The Swedish city of Malmo has been on the forefront of sustainable innovation for the last 40 years. Prior to the 1970’s, Malmo was a large shipbuilding town but when the demand decreased a recession hit the area hard. Malmo was in need of revival, a new approach to their economic situation. The city adopted a green economy, which means they utilized an economic structure focused on environmental sustainability. Malmo is credited with many developments in sustainability, most notably their focus on energy, consumption and transportation. In keeping with Malmo’s strives for sustainable innovation, the city has set tough goals for their future in sustainability. According to Malmo’s website their goals are to “To become Sweden’s most climate-smart city. By 2020, the City of Malmö’s own organization will be climate neutral and by 2030, all of Malmö’s electricity supply will be from renewable energy. The aim is for as large a proportion of this energy as possible to be locally produced.” (Sustainable Malmo 1). This essay will give a brief overview of sustainability in Malmo and analysis of these efforts.
One of Malmo’s main challenges was to find a way to reduce their dependence on non-renewable energy sources. Non-renewable energy sources are finite resources that do not renew themselves in a sustainable manner, things like fossil fuels. In order to break their dependence on such energy sources, scientists and environmentalists alike worked together to develop new ways to get energy. The result was SYSAV, a waste-management facility that converts the waste to energy. At a basic level, SYSAV collects the towns waste, similar to most other waste management companies, but uses the waste in order to create many types of energy. Househo...
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Generational conflicts, political strife, environmental regulations, stakeholders in big oil, and many more hurdles affect the push to fully sustainable economies around the world and even here in America. In a world where coal, oil, and natural gas are limited, countries are gobbling it all up as fast as they can before other poorer countries come on the grid. Even though America and other countries gobble up these resources the life of the people is still a struggle to meet basic needs. Sustainability is an intermingling of resource use and protection of the “quality of life”, it is met by using resources sparingly and by recycling or reducing the use of other non-renewable resources to provide for our immediate need, but also to conserve and protect the needs of the next generation and to improve the quality of all the lives to come.
Our energy needs have significantly changed since the first Industrial Revolution that took place in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. Before this time period, our energy needs were modest. For heat, people relied on the energy of the sun, but when it failed them, they burned wood, straw and dried dung. For transportation horses and the power of the wind was used in sails. For agricultural work animals were used to do the jobs that could not be done with man labor. By harnessing the power of steam and wind simple machines could be run to grind our grain and pump our water. The Second Industrial Revolution, also called the Technological Revolution is considered to have begun around the time of the introduction of the Bessemer steel in the 1860s. This technological Revolution is considered as the second phase of the Industrial Revolution that resulted in factory electrification, mass production, the creation of production lines and the development of machine tools. With the appearance of the low cost automobile and the wide spread of electricity our society's energy needs have changed forever. Since the modest beginning of the oil industry in the mid 19th century, petroleum has risen to global dominance leading to mass consumption as the primary fuel to generate electricity, heat, to power our homes, cars and to support economic growth. Unfortunately, as a consequence of industrialization, atmospheric CO2 levels started to rise in proportion to the usage of fossil fuels. This trend raises some concerns about the well being of our environment, and researchers around the world started to look for alternative, cle...
Sustainability is one of the most controversial topics throughout the history, and as our society develop, we realize that being able to be sustainable is essential to survival of our race. The book Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Sustainability is a collection of articles on different side of various issues related to sustainability. In the book, Issue 8 discusses the ability of technology to deliver sustainability, and issue 16 and 17 discusses the sustainability of food and energy. While issue 16 and 17 are well-presented, the arguments in issue 8 are not very strong.
Instilling this new way of energy usage into off-grid communities will inevitably increase the state of living for those in cities and other well populated areas. The change to renewable energy sources could drastically lower the pollutants currently being dispersed into the atmosphere by coal mines and other harmful power options,
ForIn the past couple of years, IKEA has been deeply involved with the issues of the environment. In the article, “IKEA’s
Biogas has been found to be a sustainable source of energy which is creates less emissions compared to coal and oil (1). Due to everyday needs and wants of the growing populations of the world, natural resources have been used and over used to a point where they are no more as available, such as fossil fuels in Kristianstad(2). This unfortunately creates concern for the future however, an alternative source of energy has been found and is being implemented in the Swedish city so that the strain on the over use of natural resources can be relieved(3). Biogas is produced from biomass and it is the best sustainable plan as a source of energy and a way to be more environmentally conscious(4).
