Energimidt – Innovation project on the island of Fur is awarded as one of the best European energy conversion projects
 
Three judges, including EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, have selected nine winners out of the 380 projects that were registered for the competition "Our energy transition. " The greening on the island of Fur will now inspire others in Denmark.
 
The green results speak for themselves: In just one year, the citizens of Limfjord reduced their CO2 emissions by 20%. Citizens' total energy consumption has decreased by 10% - and electricity consumption in homes has fallen by nearly 18%.
 
The island of Fur is undergoing a green transformation. In 2011, the island of Fur, the city Skive and the utility Energimidt started to develop a mini- model of the future sustainable welfare state. One of the key words is citizen participation : The concept is that change and transition be a bottom.
 
Therefore, the innovation project on the island of Fur established citizen groups where citizens of Fur are invited to define the various projects. This means that these projects are relevant to the citizens - and not least, very realistic . The involvement of the citizen perspective is important in order to create real development.
 
“It has been essential from the start to involve citizens in the project. Our starting point is to change and develop new consumption habits that make sense for citizens. Therefore, we have had a strong focus on involving citizens in the form of training, workshops and public meetings”, says project Gitte Wad Thybo.
 
From Community hall to the EU
A wide range of initiatives is in process in Fur. A key element in all of them is that the people of Fur will receive free energy advice on their request, almost 40% accepted this offer already. The result is massive energy savings and areal start to put sustainability on the agenda of all Fur citizens.
 
Innovation on the island of Fur is much more than this:
“An alternative solar campaign is running, where for each solar panel sold a solar panel will be donated to the local community hall. We participate in a large-scale EU project on the future intelligent electricity grids. In order to develop the digital world, we have, in direct collaboration with Microsoft, started an exciting tablet project at the Fursund School. In this way, Innovation on the island of Fur involves almost all citizens on the island”, says Gitte Wad Thybo .
 
During the project annual climate accounts reports for Fur will be published, where you can see if the behaviour has changed and initiatives will have sustainable results. Climate records means that the project can continuously assess whether the various measures have the desired climate effect.
 
Facts
Besides the award the winning project will be mentioned in the book "Denmark's Great Transition Guide". Danish ministry of Research and Information will make sure that this document will be presented to the rest of Denmark as the best conversion project; Showing the way to a sustainable society.
 
 
 

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