smart cities

The key to ensuring municipal ownership of the GHG reduction is in understanding the types of sources of municipal GHG emissions. Municipal GHG emissions, like those of any other organization, include numerous sources of direct and indirect emissions from within and beyond the geopolitical boundaries of the municipality.

Rather than expanding current wind and solar power sources, energy experts indicate it is more crucial to eliminate and restructure current consumption methods. Jim Sweeney, an energy economist from Stanford University, says "freeing up 10 percent of current demand would leave more energy available than expanding all current wind and solar production tenfold." Echelon, a Silicon Valley-based company, indicates certain areas known as "smart cities" are doing this using networking technology.