RENEWABLE ENERGY
2014, city voters approved a $12 million bond for the city’s energy department to purchase the 7.4-megawatt Winooski One Hydro Plant. And with that, Burlington became the first city in the US to power its electricity grid entirely from renewables. The city is proud of its accomplishment, but it’s not stopping there. Burlington faces significant risks from climate change. Their two key industries – tourism and agriculture – are vulnerable to extreme weather, and the river that helps generate clean power is at risk of flooding. The impact of Hurricane Irene in 2011 shows what’s at stake. Heavy rain storms damaged infrastructure, several key businesses and over 60 residential homes – resulting in high costs and loss of economic activity, not to mention severe disruption for citizens. To make Burlington as resilient as possible, the city is now exploring what it would take to become totally zerocarbon. They’re investing in charging stations for electric vehicles, planting hundreds of urban trees, and developing plans to pipe steam from the biomass plant to heat downtown homes.
BASEL, SWITZERLAND Basel, located on the banks of the river Rhine in north Switzerland, is the country’s third largest city. It’s renowned for its museums and home to the country’s oldest
university, founded in 1460. It’s also a world leader in clean energy. The city of Basel and its surrounding region of Basel-Stadt sources 100% of its electricity from renewables. The majority of its electricity is generated from hydropower, with 10% from wind and smaller contributions from biomass and solar. Basel’s publicowned energy company IWB only offers electricity from renewable sources, and it also has a district heating system run on geothermal and biomass. Basel-Stadt uses financial tools such as tax levies and incentives to boost clean energy production and energy efficiency projects across the region. Together with the environmental and health benefits of clean energy, its progress has seen Basel race ahead of national policy. With its national energy plan ‘Energy Strategy 2050’, Switzerland is facing major changes ahead – Basel is very much showing the way for the rest of the country. The city highlights the importance of having a clear vision and strong political leadership to enable citizen buy-in for the transition to clean energy. While Basel’s 100% renewable electricity is a huge achievement, they’re not stopping there. The city authority aims to get its own municipal emissions down to net zero by 2030. Going even further, the city authority passed a law in November 2016, which came into force in August 2017, with the headline target
to reduce CO2 emissions per person from 4 tonnes today to 1 tonne by 2050.
MOVING FORWARD It’s clear that, for both environmental and economic reasons, all cities need to ultimately transition to low-carbon clean energy systems. So where do they start? The primary action for cities is to first understand their energy mix and overall environmental impact; which is why over 570 cities already disclose to CDP. Disclosure leads to transparency, knowledge and understanding. Then, once cities have this insight, they can make informed decisions about how to reach their goal. The second action for cities is to set ambitious targets. Basel cites ‘political will and vision’ as vital. True vision is key, which is why it’s so positive to see the commitments to 100% renewables growing so fast. “Reassuringly, our data shows much commitment and ambition”, says Kyra Appleby, Director of Cities, CDP: “Cities not only want to shift to renewable energy but, most importantly - they can. We urge all cities to disclose to us, work together to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and prioritize the development of ambitious renewable energy procurement strategies. The time to act is now.” As the world transitions to a lowcarbon economy, these 100 cities are leading the way. www.cdp.net
ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • MARCH 2018
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