In the run-up to the crucial climate change talks in Copenhagen, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has published a league table showing which EU countries are best at exploiting CO2-cutting wind energy. Top of the table is Denmark, with the highest amount of wind energy capacity per square kilometre of national territory. Germany comes a close second and the Netherlands third. Spain, in fourth place, has half the wind power density of Germany. Portugal and Ireland are above the EU average wind power density. Italy is not far below average, while France and the UK each have less than half of the EU's average density of wind power capacity. Romania, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus are floundering at the bottom of the league with next to zero wind power generation per km2. The density of wind power per km is the best means of measuring and comparing the extent to which different countries exploit their wind power potential. The future of wind power in Denmark looks bright as, according to an August 2009 survey carried out by an independent market research institute, 91% of Danes support the further development of wind power in their country.

The recession has caused many business a lot of trouble, but not everyone suffers. Jutland-based North Securities proves this case and is currently experiencing a large boom. It had been trying for a long time to sell its fleet management system, Falck Sirius, which enables trucks and buses to cover more kilometres per litre of fuel and reduces CO2 emissions. But that proved almost impossible. The crisis has hit the transport compenies, which now need to pay much more attention to fuel cost. Recently, customers are standing in line to by the fleet management system. Karsten W. Hjorth, director and co-owner of North Securities: "Before the financial crisis, no one focused on fuel savings. Now it is attracting huge attention. We are in a situation where we are having to put orders on hold. We simply cannot keep up." One of the most prominent clients is Arriva, Europe's largest public transport company. Arrive has ordered Falck Sirius for approximately 2,300 vehicles. A test with the system indicated the potential for a 10 percent fuel saving.

The Danish capital Copenhagen has announced a climate plan which will make the Danish capital CO2-neutral by 2025. The plan consists of fifty initiatives. These include some heart-warming ideas such as engaging lots of children in tree planting activities. However, to achieve more substantial emissions reductions, the commercial energy sector will have to do the lion's share of carbon abatement, according to the Danish Energy Association in its daily newsletter. 75% of the reduction - 375,000 tons of CO2 - will need to be achieved by the heat and electricity providers. The main companies are DONG Energy and Vattenfall. They are expected to meet these targets by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy. To encourage them in their endeavours, a recent report shows that it is possible to double the amount of renewable energy used for district heating in the capital area from 35% to 70% by 2025, without incurring significant budgetary problems. To reach this objective, it will be necessary to to exploit biofuel and waste-to-energy technologies. In addition, geothermal energy should be used for heating and cooling. These changes should make it possible to run the entire district heating without using coal, according to the report. Director Inge Thorup Madsen of the Metropolitan Copenhagen Heating Transmission Company comments: "We were positively surprised by the conclusions of the analysis. We had expected that it was possible to incorporate large amounts of renewable energy into the collective district heating system, but that it could happen so massively and quickly while retaining good economics, is a very good sign."

Source: ClimateActionMap.org

The Port of Odense, Denmark, has been nominated for the Reduction Award at the Climate Cup. The Climate Cup is a Danish competition for companies and organisations that make a difference in the fight against climate change, according to idag.dk. The Reduction Award will be awarded to a company or organisation which has specific ambitious targets to reduce its impacts on global climate change. The port of Odense has such a roadmap. It is working on making environmental improvements through energy savings, optimised operational procedures and investments in environmentally friendly technology. Examples of these Initiatives are investment in an energy registration system, the conversion of its heating system from oil-fired furnace to geothermal, replacing electric building heating to heat pumps, using a larger percentage of renewable energy, and using energy efficient lighting. From 2006-2008, the port achieved an electricity reduction of 19 percent, a CO2 emissions reduction of 25 percent and an even larger waste reduction of 41 per cent. The winner will be announced at the Nordic Climate Solutions, which is Northern Europe's largest meeting place for the transport and energy sectors. The event will take place in Bella Center, Copenhagen, 8-9 September 2009.

Source: Denmark.dk

the Renault/Nissan-backed electric car scheme, Better Place, led by environmentally-conscious entrepreneur Shai Agassi, has expressed interested in investing in electric cars in Denmark. Better Place has commissioned market research company Ipsos to find out about the interest in electric cars in five countries – USA, Canada, Australia, Israel and Denmark. Each of these countries are involved in Better Place's roll-out plans. The results indicate that Danes are quite interested in electric cars. The percentage of Danes interested in choosing an electric car as their next car is 40%. This is below the percentage recorded for Israel (57%), but above that in the US (30%). Interestingly, the figure went up to 70% when Ipsos asked people if they would be interested in test driving an electric car. It is not clear how much money people are expecting to pay for an electric car, however. In addition, the survey showed that 57% of Danes are worried about climate change and air pollution. 79% prefer that Denmark takes a leading position in the development of renewable energy.