Busy Autumn in Turku Positive Energy District (PED)

The RESPONSE project has kept the Turku PED residents busy this Autumn, as three workshops have been arranged to raise awareness and disseminate RESPONSE solutions.

Students have had a core role in organizing the events, which has ensured that the events are appealing to the Turku PED residents in Student Village, offering a possibility to participate in the creation of digital tools.

The environmental workshop gathered people to test energy consumption in one’s everyday life

The Environmental workshop was held on the 16th of November featuring energy in everyday life. The objective of the RESPONSE Environmental workshop is to raise the residents’ awareness and interest in energy topics. The participants strolled around the many different stands with activities varying from playing Nintendo Switch and measuring the energy consumption of the console compared to how many calories you spent while playing, a Kahoot quiz on energy consumption, guessing how much energy different appliances consume to solar powered toy cars that demonstrated how solar energy and batteries work. The RESPONSE mentors also participated in the event to discuss with the PED residents.

Although all stands were interesting to the participants, the stand where you could see how much energy different energy appliances consume seemed to be the most popular one. One could measure the energy consumption of different lightbulbs, an air conditioner, Christmas lights, a massaging pillow, and other appliances. There was a Kahoot quiz on energy consumption, which was a lot of fun for people who took part in it as they had funny moments seeing the correct answers to the questions.

Overall, there were a lot of different conversations and realizations about energy consumption, and the event had a nice variety of people – including young kids who liked to play with solar-powered cars and the Nintendo Switch console. A joyful atmosphere is a good way to describe the event.

Students facilitated Avatar workshops in Turku

As a part of the RESPONSE project, digital tools are being created to help the residents understand the technical solutions that have been implemented in the apartments and buildings. This concerns especially the retrofitted 5th block apartments. This was the third workshop Turku University of Applied Sciences organized as a part of a series where digital tools are developed.

The workshop’s key focus was twofold: firstly to showcase the technical improvements made to the area due to the RESPONSE project, and secondly to gather feedback by encouraging the residents to share their thoughts and experiences about the project. This was achieved by hosting two workshops in November for the residents of the PED area. These workshops included VR tours of the PED area comprised of 360-degree images captured using both a drone and a mounted camera, discussions, and feedback gathering with the residents and enjoying food and refreshments.

Career Forum in Fontaine d’Ouche, Dijon

Discovering the careers of tomorrow, on the road to transition. The initiative brings students to learn about climatic questions, sustainable and smart cities, and future professions.

As part of the 2023 Ecological and Digital Transition Festival, the Your Future Job careers forum was in full swing from 13 to 15 November 2023. Taking the example of RESPONSE as the first chapter of the energy transition in European cities, more than 800 secondary school students and job seekers from Côte-d’Or registered to take part in the many workshops organized in Fontaine d’Ouche.

Immersive, fun experiences were on offer to raise awareness among as many people as possible of the professions that will shape our future. Local schools and businesses provided specific workshops for raising awareness about the upcoming need for skills in Dijon and Europe.

According to ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency), between now and 2050, over 900,000 jobs will be created in sectors such as construction, transport, industry, and energy, all closely linked to the ecological transition. This is the major challenge that Dijon, one of RESPONSE’s Lighthouse cities, is committed to meeting.

Presenters at the Career Forum in Fontaine d’Ouche, Dijon.
Participantes at the Career Forum in Fontaine d’Ouche, Dijon.
Participantes at the Career Forum in Fontaine d’Ouche, Dijon.

17th SET Plan Conference

The discussion on energy research and innovation for a competitive Europe provided insights into Empower Communities: Citizen Engagement Practices in Clean Energy Transition and the revamped SET Plan as instruments to address energy policy challenges.

On 13 November, as part of the SET Plan Conference 2023, Jean-Patrick Masson (Vice-President of Dijon Métropole) participated in a round table discussion on the empowerment of communities and best practices for citizen involvement in the clean energy transition.

This was an opportunity to present RESPONSE’s challenges and successes in Dijon, engaging inhabitants of the Fontaine d’Ouche district, where the PEBs are being implemented.

Watch the conference here: 17th SET Plan Conference – 14 November 2023.

Key messages from the discussion:

The 3 pillars of multi-stakeholder engagement are crucial to the local energy transition

  • Involvement of local stakeholders and strong public-private partnerships,
  • citizens’ involvement, collaboration with the European level for inspiration,
  • and the exchange of good practice.

