Why did Värmdö choose to participate in the CITyFiED project, and how does it fit in with your energy and environment strategy?
We are keen to join initiatives clearly outlining the benefits, solutions and strategies of achieving an energy efficient system. Värmdö wants to reduce greenhouse emissions and reduce our dependence on oil. At the same time, we need to seek the right technical accompaniment to minimize risks and manage our costs in achieving this transition.
What smart city measure or energy solution would you like to share with the CITyFiED community?
Hopefully there are plenty of stories and solutions to share with our project partners over the life of the project. I could mention is that we are proud of our use of renewables – notably wind power – to generate electricity or switching to Swedish produced rape seed oil for heating purposed. However, the main issue on the table for us now is planning our switch to either district or geothermal heating.
Name a challenge you think fellow cities and project consortium members could help you overcome…
Our long-term objective is to become climate neutral, and although we have come a long way, we need to have as many tangible ideas and proven solutions as possible to get there. So, fellow project members can help us benchmark current initiatives, improve existing performance and help us discover new solutions!
Värmdö’s most ambitious energy efficiency target?
In Värmdö we have a strong political desire to have eliminated oil consumption and increased our share of renewables to 50% by 2030. No less ambitious is our long-term vision to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
12 March 2015