Abstract

Incorporating Energy Consumption in Traditional Planning Processes
Track: Urban and Regional Planning
Authors: Jessica Spanier, Lindy Wordlaw

Historically, GIS planning involves changing populations and land use patterns. Applications are expanding to areas such as energy, with rising energy consumption and costs eliciting additional economic and environmental concerns for municipalities, businesses and households. Electricity and natural gas consumption in buildings is the greatest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the nation.

The Kane County 2040 Energy Plan addresses energy consumption as a planning issue, because land use, transportation, codes and infrastructure siting all directly impact energy.

Premise-level energy consumption data was obtained from local utilities, geocoded and analyzed to present a spatial distribution of energy use patterns. Future energy demand forecasts were developed to inform long-range land use planning and mitigate the negative impacts of growth.

The plan is now seen as a model in energy planning throughout the Chicago region as planners are addressing energy and advancing the adoption of sustainability principles and initiatives in their communities.