The Irish government has set a target of reducing energy demand across the economy by 20% by 2020. The EU has similar 2020 targets, at least 10% of energy used in transport and 20% of overall energy used is to come from renewable resources. Globally cities consume 75% of the world’s energy, addressing how energy is distributed and consumed within urban environments will be key to meeting this target.

The Future Cities’ Energy research strand focuses on technology development of platforms that enable services for urban energy management. The approaches investigated include forecasting energy demand, improving energy efficiency within the built environment and integrating renewable energy sources into the electrical grid.