Why community energy planning matters now

Cities drive more than two-thirds of global energy consumption and over 70% of CO₂ emissions — and with urban populations projected to reach two-thirds of the global population by 2050, the stakes are rising fast.

🌆 Why it's important: Phoenix and other fast-growing urban areas face rising pressure from rapid development, aging infrastructure, extreme weather and the explosive growth of data centers.

• They're also where infrastructure failures cascade fastest into disasters.

Here's the deal: Traditional, siloed energy planning is no longer enough.

• In Phoenix, where extreme heat pushes the grid past its limits, residents feel the impact first through outages, higher costs, increased strain on essential systems and safety risks.

The challenge: Even well-run cities are struggling with a mismatch between what their grids were designed for and what they must support now.

• Weather extremes overload systems previously sized for milder conditions.
• Rapid electrifications from EVs, heat pumps and induction appliances add load faster than utilities can upgrade.
• Exploding data center growth pushes cities to power infrastructure that didn't exist 10 years ago.
• Aging assets near the end of their service life.

👉 What you need to know: Cities can prevent these failures.

Community Energy Planning (CEP) offers a proven, scalable pathway for cities to future-proof energy systems to help equip planners with the tools to lead.

The strategy: CEP shifts city decision-making from reactive to proactive.

• It provides a framework that brings together utilities, developers, policymakers and communities together to assess local energy needs, map future demand and integrate solutions in advance.
• Instead of addressing energy needs after growth occurs, planners gain the ability to evaluate infrastructure capacity, regulatory constraints and future load patterns in advance.

🌟 The impact: When planners integrate energy analysis into their review process, cities gain the ability to:

• Anticipate grid stress before new development occurs.
• Shape growth around areas with available capacity.
• Protect residents from the outages and emergency costs that accompany reactive planning.

The proof: Cities like New York, Amsterdam, and Singapore already demonstrate what proactive planning can unlock:

• Smart grid modernization.
• Advanced metering.
• Renewable integration and flexible load management at scale

🤝 Okay, but: CEP provides a roadmap; district energy systems (DES) give cities the hardware to execute it.

• DES creates efficiency and stability by centralizing heating and cooling for entire districts rather than relying on individual buildings.
• They integrate tools like high-efficiency heat pumps, thermal storage, geothermal exchange and smart microgrids that strengthen resilience and reduce emissions.

Plus, plus, plus: DES can also help strengthen a city's economy by attracting corporations with the low-carbon infrastructure that many companies now require.

• With coordinated planning and DES in place, cities can cut costs by shifting demand away from peak hours and freeing up grid capacity as energy use grows.

Worth a mention: Cordia is one of the companies that designs and operates these systems, running district energy networks across North America that provide reliable, low-carbon energy to campuses, medical centers and downtown districts.

Some examples: Together, CEP and DES strengthen resilience in real communities by treating buildings, infrastructure and energy supply as interconnected.

• Phoenix's district cooling system serving major civic, educational and commercial buildings has delivered 99.99% reliability since 2001 — supporting more than 12 million square feet of development through some of the hottest summers on record.
• Minneapolis relied on Cordia's district network to keep more than 100 buildings heated during the 2022 winter storms, maintaining service even after gas supply was disrupted..
• Boston's Innovation District advanced a path towards both climate resilience and economic growth by implementing a high-performance district strategy to expand affordable housing and reduce emissions across the neighborhood.
• The Bellevue, WA 2030 District will cut energy and water use by 50% to reach zero emissions by 2040, using benchmarking tools, clean building compliance and utility incentives to accelerate district-wide decarbonization.

The takeaway: Urban resilience hinges on designing energy systems that anticipate stress instead of absorbing its consequences.

• Cordia supports cities as they make this shift, helping them bridge planning and implementation through long-term infrastructure design.

Learn how coordinated energy planning can strengthen your city's future.