technology · environment · energy · climate Sustainable solutions in Silkeborg Inspiration for study tours Silkeborg - we make it happen … 2 3 Sustainable solutions in Silkeborg We have compiled the largest environmental and energy projects in Silkeborg Municipality – some are so large that they are even the largest in Denmark and in the world. We have compiled them to inspire you. Because we can, will and must facilitate sustainable living. For the sake of the climate and for our own sake. It requires a joint effort if we are to succeed. With this compilation of projects, we hope to inspire you to go on a study tour in Silkeborg and carry out similar or brand new environmental and energy projects. In Silkeborg, we have set our goals high. We consider ourselves a pioneer municipality on climate. We keep score of our CO2 footprints and reduce our annual CO2 emission by 2 %. The goal is to become carbon neutral. Facts To achieve our goals, we also need inspiration. If you have anything Denmark’s 10th largest you want to inspire us by, then please share it with us. In this way, municipality together we will get closer to a greener and more sustainable future. 93,000 inhabitants Right now, you have the compilation of our environmental and energy 5000 companies projects in your hand. If it piques your curiosity, and you want to Silkeborg Forests is Denmark’s know and see more, then we willingly show you around and tell you most expansive woodland all about it. 26 % of Silkeborg is forest For a sustainable future. 17 % of Silkeborg is quiet areas Denmark’s Outdoor Capital Steen Vindum Claus Løwe Klostergård Mayor Chairman of the Council for the Environment and Climate Outdoor Municipality of the Year 2017 4 5 The largest solar thermal plant in the world They make up a spectacular view from above – the large plates in the many dark and light blue shades. Every day, all year round, the solar thermal collectors harness the heat from the sun, which the district heating consumers of municipal utility Silkeborg Forsyning profit by under their showers or under their feet in the floor heating. In the course of a year, counting the cold winter months, the solar thermal plant produces 20% of all the district heating for Silkeborg Forsyning’s customers. This equals the yearly district heating demands for 4400 one-family houses. Considering the long, cold periods, even more heat must be harnessed during the summer. And that is exactly what is being done. During a period of ten days in May, all the district heating for all 22,000 district heating consumers came from the solar thermal plant. Via 1.2 km long connection pipes, the solar thermal collectors send the solar heat to the cogeneration plant, where the heat is either stored in tanks or sent directly to the district heat consumers. Facts Contact Solar collectors: 12,436 Silkeborg Forsyning Tietgensvej 3 850 rows on 50 ha 8600 Silkeborg Solar plant area: 156,694 m² District heating manager CO2 reduction: Jens Østergaard Jørgensen 15,700 tonnes per year +45 89 20 64 00 Annual production: 80,000 MWh [email protected] Water flow: 2.7 million litres of Site visit water an hour on a sunny day Bjørnholtvej 3 8600 Silkeborg Total construction costs: 250 million DKK 6 7 Yellow city busses run on green biogas Yellow on the outside. Green on the inside. It is easy to see that the city busses are yellow. What is not as obvious is that they are green on the inside. The tank located under the bus roof reveals this fact, but actually, it is easier to feel it, because the air is spared the pollutants that are unhealthy for people and the environment. In 2016, Silkeborg Municipality replaced all its diesel-powered busses with new busses that run on Nordic Swan Eco-labelled biogas. The biogas busses are not more expensive than the diesel-powered ones. That became clear after the city bus contract was put out to tender. As the first in Central Denmark Region, Silkeborg makes use of a new model, where the bus service Tide Bus has signed an agreement with the biogas supplier Nature Energy on building a filling station and on the delivery of biogas. Facts Contact Biogas busses: 19 Silkeborg Municipality Road and Traffic Department CO2 reduction: Søvej 1, 8600 Silkeborg 1539 tonnes per year Traffic employee NOx reduction: Karen Dalsgaard 2968.6 kilos per year +45 89 70 15 28 Euronorm 6 [email protected] Site visit Bredhøjvej 19A 8600 Silkeborg 8 9 Environmentally responsible demolition and recycling The giant excavators and demolition robots from Kingo Karlsen systematically sort the building materials. They identify and separate asbestos, PCB, lead, mercury, mould fungus, and zinc from materials that can be recycled. Annually, up to five million tonnes of construction waste are handled in Denmark. Still, there are 87,000 ghost homes and 30 million m2 of farm buildings that