Spatial Analysis of the Impacts of City Form on Energy Consumption in Karaj Metropolis

Increase in urban population has led to the uncontrolled and unplanned expansion of cities, which has led to an increase in energy consumption, including electricity. The aim of this study is to analyze the impacts of Karaj’s form on electricity consumption and the length of power network lines as carriers. The required data of this applied and descriptive-analytical study was collected through the library resources and going to organizations. The statistical population is 173 neighborhoods of Karaj city. The geographic weight regression (GWR) tool was used to determine the spatial variation between the independent and dependent variables. The results showed that the form of Karaj city highly compacts the neighborhoods of Regions 5, 1, 7, and 2, but the neighborhoods of Regions 3 and 4 have a spiral state due to the villas and the high infrastructure of the villa gardens in part of the city. Based on the results obtained from local weight regression, the population density index as one of the important indicators of city form has the highest impact on electricity consumption in Karaj (R2 equals 78). That is, the city form index, according to this index at the 95% confidence level, justifies 78% of electricity consumption. Moreover, the entropy index as one of the indicators of the independent variable (city form) with (R2=0.66) has the highest impact on the length of Karaj electricity network lines. Therefore, the results showed that the form of the city of Karaj has a spatial relationship of more than 0.50% on the electricity consumption and the length of the lines of the power grid of the city.