How Emerging Technologies Are Finally Matching the Policy Leverage of Cities with Their Political Ambitions

U.S. cities are typically “policy-takers,” operating within a narrow range of possibilities for housing, transportation, education, health, and energy policy as defined by states and the federal government. Cities’ energy use is bound to a large network of interlocking infrastructure, market, and policy systems—all of these cities have limited capacity and ability to directly influence. Despite these governance limitations on local energy control, the past decade has brought remarkable technological innovations that are set to disrupt the status quo, creating opportunities for cities to become powerful platforms for emerging clean energy systems. The generation, movement, and sale of energy is becoming increasingly decentralized. Whereas cities are already playing a powerful role in shaping local adaptation to climate impacts, the decentralization of energy will increasingly allow cities to play a pivotal role in emission mitigation as well. Thanks to distributed generation, battery storage, smart metering, microgrids, load aggregation, and electrification, cities are beginning to look like “prosumers”—both producing and consuming electricity depending on the time and day. This new autonomy will allow cities to leverage local policies targeting improved efficiency and circularity, decarbonization, renewable fuels, and offsets, thereby furthering a just and efficient energy transition.