Lübeck

Inhabitants act for Climate Protection

One initiative launched by the Climate Alliance was the Ice Block Bet, which aimed to educate the public about the benefits of thermal insulation. The Hanseatic City of Lübeck was among 50 local authorities to implement the campaign. Five blocks of ice were placed in a small wooden hut (built according to passive house standards) located at the heart of the city. After ten weeks, 72.3% of the ice remained.

The initiative taught the general public about reducing costs, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. It was supported by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, a local company as well as an environmental group, and ultimately won Lüeck an environmental prize in 2007.

Lübeck also took part in the ZOOM Kids on the Move campaign for the third time. In 2008, 530 nursery school children participated, choosing to make their daily journey to and from school in an environmentally-friendly way. Each journey counted as one Green Footprint with most of them collected on foot or by bike. Parents and nursery school teachers were also involved. In June, the children proudly presented the 14,653 green footprints they had collected to the local media.

Picture credits: City of Lübeck
 

Shore-to-Ship Electricity Supply

Despite the positive benefits the intensive Baltic Sea shipping industry has both economic and in terms of tourism the burden on the environment remains a pressing, unsolved problem. High levels of pollution were the motivation for the Lübeck-led EU project, "New Hansa". In Lübeck-Travemünde, 95% of SO2, 75% of NOx and 50% of CO2 emissions were found to originate from ships.

The solution: the supply of the vessel with power from a shore-based source via a plug-in connection, thus allowing it to shut down its auxiliary engines. The system is conceived to allow onboard personnel to take the necessary actions independently and without interruption of the power supply. Moreover, electricity can be provided at various voltages, frequencies and power levels via the single on-shore connection according to the ship's specific requirements. In Lübeck, the local energy utilities provide eco-power, which further reduces the impacts on the environment.

Having initially faced some legal and technical problems, the pilot project in Lübeck has been implemented very successfully and is now ready to be transferred to 23 other Baltic ports. An important step towards more climate protection in harbours has been taken.

Picture credit: Stadtwerke Lübeck

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City of Lübeck