GEOG 352 Day 9: Chapter 5 (Energy) 1 Kirklees Kristianstad

Images of Kirklees and Kristianstad 2 Reminder that outlines are due On Thursday…..

Housekeeping Items  On Thursday, the film “The Clean Bin Project” will be shown as part of the Worldbridger Film Series and is also being sponsored by ACER.  Seattle has instituted the first $15.00 minimum wage in North America.  Germany is in the vanguard of many of the energy initiatives being undertaken in Europe; it was there that parliamentarian, Hermann Scheer, first introduced the reverse energy tariff.  Today, Jordan will do her presentation from the other week, and Sacia will present on Chapter 5 of the text and, time permitting, I will show a short video on Freiburg, often dubbed the “sustainability capital” of Europe. 3

Pathways to Energy Sufficiency  Energy consumption from non-renewable fossil fuels is at the heart of what is contributing to climate change.  Initially in the face of the politically caused ‘energy crisis,’ a number of countries (including Canada) explored alternatives to fossil fuel consumption – to oil, in particular. However, after oil became available again and the price dropped, this research and development was dropped – in Canada at least. However, Denmark was one of the countries that did not let it go.  The National Round Table on Environment and the Economy, which explored greenhouse gas reduction strategies, that the authors quote on p. 112 has since been terminated by the Harper government. 4

Pathways to Energy Sufficiency  The chapter profiles two cases: the Kirklees/ Yorkshire Energy Services program in the UK, and the Fossil- Fuel-Free Kristianstad program in Sweden. Though a few years old now, other success stories are reviewed in Chris Turner’s The Geography of Hope.  The first was an attempt to influence citizens’ decisions around energy that would have an impact on GHG emissions.  It involved a collaboration amongst agencies, credit unions and contractors, with assistance from senior governments, and enabled not only significant improvements in energy consumption, but also economic and social benefits.  The program was successful in not only educating residents about the advantages of energy conservation retrofits, but provided effective financial incentives. 5

Pathways to Energy Sufficiency  The second case involves a small city, whose population is much smaller than Nanaimo, and a collection of 25 adjacent towns and villages who collectively make up a territory about the size of the Regional District of Nanaimo. Joined together the population of the area is almost equal to Nanaimo City by itself.  For the past nearly thirty years, the region has been exploring alternative energy, beginning with the municipal energy company that started utilizing waste wood chips instead of oil in the mid-80s. These are used in a combined heat and power (CHP) process that contributes to an ever-expanding district heating network.  Instead of waste heat generated by combustion being lost, it is captured and used to heat water and or buildings. 6

Pathways to Energy Sufficiency  In addition the municipal company that operates the landfill built a biogas production plant to capture and use methane from decomposing garbage and food industry waste to produce electricity.  From 1998 to 2002, the proportion of energy for municipal buildings went from 48% fossil fuel to 9%, and biofuels going from 27 to 78%. Households are also encouraged through grants to switch from oil to wood pellets, and biofuels are being explored as an energy source for vehicles.  In addition to pre-existing hydro power, and the new shift to CHP, the region is also relying increasingly on windpower (see chart on p. 123).  These two cases give clues for the major projects: the capital benefits are described on pp , and the lessons of the cases are offered on pp