Speakers of Empowering Communities at 17th SET Plan Conference.

Activating all means of communication to engage citizens in the transition

Regular newsletters, on-site workshops, meetings with elected representatives, and the citizen engagement platform for inhabitants to share their ideas and comments on the project, offering inhabitants the opportunity to become ambassadors for the Fontaine d’Ouche to promote the PEBs to other residents.

RESPONSE 5th Webinar: Collaborative Citizen Engagement in the Development of Positive Energy Districts (PED) | January 16th, 2024 | 12:00 CET

The 5th Webinar on Collaborative Citizen Engagement in the development of Positive Energy Districts – this event will focus on Collaborative Citizen Engagement and we will present some of the RESPONSE activities to engage citizens in Turku and Dijon.

This event is an introduction to the topic “Collaborative Citizen Engagement in the development of Positive Energy Districts” and a presentation of RESPONSE activities regarding citizen engagement implemented in the 2 LHCs of Turku and Dijon. The webinar aims to increase public awareness of RESPONSE to create new links between organizations and enable learning and knowledge exchange processes, especially between Lighthouse and Fellow cities.

Register via the link: https://lnkd.in/e7DXyC_D

RESPONSE 4th Webinar – Air Pollution – A Global Health Emergency

RESPONSE tools & innovative solutions for Air Quality

Date: September 14th, 2023

Hour: 12h00-13h00 CEST

The RESPONSE project is organizing the 4th Webinar: Air Pollution – A global Health Emergency – focused on RESPONSE tools and solutions for better Air Quality and the innovative solutions being developed and tested in the Light House Cities and Fellow Cities.

The webinar will be held on September 14th from 12:00 to 13:00 CEST and aims to increase public awareness of RESPONSE and to create new links between organizations and enable learning and knowledge exchange processes, especially between Lighthouse and Fellow cities.

We would like to invite you to join this informative webinar

The event is free of charge but registration is required.

Register here

Consortium Meeting gathered partners in Turku

A RESPONSE consortium meeting gathered horizontal project partners, Lighthouse Cities and Fellow Cities in the city of Turku from 6th to 8th of June. For three days, project partners collaborated and exchanged views on project implementation, citizen engagement and replication of the project measures.  

The first day of the consortium meeting was dedicated to talks on the implementation progress of the project. The meeting kicked off with a presentation on the project progress so far, after which partners discussed monitoring of implemented solutions, future project communication, and continued citizen engagement measures until the project ends in 2025. In the afternoon, a site visit to the Kakolanmäki wastewater treatment plant was organized. At the plant, partners learned more about the heat pump and the water treatment processes at Kakolanmäki.

A visit to the Kakola wastewater treatment plant was organized on the first day of the meeting.

On the second day, focus shifted to replication in Fellow and Lighthouse Cities, and to the technical energy and ICT solutions implemented in RESPONSE. Partners, such as VTT, FMI and SunAmp, presented the solutions that have been implemented in the Positive Energy District (PED) area in Turku. The presentations were then followed by a guided tour in the PED area.

During the site visit, partners learned more about the energy renovations completed in the 5th Block of the PED, the operation of the heat pump installed in Tyyssija building, and the novel LVDC microgrid, which minimizes energy loss in the local energy system. In combination with increased local renewable energy production, these smart solutions will reduce the carbon footprint of the PED and optimize energy consumption in the buildings.

Participants also took part in a guided tour to test the journey planner AirQu, developed during RESPONSE. The journey planner utilizes air quality data from the sensors in the PED and helps pedestrians and cyclists choose paths that are healthier, greener, and flatter.

Participants tested the Air Quality Journey Planner AirQu, developed in the RESPONSE project.

Finally, during the last day of the meeting, partners discussed future collaboration and considered different climate adaptation measures that could be implemented in Turku. During the adaptation workshop, local stakeholders were invited to exchange views with partners from Fellow Cities and to learn more about different adaptation strategies and challenges posed by a changing climate.

Text by Helmi Andersson (City of Turku)

RESPONSE at the Scalable Cities & Matchup – Valencia Joint Event

On March 29 and 30, 2023, the “Valencia Joint Event”, organized between the MatchUP project and Scalable Cities, took place at Las Naves, in the city of Valencia, Spain.

The event included a panel on the 100 Mission Cities of NetZeroCities, outcomes of the MatchUp project, discussion workshops on scaling the solutions packaged under various topics, site visits to Valencia traffic control room, humble lampposts, Energy Office and Smart Buildings, as well as meetings of the Scalable Cities task groups CCG / Replication / Monitoring and Business Models & Financing. 

