About

Freiburg im Breisgau is a medium-seized city with 220 000 inhabitants in Southwest Germany close to the Swiss and Frech borders, in the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Freiburg is an administrational centre and a university town. In Freiburg, environmental economy and science play an extraordinary role, next to medical engineering and biotechnology. In the sector of the solar industries alone, employment and company figures are at about 700 people employed and approx. 80 companies, respectively, which is four to five times above national average, according to a study on potential from 2004.

A city with a long history of environmental awareness and action, Freiburg is a renowned solar and green city, which has been systematically addressing the issue of climate change. Addressing a combination of energy savings, energy efficiency and renewable energy, it presents a diversity of local climate action, also highlighting the need for municipal leadership and community involvement.


Strategy

Starting a long-term process

Since the 1970s Freiburg and its inhabitants have been concerned with sustainable energy. The initial aim of moving away from nuclear energy towards the use of renewable energy sources (RES), expanded into a comprehensive climate protection approach. Consensus among the City Council that local climate protection is a local responsibility and priority has helped to ensure continued financial support and strengthened the overall implementation process. Throughout this process transparency of plans and the involvement of local citizens, politicians and the business sector have been essential factors in the Action Plan’s development and implementation.

Reviewing developments

With the 2006/7 CO2 emissions review it became clear that the city would not reach its 25 per cent CO2 reduction target by 2010, but could achieve a reduction in the range of 15 to 20 per cent. This development led to a re-assessment of the overall strategy, the identification of problem areas, setting new targets (-40 per cent) with a new target year (2030), the development of an action plan to address an intensification of mitigation action in a number of areas, and monitoring the implementation thereof. This cyclical approach is useful to address continuous improvement, supporting decision-makers and staff with a logical process that includes evaluation and reporting - ideally implemented until a community has become climate neutral and climate resilient.

Moving forward step-by-step

Freiburg has built up an impressive range of expertise and implemented excellent and diverse examples in local climate action, with a selection of very effective measures implemented presented below:

Energy: Switching to 50 per cent co-generation for electricity and heating in the city, large and small combined heat and power (CHP) plants were built running on gas (for example, methane captured in landfill) or wood chips. Active solar energy systems - photovoltaics (PV) to generate electricity and solar thermal systems for hot water - were installed on private and municipal buildings, as well as on the local soccer stadium. A small proportion of small hydro (water) power, biomass and wind energy were also added to the local energy mix.

Districts and buildings: The development of new low energy city districts designed with sustainability in mind, connect to these integrated transport plans and have buildings designed to reduce energy demand. The most efficient standard achieved is the passive house standard, but low energy buildings also address the effective use of active and passive solar energy – for heating / cooling, natural lighting and ventilation.

Transport: The integrated transport system was extended, linking non-motorised mobility (walking and cycling) to public transport options (bus, tram, train), with incentives and disincentives encouraging behaviour change.
Building on these activities, the new Climate Action Plan continues to focus on energy savings in existing buildings, improved efficiency in co-generation of heat and electricity especially in the housing stock, expanding the use of solar and bio-energy, improving energy efficient street lighting and integrated transport concepts, as well as raising public awareness and motivating citizen engagement with the campaign Co2libri (“Co2free”-Freiburg).

Examples

Example 1: Why do Houses Matter? Energy Aspects in Urban Planning Processes

The new buildings of today are the old buildings of tomorrow. It is exactly for this reason that the municipal council of the city of Freiburg has, on the proposal of the administration, determined to take energy features into consideration as early in the planning processes as possible:

• Passive solar aspects (shading, compactness) to already reduce energy consumption in the planning design
• Assessment of decentralised and centralised energy supply options in the scope of energy concepts such as cogeneration and renewable energies

Within town planning agreements, builders are obligated to implement the most sustainable form of the energy concept in so far as costs are limited to a maximum of 10 per cent more than a standard variant.
The Freiburg Low Energy Standard for private residences also applies to municipal properties and areas of new development. This building standard, which utilises 30 per cent less heat energy than the state standard, will be improved in two phases due to be implemented in 2009 and 2011.

The city of Freiburg is aware of its function as a role model: since 2008, municipal buildings as well as new developments of the municipal building society have to be built according to passive house standards.

The city quarters Rieselfeld (11.000 inh.) and Vauban (5000 inh.) and are two examples of ecological city planning. The Vauban Quarter was created on an area of 38 hectares located close to the city centre, on the terrain where the barracks of the French military forces once stood. It is an attractive, family-friendly neighbourhood in which civic commitment, collective building, and living with ecological awareness has great importance. Low-energy building is obligatory in this district; zero-energy and energy-plus building and the application of solar technology are standard for most.

Example 2: Freiburg Solar Region

Currently affording 15 MW of installed photovoltaic capacity and some 15,000 m2 of solar thermal collectors, Freiburg holds a leading position in solar energy applications in Germany. There is, however, more to solar energy in Freiburg than just technological achievements and a renewable source of energy. Solar energy has become the hallmark of sustainable regional development, creating benefits for the business community, power companies, building sector, tourism, research and training bodies, schools and many more.

Citizens take an active interest in energy issues. Moreover, various forms of co-operation between agents from different sectors create a unique network of expertise supporting the future development of solar energy, both locally and in terms of products and services for clients around the world. Visitors are welcome to take a look round the solar-powered football stadium, solar factory, solar housing estate, solar schools, solar research institute as well as all the other Freiburg solar landmarks to see the potential of solar power for themselves.

FREESUN, an internet based tool – launchend in 2009 – provides information for houseowners concerning the avaibility of their roofs for solar energy.

Example 3: Freiburg’s Traffic Concepts

In 1969, an initial master plan was decided on, and since then it belonged to the citys' declared objectives of urban traffic and transportation policy to ensure mobility, without urban development, nature and the environment having to suffer from it. Freiburg’s traffic and transportation policy, which was noticed nationwide, preferentially supports environment-friendly modes of locomotion (pedestrian traffic, cycling, local public transport). Not least, Freiburg received the “European Local Public Transport Award” for its policy.

The most important objective of Freiburg’s traffic and transportation policy is the avoidance of traffic by means of designing a compact city of short distances, including strong city district centers, urban development along main public transport lines, and the priority of centralized development over peripheral growth.

All major urban development decisions followed the concept of preventive traffic avoidance: from the building of the new city districts of Rieselfeld and Vauban, both easily accessible by city rail, to the extension of inner-city university locations and the concept of markets and centers which gives priority to the people catering for their daily provisions in their local neighborhoods over the construction of supermarkets on green meadows.

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