You want to be "green" but can not stand to bike?
I have got a solution: electric car! We talk a lot about it these days and a lot of manufacturers have projects for years to come, but in fact solutions already exist!
Seen recently in Copenhagen:
Good enough to drive fifty kilometers at 60km per hour! However German design is probably not to everybody's taste. Ah, if only they had a Dane at the head of the design team!
Copenhagen has installed last year its first bike counting stand . We had already seen some of those in Odense a few years ago.
The most practical detail: the compressor next to the terminal.
The counter is really working: Bike number 1404 ..
Congratulations miss, you're number 1405 ... 
In addition to this, the city is now trying to tackle one of the major issue for cyclists: theft! In fact, bike theft is quite high, especially in the major train stations. There were in 2008 no less than 19,171 reported stolen bikes! Not to mention the many people who do not even register their stolen bike. If you find it funny, imagine that you can not find your mean of transportation in the morning to go to work ... Not very pleasant ...
One solution proposed by the municipality is to install a "chip" that would help finding back a stolen bike. From a technical standpoint, it is a simple RFID "tag" placed in a reflector. 5000 "chips" have been distributed in this phase of testing. If you are interested, more info here. Unfortunately you can't book your chip ...
Of course, we can not talk about the Danish green attitude without mentioning this mean of transportation very popular around here: the bicycle. No, it isn't only because there is a 180% tax on cars that most Copenhageners use bikes but (let's be optimistic!) also because they care about the environment.
And the City of Copenhagen is of course encouraging this a lot.
First example: the advertising campaigns. Last year we could see this poster in town:
It says "Copenhagen best city for cycling" and it gives the targets for 2015:
* At least 50% of people take the bike to work or school
* The number of serious bicycle accidents is reduced by half
* At least 80% of cyclists feel safe in traffic.
And hopefully those targets can be reached - the city doing its best to make it happen.
For example, bicycle paths are periodically renovated and even painted in blue in the most dangerous areas.
Here is some waste that the exhibition producers might have forgotten in the "Ren by" exhibition.
And yet it is more than common in the city, especially the mornings after...!
Different environment, different type of solution!
Here is an example of a solar installation tailored to the countryside (as opposed to single solar panel that we saw in Copenhague center): the "solbuen" (ray of sun) district, close by Hillerød.
First, you encounter a very large area of solar collectors used for heating. It is true that Denmark is not known for its sunny days (reputation partially false or partially true depending on your point of view), but the few sunny days this winter were enough to produce some MWh, which can lighten the heating bill. It seems that the operation is quite profitable because the town already draws plans for the next "solar farm". Maintenance is inexpensive because it just needs mowing from time to time! At the center of this facility, a counter displays MWh "harvested" during the day.
The roof of service buildings (bike shed, carport ...) is also covered with photovoltaic sensors. Enough to provide some additionnal electricity for homes.
You can't see it from the outside, but most homes are equipped with heat pumps and for some, wood powered heating systems - so another more or less renewable energy. Add to that, a few geothermal equipments, and the engineers behind this project claim that this area makes 95% less CO2 than traditional buildings [source COWI] ... Respect!
The buildings themselves are "standard", ie very representative of the current Danish architecture. Modern materials, cubic forms and predominance of raw materials: wood, glass, metal. You like it or not ... At least the merit of these modern buildings is that energy efficiency has been taken into account.
Here is an example of a solar panel that we have noticed some time ago in the Copenhagen main train station area. Considering its surface, it probably doesn't provide much energy, but it shows how solar energy installation can be integrated into the urban landscape. Ah, those Danes are really the best in design in all categories!
As a passenger in a DSB (national train company) train, you can find little "green" garbage bags close to your seat. When you're done watching by the window, you can also fight boredom by reading the advertising printed on them. Present in all trains, these bags are being well used by travellers. Overall trains are quite clean, except oln Saturday and Sunday mornings!
"You can be green, but together, we're even more green"
"Remain seated and keep up the good work."
And fortunately, the bags are in a 100% compostable material ... One could always argue about the fact that these bags spend more energy to be produced than a good old garbage can permanently installed.
In November, you could discover on the City Town Hall square in Copenhagen a few vertical axis wind turbines. The goal of this exhibition: raise awareness of renewable energy benefits.
An explanatory panel described the city environmental policy and displayed its strong goals: Copenhagen should be CO2 neutral in 2025. Ambitious!
The plan (at least a part of it) is to install 14 new wind turbines around Copenhagen to raise the share of wind energy in global electricity production from 13 to 18%. Construction will begin in 2012. Still a long way to the goal...
To welcome the COP15 participants, giant green posters were installed in Copenhagen Airport as early as November. Those posters were explaining the energy savings already achieved by the airport (and the planned ones).
Here, the poster details the qualities of the new exterior lighting to indicate the lines of "plane taxi" ...
There the poster celebrates the water savings realized those last 10 years- using rather insignificant numbers however, you can see this is more a marketing tool than anything else.
On their side,Tivoli started the same type of communication in the summer, thanks to the partnership with Vestas, the famous wind turbine manufacturer.
Tivoli has a long tradition for recycling. In particular, you can spot red stalls where you can bring back your used plastic cups in exchange for 5 dkk. This keeps the park quite clean and there is way less plastic in the garbage!
As a follow-up of COP15, which closed its doors a few weeks ago, let's start a series on the theme of environment in Denmark. A good opportunity to talk about the Ren By exhibition, even if it is now a bit old.
Giant waste sculptures were placed on the main squares of Copenhagen. The idea was to invite the public to reflect on the impact of dropping all kind of trash in the streets.
I like the pizza box, very realistic...
This exhibition was associated with a short ad of 40 seconds which I find quite funny. You don't need to speak Danish to understand it.
Cop15 and Hopenhagen are not only located on the City Hall Square but are present throughout the city. For example, on Kultorvet, you could register a video message expressing your thoughts on climate change that was then projected on a geant screen on Kultorvet and also at Bella Center.
On Nytorv, if you hurry up, you can maybe still find the Copenhagen ice bear, but quick the ice is melting (must be the global warming!). You can find the pictures of the original bear on this site.
Picture taken on Friday evening 
If you want to take a break from the Christmas crazyness, right now the festival Hopenhagen is happening on the Square of the City Hall.
A giant sphere is placed in the middle of the square to project environmental awareness campaign.
I love the geant McDonalds sign on top of the Hopenhagen ad!!
A first: the Christmas tree is human powered. Indeed, a dozen bicycles are available for the braves who can warm up and immediately see the results of their efforts because each bike lights its own garland ... Tiring but rewarding!
They even have what it takes to celebrate a green Christmas ... at the Christmas workshop.
A nice Hopenhagen bike ... used to transport materials including leaflets (hopefully printed on recycled paper)
A l'intérieur d'un des pavillons, une exposition retracant les idées écologiques de plusieurs grandes métropoles: abris de bus solaires, gestion des déchets, transports verts, ...
Inside one of the pavilions, you can find an exhibition showing the green ideas of several major cities: solar bus shelters, waste management, green transportation system, ...
And of course, the most important because we are still in Denmark, the beer supplies! You wouldn't want to be short of those during the 2 weeks of Cop15- Is that really environmental friendly? ... 
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Posts
All Comments
