POCACITO - Energy

FortZED Fort Collins

clf — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 12:09:43 +0000

FortZED (Fort Collins Zero Energy District) focuses on the downtown area of Fort Collins and aims to transform it into a zero energy district. On the path to a better energy future, FortZED combines technology developed by university researchers, city utility experts and businesses. The project offers a testing ground to experiment with new sustainable energy technologies thus supporting Fort Collins in its movement towards a more efficient and sustainable future. Specific aims of FortZED are to increase renewable energy production, to improve energy efficiency, to manage peak energy usage and to adapt smart grid solutions. The project has several programmes to follow in order to achieve its aim.

De Bonne - Energy efficiency assessment in an eco-district

clf — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 10:34:31 +0000

The City of Grenoble is actively engaged in the implementation of sustainable development policies and practices. Grenoble took advantage of the realization of an innovative district scaled project finished in 2008, for implementing a monitoring programme which aimed at assessing the effective energy efficiency achieved in an every-day life situation. The De Bonne District in the City of Grenoble was the first urban eco-district in France. In terms of energy efficiency, the project not only anticipated eight years of national thermal legislation for new buildings, but it also was pioneering in terms of evaluating and tracking energy performance in the long term. Until then, most of the existing European eco-districts did not have any specific assessments of energy performances.

Climate smart Hyllie - green district project

clf — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 08:09:59 +0000

Hyllie is the largest development area in Malmö, and is planned to become the most climate smart district of the entire Öresund region, including 9,000 homes when completed. In this district, solutions will be tested that can act as role models and good examples for the rest of Malmö and for other cities. The energy supply will be 100% renewable or reused (energy from waste or waste water) by 2020, and the district is a major transportation hub with a train station and a “park and ride” garage for bikers. Other features include mandatory sorting of food waste, smart grids for energy consumption, urban gardening and environmentally certified buildings. The district shall help to achieve the energy strategy for Malmö, and be a dense, mixed and green showcase of sustainable city development.

Whitehill & Bordon regeneration project

clf — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 08:01:58 +0000

The regeneration of Whitehill & Bordon is meant to transform the area into a low carbon, green and sustainable city. The town is expected to grow from 6,000 homes to over 9,000 when fully built, and new jobs and a new city centre will be created. Inclusion processes have been used to develop a master plan for the area, including projects for renewable and efficient energy supply, transport solutions, nature conservation and new business and work opportunities.

Inovgrid - Èvora Inovcity smart energy grid

clf — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 13:34:11 +0000

Inovgrid is an innovative pilot smart-grids project that was implemented in the city of Évora (Inovcity). The initiative provides smart meters to the electricity consumers’ resident in Évora, free of cost. These smart meters collect data about individual consumption profiles and collective grid demands. After a few years of data collection this project enables and optimizes the smooth integration of decentralized energy generation, and electric vehicles (charging infrastructure) into the grid. The project also promotes automated grid management, the improvement of the quality of energy services, the reduction of grid operating costs, and the promotion of energy efficiency and sustainability while simultaneously reducing national energy dependence.The project was implemented in 2010 by EDP - Energias de Portugal, a power company, and included the installation of 30,000 energy boxes plus 40,000 distribution transformer controllers and the respective integration with the company’s systems. In parallel, with the installation of this hardware, the project has proceeded with the definition of working groups dedicated to the analysis and quantification of the potential benefits of the installed technologies.The project comprises several features such as smart metering, public lighting, charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, energy efficiency and client interaction interfaces.

SAMSET Project - energy in urban Africa

clf — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 12:49:07 +0000

Urbanization rates in Africa are the highest in the world, and the delivery of services in most Sub-Saharan countries is inadequate to keep up with increasing needs. Supporting African Municipalities in Sustainable Energy Transitions (SAMSET) is an EPSRC/DFID/DECC funded project that seeks to develop a knowledge exchange framework to support local and national bodies involved in municipal energy planning for an effective transition to sustainable energy use in urban areas. Through close partnership with six cities in three African countries, the project aims to develop an information base from which to support strategy development and priority initiatives in cities, and facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building. The project’s aim is to design, test, and evaluate a knowledge exchange framework to facilitate the implementation of an effective sustainable energy transition in Africa’s Sub-Saharan cities.

Low Carbon City Initiative Shanghai Pilot Project

clf — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:30:22 +0000

The most populous country with the one of fastest growing economies in the world, China faces pressing environmental issues brought on by its rapid urbanization, industrial expansion and energy consumption. Emphasis has been made by the government to adopt climate change and energy measures in recent policies to address these issues. In order to help China achieve its 2010 commitment to reduce its carbon intensity by 40% and to realise a 15% share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption by 2020, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced a partnership with China’s cities to implement its Low Carbon City Initiative (LCCI) project. In 2008 Shanghai became one of the first two Chinese cities to join the LCCI project. The project sets its objective on green city development through energy efficiency, renewable energy and technologies that reduce carbon emissions.

Low-carbon and sustainable development

clf — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:29:42 +0000

Shenzhen City, established as “New Town”[1] in 1979, was the first Special Economic Zone and opening-up window of China. In the past 35 years, the city has witnessed a continuous and amazingly fast economic development. In 2014, the per capita GDP of Shenzhen exceeded 24,000 USD while the total population was approaching 11 million. On the other hand, since 2010, Shenzhen has put more and more great efforts into low-carbon city construction. Clear and achievable goals were set up and all kinds of effective measures indented to reach these goals were taken, including the foundation of a carbon trading system in 2013.

[1] “New Town”: planned city/ planned city development

District Heating Network & CHP

clf — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 14:12:42 +0000

The Rostock district heating network now supplies more than 60% of households with heat and hot water. The main energy source is a combined heat and power (CHP) natural gas plant. Since 1994, the waste heat from a bituminous coal power plant is also used. Centrally produced and distributed energy from a district heating network is more efficient and less air-polluting than having single oil-fired furnaces in every household. In 2007, the City of Rostock released a regulation “Fernwärmesatzung“, which states that every household has the obligation to connect to the heating network, unless other environmentally friendly heating systems were installed. In 2014, Rostock decided on a climate protection masterplan to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 95%. This includes reaching very ambitious renewable energy targets by 2050. The energy sources for the district heating system will change to renewables as soon as the existing plants need to be replaced. The district heating network is ready for renewable energy.

Energy Alliance

clf — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 13:26:49 +0000

The Rostock Energy Alliance (Energiebündnis Rostock) was founded in April 2011 by the City of Rostock and nine other municipal stakeholders from sectors such as public transport, housing and waste and water management. Their united goal is a locally based energy supply fully sourced from renewables. While CO₂ emissions should be reduced, quality of life should not. The Alliance meets face-to-face biannually to exchange knowledge and experience, as well as to seek synergies for various constituent activities. The Alliance aims to reduce the annual CO₂ emission per person to 2.5t or less by 2030. Compared to 2010, this is equal to a 2% reduction per year. To date (2015), the Energy Alliance supported the city in the creation of an energy transition concept and the current implementation of associated measures, in addition to the foundation of an energy cooperative.