City Stories by Energy Cities

This is our second and final episode on how energy poverty affects people not only financially but also through poor health. In the previous episode we looked into coping strategies and needs of people in energy poverty. In this current episode we want to discuss the different pathways we can take for making people’s lives at home healthier. This show is about how local governments can provide answers and concrete help, especially to those that are already in fragile or complicated situations. How can they be supportive in urgency situations while creating long-term conditions that bring wellbeing? This episode is supported in the framework of the WELLBASED project, co-funded by the EU program Horizon 2020.

No risk, no fun. No risk, no failure… This is what experienced somme energy community pioneers on the Aland islands, an archipelago between Finland and Sweden. In the municipality of Kökar, an energy community around solar, urban wind and storage was meant to bring new flexibility to the island’s energy system. You will hear that this has turned into a bad adventure with 1 or 2 strong and loud opponents managing to sabotage the project. I’ve spoken about navigating public perception of local energy projects with Niclas Karlsson who is Municipal Director of Kökar, one of the small municipalities of Aland (300 inhabitants) and Jonas Holmstrom who is working for the energy company Flexens. The energy community planned in the framework of a project, co-funded by the EU, never happened. What can developers and local governments do when they have a renewable energy project but are running into public resistance? How to make people understand that there is more to gain than to lose? This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. SCCALE is an EU project (Horizon 2020 programme).

The wind has turned again for energy communities in Greece: a recent change in law now forbids, for example, the participation of businesses. This shift leaves more than one community energy initiative puzzled. And still, community leaders keep on fighting for it as a means to bring environmental and social sustainability – ultimately also as a means to turn the blurry degrowth concept into something very concrete. Chris Giotitsas, with whom I've met for this episode, says: "Well, degrowth is a pretty loaded term on its own. When applied to energy, it's even more complex because questions arise as to what types of energy needs are considered the baseline and how much energy is considered enough when we're talking about reaching a certain limit and then considering limits themselves." Chris is researcher at Peer to Peer Lab and President of the energy community <ttps://commonen.gr in the North of Greece. CommonEn was founded in May 2021 in Ioannina. Its purpose is the production and management of clean and cheap energy. One of his planned energy community projects is about urban agrivoltaics involving people with mental health issues. To make this happen, the energy community closely works together with the municipality of Ioannina. This episode was produced thanks to funding from the SCCALE 20-30-50 project (Horizon 2020 program).

Some say the energy transition is a great opportunity to create a more equal society. Others are more pessimistic and predict that the transition will worsen inequalities. How does reality look like and what solutions do we already have at hand to guarantee fair access and good lives to all, no matter their income, race, religion, gender? I’m delighted to talk about inclusive cities and communities with two trailblazing women: Kata Tütto and Antonia Proka. Kata is Deputy Mayor at the City of Budapest, and candidate for this year’s European Parliament election in Hungary. Antonia represents the world of cooperatives: She is project manager at RESCoop.eu and co-author of the Inclusivity Guide for Energy Communities that was released a few months ago. Let’s go for a this episode where we talk about residents of all types and from all strands! This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. www.sccale203050.eu

This episode is with Carlo Tacconelli. Carlo is an international energy expert and CEO of EnGreen, anItalian renewables start-up. Carlo has 16 years of experience in distributed renewable energy systems in Europe and in developing countries. Carlo shares some of that experience in this episode, with a special focus on the incredible power of energy communities. We left our conversation with much optimism as Carlo talks about all the positive side effects energy communities can bring. We particularly enjoyed listening to him when he talked about the potential of a rural revival. As shared renewable energy is becoming more popular in villages and is creating jobs, we might be able to reverse the trend of rural communities hollowing out. Some people may decide to return to a rural, more self-sustaining life. Here is our conversation with a fantastic glimmer of hope! This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. www.sccale203050.eu

For this episode we traveled to Croatia: From Zagreb it takes between one and two hours by car to the much smaller towns of Koprivnica, Varazdin and Virovitica in the North-East of Croatia. It's in Koprivnica, a city of 30.000 inhabitants, where today’s guest Ivan Simic lives and works. Ivan is managing director of the regional energy agency REA North. The energy agency supports the three city councils which are working hard to build a green and prosperous future for their people. I chatted with Ivan about his current big planning mission of reviewing the cities' SEAPs. He also explained how communication with city leaders can be improved and why he wants citizens to get on a state aid rehab. The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero. www.europeancitycalculator.eu

Mise à part son excellence culinaire, la région métropolitaine a également été reconnue par la Commission européenne comme étant un leader climatique. Elle fait partie de 100 villes phares en matière de climat. Mon invité aujourd'hui est Jean-Patrick Masson, vice-président chargé de la transition énergétique à Dijon Métropole. Jean-Patrick est l'un des moteurs politiques de sa région et très actif aussi sur la scène politique nationale. Mon bref entretien avec lui m'a ouvert de nouvelles perspectives sur l'importance des partenariats et sur la nécessité de tester les choses avant de les dupliquer. De plus en plus de villes européennes se sont engagées à atteindre la neutralité carbone d’ici le milieu du siècle, voire avant. Seules quelques-unes ont déjà réussi à élaborer des plans de transition concret et à les mettre en oeuvre. Le projet EUCityCalc aide les villes à prendre des décisions fondées sur des données : Grâce au financement du programme Horizon 2020 de l’UE, le projet publiera l’outil web European City Calculator. Il s’agit d’un instrument open-source avec lequel les villes peuvent planifier leurs mesures pour ramener les émissions de CO2 à zéro. www.europeancitycalculator.eu

In this episode we welcome Cristina Daniel who is the managing director of the regional energy agency ENA – Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida in Portugal. ENA connects the dots between 3 municipalities that are located within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the agency helps those cities with their energy and environmental strategy. How is this meant to improve the lives of around 250.000 people living in the area? Cristina, who is currently doing a PhD on valuing ecosystem services, joins our podcast to share their recent work to cool down and carbon down the cities of Setubal, Palmela and Sesimbra. The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero.