Abstract
Since the world population tends to aggregate in cities, the energy demand is growing in cities. Sustainable development should therefore be implemented in cities to minimise its environmental impacts. Accordingly, local authorities should pay ever more attention to energy management in their territories. The creation of administrative structures dealing with energy management is one key tool to implement the appropriate policies. The history and the evolution of such a strategy in the European Union will be presented. Cities that want to promote the use of renewable energy in their territory should consider seriously the potential of the waste-to-energy process. The most virtuous cities in the European Union for urban waste management are those generating energy out of them. Heating is the most abundant final energy used in the EU. Therefore, local authorities should implement policies to address energy-saving policies in their buildings acting on the heating and cooling sector. Finally, since energy is the basis of transport, the development of electric vehicles in cities will be considered. However, despite its environmental advantages, the unequivocal weaknesses of this technology will limit its massive and rapid deployment. Therefore, the swiftly available technology of the natural gas vehicles will be presented and advocated.
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Notes
- 1.
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- 2.
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Energy Cities, http://www.energy-cities.eu
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ICLEI, www.iclei.org
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FEDARENE, https://www.fedarene.org
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- 11.
European Union, Directive 2008/98 on waste, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/
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Samuele Furfari, Santa “mondezza” napoletana, Formiche, anno V – numero 31 – novembre 2008, http://www.focuseurope.org/sito/download/seminari_convegni/Articolo_Furfari_071108.pdf
- 13.
European Commission, An EU Strategy on heating and cooling, COM(2016) 51 final, 10 February 2016.
- 14.
Hospitals and hotels are, on average, the most energy-intensive buildings with continuous occupancy, but since their share is only 7% and 11%, respectively, of non-residential buildings, their total consumption is small.
- 15.
Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, Official Journal of the European Union L 307/1, 28.10.2014.
- 16.
Directive (EU) 2018/844 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings and Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency.
- 17.
Samuele Furfari, The changing world of energy and the geopolitical challenges, 2017, https://furfari.wordpress.com
- 18.
- 19.
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Santiago Solada, Urbaser, personal communication.
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- 22.
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- 23.
Commission Decision of 24.9.2013 on setting up the group of experts on maritime transport sustainability – The European Sustainable Shipping Forum (ESSF).
- 24.
Its composition can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/sustainable/news/2013-11-19-essf-composition_en.htm
- 25.
Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility, OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, pp. 129–171.
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Furfari, S. (2019). The Energy Dimension of Cities. In: Fernández-Prado, M., Domínguez Castro, L. (eds) City Policies and the European Urban Agenda. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10847-2_7
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