The climate crisis has made it imperative for corporations, individuals and governments around the world to do all they can to reduce emissions.
As this edition of the UN’s annual climate change conference in Baku comes to a close, Virgule took a look at some of the measures that municipalities in Luxembourg are taking to cut their carbon footprint.
The City of Luxembourg
The capital’s authorities are aiming to reduce their CO2 emission by 55% by 2030. One of the steps they are taking is an attempt to fulfil the city’s gas requirements through the use of less emission intensive biogas.
“All the City of Luxembourg’s gas requirements will be met by biogas. From January to September, we bought 30,000 megawatt hours of biogas, which enables us to heat buildings”, said the council’s first alderman Maurice Bauer.
Bauer added that this decision alone could cut the city’s emissions by 40%. The city of Luxembourg hopes to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The overall energy consumption of the City of Luxembourg amounts to 180 GWT/hour, Bauer said, which can be broken down as follows:
30% from renewable electrical energy;
17% from biogas;
39% from diesel and petrol;
7% from fossil district heating and 7% from renewable district heating.
By 2026, the City of Luxembourg is aiming for the complete electrification of its bus fleet. At present, 37 electric buses are operating in the city, representing 30% of the capital’s electric buses.
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Since the energy crisis in 2022, the number of hours the Christmas lights are lit has been halved. The lights are no longer on all the time, but from 06:00 to 09:00, and then from 16:00 to 23:00.
Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette has several ambitious targets, including reductions in energy use and increasing its production of renewable energy sources.
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Regarding the development of solar power, council authorities in the country’s second most populous city point out that “the photovoltaic potential of the Esch area has been assessed by the Klima-Agency, and its target in this area has already been exceeded.“
As far as public lighting is concerned, the municipality is aiming to consume 2,329,552 kWh by 2030. “However, specific challenges need to be taken into account, such as the emergence of the new Metzeschmelz and Rout Lëns districts,” said a council spokesperson. These figures exclude the two main industrial consumers in the area, ArcelorMittal and Cimalux.
By 2030, the municipality intends to electrify half of its bus fleet. Esch-sur-Alzette has also signed up to the European climate pact, which seeks to drive climate action from the bottom up.
Here are some measures implemented by the municipality:
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Annual maintenance of at least 200 light points in Esch to improve their efficiency;
Application of insulation standards exceeding the legal minimums in order to optimise thermal efficiency when renovating or constructing new municipal buildings;
Exploring sites for carports equipped with charging points and increasing photovoltaic production in partnership with Sudstroum.
Dudelange
In 2013, the city of Dudelange also signed up to the climate pact. It pledged to reduce its emissions by 75% by the end of 2022 by cutting waste, electricity use and increasing renewable energy production.
Last year, the city was awarded the European energy award gold certificate for its efforts, which was also awarded to Esch-sur-Alzette and Préizerdaul back in 2019.
When asked about the actions taken during 2024 to reduce the municipality’s carbon footprint, the council mentioned the following measures:
Energy renovation of the Gaffelt school;
Conversion of public lighting to LED (this project is spread over several years);
Financial assistance for private individuals in the areas of renovation, renewable energies, e-mobility, replacement of old household appliances, etc;
New buildings designed to optimise energy efficiency (heat and electricity).
The projects planned for 2025 will be made official once the next budget is voted on in December, according to the local authority.
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(This article was originally published by Virgule. Translation and editing by Kabir Agarwal)
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Publish date : 2024-11-22 02:39:00
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