Energy and material flows of megacities.
Understanding the drivers of energy and material flows of cities is important for addressing global environmental challenges. Accessing, sharing, and managing energy and material resources is particularly critical for megacities, which face enormous social stresses because of their sheer size and complexity. Here we quantify the energy and material flows through the world's 27 megacities with populations greater than 10 million people as of 2010. Collectively the resource flows through megacities are largely consistent with scaling laws established in the emerging science of cities. Correlations are established for electricity consumption, heating and industrial fuel use, ground transportation energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and steel production in terms of heating-degree-days, urban form, economic activity, and population growth. The results help identify megacities exhibiting high and low levels of consumption and those making efficient use of resources. The correlation between per capita electricity use and urbanized area per capita is shown to be a consequence of gross building floor area per capita, which is found to increase for lower-density cities. Many of the megacities are growing rapidly in population but are growing even faster in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and energy use. In the decade from 2001-2011, electricity use and ground transportation fuel use in megacities grew at approximately half the rate of GDP growth.
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M4J 3K1, Canada; christopher.kennedy@utoronto.ca.
Christopher A
CA
Kennedy
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M4J 3K1, Canada;
Iain
I
Stewart
Enel Foundation, 00198, Rome, Italy;
Angelo
A
Facchini
Enel Foundation, 00198, Rome, Italy;
Igor
I
Cersosimo
Enel Foundation, 00198, Rome, Italy;
Renata
R
Mele
School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China 100875;
Bin
B
Chen
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M4J 3K1, Canada;
Mariko
M
Uda
Department of Energy and Environment, TERI University, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, DL 110070, India;
Arun
A
Kansal
Department of Industrial Engineering, De La Salle University, Malate, Manila, 1004 Metro Manila, Philippines;
Anthony
A
Chiu
Department of Landscape and Ecological Planning, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea 151-742;
Kwi-Gon
KG
Kim
Coimbra Institute of Postgraduate Research in Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, University City, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-901, Brazil;
Carolina
C
Dubeux
Coimbra Institute of Postgraduate Research in Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, University City, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-901, Brazil;
Emilio
E
Lebre La Rovere
Coimbra Institute of Postgraduate Research in Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, University City, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-901, Brazil;
Bruno
B
Cunha
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095;
Stephanie
S
Pincetl
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Laing O'Rourke Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom;
James
J
Keirstead
Institute of Geography, University of Paris, 75005 Paris, France;
Sabine
S
Barles
Department of Accounting, Trisakti University, Jakarta Barat, DKI Jakarta 11440, Indonesia;
Semerdanta
S
Pusaka
Department of Accounting, Trisakti University, Jakarta Barat, DKI Jakarta 11440, Indonesia;
Juniati
J
Gunawan
Department of Architecture, University of Lagos, Lagos 23401, Nigeria;
Michael
M
Adegbile
Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran;
Mehrdad
M
Nazariha
Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh;
Shamsul
S
Hoque
Department of Geography, Hunter College, New York, NY 10065;
Peter J
PJ
Marcotullio
Environmental Strategies Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Government of Buenos Aires City, Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Florencia
F
González Otharán
EcoConServ Environmental Solutions, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt 11211;
Tarek
T
Genena
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M4J 3K1, Canada;
Nadine
N
Ibrahim
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi 75270, Pakistan;
Rizwan
R
Farooqui
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Guanajuato, CP 36000, Guanajuato, Mexico; and.
Gemma
G
Cervantes
Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, 34469, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ahmet Duran
AD
Sahin
industrial ecology; sustainability; sustainable development; urban metabolism; urbanization