Transport :: Blog

Bogota: Building a Sustainable City ´ documentary by PBS e2 series. Narrated by Brad Pitt. During his tenure as mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Enrique Penalosa was both revered and scorned for his urban planning and transportation policies. His public works projects, which largely favored the pedestrian experience, were unlike anything previously built in Bogota. Penalosa describes the environmental and social importance of minimizing automobile culture.

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Geographic location: Berkeley, California, USA 

Summary: Efforts to achieve Zero Waste are an essential piece of reducing the emissions that cause global warming. Zero Waste means that all of the community’s discarded material will be recycled or reused, and none will be sent to landfills. Recycling and reducing consumption in homes, businesses and public institutions serve to decrease upstream, energy intensive production processes and the associated GHG emissions and to keep waste out of landfills where it releases methane (CH4), a powerful greenhouse gas.

In March 2005, the Berkeley City Council adopted the goal of achieving Zero Waste by 2020. The resolution also reaffirms the City’s commitment to the Alameda County-wide goal of achieving a 75 percent waste diversion rate by 2010.

Achieving these goals requires sustained collaboration across sectors to:

• Eliminate solid waste at its source, i.e., the point of production
• Maximize recycling through expanding residential and commercial collection programs, recycling and composting facilities, and public education and outreach

As is explained in Chapter 2 of this report, despite the connection between solid waste management and climate protection, the Berkeley greenhouse gas emissions inventory does not currently include the emissions that result from solid waste sent to the landfill. This is a barrier to counting increases or decreases in solid waste-related emissions against the community GHG emissions reduction target. This barrier notwithstanding, Berkeley should not let constraints in our ability to quantify waste-related GHG emissions limit community waste diversion efforts. The Climate Action Plan affirms the important connection between climate change and solid waste by proposing potential solid waste diversion actions.

ICLEI, the organization that provides cities like Berkeley with an emissions inventory protocol, is currently working to update its community-level inventory methodology to include solid waste emissions. Once the update is complete Berkeley will be able to measure and report these emissions in subsequent GHG emissions inventories.

Read entire Chapter 5: Waste Reduction and Recycling

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Geographic location: Berkeley, California, USA

Summary: Achieving an 80 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction target requires that Berkeley’s transportation sector look quite different than it does today. Alternative modes of transportation such as public transit, walking and biking will have to be the mainstream. There will be fewer personal vehicles on the streets, because alternatives to driving will be cheaper, more accessible and more convenient. Most personal vehicles will run on electricity or bio-fuel.

This vision of Berkeley not only entails reduced greenhouse gas emissions, but also improved quality of life. Communities that are less dependent on personal vehicles get more exercise, breathe cleaner air, enjoy improved access to transit, and save money that would otherwise be spent on car-related costs.

Realizing this vision will be difficult and complicated. But many efforts consistent with the vision already exist, including the Berkeley General Plan, the draft Pedestrian Master Plan, and the Bicycle Plan. In addition, Berkeley is home to growing numbers of individuals and organizations that consistently advocate for alternatives to the car.

The actions proposed in this chapter build on these existing efforts. They are the following:

• Ensure that local land use decisions and policy are consistent with the goal of making alternative modes of transportation the mainstream
• Implement the City’s bicycle and pedestrian plans
• Make public transit more convenient and accessible
• Increase car sharing and ridesharing opportunities as an alternative to single-occupancy driving
• Encourage more fuel-efficient vehicles, electric vehicles, and other alternatively-fueled vehicles
• Enhance and expand education and outreach regarding alternative forms of transportation
• Enhance the City government’s alternative fuel vehicle program

Read entier repport: Sustainable Transportation & Land Use Strategies

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Geographical location: London, UK

The Situation:London is responsible for 8 per cent of the UK’s total emissions. Given London's forecast economic and population growth, this will increase to 15 per cent by 2025.

London has a good record in addressing climate change compared with other cities. For example, we are the only major city to have achieved a shift away from private car usage to public transport, cycling and walking.

The effects of climate change on London are already visible and include higher temperatures in summer and winter aggravated by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, wetter winters, drier summers and extra pressure on London's water resources.

In response to these threats the Mayor is preparing London's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. This looks at how London can manage the following effects of climate change.

Flooding

Climate change will increase the probability of flooding whilst new developments will increase the consequence of any flooding. Sea levels are predicted to rise by between 26 and 86cms by the end of the century. These predictions do not include catastrophic events such as the collapse of ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland.

