Lund Municipality: Cityfied - Prized energy project at Linero
A housing project at Linero received international attention. It was the EU project Cityfied to renovate and make energy efficient existing homes that was awarded a Smart Cities Award. The goal was to reduce energy consumption through renovation so that it is similar to the consumption of a newly manufactured apartment — and so far we have succeeded very well.
Finanisär
Citified is an EU project where Lund works together with Laguna de Duero-Valladolid in Spain and Soma in Turkey that has now attracted attention. Cityfied
has been awarded the Smart 50 Awards as one of several leading international examples for smart cities.
What Cityfied did was to test, showcase and disseminate solutions for renovation and energy efficiency of existing neighbourhoods. The goal was to be able to meet the energy requirements that apply to new homes and Linero wanted to show how to renovate a million program area in a sustainable and gentle way.
Håkan Ekelund, CEO at LKF, noted in municipal press release that the initiative has yielded good results:
- Before the actions at Linero, the houses had an annual energy consumption of 130 — 140 kWh per sqm. After completing the energy efficiency improvements, the target is approximately 75 kWh, which is lower than the current energy requirements for new buildings.
Cityfied ran between 2014 and 2019. During the last year, the main focus was on measuring and monitoring the measures taken. In addition to the renovation of the houses, energy efficiency has been improved and energy systems such as district heating and electricity grids have been reviewed.
“It has been proven that the decisive factor for making an impact is not one big action but many small ones together,” said Markus Paulsson, energy strategist at Lund Municipality and project manager for the Swedish part of Cityfied.
A total of thirteen projects had been selected as winners in the Smart 50 Awards energy category. In addition to Cityfied, there were projects in most notably the United States but also in Canada, Ireland, Belgium and India.
“The fact that we receive an award is recognition that what we do is good and well justified. It gives encouragement and an indication that we are on the right track,” said Markus Paulsson
In total, the investment in Cityfied includes 220,000 sqm of renovated space and 2,200 apartments. In Lund, LKF, Kraftringen, IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet and Lund Municipality collaborated.
The successful project with the older apartments can now have successors.
“With the project, we have been able to test more methods than we have done otherwise, and this has resulted in a systematic reduction in energy consumption. An important part has also been LKF's work to develop communication with residents. We have already looked at areas where we could continue our work,” said Markus Paulsson.
The Smart 50 Awards annually identify 50 innovative and influential initiatives for smart city solutions in various categories. Award ceremony was during the Smart Cities Connect conference in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, in late March 2018. Anders Trana from Future by Lund attended the Smart Cities Connect conference in Kansas City, USA and was honored to take home the award to Cityfied.
