Appraisement of geographic information systems as tool supporting energy management in the cities

Polish international obligations, in particular the European Union and European Commission directives, pose a real challenge for Poland to radically reduce emissions of atmospheric pollutions and significantly increase the usage of energy coming from renewable sources in the overall energy balance of the country. These goals seem to be difficult to achieve, nevertheless the development and implementation of innovative concepts is always a step forward. Nowadays the renewable energy sources seem to be the panacea for the problems of pollutions and energy saving. Many inventors and scientists work on concept of smart grid technology. The basic concept of this technology is producing energy directly in the cities. It seems to be a good idea but often in urban areas there is no place for new installations or cost of land is the barrier. Therefore to produce and manage energy directly in the cities, we have to take into account many aspects such as cost of land, location, available renewable energy sources, number of inhabitants, electrical network, terrain obstacles, and local plans. Here is the good place to use geographic information system technology which can help us to analyze all these issues and combine spatial, satellite, and statistical data to create one coherent concept of managing various sources of energy in the cities. The aim of this study is to consider opportunities of using geographic information systems in supporting process of energy management in the cities. It was taken into account many important elements: solar conditions, impact of cloudiness on value of solar radiation, spatial data, buildings and electrical network, obstacles, and number of inhabitants. It is all for identify the advantages and disadvantages of geographic information system in the analysis of solar energy potential in the city.