Water Resources

Climate change is expected to affect water availability in London reducing the replenishment of groundwater, lessening river flows, more leakage from water mains due to increasing subsidence, and increasing evaporation (hotter summers, clearer skies).

Yet, there is increasing demand for water and Londoners now use more water than other cities in the UK and EU.

Action is now needed to:

• Encourage people to change their perception of water through information campaigns. Investigating London-wide water metering options and water tariff rates that encourage careful water use.
• Waste less water as currently 23 per cent of London water is lost between treatment plant and the consumers' tap.
• Recycle more as only 2 per cent of all water purified to drinking quality standard is used where such quality is important. Why do we flush our loos using drinking quality water?
• Regulate: Collect water when we have too much (and manage flood risk) and use it when we have less – for example rainwater harvesting.

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Geographic Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Summary

The canal system of Copenhagen's new urban district of Ørestad has an important additional role as a rainwater storage facility. 

The Story

With its extensive network of man-made canals, Copenhagen's newly created urban district of Ørstad is like a modern manifestation of Venice, minus the gondolas. Overlooked by strikingly original buildings, some by internationally renowned architects, the canal system presents a pretty sight to the casual observer.

But they are not there simply to beautify the area. They have another role, that is to do with climate change.

To explain – as a consequence of historical development, around 90% of Copenhagen's sewage and rainwater shares the same network of pipes that lead to the wastewater treatment plants. In the past, this has created the problem that at times of sudden heavy rainfall, the plants could not cope with the surge in volume and untreated sewage had to be diverted through overflow channels straight into sea, polluting the harbour and coastal waters.

However, far-sighted planning by Copenhagen Municipality has gone a long way to solving the problem. A massive investment in rainwater reservoirs and conduits enables large amounts of excess rain water to be stored until there is sufficient space again in the sewers. Result - 55 of the previous 95 overflow channels are now closed and Copenhagen Harbour has bathing quality water, much to the delight of city dwellers in summertime.

But back to those newly built canals in Ørestad. Besides their aesthetic role, they also function as a massive water storage system to cope with hitherto unseen volumes of rain. And that is the connection with climate change. The world has already started witnessing extremes of rainfall that are widely attributed to the effect of global warming on climate patterns. And until science finds a way to reverse these effects, preparedness is the watchword.

So when you stroll around the peaceful canals of Ørestad, it's not just architectural beauty you're looking at. You're looking at preparedness for climate change too.

Source: www.cop15.dk

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Geographic location: London, UK

Summary

Waste management is a significant contributor to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, largely methane and carbon dioxide from landfills and incineration. London needs to dramatically increase its recycling and composting performance and move away from its reliance on landfill and incineration to reduce its climate change impact.

The Mayor, through his Climate Change Action Plan, expects energy generated from waste to contribute to achieving its ambitious targets for decentralised energy. Sustainable waste management, including the use of advanced waste technologies such as anaerobic digestion and gasification, has an important role to play in reducing London’s greenhouse gas emissions and securing local energy generation.

• Greenhouse gas balances of waste management scenarios
• Costs of energy from waste technologies
• Climate change and waste: industry workshop
• Promoting the use of advanced waste technologies
• Planning applications for waste treatment that have been referred to the Mayor

Geographical location: London, UK

Introduction

The London Borough of Lewisham (population 241,500; area 3,600 hectares) has used a well thought through tendering process to make large savings from one of its electricity supply contracts, whilst at the same time converting to renewable electricity, which on 1 April 2001 became exempt from the Climate Change Levy (CCL). Following this initial tender, a further three tenders have been undertaken and the borough is now using 100% renewable electricity, although with a smaller nancial saving due to the strong demand for renewable electricity.

Aims & objectives

The London Borough of Lewisham aims to use as much ‘green’ electricity as is practicable and in December 2000 agreed an energy policy with a target of 100% green electricity supply. The aim of the Energy Management team was to purchase as high a percentage of their electricity from renewable sources at as low a price as possible, while meeting all the Council’s other needs from its power supplier.

Who was involved

The Energy Manager (Richard Hurford) was the lead ofcer on the electricity contract described below and undertook the majority of the work personally. Some further contract work was undertaken by Mike Sackett, the Deputy Energy Manager. However, there are various departments that a motivated project manager might come from. It was also important to get councillors on board so that a strategic statement on green purchasing (described below) could be passed.

