Dear Colleagues,

Cities are the primary concern of world leaders because they are the biggest contributors to climate change. According to United Nation Habitat, cities nowadays represent 78% of the global energy consumption and are responsible for 60% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This situation is unlikely to change in the future as cities will comprise around 70% of the world’s population by 2050. This is a challenging situation for world leaders, decision-makers and also for the energy providers. Energy is being the key aspect to transform cities into greener and more livable places to preserve not only the comfort of these large settlements but also a healthy environment. Leaders are in a way forced to pay even more attention to green energies in order to provide the resources that citizens need to live in a comfortable and safe manner. It is very important, at the same time, to reduce the carbon footprint of the cities because of the aforementioned ambition.

European Union has created its own roadmap. This challenging strategy is called Green Deal, and has unveiled the concept of Positive Energy District (PED). PEDs are gaining significant attention. PEDs consist of several connected buildings (either new, retrofitted or even a combination of both) that actively manage the energy flows through the integration of renewable energy systems (RES), the deployment of smart grids, the facilitation of flexibility strategies, etc. PEDs rely on the implementation of bio-based materials, local renewable energy sources, local (on-site, virtual) storage, distributed microgrids, demand-response strategies, cutting-edge energy management for electricity and/or thermal energy, citizen interaction through ICT tools, and prosumption as new energy business models within the boundaries of the PED.

The main objective of this special issue is to look for new solutions to successfully reach 2050 having a green economy that fully meets the Sustainable Development Goals to keep the temperature increase below 2 ⁰C. We truly believe that Positive Energy Districts are the cornerstone of this energy transition era, since cities, urban areas and highly populated metropolises are the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and it is possible to turn them into self-sustainable and greener places.

Dr. Tony Castillo-Calzadilla
Dr. Carlos Quesada Granja
Guest Editors

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• Positive Energy Districts (PEDs)
• PED design
• IA application to PED design
• PED standardization
• PED methodologies
• PED planning
• PED modeling
• PED simulation
• PED deployment
• PED replication
• Zero energy districts
• Sustainable urbanization