Energy Efficiency and Smart Cities

The European energy policy of 20% efficiency in 2020 is only achievable by a consequent replacement of for example standard drives and pumps by variable speed drives,classical oil or gas heating facilities by electrical heat pumps and central power stations by decentralized generators (DG) in order to bring the production closer to the demand. The increasing population in cities is an additional challenge and it requires an enormous effort for reducing the greenhouse gases. Especially, cities have a high and still increasing demand on electricity, gas, heating and cooling simultaneously. Therefore, an optimal use of multi energy systems (mostly based on DG) in the urban environment using smart control and communication technologies and the realization of a net zero energy living environment is the key towards highly efficient and carbon-reduced cities.