have fallen into disrepair, which hold materials containing environmentally and health hazardous substances. That is why it is of vital importance how building materials are handled and recycled. At a special recycling site, Kingo Karlsen cleans up contaminated soil and processes construction waste that can be recycled for roads and buildings. The site has an underlying layer that guards against percolation, as well as a closed drainage system enabling drainage water and surface water to be recycled for dust suppression. Facts Contact Kingo: One of the leading Nordic Kingo Karlsen A/S businesses within environmentally F.L. Smidths Vej 17 responsible demolition 8600 Silkeborg Recycling: Close to 98 % Managing director Thomas Kingo Karlsen Asbestos: Used in building materials +45 20 22 20 88 up until 1985. Two to four weeks [email protected] exposure to asbestos can cause incurable cancer Site visit F.L. Smidths Vej 17 PCB: Used in building materials 8600 Silkeborg up until 1977. PCB is listed on the Stockholm Convention list over the 12 most dangerous persistent organic pollutants in the world. 10 11 More light for less money They were dark times in 2010, when cost-cutting measures caused a switch- off of the streetlights at night. You had to go near traffic lights, roundabouts, and pedestrian crossings to find light, inasmuch as it was not a full moon. Otherwise, it was dark. But through investments, Silkeborg stepped out of the dark and into the LED- light with clever, long-term solutions. The street lighting in Silkeborg was old, time-worn, and an energy guzzler. But with a new street lighting strategy and a loan financed investment, lightbulbs, cables, and masts were replaced. Today, Silkeborg saves around 2 million DKK on the electrical bill and, at the same time, the streetlight is now switched on five more hours every night. Facts Contact Replaced: 2014-2018 Silkeborg Municipality Road and Traffic Department Streetlamps with LED-light: Søvej 1, 8600 Silkeborg 19,200 Road engineer Cost: 66 million DKK Stig Paaske Autzen Consumption in 2010: +45 89 70 15 45 Approx. 4,560,000 kWh [email protected] Consumption in 2017: Approx. 2,700,000 kWh CO2 reduction: 452 tonnes a year 12 13 There is big money in energy optimisation Energy-intensive manufacturing, twenty-four seven, all year round. It costs us dearly - both economically and environmentally. Thus, there is a lot to gain from working with energy optimization; especially within the high energy-consuming businesses such as industry, agriculture, fishing, and maritime transport. Danish Energy Consulting examines the energy saving potential by performing a thorough screening of existing facilities, energy consumption, and potential subsidies for energy optimisation. Most likely, some existing energy sources are not up-to-date or inadequately dimensioned. Maybe a biogas plant must be established. Or maybe the surplus heat can be utilized somewhere good instead of disappearing into thin air. The company Nordmark, specialising in the machining of steel components, gained an annual saving on heating costs of 450,000 DKK by energy optimising a factory floor. Even though the lighting was only six years old, with grants for energy optimisation, it was replaced with a more energy-friendly lighting. Facts Contact Energy savings in Denmark 2017: Danish Energy Consulting Approx. 21 % accounted for by Glarmestervej 18B Danish Energy Consulting 8600 Silkeborg Energy savings in 2017: Chief Executive Officer 645,000,000 kWh Michael Kamstrup Søndergaard Danish Energy Consulting +45 22 50 05 82 analyses and screens the [email protected] clients’ projects at no cost Project payback time: Often under 3 years Energy-intensive companies can often save 15-50 % of their energy consumption 14 15 Recycling systematised Great customer service, high flexibility, and clever solutions. This characterises the recycling centre in Them. Solar cell panels provide electricity and heat to the centre. The harvested rainwater is used for toilet flushing and machine washing. Companies have mobile access and can let themselves in outside opening hours. If you can’t find a member of staff, you can always find the life-size cardboard cut-outs called Pap- Niels located around the centre. On the cut-outs, you find a call button. Then the real Niels arrives on his electric vehicle which can also be used for moving items deposited incorrectly. What is waste for you, is “gold” and a resource for us, and like all the recycling centres in the municipality, Them sends their potential “gold” to a communal recycling store. Here a recycling DIY- shop has also managed to make the recycling concept reach new heights. In the private households, residents sort their waste into five compartments in three bins, before the waste is picked up by hybrid garbage trucks running on biogas and electricity.