Nordic Solutions: Cities between a rock and a hard place

In the future, Copenhageners will be able to get through the cold winter months with heat from giant heat pumps as well as geothermal energy. Today, the Danish capital gets 98 percent of its heat from district heating - a source of heat that is already 53 percent carbon-neutral. However, to make the transition to a completely carbon neutral energy system, the city will need to employ interim technologies - like biomass in Copenhagen's case.

Copenhagen and cities around the world are currently between the proverbial rock and a hard place: If they do nothing to curb their GHG-emissions, increasing global temperatures will have dire consequences for the economy and their inhabitants. On the other hand, decision-makers are understandably cautious, as many of the technologies needed to replace our present fossil-dependent energy systems have higher capital costs, although operating costs are lower. Furthermore, national legislation and subsidies often stifle innovation, and law-makers seem slow to realize that we live in a world where business-as-usual no longer suffices.

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