Attacking the climate change

by Pekka Salminen

It has become clear that climate stability is one of the main issues when we talk about sustainable development. Because it is one of the main values in the Turku Strategy, it obliges the city also to fight against the climate change.

In the city organisation each department has listed the actions to be taken to cut the greenhouse gas emissions. Good results have been reached through implementation of the sustainable energy policy. Turku has signed the voluntary energy saving agreement with the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry. This has lead to decline of the energy consumption in the buildings owned by the city. Turku has also committed that at least 4% of its electricity consumption to be covered by the wind power.

The city owned Energy Company has invested heavily in the renewable energy production. Bio heating plant covers now 20% of the district heating demand. The aim is to double the bio heating capacity within few years. Also the use of methane from the city landfill to district heating has been one of the recent investments. The new investment is a heat pump in the wastewater treatment plant. Starting from 2009 the pump will produce emission free heat for the yearly need of about 4000 detached houses. Realistic goal for the year 2020 is that 50-70 % of the district heat is produced by renewable energy sources. Almost 90% of the inhabitants use now a district heating.

Turku plays an active role also in the work of SW Finland Energy Agency which is coordinating energy saving projects and campaigns, as well as promoting renewable energy production in the region. Development of the greenhouse gas emissions are reported in the sustainable development report of the city. Emissions of the whole community are measured every fourth year using the model developed by the Finnish Environment Institute. Emissions caused by the city organisation are measured annually. Development trend in the 1^st decade of this century has been positive.