new policy insights drawn from the first comprehensive global assessment of urban energy use and of the specifics of urban energy demand and supply. Major development and sustainability challenges of cities will be assessed and public and private sector opportunities and constraints will be outlined. Technological and policy options will be put in a much needed context in terms of their respective role as drivers of urban energy demand as well as potential for reductions in energy use and associated emissions of local pollutants and greenhouse gases.
http://fletcher.tufts.edu/
http://fletcher.tufts.edu/