European companies compete to make Copenhagen CO2 neutral

Copenhagen, October 1, 2015 –Copenhagen City and Climate-KIC have joined forces on arranging the first “Open Challenge Innovation Call” to gather ideas and proposals on how the city can achieve its climate targets and become the world’s first CO2 neutral capital in 2025. 15 companies and spin-outs from Climate-KIC’s community all over Europe will present their solutions to a panel of politicians and experts on Friday 2 October at Copenhagen Town Hall.

Susanne Pedersen, Director of Climate-KIC Nordic says: “I believe Climate-KIC can really add value to large cities such as Copenhagen by matching innovative simple green solutions to the significant climate challenges which they face in the future.”

Copenhagen has significant climate challenges

Copenhagen will be faced with a number of climate challenges in the coming years. New buildings must be low on energy consumption but there is also a need to retrofit existing buildings to become more energy efficient as they account for 75% of the city’s total CO2 emissions and will continue to represent  90% of the total buildings for many years to come. Much heavier rainfall is expected and it is important to find methods to prevent the consequences of increased amounts of water and flooding which in recent years have already created problems for both Copenhagen’s infrastructure and its citizens whose homes and cellars have been flooded.  At the same time, more extreme frequent heat waves are also expected, which combined with an increasing density of buildings will bring a rise in air pollution and effect the health of city dwellers. Solutions to these challenges are needed so that citizens can live in a greener and more sustainable city.

Morten Kabell, Copenhagen City’s Environment Mayor says:

“Copenhagen wants to be the world’s first CO2 neutral city in 2025. That requires that we develop new technologies in partnership with private companies and academic institutions in a range of areas. This cooperation with Climate-KIC Nordic on the Open Challenge Innovation Call is a good example of how we can achieve a dialogue with small innovative companies which have concrete ideas on how to achieve our climate targets and inspire other cities in Europe.”

Companies will be presenting solid solutions    

Amongst the companies participating is Picodat, a spin-out from the Danish Technical University and Copenhagen Business School. Picodat has developed a method, based on the Big Data available from the municipality, that calculates the effect of different types of energy renovation and what it will cost.

Frequency of flooding and extreme rainfall has inspired Allups from the UK to develop a narrow  door mat like product which can be fixed in a doorframe and swells on contact with water to produce a barrier. It can be disposed of as normal household waste after use.

Peeeks from Holland has a proposal on how Copenhagen can use the city’s swimming pools, cold stores and other buildings with a large energy consumption to store energy. Their solution heats up water when energy is cheap outside peak hours (typically at night). Similarly, cold stores can cool down to a lower temperature than normal when electricity is cheap. This optimises existing energy production and swimming pools and cold stores can reduce their energy costs.

The most relevant ideas will be selected to test their solutions in cooperation with Copenhagen City.

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Note to editors:

The event takes place:

Friday 2 October 09.00 – 17.00

At Copenhagen’s Town Hall,  BR chamber, 1599 Copenhagen V

The press are invited to participate.

For more information on the programme please see: https://www.climate-kic.org/events/open-innovation-call-for-the-city-of-copenhagen/

Contact:

Jakob Steen Jensen, Entrepreneurship lead, Climate-KIC Nordic

Mobile: +45 22480802

Email: Jakob@climate-kic-nordic.org