RENEWABLE CITIES: VISIONS, TARGETS, TASKS
DESCRIPTION
The three-day workshop (16-19 March 2000) deals with the future of urban development, design and management in an age of depleting fossil resources and rising greenhouse problems. Both will soon have profound effects on all aspects of architectural and planning practice. The workshops cover in a hands-on manner key dimensions involved in the design of a real international project to engage the renewability of urban civilisation.
BACKGROUND
This workshop is part of an International Energy Agency (IEA) process to develop for cities standards, tools and methodologies enabling sustainable emissions to be achieved by large cities by mid-century. More information is presented at the end of this document.
SPEAKERS AND PARTICIPANTS
Nearly twenty local, national and international speakers will be featured, with active participants from eight countries. Chaired by Peter Droege, IEA Solar City Task Organiser and David Mills, renewable energy physicist, both based at the University of Sydney. International guests include
Chiel Boonstra (Netherlands),
Federico Butera, (Milan Polytechnic, Italy),
John Micheal Byrne (University of Delaware, USA),
Lotte Gramkow (Denmark),
Anne-Grete Hestnes (University of Trondheim, Norway),
Peder Veijsig Pedersen (Denmark) and
Christian Roecker (Switzerland)
Hans Eek (Sweden)
SUPPORTERS
Thanks for financial support to:
NSW Sustainable Energy Development Agency
Solahart International
Endorsed by: The Property Council of Australia
MAIN ORGANISERS
International Energy Agency, International Solar Energy Society, Urban Design Program/Faculty of Architecture and Department of Applied Physics, both University of Sydney .
DATES
16, 17 and 18 March 2000
LOCATION
Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Tusculum, 3 Manning Street, Potts Point
TARGET GROUPS
Architects, landscape architects, town planners, urban designers, renewable energy experts, Agenda 21 / ISO 14000 / CCP officers, Councillors, professionals interested in urban emissions reduction.
CONTACT/ ORGANISER
Peter Droege, droege@arch.usyd.edu.au, (02) 9351 4576 tel, 9351 3855 fax.
COST
$ 40 per day, $ 100 for all three days (concession 50%)
EVENING PUBLIC LECTURE
Thursday 16 March 2000 at 6 PM
Royal Australian Institute of Architects, 3 Manning St. Potts Point
AUSTRALIAN GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS: WHAT CAN OUR CITIES DO?
A GLOBAL RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
John Byrne, Centre for Energy and Environmental Policy
University of Delaware
WHAT AUSTRALIAN CITIES AND COMMUNITIES CAN DO
Libby Ozinga, NSW Department of Urban Affairs and Planning
followed by a
PANEL DISCUSSION WITH THE AUDIENCE
Moderator: Peter Droege
Sponsored by NSW SEDA and Solahart International
PROGRAM - Thursday 16 March 2000
SOLAR CITY VISIONS: FRAMEWORKS FOR AN URBAN AGENDA
Chair: Peter Droege
0830 Registration
0915 Welcome and words of introduction by government representative
0930 Peter Droege, IEA Solar City Task Organiser Urban Design Program, Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney
John Byrne, Centre for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware
1300 Lunch
1400 Afternoon presentations: projects and systems
1530 Afternoon tea
1800 Public lecture and podium
PROGRAM - Friday 16 March 2000
SOLAR CITY TARGETS: TAKING AIM
Chair: David Mills
0830 Registration
0915 David Mills - raising the Issues
1030 Morning tea
1230 Lunch
13:00 Action think-tanks
A: national and state action
B: local action
C: measurement and planning tools
1500 Afternoon tea
1515 Think-tanks continue
1630 Mutual reports, discussion, recommendations
1800 Close
PROGRAM - Saturday 18 March 2000
SOLAR CITY TASKS: DEFINING ACTION FRAMEWORKS AND PROJECTS
Chairs: Peter Droege with David Mills, Federico Butera and Anne-Grete Hestnes
0900 Peter Droege: introduction of the IEA Task structure and its components
0915 Highlights and discussion of the five proposed projects / sub-tasks:
Anne-Grete Hestnes (best practice)
David Mills (baselines)
Chiel Boonstra (urban strategies)
Federico Butera (energy technology and business)
Peter Droege (action monitoring and evaluation)
1030 Morning tea
1100 First round of five think-tanks: setting the framework
1230 Report back
1300 Lunch
1400 Second round of think-tanks: establishing detailed scopes
1530 Afternoon tea
16.00 Report back
1630 Refining and recording the findings: writing draft task briefs
1800 Close and farewell
1900 IEA SHC Task working dinner: summary of day's workshop / selection,
mobilisation and management logistics
BACKGROUND TO WORKSHOP
Task 30 Solar City Workshop # 1
International Energy Agency - SHC Implementing Agreement
(Workshop * 2 will be held in Berlin 6-9 July 2000)
Local urban agendas have begun to respond to the influence of two momentous prospects: the profound impacts of global warming and the expiration of oil and gas sources well within this century. The Solar City program proposes to add two key ingredients that are essential for significant progress for the city-wide application of solar and other renewable energy technologies and systems as well as in related urban action agendas such as Cities for Climate Protection: a quantitative and comparative understanding of cities' current energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) performance and simple, measurable targets to work towards. This workshop focuses on these issues, setting two concrete aims.