RESPONSE project was represented by consortium members from the City of Turku, City of Brussels, RINA-C and ICPE Romania.

RESPONSE Lighthouse and Fellow Cities selected for NetZeroCities programme

The NetZeroCities Programme announced in March 2023 the fifty-three cities selected for the launching year of the project, and the RESPONSE Lighthouse Cities, Dijon (FR) and Turku (FI), and one of the Fellow Cities, Zaragoza (ES), are part of the cities list on a path to total decarbonisation.

Each Pilot City selected in the NetZeroCities Programme has identified pathways toward climate neutrality, taking action on bespoke combinations of six main domains, including: energy; waste management; land use; electricity for buildings; industrial processes; and mobility and transport. On this journey, each Pilot City will align their activities with existing and new partnerships, initiatives, and goals, to amplify outcomes and impact.

All 53 cities have the same ambition, to pave a way for a climate-proof future in Europe, and to scale up their solutions for the replication in other cities. They represent twenty-one different European Union and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries and were chosen out of 103 applications involving 159 cities.  

Dijon

RESPONSE project is proud to be represented by the cities of Dijon, Turku, and Zaragoza, with the announcement of the NetZeroCities Programme happening shortly before the inauguration of RESPONSE’s Positive Energy Blocks (PEBs) in the Lighthouse Cities, Dijon and Turku.

The RESPONSE Project started in 2020, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. The consortium is composed of 53 partners from 13 European countries, and the main aim of RESPONSE is to turn energy sustainability into a do-able vision by solving the energy trilemma (security, equity/affordability, environmental sustainability) at building, block and district levels in smart cities. The project builds upon intelligent integrated and interconnected energy systems coupled with demand-oriented city infrastructures, governance models and services that foster energy sustainability.

Turku

The Lighthouse Cities, Dijon and Turku, selected for the NetZeroCities Programme, are advancing already existing city platforms to further support the operation of a smart and resilient city in the context of climate adaptation and safety risks, supporting services such as smart diagnostics and disaster management or “perturbations”, by sending targeted alerts to their citizens.

In parallel, the know-how of the Lighthouse Cities are being distributed to the Fellow Cities, Brussels (BE), Botosani (RO), Ptolemaida (GR), Gabrovo (BG) Severodonetsk (UA), and Zaragoza (ES), also selected to be part of the NetZeroCities Programme.The six cities have different conditions of energy systems, climate, building types and financial possibilities and challenges, with a long-term commitment to replication activities through their existing policies and strategies. 

Zaragoza

The three RESPONSE project cities represented in the NetZeroCities Programme are propelling the EU Cities Mission forward, part of the aim of the 112 climate-neutral cities by 2030. With the launch of the Positive Energy Blocks (PEBs) in 2023, the RESPONSE project is closer to this objective, essential for all European cities and citizens.

RESPONSE Webinar #3 – Positive Energy Building Systems

On December 7th 2022, the RESPONSE project hosted the third webinar, RESPONSE – Positive Energy Building Systems.

The webinar aims to raise public awareness of the RESPONSE project, establish new cooperations among organizations, and to facilitate learning and knowledge exchange processes, particularly between Lighthouse and Fellow cities. 

The webinar was attended by 44 participants from different organisations.

Here  you can find the presentation used during the webinar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub_4JZCxPRM&t=191s

Horizon Magazine – “Finnish and French cities chart Europe’s path to clean energy” article about RESPONSE

In an interview about Europe’s path to clean energy, Monjur Murshed and David Goujon from EIFER – European Institute for Energy Research, talked about RESPONSE to the Horizon Magazine.

The coordinators of the project shared how Turku and Dijon, the Lighthouse Cities of RESPONSE, are among a group of cities seeking to become climate-neutral by 2030, two decades before the European goal.

“In 2029, Finland’s oldest city, Turku, will celebrate reaching the grand old age of 800. At the same time, it hopes to reach another major milestone – becoming climate-neutral. The French city of Dijon 2 000 kilometres away hopes to achieve the same goal by 2030.

The two are part of the Cities Mission – an EU initiative to create 100 climate-neutral cities by the end of this decade. Turku and Dijon are also flagship members of the EU-funded RESPONSE project to help cities chart the path toward clean energy.”

Please read the full article here:

https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/finnish-and-french-cities-chart-europes-path-clean-energy