From fossil fuel society to low-carbon society: smart cities as a facilitating strategy

Abstract

Current environmental problems have their origin in changes in energy sources and the urban metabolism (linear-circular) throughout history. In response to these problems, Europe has defined an energy transition strategy, reinforced with circular economy and carbon capture strategies, with the aim of becoming the first climate-neutral continent. Cities play a very relevant role in energy transition because they host a large part of human activities and are responsible for a good part of consumption. In this paper, we propose a classification of the different societies throughout history from the environmental and energy point of view, which distinguishes four societies: organic, mineral, fossil fuel, and low-carbon. We analyse these considering urban and technological aspects as well as energy sources and consumption-related matters. Throughout history, energy transitions have taken a long time. The smart city is seen here as one of the innovations that will allow a quick and progressive implementation of the energy transition in Europe. The global scale of decarbonisation is seen, however, as one of the greatest challenges to overcome.