Sweden’s capital Stockholm has been named the “smartest city in the world” for its innovations on the environment, digital technology and residents' wellbeing, SIA reports.
Even though it’s one of Europe’s fastest-growing capitals, it plans to have a positive carbon footprint by 2040. Stockholm’s Mayor Anna König Jerlmyr outlined the city’s ambitious climate goals at a conference of the European GrowSmarter project. She told Futuris: “We are developing a new technique with carbon capture storage. And we think that with this new technique, combined with our district heating systems that are fossil fuel-free today, we can create a climate positive city. The first in the world by 2040." The Valla torg district is one such example of the efforts being made.
As part of the GrowSmarter project, public apartments have been refurbished to reduce their climate impact. There are electric cars and bicycle-sharing schemes as well as a new kind of waste management system. High-pressure tubes underground transport the waste to a single collection centre, meaning less space is needed, and fewer garbage trucks on the road. Each type of rubbish bag has a different colour and an optical sensor and weighing scales allow individual processing of waste.
Patrick Haraldsson, the North Europe President of waste collection company Envac, says the high-tech system allows residents to get instant feedback on their mobile phones.
For Stockholm, reducing emissions also means tackling energy waste, such as the heat produced by the many data centres based in the city. The Glesys data storage company feeds into the district heating system, thanks to a heat pump facility financed as part of the Growsmarter project. Glesys manager Joakim Jarstorp says it means a greener data centre. “Instead of wasting the heat into the air, we also get money back from the district heating company, because they buy our heat.”
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