Energysheds and the Urban Energy Transition: A Method for Assessing Spatial Imbalances in Energy Flow

Urban areas are facing the challenges of transitioning toward a low-carbon society as a response to climate change. However, the benefits and burdens of this energy transition are not evenly distributed across cities. To address this disparity, the concept of energy justice has emerged. The issue of urban energy justice can be understood as a manifestation of geographical energy disparities where energy-consuming regions enjoy significant benefits, while energy producing regions suffer from externalities. In this paper, we propose a method that utilizes the notion of “energyshed” to align city energy consumption with power plant energy generation, addressing geographical energy (im)balances. The proposed method maps the spatial supply–demand relationships between regions and power plants without relying on proprietary algorithms or territory-specific cutoff distances. Although spatial imbalance alone does not establish energy injustice, the resulting energysheds provide a diagnostic basis for identifying energy-generating regions that bear disproportionate burdens and for informing a fairer allocation of resources during the energy transition.