Smart Environment

In Europe, more heat is wasted during electricity production than is needed to heat all buildings. Therefore, the potential for improvements in the heating sector is immense. By collecting the wasted heat from both industry and electricity production and using smart district heating grids, it is possible to save all of the natural gas currently used for heating buildings in Europe. This would result in not only monetary savings, but also in a consideration CO2 emissions reduction.

The Green Bank, which the DC Council voted to establish in July, will provide public money in the form of loans, leases and other mechanisms to help fund green projects that expand renewable energy, reduce energy costs and GHG emissions, and create green jobs. The Green Bank will initially be funded at $7 million a year for five years, with that money generated from the city’s renewable energy development fund, which was created for utilities and energy suppliers to pay into in the form of alternative compliance payments if they do not meet carbon emissions goals in DC.

In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative.

CAPE, Community Action Platform for  Energy project will develop an interactive website designed to assess energy use for individuals and communities in Milton Keynes. It will provide data and therefore information for its users. The website will be made available free of charge to residents, community groups, landlords and local businesses. It will give them a ready-to-use tool to jump-start and scale-up energy projects, and to access opportunities for rapidly growing market for energy efficiency and renewable energy systems.

PLANHEAT will develop and validate an integrated and easy-to-use tool to support local authorities in selecting, simulating and comparing alternative low carbon and economically sustainable scenarios for heating and cooling. It will be validated in the three PLANHEAT cities.

The STORM project – Developing an innovative District Heating & Cooling (DHC) network controller to increase the use of waste heat and renewable energy sources and boost energy efficiency at district level. The project tackles energy efficiency at district level by developing an innovative district heating & cooling (DHC) network controller. The project partners have developed a controller based on self-learning algorithms, which is currently experimented in the two STORM demo sites.

The Bee Path was opened in 2015 by the city of Ljubljana (SI), a municipality aware of the importance of pollinators for the sustainability of cities. The path is designed in such a way that visitors can comprehend the importance of bees for our survival and our food safety, discover the necessity of honey in our daily diet, but also find out more about the city's beekeeping culture. Various stakeholders are involved in the initiative: educational, cultural and health institutions, businesses, NGOs, and of course, beekeepers.

The Scottish Isle of Eigg is still not connected to the power distribution grid located on the mainland 16 kilometers away. The approximately 100 inhabitants have been operating their own stand-alone grid since 2008. They successfully converted their power supply, stepping away from diesel and now generate power using virtually 100% renewable energy sources. The SMA hybrid off-grid system equipped with an installed renewable power generation capacity of 166 kilowatts integrates solar, wind power, hydropower and a storage battery.

"Strøget" - The Pedestrian Street: When the volume of traffic increased in the beginning of the 60s - in the inner part of the old narrow streets - and the expanding shopping areas around central Copenhagen - as well as the sidewalks streets became more and more crowded with busy pedestrians - who was bumping into each other and blocking the way on the narrow pavements - Copenhagen’s City Council decided in 1962 - to establish a car free pedestrian zone from the westerly Town Hall Square to Kongens Nytorv (The Kings New Square) in the eastern part of the town called “Strøget” - which also i

Salzburg is one of the pioneers in Europe in developing smart energy networks. This is why it was chosen by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund to be the first Smart Grids Model Region in Austria. Smart Grids Model Region Salzburg is supported by an interdisciplinary team from the energy sector (Salzburg AG, Salzburg Netz GmbH), a property developer (Salzburg Wohnbau), a technology vendor (Siemens), consulting services (Fichtner) and renowned research institutions (Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna University of Technology, CURE).