Sustainable Development Pathways for Energies in Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Abstract

Abstract Urban agglomerations consume energy from various sectors，such as transportation sector, industry sector, and building sector. Meanwhile, the exchange and optimization of energy consumption in these sectors contributes to the sustainable development of urban agglomeration energy systems. However, the overall impact of the cross-sector energy optimization and complementarity has not been quantitatively analyzed. Here, we focused on the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration in China and proposed an optimization framework for energy, environment, and economy. The framework considered four perspectives: transportation sector, power sector, industry sector, and building sector, in order to determine the most sustainable development path for the urban agglomeration. We found that this strategy resulted in a 53.1 billion tons increase in CO2 emissions reduction in the region. The results of emission reduction varied across sectors, ranging from 4.5 to 22.2 billion tons CO2 equivalent, and across cities, ranging from 7.1 to 4688.1 Mt. The results suggest that the core cities in the urban agglomeration can take on a leadership role. By promoting cross-sector collaboration and implementing energy recycling, the energy efficiency of surrounding cities can be greatly improved, leading to the sustainable development of the urban agglomeration.