First, we'll set out to explore the future of urban development against the twin spectre of diminishing fossil fuel supply and global climate change, conceptually preparing for the broad introduction of renewable energy systems as well as targeted, concerted measures of greenhouse gas emissions reduction on the local community level.
The second and operational objective is to define a new program, or 'Task', under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, entitled Solar City, which focuses on precisely this agenda. It is to be jointly carried out among several of the International Energy Agency's (an OECD affiliated body) member states while at the same time engaging a number of cities and town in active planning and implementation programs aimed at broad, community-wide greenhouse reductions to globally sustainable levels by 2050. In this sense, it is envisioned that Solar City will become part of an emerging world-wide urban and industrial transformational agenda aiming at the substitution of the fossil fuel economy and production regime - superseding the pervasive carbon culture that has enveloped the globe over the past two hundred years.
The OECD's International Energy Agency (IEA) has been set up in the wake of the 1970's oil crisis to assist with securing reliable energy sources for the future. Since then, the prospect of depleting fossil fuel resources well within this century and mounting greenhouse-gas induced climate changes have added great urgency and weight to IEA activities.
'Solar City' is a recently approved program initiative emerging within the IEA's Committee for Energy Research and Technology (CERT), coordinated through its SHC Implementing Agreement with support of the CERT Renewable Energy Working Party. The program offers the opportunity to participate in a pioneering, internationally visible program that for the first time links regional and urban development to renewable energy and best practice in greenhouse gas mitigation, while doing so in targeted and quantifiable ways. Solar City is intended to assist and involve many current community movements such as Cities for Climate Protection and Brundtland Cities, especially in the areas of assessment, international standards, scenario analysis and technology. It is to be executed in association with the International Solar Energy Society, an early advocate of the concept.
Cities world-wide are invited to work with this program to build advanced energy and greenhouse technology into actual community and development processes, including their existing climate-stabilising and other sustainability initiatives. In doing so, each of the participating countries will run one of the program's five subsidiary tasks, while providing its own funding.
Although it is entitled 'Solar City' as a short-hand, this is the first IEA project that covers a broad range of renewable energy disciplines while engaging cities and regional development strategies directly, in addition to working through participating countries.
The issues involved - and the aims of future engagement - can be dauntingly complex, encompassing such diverse dimensions as city form and urban design; building stock , materials, design and systems; transport planning and management; land use, development approval and other regulatory means; strategic and community planning; outcome-oriented institutional reform; energy technology development, markets and incentives; power source substitution; industry and business actions as well as a wide range of household behaviour and life style issues.
To deal with these complexities in a manageable way, and to focus on the urban agenda at hand, the Task (ie Solar City program) has been broken down into five specific 'sub-tasks' ie projects, to be conducted by and through the co-operation of national research teams and participating cities:
1 Documentation and evaluation of world best urban practice.
2 Development and implementation of urban baseline studies and systems.
3 Urban management and planning strategies and approaches.
4 Energy technology and business assessment.
5 Planning and implementation monitoring and feedback.
A recent version of the draft definition paper
can be inspected at http://www.solarcity.org.
INTENT TO REGISTER
Registration is at the workshop door. Please indicate your intent to attend as follows:
or fax to
Peter Droege at 61 2 9351 3855
If you wish to stay at a nearby hotel, we advise
Regents Court Hotel
18 Springfield Avenue, Potts Point NSW 2011
phone + 61 2 9358 1533, fax 61 2 9358 1833
http://www.regentscourt.com.au
>> >email regcourt@iname.com