Chula Vista Research Project: Integrating Energy Analysis and Planning at the Neighborhood Scale

Abstract

This chapter provides a summary of a research project in Chula Vista, CA, looking at how land use, transportation, urban design features, and building energy technologies can be incorporated into development projects to produce significant energy savings. Researchers modeled these technologies and design features for two development sites in Chula Vista, CA, and assessed their impact on the environment and the existing electric and natural gas utility infrastructure. The integrated use of these technologies was shown to reduce aggregate energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of a large-scale development project by as much as 45% when compared with a Title-24-compliant project. Researchers concluded, however, that fundamental market transformation and program support from state agencies and utilities are necessary to achieve these gains.