| |
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
The Week in Germany: Business, Technology and the Environment July 27, 2007 Freiburg: Germany's Greenest City
The hillside townhouses of Freiburg's Vauban district glisten in the sun, their solar panel roofing part of a major environmental project. Designed by Freiburg-based architect Rolf Disch, they belong to the Solarsiedlung (Solar Settlement), a complex of 58 residential houses that produce more energy than they consume. The nearby Solar Ship business park is also connected to the settlement. While the average German household consumes some 3,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year, the plus-energy houses produce between 6,000 and 7,000 kWh per year. The excess electricity can be sold off and fed into the regular power grid, which means that families living in the Solarsiedlung can generate some additional income instead of paying increasingly high prices for oil, gas and electricity. It is no coincidence that the Solar Settlement is found in Freiburg, one of the most sustainable municipalities in the world and one which has been at the forefront of the green movement for over three decades. Freiburg is also the only large German city with a mayor who belongs to the Green Party. While wind is an attractive alternative in Freiburg (the city's five rotors produce some 10 million kWh per year), solar technology still plays the biggest role. Freiburg is home to a wealth of private photovoltaic installations, numerous solar technology companies, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, one of Europe's leading solar energy research laboratories. No wonder that Freiburg has branded itself the "Solar Region". At the end of 2006, Freiburg had an overall solar module electricity generation capacity of 8.6 Megawatts (MW) and over 12,000 square meters worth of solar-thermal collectors to capture heat from the sun. Last year alone, 2 MW of new solar energy capacity was installed. Even the BadenovaStadion - the city's famous soccer stadium where Bundesliga second division team SC Freiburg plays its home matches - has its roof decked out with solar panels. While this year SC Freiburg narrowly missed promotion to the Bundesliga's first division, the city itself is competing extremely well in the Solarbundesliga, where German cities battle for the title of most solar-friendly city. Naturally, Freiburg tops the league. Activism does not begin and end with the city council, which is why Freiburg, together with local businesses, established the Environment Award in 2005 - two prizes worth 3,750 euros each, presented to small businesses, schools, clubs and individuals for creative sustainable projects that benefit the environment. Global warming is not news to the people of Freiburg: The city was introducing climate protection policies back in 1986 and was one of the first cities to actively tackle the problem. And in the future it will no doubt continue to be part of many more eco-friendly innovations. (German Foreign Service, using www.young-germany.de material dated July 23, 2007) Links: Silicon Saxony (TWIG, July 20, 2007) Cloudy Germany a Powerhouse in Solar Energy (TWIG, May 11, 2007) |
|
More from Germany.info  Newsletters
 Printer-Friendly
Page
Email This Article |
||
|
|||||
|
|||||
