Transforming cities towards sustainable low-carbon energy systems using emergy synthesis for support in decision making

Recognized as implementation actors of operative measures for transition towards a low carbon economy, cities must establish a development roadmap integrating local resources with local energy development plans. A systematic approach does not exist yet and cities develop their plans individually, which is difficult for small and medium sized cities due to limited development capacities. Conventional city planning approaches do not integrate considerations on energy, economy and environment in transition plans in an easily comparable way, yet making decisions with regards to these parameters is vital to determine outcomes of planned developments on future sustainability of the city. The paper presents a framework model based on emergy synthesis which integrates energy, economic and environmental city systems in the decision making process, examining associated theoretical challenges and application limitations. The method is applied on the city of Sisals in Croatia which has developed plans to implement several initiatives geared towards creating a smart energy city. The model enables simulation and assessment of impacts of individual projects targeting the development of a smart energy city on city sustainability expressed through emergy performance, used as a tool for evaluating local development alternatives within the boundary of local resources. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.