CARBON-FREE
MOVEMENTAMAGER-BAKKE
As well as being one of
the world’s most eficient
waste-to-energy power
plants, its rooftop offers
a ski-slope with hiking
trail and climbing wall.
copenhill.dkDISTRICT ENERGY
COOLING GRID
Linking homes and
businesses, this setup
involves naturally chilled
seawater being pumped
through pipes, reducing
the carbon dioxide that
would be produced by
air-con. hofor.dkMUNICIPAL WIND FARMS
Middelgrunden wind
cooperative, which
numbers 20 offshore
turbines, lies just outside
Copenhagen at Øresund.
middelgrunden.dkENERGYLAB NORDHAVN
The ambitious Nordhavn
development will house
new businesses and
over 40,000 residents in
a carbon-zero district.
energylabnordhavn.comGreen on the ground
In Copenhagen, I travel
everywhere by bicycle, inding
myself amid pelotons of suited
businesspeople and parents taking
children to school. Here, cycle
lanes are safe, segregated from the
road by a curb, and green-wave
traic lights allow a faster low of
cyclists. The city’s cycle network is
the envy of the world.
“Copenhageners own 6.6 times
more bikes than cars,” says
Joseine Wulfeld, a climate
change student who leads
GreenBikeTours of Copenhagen’s
carbon-reducing highlights; the
three-hour cycling trip is saving
me 1.1kg of CO2 compared to a
bus tour.
Ater admiring uber-stylish
cycle bridges and roof gardens
designed to insulate homes and
sequestrate carbon, we visit
Tivoli Gardens, constructed in- The world’s second-oldest
funfair is doing its bit to promote
sustainability, with measures
including replacing 85,000
lightbulbs with LED alternatives
and charging visitors extra for
reusable drinking cups, a move
that has saved 10 tons of waste
per year.
The next day, I avoid adding
a further 2.4kg to my carbon
footprint by cruising
Copenhagen’s Venetian-like
canals via a solar-powered
electric GoBoat vessel rather
than a conventional-engine
boat. Chugging along at three
knots per hour, it’s a sedate way
to explore the city’s handsome
mercantile architecture.
“We’re not 100% carbon-
neutral as this would require big
investment and we’re a start-up,”
says GoBoat co-founder Kasper
Eich-Romme. “But our boats
are usually packed with the
maximum eight people, whereas
conventional canal tours run
CO2-costly boats that could it
100-plus people, sometimes with
only 5-10 people on board.”
Finding hotels that are
tackling carbon use is becoming
ever easier, too, particularly in
Copenhagen, where 70% are eco-
certiied. Hotel Kong Arthur, a
stately dame facing Copenhagen’s
lakes, is among those leading
the charge. It has been carbon-
neutral since 2007 and employs
simple, subtle touches to help
guests play their part: low-
pressure showers encourage
minimal water wastage, and
there’s no air-con installed
— instead, rooms are cooled
simply by opening the windows.Design for life
I’m transixed by the aesthetics
and trail-blazing brilliance of
Copenhagen’s eforts — and
particularly taken with the
Amager-Bakke waste-to-energy
plant, dazzling like an aluminium-
inished wedge of cheese on the
city’s outskirts. Its sloped roof
doubles as a year-round artiicial
ski slope, hiking trail and climbing
wall and, from the summit, there
are panoramic views over the
city and towards the colossal
Øresund Bridge, which connects
Copenhagen to Malmö.
Danish architect Bjarke
Ingels, whose Bjarke Ingels
Group designed Amager Bakke,
describes it as “hedonistic
sustainability”. He tells me that
around 600,000 Danes would
drive overseas to ski each winter,
but having this facility on their
doorstep lowers the carbon
footprint of those journeys.
“Normally, power stations are
marginalised, but Amager-Bakke
is part of our social life,” he adds.
“Denmark has no mountains — but
we do have mountains of trash.”
As well as functioning as a
recreational facility, Amager-
Bakke is a state-of-the-art
incinerator, burning non-
recyclable waste from homesTivoli Gardens, the world’s
second-oldest funfair,
which is implementing new
sustainability measuresIMAGE: ALAMY
COPENHAGEN
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