Energy is recognized as an increasingly important growth factor in urban planning. With a team of planning professionals, CNT Energy examines existing local land use tools that can be updated to achieve long-lasting sustainable results. In addition, CNT Energy works with counties and municipalities to analyze how growth will impact electric infrastructure and to develop plans for managing increasing energy needs while minimizing costs, service disruptions, and environmental impacts. CNT Energy also develops innovative programs for improving energy efficiency and managing electricity demand in growing communities.
Recent projects with partners such as the local metropolitan planning agency, county officials, municipalities, non profit foundations, utilities, and residents have included a regional energy analysis to gauge consumption and potential for reducing it with specific strategies, and a project to provide every municipality in the region with a detailed report on its energy consumption.
CNT Energy’s work over the past ten years in developing the neighborhood based programs of the Community Energy Cooperative all relied on the innovative use of utility data obtained by CNT Energy through unprecedented data sharing agreements.
This has ranged from mapping individual electric substations and feeder loads and matching them with community demographics, to more recently aggregating individual account level data to create a detailed energy profile of the City of Chicago and its CO2e emissions, to CNT’s current work in mapping the energy use intensity of differing housing and business sectors of Chicago neighborhoods.