The approach

In December 1998 the Energy Manager put forward an energy purchasing contract, which engendered debate and resulted in councillors requesting that a post-deregulation energy purchasing strategy be written. This provided an opportunity for a strategic statement on green purchasing to be included.

The energy purchasing strategy stated that, “Tenders for ‘green’ electricity may be accepted preferentially over and above ‘brown’ electricity and will be considered when tenders are evaluated. This is designed to encourage sustainability of supply of electricity in the 21^st century.” Green electricity is dened by the Council as electricity generated from renewable sources (i.e. non-fossil fuel) other than nuclear energy (waste to heat, wind, wave, solar, hydro, bio, landll gas, geo-thermal, etc) whereas brown electricity is generated from fossil fuels or nuclear energy.

Councillors were very interested in the statement at the committee stage of the strategy. Now that the strategy has been accepted by committee, members are generally supportive of the corporate commitment to buy green electricity.

After obtaining this commitment to green energy the Energy Manager undertook the tendering process. The tender pack was prepared and an advert encouraging requests for the information was submitted to the Ofcial Journal of the European Community. A fax was sent to all electricity suppliers advising them of this tender (a list can be obtained from Ofgem) and this was followed up with a telephone call, reminding them to respond to the advert. The tender document included a paragraph making it clear that the borough prefers renewable electricity and that green electricity is part of its specication. All suppliers were requested to submit two prices, one for brown and one for green electricity, but the borough did not commit itself to accepting green tenders only. The tender pack included all data on disc and clearly listed the criteria by which the tender would be judged. The contract is for an estimated 11,409,891 kWh or 20.8% of the borough’s total supply.

Prices were evaluated using a specially constructed spreadsheet model (but commercial evaluation software may be used). The Climate Change Levy was not considered in the evaluation because the rst year of the contract ends before the Levy was applied. However, under this contract the borough has negotiated with the supplier to maintain the contract price for the second year of the contract. It is hoped that the contract will run in total for the maximum three years allowed under contract terms. The contract was initially placed with the Renewable Energy Company; after a re-tender in April 2003, it switched to Scottish and Southern Energy, at a reduced price.

Achievements/results

This tender process, which can take up to 6 months, resulted in Lewisham’s new contract saving the borough an estimated £62,500 (this represents an 11% saving) on the previous contract. In the second nancial year of the contract the saving increased by a further £47,000 per year as 100% of the electricity supplied under this contract is green CCL exempt electricity.

The borough has three further electricity contracts, all of which have been through the above tendering process and are now 100% green. In total these three additional contracts have made a further small saving of approximately £15,000 in 2001/02. (This gure excludes savings made from not having to pay the CCL). The three contracts are:

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Geographical area: Copenhagen, Denmark

Project description: Vesterbro (Western Bridge) area was built between 1850 and 1920 and is located immediately near the city centre. The housing standard was very low: lack of central heating and warm water (64%), lack of toilets (11%) and of bathrooms (71%). The district had a high concentration of socio-culturally 'vulnerable' people. Most of the residents disposed of a low income and the unemployment rate was around 20%. In 1990 Copenhagen municipality decides to refurbish Vesterbro by taking into account environmental aspects. This is a major urban renewal programme (6-10 years). The district is mainly a residential area, comprising 23 five-six storey buildings (4 000 apartments) for 6 500 inhabitants as well as open spaces, offices, bars and enterprises.

Objectives

• The project aims and objectives are:
• Urban renewal to be carried out as sustainable renewal
• Housing units to be upgraded to fully modern standards
• Installations and fittings in the buildings shall minimise the use of resources (i.e. water consumption should be reduced to 110l/person/year by 2010; use of rainwater; reduce waste production by 60%;
• A well-balanced composition of the inhabitants of Vesterbro Involve residents in the urban renewal process To establish a large demonstration project in Copenhagen to provide an example of environmentally sound urban renewal

Driving factors: Neighbourhood Revitalisation

In 1997 the Danish Government's Urban Committee entered into an agreement with the city of Copenhagen and other organisations to carry out a new form of urban renewal designated as 'Neighbourhood Revitalisation' - in Danish known as 'Kvarterloeft'.

Guidelines for sustainable urban renewal and public supported development for housing
These guidelines were drafted by the municipal construction department in collaboration with the office of environmental control. They apply to all urban construction and refurbishment projects, including building insulation, sustainable building materials, etc.

