NEWSLETTER FROM THE DANISH EMBASSY WEEK 51

Danish green initiatives couple with American high-tech innovation is the key to a sustainable future, according to the US ambassador
Cooperation between Danish companies within the field of renewable energy and American high-tech companies stand to be greatly expanded if Laurie S. Fulton gets her way.

The US ambassador to Denmark is gearing up for a green technology boom across the Atlantic, praising the Scandinavian country’s clean energy efforts, especially in wind power.

Fulton, who took the post early this summer, is working hard to promote cooperation between leading Danish companies and American manufacturers such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Intel.

‘I’m currently putting together a major seminar, scheduled to be underway in the first half of 2010,’ she told Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

‘Danish companies have extensive knowledge and are world leaders in renewable energy and other green sectors. American companies are world leaders in IT systems and aerodynamics, so I can see good synergies between the areas and believe that great benefits can be reaped by an even closer cooperation between our two countries,’ Fulton said.

Fulton said that when US President Barack Obama offered her a post as ambassador, she specifically asked to go to Denmark.

‘The US can learn a lot from Denmark. They’ve shown that it’s actually possible to base a large part of energy consumption on wind power. With Denmark’s experience and American companies’ great resources, I think we can give the renewable energy sector a huge push,’ she said.

Fulton said she was first focusing on getting companies to meet and discuss the opportunities of cooperation through the upcoming seminar. A date for the business meeting has not yet been determined.

Cube visualizes the actual scale of 1 tonne of CO2 in Copenhagen
The CO2 Cube currently on display in Copenhagen is designed to transform the invisible into a sculptural spectacle of light and sound in order to help people visualize the actual scale of 1 metric tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Unveiled on the first day of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), the CO2 cube “is a hybrid of a site-specific sculptural installation and a multi-media art show designed to help the public and policy makers alike gain a deeper understanding of the impact of our CO2 emissions, as well as exploring solutions to reduce our individual and collective CO2 footprints”, says Mia Hanak, Executive Director, Millennium ART.

Measured and stored at standard atmospheric pressure, one metric tonne of CO2 occupies a cube the size of a three-story building 8.2m x 8.2m x 8.2m (27ft x 27ft x 27ft). It thus took 12 shipping containers stacked in an interlocking pattern on a custom engineered floatation barge to construct the cube, two sides of which are covered with an architectural mesh fabric for video projection, while the other sides remain as open exposed shipping container surfaces.

The CO2 Cube bridges the worlds of virtual information and data, representing the condition of the global environment and the public space and landscape of the city of Copenhagen. “The CO2 Cube is a new form of billboard for the urban landscape, one dedicated not to consumption but to collective engagement. The use of shipping containers as the building blocks of the CO2 Cube resonates with the local shipping industry while signifying global consumption, yet reflecting the sustainable solution of re-use. Likewise the ideas and solutions generated by the COP15 conference need to be exported worldwide to make the difference” says Christophe Cornubert, Principal, PUSH Architecture.

In order to make the CO2 CUBES exhibit and events carbon neutral, Millennium ART is working with Terrapass to track all emission data for the CO2 CUBES project in the forms of emission-to-CO2 tonnage calculations for travel, shipping, machinery, and energy used.

The exhibition is developed in partnership with the United Nations Department of Public Information and was launched officially at UN Headquarters on 1 December 2009 by UN Under-Secretary General for Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka. The CO2 Cube is to generate awareness about the importance of supporting successful discussions at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP15), and gives a public voice to the deliberations through a customized YouTube communications platform on the cube, where messages from all corners of the world can be experienced.


Boris and Ritt in climate-clinch
Mayors from around the world watch London and Copenhagen leaders duke it out in a mild-mannered fashion

London’s charismatic Lord Mayor Boris Johnson was in high spirits at the Climate Summit for Mayors in Copenhagen, but he couldn’t keep up with the host city’s climate goals.

The score was quite clear after a panel debate involving several mayors from around the world – Copenhagen-London: 1-0.

‘We’re going to reduce our CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2030,’ Johnson announced.
But Copenhagen’s mayor Ritt Bjerregaard went one better, saying her city aimed to be carbon-neutral by 2025.

The Climate Summit for Mayors is taking place over three days, with more than 80 mayors participating under the slogan, ‘Cities Act’.

New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg was also there but didn’t arrive until halfway through Bjerregaard’s welcoming speech, in the process stealing all the attention from photographers, especially, and most of those in attendance.

When his turn came to speak, Bloomberg spoke about Copenhagen’s impressive facilities for cyclists, something his city would take inspiration from in future.

