Plan4DE Webinar I: SSG’s district energy model: ‘Relationship between built environment and district energy’
A key variable in determining the feasibility and cost effectiveness of district energy is heating density – the amount of heating energy demand required over a specific area. Energy density is dependent upon a number of factors including climate, urban structure, building morphology, building use, building systems and occupant behaviour. Planners, when assessing future built environments, face a complex trade-off in that they need to contribute to and plan for decreased energy density at the building scale, while increasing energy density at the neighbourhood or district scale to increase the feasibility of district energy. This webinar will explore some of these factors and their influence on energy density, and highlight strategies for improved planning and urban form to increase the feasibility of district energy.
Here is the recording too for those who missed the session, or need to recap on all the information she shared with us!
Mel de Jager, SSG Associate P.Eng, MPlan, PMP, LEED BD+C
Mel is a sustainability planner, civil engineer, urban designer, researcher and energy analyst. She focuses on planning and implementation strategies for sustainable and low carbon urban infrastructure (water, waste, energy, transportation, green infrastructure). Mel has particular interests in community infrastructure resilience, adaptability and economics. Her projects have been diverse, ranging from watershed management plans and municipal green infrastructure design, to urban growth strategies, community energy plans and GHG modeling.
Mel is currently working with an international team in the development of Plan4DE, an open-source planning tool to improve understanding of the relationship between district energy and the built environment from a planner’s perspective, and conduct pre-feasibility scans for potential district energy at the city-scale.
