Efficiency in YYC: Visualizing The City of Calgary's Energy Consumption

For example, the transit system's LRT trains are now fully powered by wind power, and a growing solar power system delivers electricity to its municipal buildings (Dodge and Thompson, 2016). In a dramatic initiative that is observable from space, Calgary has recently completed its conversion of 80,000 streetlights, which used to account for 20% of the city's total energy consumption in 2012, to 50% more efficient LED lamps (The City of Calgary, 2018c; Rieger, 2015).

In addition to the environmental grounds for these innovations, the city will enjoy economic benefits not only through direct energy savings, but also on the incoming carbon taxes imposed by the governments of Alberta and Canada. The City of Calgary continues planning for its future with ambitious goals of reducing city-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below 2005 levels before 2020 and by 80% before 2050 (The City of Calgary, 2018a).