Planning Interventions for Neighborhood to Minimize Electricity Demand

With the rapid growth of urbanisation, cities have been recognised to be significant global energy consumers highly dependent on fossil fuels. A considerable amount of non-renewable resources are being utilised for electricity generation and residential sector in urban area has become a major electricity consumer. Studies have revealed that the urban form places a significant impact on energy demand of buildings. In this study, by model simulation method, impact of urban form and building orientation on electricity demand for cooling and lighting has been calculated and planning interventions formulated for energy efficient residential sector in Jaipur city. Energy Simulation has been carried out on basic urban forms (detached, semi-detached and row housing) in cardinal directions with similar parameter for climatic & topographical conditions, income group, residential unit design and multi-storied building blocks. Simulation results stipulate that with change in urban form in same orientation, maximum 7% saving can be achieved in annual energy consumption for cooling.