A state of the art city-scale energy, emissions and finance model

Decarbonisation. 100% renewable energy. Drawdown. Fossil fuel free.

CityInSight enables cities to explore energy and emissions scenarios for policy, finance and infrastructure.

It even fundamentally incorporates the new Global GHG Protocol for Cities.

The Imperative
Cities around the world are increasingly embracing ambitious energy and emissions reduction strategies. The transition to a low carbon and renewable energy future requires ambitious new city policies and major infrastructure investment decisions. A holistic and rigorous approach is needed to justify these efforts.

History
Sustainability Solutions Group developed the first Canadian model to evaluate existing and potential municipal policies and actions on greenhouse gas emissions and energy almost ten years ago. The modelling approach is unique in that it includes a spatial focus and multiple dimensions, and it is open source. The model has guided the development of energy and emissions targets and actions for over 30 municipalities and regional governments in Canada.

The New CityInSight
SSG and whatIf? Technologies have partnered to deliver a sophisticated energy, emissions and finances model. CityInSight incorporates the Global GHG Protocol for Cities, a GHG accounting framework launched as the new global standard by the World Resources Institute, ICLEI, C40, UN Habitat and others at the UN Conference of the Parties in Lima in 2014. CityInSight has a web interface and many applications, helping cities to determine the best plans and actions to take on the path to sustainable, low carbon communities.

Well-informed policy, actions and decisions

CityInSight is a community energy and emissions model with integrated spatially-explicit land-use and transportation components, and stocks-and-flows accounting. The model enables bottom-up accounting for energy supply and demand, including energy sources (e.g.: renewables, coal, oil, gas), energy consuming stocks (e.g.: vehicles, appliances, dwellings) and all intermediate energy flows.

Answering the Big Questions

CityInSight is designed from the perspective of local governments, focusing on their specific spheres of influence including land-use, urban form, buildings, transportation, waste management, district energy and others.

Which Strategies?
What are the best strategies to eliminate GHG emissions from our City over the long term?
What is the role of land-use?
What are the development and land-use decisions we need to consider in achieving our climate targets?
What are the carbon reductions?
How many tons of CO2 will be reduced by each city-scale action?
What about jobs?
How many jobs with the plan and its actions generate?
Which resources to mobilize?
What is the most effective use of resources to reduce energy consumption and emissions?
What are the cost savings?
How will different strategies impact household energy bills?