Can Cities Reduce Global Warming?: Urban Development and the Carbon Cycle in Latin America (original) (raw)
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2009
to help develop a framework and advise on methods and approaches for integrating CO2 concerns into urban transportation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC 1 ). The UC Berkeley team conducted an analysis of the current portfolio of World Bank transport projects in the region and carried out interviews with Bank staff working in the region. The review of the World Bank's work was followed by a four-day workshop, held at UC Berkeley and attended by 17 members of the World Bank's staff. At the workshop, UC faculty presented information on greenhouse gas (GHG) science, issues, and impacts, other regions' responses to the GHG challenge, LAC urban transport problems and their GHG consequences, and opportunities for intervention to reduce GHG emissions in the LAC context. Presentations were interspersed with group discussions and commentary. Then, drawing upon the literature on GHG reduction strategies, LAC transport issues, the review of the World Bank portfolio and staff interviews, and the workshop discussions, the UC Berkeley team developed a framework for consideration of GHG emissions reduction strategies in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The UC Berkeley team also prepared guidance on methods and procedures that could be used to analyze GHG emissions, and developed recommendations on ways to enhance or strengthen the interventions proposed to the World Bank from the client countries.
Energy, 2011
This study examines the primary energy consumption and energy-related CO 2 emissions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela during the period 1990e2006. It also reviews important reforms in the energy sector of these countries as well as the promotion of energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy sources (RES). Using a decomposition analysis, results indicate that even though significant reductions in energy intensity have been achieved in Colombia, Mexico and in a lesser extent in Brazil and Argentina, the reduction of CO 2 emissions in these countries has not been significant due to an increased dependence on fossil fuels in their energy mix. Although the Latin American region has an important experience in the promotion of EE programs and renewable sources, the energy agenda of the examined countries focused mostly on the energy reforms during the analyzed period. The policy review suggests that further governmental support and strong public policies towards a more sustainable energy path are required to encourage a low carbon future in the region. (C. Sheinbaum). 1 281 JI projects in EIT countries have an annual average of 79,283,000 emission reduction units (ERUs), while 2247 CDM registered projects in developing countries have an annual average of 367,410,863 certified emission reductions (CERs).
Regional analysis across Colombian departments: A non-parametric study of energy use
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016
The analysis of energy use is important in emerging economies and especially in the manufacturing industries, as energy is a key factor of sustainable development. This research analyses and evaluates the features of regional energy use and efficiency across Colombian departments in the manufacturing industries for the period between 2005 and 2013 by applying two Malmquist data envelopment analysis models. The results indicate significant difference in energy use and efficiency across Colombian departments in the manufacturing industries. The results of the Malmquist indexes determine that various manufacturing industries across Colombian departments have a high potential to increase energy efficiency. Several manufacturing industries across Colombian departments have experienced gains in productivity, a growth in efficiency, an improvement in the relationship between inputs and outputs and scale production and advances in innovation through new technologies. This technique allows to make comparisons and improves energy policies to increase energy efficiency and decrease CO 2 emissions. The application of panel data models indicate that increases in energy prices, exports and productivity lead to better energy use, while a higher presence of energy intensive sectors and small and medium enterprises across Colombian departments reduce energy efficiency. The methods selected in this research generated consistent, robust and reliable estimates related to energy use and CO 2 emissions for regional studies. The findings of this study indicate that diverse energy policies should implement in the industrial sector across Colombian departments and that they should contribute to improvements in energy use, especially in small and medium companies and energy intensive sectors.
Domestic Electricity Consumption in Mexican Metropolitan Areas under Climate Change Scenarios
Atmósfera, 2021
The following estimates analyse human bioclimatic conditions due to climate change in three time horizons, as suggested by Article 2 of the Paris Agreement. Each scenario corresponds to an increase in the global average temperature (∆T) of 1 ºC, 1.5 ºC and 2 ºC, respectively. The measurements of residential electricity consumption for air conditioning were made in 30 metropolitan areas of Mexico with at least half a million inhabitants in 2010. Bioclimatic conditions also included estimates of the effects of urban heat islands (UHI). Use of heating will decrease and, in some cases, disappear, while the need for cooling will increase. Electricity consumption due to cooling is expected to increase in Mexicali, Reynosa-Río Bravo (on the border with the United States), Cancún, Villahermosa, and Veracruz (on the shores of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico). Urban areas like Toluca, Pachuca, Xalapa, San Luis Potosí, and Puebla-Tlaxcala used little or no energy for cooling in the se...
Ecological Economics
A considerable proportion of the greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted into the atmosphere is attributable to transport. In the case of large cities, GHG emissions associated with transport-especially commuting mobility-can be reduced by acting on the built environment. According to the Compact City Approach to urban sustainability, the amount of energy per capita used to move within a city-and therefore GHG emissions-can be reduced by increasing the density and mix of residential and economic functions and directing the city's growth toward greater centralization, or concentrated (not dispersed) decentralization near the subcenters of employment and the economic activity corridors along the main routes of communication. We tested the predictions of the Compact City Approach regarding the influence of the built environment on GHG emissions associated with commuting mobility in the Metropolitan Zone of Mexico Valley (MZMV). Our results indicate that almost all the predictions are fulfilled. Therefore, urban land policies in line with the Compact City Approach that seek to reduce the amount of emissions are fully relevant.
The objective of this study is to classify the group of countries that contributes to the emissions of GHG gases in relation to their electric power generation. The data used for this classification are those reported by OLADE during the period from 2006 to 2013. The results show that they were organized in four (4) clusters, dividing them into efficient and inefficient levels. In the highest efficient level is Brazil, while in the lowest efficient level are Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Argentina and Mexico are in the highest inefficient level, while the rest of the Latin American countries are in the lowest inefficient level. The countries located at the efficient and inefficient levels were labeled as most emitting countries and least emitting countries.
Urbanization and Energy Use In Economic Development
The Energy Journal, 1989
Urbanization and industrialization are the mostprominent features of economic development. The energyuse changes brought by indusm'alization are wellknown, but urbanization also imposes major, if subtle, changes in energy use. Urbanization shifts production activities former& undertaken in the home with little or no energy to outside producers who do use energy. One of the largest changesis thedailynavelofurbanresidents,primari& butnot exclusive&, to work Personal transportation inrural areas general4 entails little or no fuel use, while urban transportation does, particular& as incomes increase. Higher density living also induces substitutions of modem for traditional enmgy forms. Final&, food must be transported longer distances to urban consumers than to rural, agriculmral consumers. An aggregate, cross-sectional regression analysis is conductedfor 59 developing countries for 1980. Aggregate energy use per capita and per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) is regressed on per capita income (adjusted for purchasingpowerpa?iy), the percent of GPD coming from indusny, the percent of the population urbanized, arable population density, and several product-specific fuel prices. Holding constant per capita income, indusm'alization, population density, and fuel prices, the elasticiq of energy consumption with respect to a one percent increase in urbanization is between 0.35 and 0.48. The implication i s that, although increasingper capita income and industrialization are important sources of increases in energy consumption, urbanization alone is also an imponant source of increased consumption and could be a major factor in world energy demand over the next generation.