The Energy Smart Communities Initiative (ESCI) was launched in November 2010 by the U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). ESCI covers four main pillars—Smart Transport, Smart Buildings, Smart Grids, and Smart Jobs and Consumers—along with the cross-cutting examples of Low Carbon Model Towns.
One of the components of ESCI is the Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP), a tool for collecting and sharing best practices for creating energy smart communities. The KSP, established at the EWG-41 meeting in Canada in May 2011, is designed to aid in cataloging and sharing information and best practices that are developed for ESCI’s areas of focus. It presents an opportunity for researchers, scientists, academics and the general public to learn, engage and share the latest in sustainability and energy efficiency.
The KSP has been produced by the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Urban Research and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research with support from the National Development Council (from 2011~2017) and the Energy Administration, MOEA (from 2018~present).
A Guide for the ESCI-KSP website is available, which explains the website navigation and functionality.