Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

68% of the world’s population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050, according to the UN, a significant increase on the 56% who did in 2020, but the rates at and success with which cities are incorporating digital technologies into their fabrics vary substantially. 

Deep beneath London’s suburbs lies a gigantic vegetable garden farming hundreds of thousands of the capital’s freshest microgreens.
Since 2015, Growing Underground has adopted one of eight underground World War Two bomb shelters to grow plentiful, pesticide-free produce. The farming happens entirely indoors, away all from traditional means of harvesting greens.

The energy used to farm these foods is 100 per cent renewable. Customers can look forward to supplies of greens such as watercress and micro rocket, as well as herbs like Thai basil and garlic chives.

A finance mechanism that retires coal power stations and replaces them with new renewable energy capacity is gathering steam in the United States. But challenges remain in making this seemingly simple solution mainstream

The city of Arnhem has published a strategy to combat the effects of global warming, which included reducing asphalt by 10 per cent, among other measures.

The London Underground could soon be entirely powered by renewable energy. The move is part of a plan to make the city’s famous rail network zero-emissions by 2030, and have the entire city become carbon neutral by 2050.

Transport for London (TfL) is London’s biggest electricity consumer, and one of the largest consumers in the UK. It uses 1.6TWh every year, the same as 437,000 average homes.

La cooperativa de energía Goiener Taldea ha conseguido el 100% de las aportaciones al capital en su última ventana. Gracias a las aportaciones voluntarias de las personas socias de Nafarkoop, (cooperativa de generación dentro del grupo) ha recaudado 400.000 euros que irán destinados a financiar la construcción y puesta en marcha de cinco instalaciones fotovoltaicas.

Estas cinco instalaciones fotovoltaicas estarán ubicadas en los tejados de cinco ‘ikastolas‘, centros educativos que utilizan como lengua vehicular el euskera, todas ellas cooperativas: Armentia (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Argia (Fontellas), Laskorain (Tolosa), Andra Mari Ikastola (Etxarri-Aranatz) y Eleizalde (Bermeo).

EU energy ministers had their first public debate on the European Commission’s 2050 climate plan on Monday (4 March) but five member states derided the lack of a 100% renewable energy scenario among the EU executive’s proposed options.

The EU as a whole is aiming for 82 per cent clean power by the end of the decade but some member states are looking to go one step further.

La nouvelle coalition allemande a défini la politique énergétique du pays. L’éolien et le solaire représenteront 80 % de la production d’électricité en 2030. Et la neutralité carbone est visée en 2045.

Berlin (Allemagne), correspondance

C’était une promesse des Verts allemands durant la campagne électorale. La sortie du charbon, initialement prévue en 2038, sera avancée à 2030, selon le contrat de coalition présenté mercredi 24 novembre par les futurs dirigeants outre-Rhin : les sociaux-démocrates du SPD , (...)

Making Mission Possible, the latest report by the Energy Transitions Commission, describes a net-zero world by mid-century as technically and economically possible. The solutions are already available or close to being brought to market. What is still missing is the will to embrace, rapidly and at scale, the inevitable disruption that will ultimately deliver net-zero …

Il n’est plus possible d’ignorer la nécessité de croiser sérieusement questions sociales et transition écologique. C’est tout le sens de la convention citoyenne pour le climat, qui a proposé en juin dernier un ensemble de mesures pour une transition écologique à la fois suffisamment rapide pour assurer notre survie et socialement juste. Quels auraient pu en être les critères ? Cinq sphères de la justice sociale peuvent être identifiées afin de préserver une liberté définie comme pouvoir d’agir. Rediffusion du 19 février 2020

This report, written by University of Michigan master’s students in the School for Environment and Sustainability, uses survey results to identify 11 key recommendations city leaders can use to transition to 100% renewable energy.… Read More

In this episode of our Voices of 100% series from Local Energy Rules, host John Farrell speaks with two leaders in Burlington, Vermont, about the completed 100% renewable electricity transition. Mayor Miro Weinberger and Darren Springer, general manager of Burlington Electric, explain how the city now looks ahead to “net zero.”… Read More

Plusieurs pays européens se mobilisent pour faire adopter une stratégie européenne garantissant 100% d’énergie renouvelable d’ici 2050

The energy transition brings up interesting dilemmas. As David Roberts writes in his article on the Vox website “Renewable energy is hot. It has incredible momentum, not only in terms of deployment and costs but in terms of public opinion and cultural cachet. To put it simply: Everyone loves renewable energy. It’s cleaner, it’s high-tech,…