City Profile
Vilnius
City Profile Vilnius
Introduction Vilnius – this quintessentially European city stands at the very heart of the continent (26 km from its geographical centre to be precise). With a population of just over half a million, it is cosy, friendly and on a refreshingly human scale.
Vilnius is the capital of the Republic of Lithuania. It borders the Baltic Sea, Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad). Vilnius currently covers about 402 km2. Buildings cover 29.1% of the city and the remaining area is predominantly greenery (68.8%) and water (2.1%).
Vilnius has many faces – its labyrinthine Old Town, sleek business district, elegant centre, many open squares and parks, its historic suburbs – all of which blend together into a seamless whole. The city’s charm is in its harmonious sense of unity – it just feels right whichever way you look at it. It’s hard not to feel healthy and invigorated in Vilnius. The city’s winding streets make walking a real pleasure – and nothing is too far away. The centre is filled with open spaces, public squares and areas of green. Two rivers, the Vilnia and the Neris, run through the heart of the city, with their gentle flow reflecting the relaxed rhythm of life that is so characteristic of Vilnius. The city’s main river, the Neris, has pathways running alongside its meandering banks and is a hugely popular place for locals to take a relaxing evening stroll or leisurely bike ride in warm weather.
Vilnius’s municipal government is composed of the mayor, council and administration. Administration consists of eleven departments. One of them – Environment and Energy Department – works on energy and environmental policies aiming at strategic planning and control of the energy and environmental sector in Vilnius city. Currently, the Environmental and Energy Department is working on two projects about to start related to
energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions. Having signed the Covenant of Mayors recently, one of the projects involves elaborating its Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP), to be submitted in 2013.
The second project is the Renewable Energy Development Action Plan (REDAP) and is based on a national initiative. The REDAP includes measures related to improving the energy efficiency of buildings and transport, increasing use of renewable energy systems (PV, wind, etc.) and of cogeneration (CHP), and improving local power generation. Both projects aim at integrating the vision of SEAP and REDAP into other measures and initiatives of the relevant municipal departments and making sure it becomes part of overall planning.
Energy Efficient Buildings and Districts
The municipality has developed a new project, an interactive building energy consumption map, where the energy consumption of every building is
June 2013 1 City Profile Vilnius
analysed and compared to the previous year. You can find this map by clicking the link http://www.vilnius.lt/vmap/t1.php?layershow=siluma.
Energy performance in Vilnius (total of 4,799 residential buildings):
Effective category 349
Middle 1,104
Bad 2,715
Very bad 119
With this interactive map, the city of Vilnius aims to encourage residential building renovation.
Complex renovation is the main tool to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings. The objective of this project is to renovate multi-storey houses built in 1962-1992. Complex renovation will be done for buildings and the living environment. The total area for housing renovation covers 1,687 ha with 3,600 buildings (5-16 storeys). The common area of building floor space is 8.3 million m2, and planned investments amount to €1.65 billion (of which the state and municipality contribute up to 30%). Project implementation started in 2005 and is planned up to 2020.
Renewable Energy Sources and Distributed Generation
Vilnius describes itself as having intermediate experience in the field of renewable energy sources and distributed energy generation. Under national legislation, the municipality of Vilnius supports the conversion of fossil fuel power plants to biomass plants (central heating).
By the end of 2016, the city plans to renovate three power plants with 265 MW installed capacity in total and convert them to biomass ones. By 2020, Vilnius expects to cover 70% of the total power plant consumption with biomass energy.
Energy in Urban Transport
Vilnius city is planning to have a modern tram system with two lines (22.8 km long and with 33 tram stops), in addition to existing buses (bio-buses) and trolleybuses (it plans to cut out trolleybuses by implementing the tram system).
The first line will connect railway and bus stations with the city centre and Santariskes medical campus; the second line will link large residential areas and the city centre. 6,000-8,000 parking places will be arranged across eight parking sites (P+R type) along the modern tram lines and at 25 common parking sites.
June 2013 2 City Profile Vilnius
Bike hire scheme
As part of a Vilnius City municipal initiative, JCDecaux opened 24 bike stations in the city centre that will offer riders more than 200 bikes for hire. Investments in the project have reached €6.4 million.
Bikes are available for rent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the hire stations. The stations are distributed at distances of 300-400 metres from each other. The bike hire season will extend to 15 October.
Every year, the number of available bike hire stations will grow. Next year, the number of stations will increase to 36, and the number of available bikes to 300.
Those wishing to use the service will have to pay a Lt 20 registration fee. The first half hour of hire will be free. The second half hour will cost €0.45, the third €1.45, the fourth €3.50.
Cyclists will be able to use the system by connecting their Vilnietis card or with a CycloCity card, which will cost €8.70. The hire fees will be paid out of this initial value.
This bike hire scheme was first introduced in Vilnius in 2003. Similar schemes now exist in Paris, Dublin, Brussels and 64 other cities around the world.
Vilnius city is planning to build a modern tram with two lines (22.8 km, 33 tram stops), additionally to existing buses (biobuses) and trolleybuses. The latter shall be substituted by the trams.
One line will connect railway and bus stations with the city centre and Santariskes medical campus; the second line will link large residential areas and the city centre. 6,000-8,000 parking places will be arranged on eight parking sites (P+R type) and on 25 common parking sites along the tram lines
Financing
The city expects new funding (2014-2020) from EU programmes.
Future Visions and Expectations
Vilnius plans to make use of the new EU programmes (2014-2020) to implement ambitious projects.
Regarding future strategies, the city wants to work on Vilnius’ adaptation to climate change and to achieve the goals of pollution reduction.
June 2013 3 City Profile Vilnius
Doeppersberg 19 42103 Wuppertal GERMANY
City of Vilnius
Lithuania
www.cascadecities.eu
CASCADE is an EU-funded project led by EUROCITIES which aims to design and deliver large-scale networking and mutual learning actions on local energy leadership among members of the EUROCITIES network. The CASCADE consortium is composed of: EUROCITIES, Wuppertal Institut, Koucky& Partners and the following cities: Amaroussion, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Burgas, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gateshead, Genoa, Gijon, Malmo, Mannheim, Milan, Nantes, Stockholm, Sunderland, Tampere, Terrassa, Venice and Warsaw.
The CASCADE project is co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. The sole responsibility for the content of this report lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
June 2013 4