World Wildlife Fund, Ecofys, and Office for Metropolitan Architecture. "Renewable Energy Sources Can Satisfy Energy Demands." The Energy Report: 100% Renewable Energy by 2050. 2011. Rpt. in Renewable Energy. Ed. David M. Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
During the last century Copenhagen has seen major changes in the physical construct of the city but who was involved and what changes have occurred? When did these changes occur? Where were the main areas of development? Why was this change needed? And also, was it a successful development? Main case studies for this discussion include Copenhagen’s post-war master plan for it’s city looking at how it seamless integrated its transport systems, pedestrian walkways and businesses along with housing and zooming in further to the Ørestad district and its development which includes various architecture projects by practices such as BIG. By beginning to find answers to these questions through different sources and analysing them not only through words but also by illustrations and diagrams, an understanding of Copenhagen’s development can be begun to be made. Before these questions can be answered a step back should be made reflecting Copenhagen’s history.
In this regard, city authorities all over the world are increasingly adopting energy efficiency measures in a quest to become sustainable into the future. Consequently, this has led to the emergence of the term ‘green cities’ (Aulisi & Hanson, 2004). New York City, viewed by many as an urban, concrete jungle, was recently named the “greenest city" in the United States. This is mainly because most of its residents live in energy-efficient buildings, and use public transport, bicycl...
Without doubt the XXI century has changed our priorities, especially when it comes to the way we do business. Popular sustainable business models, as advertised in the media, have evolved into much more than a moral obligation or an external requirement to generate money. Essentially, are forcing companies to reinvent the systems and approaches with which they generate value and profitability to the company.
In a world where over half of the human population calls a city their home, the need to restructure and revolutionize the way we design our urban environments has never been greater. Currently, the notion that these vast metropolises of metal, concrete, and sludge could one day be fully realized pillars of sustainability is certainly laughable. However, when these same cities are constantly growing and multiplying across the globe, all the while using a greater and greater chunk of our planet’s energy, this impossible task becomes a necessary focus. To strive towards the closed, continuous loop of “true” sustainability could greatly alter the image of the modern city. Any improvement over the current state of urban affairs could carry weight, and even if that goal is not entirely fulfilled, the gained benefits would be immense.
Vergragt, Philip J., and Halina Szejnwald Brown. "Sustainable Mobility: From Technological Innovation to Societal Learning." Journal of Cleaner Production 15.11-12 (2007): 1104-15. Web.
By studying the fundamental nature of their business through the lens of the TNS framework, McDonald's Sweden is moving beyond eco-efficency. Today, approximately half of the 160 Swedish McDonald's, the bakery, and the national headquarters run on renewable energy - hydropower. All new restaurants use water pipes made of recycled plastic instead of copper, wood framing instead of steel framing, and wood foundations instead of concrete foundations - overall, reducing construction material use by 5-10 percent. Research is currently underway at seven restaurants to develop a biological filter to clean exhaust from fry stations. The new technology uses bacteria to eat the oil and reuses remaining clean air to heat their restaurants. In addition, McDonald's Sweden serves organic milk and beef, recycles 97 percent of all restaurant waste, has significantly reduced distribution distances helping to cut fuel costs by over 30 percent, and has eliminated the need for over 1,200 tonnes of packaging material by changing to smarter packaging.
Bode, H. (2005). The 'Standard'. Sustainable Development and Innovation in the Energy Sector. New York: Amherst International, Inc. Hans, R. (2012).
It has taken 20 to 30 years, based on images taken in space of the Earth during the late 1960s, for people to realize that the environment ‘is like a bathtub of limited capacity’. Cities have been developing based on human culture whilst trying to be sustainable at the same time. Although it may be sustainable, the production process and the energy producing systems where they burn fossil fuels, contributes to the amount of carbon emissions that we produce each day. Green city is an expression for eco-city which is a city built off the principles of living within the means of the environment. It has been perceived as a concept rather than it circumstantially solving an ecological collapse like the ‘green Disneyland’ in Masdar City described