Back from the PLEEC project meeting in Copenhagen...

...we have a lot to report!

Having started our meeting officially with a common lunch in the venues of the University of Copenhagen on Tuesday, 28 October 2014, we split up into two different groups to go on study trips and learn about energy efficiency in Danish surroundings.

Group 1 traveled to Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, an institute at Technical University of Denmark where the PLEEC technical experts got an overview of the research activities within smart cities. During a guided tour they learned from the demonstration of a grid simulator with the possibility for flexible integration of electricity from renewable energies and storage capacities. 

Group 2 was the “sporty” group and chose the bike to get to know Copenhagen´s energy efficient sites. After a 1,5 hour cycle tour we gathered at the municipality to learn more about Copenhagen´s bicycle strategy. Did you know that Copenhagen has 360 kms of cycle tracks and aims at a 50 % share of people cycling to work and education? 

Having a lot of content-related project work on the agenda we worked intensively during dinner time and the next morning in different working sessions. The leaders of Work Packages 3 (“technology driven efficiency potentials”), 4 (“structure driven efficiency potentials”) and 5 (“behavior driven efficiency potentials”) elaborated jointly the concrete planning on how to successfully finalize their tasks. Intensive discussions with the city partners will be realized soon as it is now time to find out how the cities´ BAP´s can be transferred to other cities.  

And then the big event was still to come:

The PLEEC Energy Efficiency Forum “European Energy Smart Cities – how to learn from Best Available Practices” took place at “Building Green” Fair in Copenhagen, Denmark´s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment, and provided not only insights into the findings of the PLEEC project, but rather offered the opportunity to learn from Best Available Practices related to key aspects of energy efficiency. 

But we won´t go into detail here – apart from “it was an inspiring event with great contributions”, we leave it for this time and forward you to our project website where you can read the full report of the event and download all presentations: http://pleecproject.eu/news/60-how-to-become-an-energy-efficient-smart-city.html

Have fun reading!