In the global effort to tackle climate change, cities have some of the greatest potential-and most importantly --
Make a difference.
As more and more global migrants enter the world's urban areas, this is expected to support at least two
By 2050, in the 30 s of the total population, experts believe that the city has no choice but to low
If the carbon system is to remain sustainable.
Energy will need to be the main focus of this effort.
From the expansion of renewable energy to the adoption of cuts --
With energy efficiency and storage technology, cities have the opportunity to significantly reduce their carbon footprint.
This is the focus of a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science, which discusses how cities integrate renewable energy and energy
Energy saving technology in urban landscape.
This could be a challenge considering the city
Dense buildings, dense population-
Traditional renewable energy technologies do not always apply.
It's not practical to fit an acre.
For example, an array of long solar panels located in the middle of Shanghai, or a 200-foot-
High wind turbines in central New York City.
But with a little creativity, researchers are developing new ideas and technologies specifically designed for urban life.
In the new paper, the authors of the University of California, Berkeley, Daniel Camann and Deborah Santer, evaluated some of the most promising works.
Here are some innovative solutions that may help city leaders in the ongoing fight against climate change and move towards lowcarbon society. See-
Through solar cells, although many forms of renewable energy may be useful to different cities around the world, solar energy may have the greatest appeal in the future.
"Basically in every scene, solar energy
Even in places that are not as ideal as tropical sunshine cities
Kammen, director of the renewable energy and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, said: "It can be said to be leading . ".
"It's just because there are so many ways to deploy solar energy right now.
"Traditionally, solar panels are limited to the roof of a building where there is space available and they may get the most sunlight.
But now, researchers have developed transparent solar panels that can actually be installed on windows of buildings to capture more sunlight.
This design allows the building to generate more power from solar energy in the future.
In addition, Kammen noted that researchers have developed technologies that allow them to "tune" solar cells to make the most of the light they can use.
For example, solar cells in places where there is a large amount of direct sunlight can be optimized for shorter wavelength radiation, while in places where clouds or scattered light are more, cells can be tuned to take advantage of longer wavelengths.
Wind turbines in small cities-
It evokes images of tall turbines with huge rotating blades
This does not seem to be the most practical renewable resource for densely populated urban areas.
But scientists are also looking for ways to optimize wind turbines in cities.
"What we're seeing now is a new generation of small supercells.
"Light, efficient wind turbines can be built in buildings," Kammen said . ".
Urban wind turbines have been tested in different cities around the world.
Bahrain's World Trade Center, for example, is the first skyscraper to be built with integrated wind turbines that can meet the building's energy needs of up to 15%.
Two turbines were installed at the Eiffel Tower.
Kammen and Sunter also noted that the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China, uses innovative wind turbines.
"The curved glass facade of the building funnel delivers air [turbines]at speeds of 1. 5 to 2.
"Five times the ambient wind speed makes the turbine generate 15 times more energy than the independent wind turbine," the authors wrote . ".
Kammen and Sunter noted in their paper that the garbage generated by the new life of urban garbage people is about twice as much as rural garbage.
As more and more people move to cities around the world, the management of urban garbage will only become a bigger problem.
By 2050, about two people are expected to flood in urban areas.
There are 5 billion people.
However, it is possible to use urban garbage in an intelligent way that is conducive to the urban energy landscape.
Landfill sites tend to emit gases, usually methane and carbon dioxide, which can be collected and burned for energy.
In addition, the solid waste itself can be burned and used to generate energy.
Of course, this is not entirely a renewable way of producing energy, but also a side effect of carbon emissions.
But the researchers point out that this incineration plant can build in a carbon capture system to collect excess emissions and improve the sustainability of this approach.
"Storage technology is going through some incredible rapid revolution, which can be said to be faster than the incredible growth of recent times.
We have seen it on solar, "Kammen said.
Renewable energy sources may become more competitive as storage technologies improve, and they can become useful even if the sun does not shine or the wind is not strong.
A key step in the expansion of renewable energy in cities may be the construction of new buildings --
Or old.
In order to allow space for the energy storage system, Kammen said.
The battery is a key form of storage, and its future is already bright.
In 2015, energy storage on the Internet soared, a key step in the expansion of solar energy nationwide.
Household batteries are also on the rise, and Tesla made headlines last year when it announced the launch of a new Powerwall battery.
Kammen also points to a creative and competitive form of storage involving a flywheel that uses a rotating disk or other rotating object to store kinetic energy.
A major advantage of flywheel storage is its ability to respond quickly-
According to Kammen, it is usually faster than the battery.
Of course, there are many other strategies to deploy in the future of the city.
Leveraging geothermal energy, improving clean transportation technology, expanding public transport, and building energy efficiency are other solutions that cities may continue to explore.
Depending on the location, climate, existing infrastructure and available resources of different cities, different cities may end up using different methods to meet energy needs and reduce their carbon footprint.
But in all cases, the integration of many different technological innovations may be necessary for success.
"The real message of this paper is that the technical base will continue to evolve," Kammen said . ".
Read more about energy and the environment: Why is the idea of Trump "renegotiating" the Paris climate deal so strange that trees kill diseases that plague California, scientists urge the public and leaders not to give up even in the case of rapid melting of the Arctic, 2016 more in the "unknown field" where you can register our weekly newsletter, follow us on Twitter.