Decarbonizing Energy of a City: Identifying Barriers and Pathways

As researchers and ultimately deployers of energy decarbonisation solutions, we collectively see significant but often siloed efforts that in isolation may appear as an appropriate solution to an aspect of energy decarbonisation. However, when systemwide thinking is applied, a former attractive solu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 267
Main Author Hewitt, Neil J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2024
Subjects
Alternative energy sources
Biogas
Biomass energy
buildings
Carbon sequestration
Circular economy
city-wide decarbonization
Climate change
Electricity
Energy efficiency
Energy industry
Energy policy
Force and energy
Heat
Heating
Hydrogen
industry
Nuclear energy
Renewable resources
Tariffs
Technology adoption
transport
Wind power
United Kingdom
United Kingdom > UK
England
Northern Ireland
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Summary:As researchers and ultimately deployers of energy decarbonisation solutions, we collectively see significant but often siloed efforts that in isolation may appear as an appropriate solution to an aspect of energy decarbonisation. However, when systemwide thinking is applied, a former attractive solution may become more challenging and, likewise, a less attractive silo may become more appropriate as part of an energy systemwide approach. Thus, the aim of this paper is to combine proposed energy decarbonisation concepts, e.g., electrification, hydrogen, biogas etc., with the status of the system in which they intend to operate, and then highlight the barriers, opportunities, and alternatives that may come into play when the whole system is taken into account. This is a hypothetical study using the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK as an example and reflects, in part, the city’s desire to decarbonise while enhancing its economic prosperity. The “system” is defined as the region boundaries, i.e., Northern Ireland will supply the energy (all or in part) to the city of Belfast. The methodology deployed here therefore is a framework of energy thinking that is the basis of such energy decarbonisation plans at a city-wide level.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en17010267