The dawn of urban energy planning – Synergies between energy and urban planning for São Paulo (Brazil) megacity

Energy use in cities has attracted significant research in recent years and city level energy planning is becoming a required task driven by the contribution of decentralized renewable electricity production and a demand-side approach towards greenhouse gases emissions reduction. However, traditional energy planning approaches are limited because they tend to focus on technology substitution. We argue that a more ambitious and holistic urban energy planning approach is desirable. This paper proposes a novel method to integrated Energy and Urban Planning solutions assessment by modelling and quantifying urban energy planning strategies impact in terms of energy savings, greenhouse gases emission reduction and in increasing cities renewable distributed and local energy generation. We apply the approach to São Paulo megacity using the LEAP_SP urban energy simulation model (from 2014 to 2030) through four scenarios. Results showed that by using a traditional energy planning approach, it is possible to reach 2% energy savings from the current situation, 18% greenhouse gas emission reduction and a three-fold increase in renewables deployment. When applying only urban planning strategies these benefits are of 10% energy savings, 8% greenhouse gas emission reduction and one-fold increase in renewables deployment. If a more holistic urban energy approach is adopted by integrating both energy and urban planning policies, gains increase to 12% energy savings, 30% greenhouse gases emission reductions, and a four-fold increase in renewable distributed and local electricity generation from the current city status.