The cities represented by their mayors include Dar Es Salaam, Florence, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Manchester, Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok.

Report shows alarming increase of discharge of icebergs in Greenland
The discharge of icebergs from the Greenland ice sheet has increased by 30% over the past decade, from 330 billion tons in 1995 to 430 billion tons in 2005

The discharge of icebergs from the Greenland ice sheet has increased by 30% over the past decade, from 330 billion tons in 1995 to 430 billion tons in 2005. This is one of the most alarming findings in a new report from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) under the Arctic Council. The news is reported in a press release from AMAP.

The report is a preliminary product under the Arctic Council project 'Climate Change and the Cryosphere: Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic' and has been produced by some of the world's leading experts. Key results were presented by the Arctic Council Chair, the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Per Stig Møller, and the lead author, Professor Dorthe Dahl-Jensen of Copenhagen University on Monday 14 December at the UN Climate Change Conference COP15 in Copenhagen.

"We know that the Arctic has warmed enormously over the past 50 years and that the temperatures over Greenland have increased by more than twice the global average. Despite these observations, it is deeply surprising and worrying to see the pace of the changes in the Greenland ice sheet," says Professor Dahl-Jensen.

"Whereas two decades ago the Greenland ice sheet seemed to be roughly in balance, recent measurements show that the balance has now shifted and that both surface melting and iceberg discharge have increased considerably. Estimates indicate that between 1995 and 2000 the Greenland ice sheet lost on average 50 billion tonnes of ice each year, and in 2003-2006 the loss increased dramatically to an average of 160 million tonnes annually," AMAP states in the press release.

According to Professor Dorthe Dahl-Jensen the development seen in the last decade has taken scientists by surprise, and that it is still uncertain how the ice will react to future climate change. "Therefore it is essential to intensify the ice sheet research," she concludes.


New city bikes unveiled
Clunky old city bikes to be replaced with smart and funky new ones, but not for another three years

Tourists and cheapskates are in store for a more robust and useable city free bike system in Copenhagen.

A Swedish-American team and a French-Japanese one have beaten a field of 127 designers to become the producers of the new city bikes, with their respective Openbike and Myloop designs.

Openbike bicycles have built-in intelligence, which allows potential users to track the nearest available one with a mobile phone. The Myloop bike has a decidedly unique look, as its wheels have no spokes.

Both models are equipped with kickstands, so that users do not need to find bicycle stands for parking purposes.

According to the city’s Technical and Environmental Department, the new bikes will not be available until 2013.


The news is presented by The Copenhagen Post and does not reflect the official policies and opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs


Denmark sets example to the world in coal-fired energy efficiency
If Denmark's energy efficiency was replicated across the world right now, global CO2 emissions would drop by 40%

The UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Copenhagen is focusing considerable attention on the number of degrees Celsius by which the Earth's temperature can be permitted to rise without precipitating climate catastrophe. The UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated in its 4th report (AR4) that 2.0-2.4ºC is the upper limit if the Earth is to be saved from climate destabilisation. And IPCC assesses that there must be a 50-80% global reduction in CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2050 to prevent the temperature rise breaching this limit.

The CO2 reduction challenge looks daunting at first sight. But the fact is that Denmark, the country where COP15 is taking place, has already reached a level of national energy efficiency that – if replicated across the globe today – would according to calculations from the Confederation of Danish Industry reduce energy use by 40% and CO2 emissions by a commensurate amount. And remember, Denmark is a country which currently gets around three-quarters of its energy from fossil fuels.

So how is largely coal-fired Denmark (with its world-renowned wind turbines whirring sweetly in the background) able to emit so much less CO2 in relation to its level of industrial activity than many other countries? The answer is twofold. Firstly, Denmark's coal-fired power stations achieve a very high energy utilisation quotient by optimal recovery of waste heat from electricity production for other energy applications, notably district heating. Secondly, Danish industry has focused on energy efficiency over many years as a necessary response to the government's continuous strategy of pricing energy relatively high. This has resulted in an impressively energy-lean Danish industry.

Countries like China, which is widely reported in the media to be commissioning one new coal-fired power station every 10 days, could well be interested in studying Denmark's ultra-efficiency in the power station sector, while virtually all industrialised lands will find some aspect of energy-efficient Danish technology of interest to them.

At the Bright Green Expo in Copenhagen last weekend, delegates from 192 countries worldwide were given ample opportunity to see the technology Denmark and other countries can offer today to help nations worldwide reach ambitious CO2 reduction targets and, by acting together, bring CO2 emission levels down sufficiently to keep the global temperature rise below the critical 2.0-2.4ºC limit