Thermal Science

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CITIES IN ENERGY TRANSITION: LOCAL RESPONSES TO NATIONAL CHALLENGES

ABSTRACT

Given that cities are major consumers of energy and significant sources of carbon dioxide emissions, this research aims to explore pathways for their decarbonization. At the same time, recognizing that cities are not isolated energy islands but integral parts of national energy systems, the study investigates how the Energy Sector Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia up to 2040 with Projections up to 2050 can be effectively scaled and adapted to the local context, using the city of Kragujevac as a case study. Three development scenarios were analyzed: Scenario 1: implementation of National Development Strategy measures that are feasible at the local level, Scenario 2: enhancement of the Strategy by incorporating local potentials not currently addressed in the national framework, and Scenario 3: further development of the district heating system to enable greater integration of RES. The research employs a multi-criteria decision analysis approach, involving diverse stakeholders, including citizens, academia, NGO, and local policymakers. Through surveys, priority criteria for evaluating the proposed measures were identified, enabling a comparative analysis of the scenarios. The results provide valuable insights into local preferences and capacities for energy transition and offer recommendations for improving strategic alignment between national and local energy planning.

KEYWORDS

energy planning, cities, local energy transition, EnergyPLAN, decarbonization

PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-05-26

PAPER REVISED: 2025-08-31

PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-09-10

PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2025-11-01

DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250526175N

CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file

THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2026, VOLUME 30, ISSUE No. 2, PAGES [1519 - 1533]

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Cities in energy transition: Local responses to national challenges

© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence

THERMAL SCIENCE

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Jelena R Nikolić

Dušan R Gordić

Dubravka N Živković

Vladimir J Vukašinović

Ilija R Batas-Bjelić

CITIES IN ENERGY TRANSITION: LOCAL RESPONSES TO NATIONAL CHALLENGES