Legislation
Since 1986 the Danish low on refurbishment enforces participation of inhabitants to urban renewal projects. In 1997, the new building legislation states that each Danish house must dispose of an ‘energy label’. “Energie 2000” – the action plan of the Danish energy policy – promotes district heating and cogeneration.

Growing population
Copenhagen is growing rapidly and needs more housing, more businesses, more leisure spaces and better infrastructure. As stated in the ‘City development strategy’, the municipality aims to manage this growth smartly and in a sustainable way. ‘Copenhagen remains a city for everyone’; thus affordable and sustainable housing must be provided.

Financing structure

The refurbishment costs are rather high, reaching approximately 17 000 DKK/m2 (2280 euros/m2).
The project is financed by the national government in co-operation with the municipality.
In 2000, 40% of the national urban renewal budget was allocated to the city of Copenhagen (approx. 72 million euros). The Danish Ministry of Housing, the Municipality of Copenhagen and the Urban Renewal Centre covered the costs of urban renewal: re-housing of inhabitants during the renewal process, building costs, architects’ and engineers’ fees, etc. The National Government financed the ecological projects: solar panels, separate waste collection system, etc.
The various experiments concerning optimal use of energy were financed by Thermie, a European programme.
The investment in this ecological neighbourhood is only 30% higher that in a traditional district. Return on investment will be assured from the savings made and higher rents.

Partners & Roles

The main stakeholders are:

• Copenhagen Municipality
• Urban Renewal Company (SBS Byfornyelse) – responsible for urban renewal planning and elaboration of proposals for the urban renewal action plan.
• Urban Renewal Centre - established in 1990 and financed by Copenhagen municipality, the centre is a meeting place among project management, municipal departments, tenants, trade associations etc. The centre has also a library and a cafe used as places for information and social work.
• Other stakeholders are: the Danish Government, Copenhagen environmental protection agency, district associations, inhabitants, owners, consultants

The Danish legislation supports stakeholder cooperation and citizen involvement, thus in Vesterbro the action plan has to go through this procedure:

• Inventory: The urban renewal companies collect all data on housing standards, social structure etc.
• Statement: The municipality publishes an urban renewal statement which contains guidelines and different proposals for each block.
• Public hearing: Discussion sessions for a period of eight weeks.
• Provisional Urban Renewal Decision: The municipality publishes a second statement which takes into account new arguments from the discussion forums.
• Public hearing: Second round of discussions for eight weeks.
• Final Urban Renewal Decision: The plan of action is passed by the local authorities.

After the first phase of the renewal project CO2 emissions in Vesterbro were reduced by 14% (2,500 tonnes) per year.

• Energy: RES due to integration of solar panels, high quality ventilation system and insulation; efficient energy consumption in buildings; 20% savings in terms of heating. Individual energy consumption monitoring screens are visible at the entrance of each apartment.
• Water & sewage: 14% savings in terms of hot water despite additional bathrooms and toilets installed in the buildings. Sanitation facilities were all equipped with water saving fittings and rainwater is used for toilets (12 m3 from a 170 m2 surface).
• Waste: separate waste collection system.
• Transport: cycling paths, many bicycle parking places. Most of the time Vesterbro inhabitants cycle or walk to work, supermarkets, schools etc
• Economic: creation of new employment opportunities offering unemployed people the chance to get on-the-job training and instruction. Unskilled labourers were employed on demolition and similar work in Vesterbro. These workers have been given a “headstart” in terms of seeking future employment in the construction sector by learning environmentally-friendly building, renovation and maintenance techniques.
• Social: use of common space in the buildings and of common gardens, various public and commercial establishments. Due to the city's ongoing urban-renewal and clean-up efforts, the decayed Vesterbro is attracting chic restaurants, shops, clubs and customers. In the centre of it all, a new café square, Halmtorvet, has been constructed. An area where you might not normally go has become a must-go spot to see the latest trends. Residents involvement in the planning and refurbishment projects was key in the Vesterbro urban renewal programme. The Urban Renewal Centre is publishing a quarterly magazine on urban refurbishment and supports debates among inhabitants. The magazine is distributed to all residents free of change.

Further information

Contact person
Name: Finn Terp
Position:
Organisation: Agency of environmental protection
Tel: +45 33 66 58 77
E-mail: finn.terp@miljoe.kk.dk
Website: www.miljoe.kk.dk