A study on the Potential of Expanding Decentralised Energy Systemalong in the Suburbs of Kobe City

Abstract

After the East Japan Great Earthquake, the demand of decentralized energy system is dramatically increased from the disaster prevention point. At the same time, the government recommends local authorities to make the Urban Renovation and Compact City Plan to make Compact-City-Network. Even the potential of introducing decentralized energy system into the city is expected to go up by concentrating the energy demands into the city by the Urban Renovation and Compact City Plan, the feasibility is unclear. The purpose of this study is to clarify the potential of introducing decentralized energy system in the suburbs along with the Urban Renovation and Compact City Plan. The paper firstly discusses the policy of energy infrastructure and the way of making the Urban Renovation and Compact City in Kobe city, followed by an analysis of the effectiveness of introducing decentralized energy system along with the Urban Renovation and Compact City to clarify the feasibility of that.