green infographics

A team of researchers from Arizona State University have developed a new software system, called Hestia, that is capable of estimating greenhouse gas emissions across entire urban landscapes, all the way down to street level and individual buildings.

The project, known as Hestia after the Greek goddess of home and hearth, allows the team to combine extensive public database “data-mining” with traffic simulation and building-by-building energy-consumption modeling.

According to researchers, Hestia’s increased detail and accuracy will help cities, and possibly even other nations, identify where an investment in energy and greenhouse gas savings would have the greatest impact...

Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S.

 

This goes nicely with the carbon footprint data that was recently posted.  Although that was data aggregated at the national level and this is on the 'world realms' level, many of the same patterns are visible without the same specificity. 

Via syarifah dalimunthe, Seth Dixon

The Modi Research Group at Columbia created the New York City Energy Mapping Project back in February. The interactive map represents the total annual building energy consumption at the block level and at the taxlot level for New York City, and is expressed in kilowatt hours (kWh) per square meter of land area. The data comes from a mathematical model based on statistics, not private information from utilities, to estimate the annual energy consumption values of buildings throughout the five boroughs. To see the break down of the type of energy being used, for which purpose and in what quantity, hover over or click on a block or taxlot.

New York City’s appetite for energy is immense, making it a revealing case study for how people use — and waste — energy.

“Midtown Manhattan has more energy use than the whole country of Kenya, and New York state uses more energy than all of sub-Saharan Africa,” said Vijay Modi, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University. “There is just this intense use of energy in cities like New York.”

A new project by Modi and graduate student Bianca Howard aims to put the city’s energy consumption on the map. The results of their work are displayed on an interactive map estimating the total annual energy consumption for nearly every building across the five boroughs.

Their research allows New Yorkers to get a rough idea of how much energy is used inside their homes, offices and businesses — and it offers a peek into the building next door, down the street and across the city. The goal of the project is to take some of the mystery out of energy usage..