Events 2009
American Center Hosts Public Seminar on Sustainable Local Energy
When: Tuesday, 31 March from 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Where: American Center, Tržiště 13, Praha 1 - Malá Strana (only 50 m below the U.S. Embassy)
The project TULES (Sustainable Local Energy Self-sufficiency)addresses two environment protection areas that have been quite improperly considered two different issues in the past and are closely related to the decentralization of energy production. These areas are sustainable landscape management and renewable energy production. TULES is part of the British Council’s project Challenge Europe.
The concept of the project will be introduced to the target group during the panel discussion at the American Center together with a practical examples presented by foreign experts. The target group represents mainly the local decision makers, potentially interested in adopting such kind of projects (municipal authorities, major land owners etc.)
Preliminary programme:
13:30 Opening and introduction of the Challenge Europe project (Nigel Bellingham, director, British Council Czech Republic; David Gainer, Embassy of the United States in Prague)
13:40 Presentation of the TULES project
(Petr Novotný, student of Economic and Administration department of Masaryk University, participant of Challenge Europe project).
14:00 Comments on the presentation
(Bedřich Moldan, senator and patron of the Challenge Europe project)
14:20 Decentralization of energy production, legislation aspects, funding, problems and opportunities
(Miroslav Šafařík, Director, Porsenna o.p.s.)
14:40 Discussion
15:00-15.20 Coffee break
15:20 Role of landscape in nutrient sequestration, water retention and in transformation of solar energy into biomass.
(Jan Pokorný, researcher, Institute of Systemic Biology and Ecology, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic; director, ENKI o.p.s.)
15:50 Presentation of Finnish energetically self-sufficient farm which is using cow manure, industrial bio wastes and energy crops for biogas production. Electricity, heat and vehicle fuel is produced from biogas.
(Arjo Heinsola, laboratory engineer, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; project manager, Metener Oy company)
16:20 Crops as energy feedstock and the concept of energy farming
(Andrew M. Salter, School of Civil Engineering & the Environment, University of Southampton)
16:50 Wood biomass as a source of renewable energy
(Karel Murtinger, Advisor, Ekowatt)
17:20 Discussion
Simultaneous translation into Czech and English will be provided.
Challenge Europe
Launched in 2008, Challenge Europe is the European part of the British Council’s global climate protection programme. It is a three-year project running in 15 European countries and its aim is to speed up the transformation into a low greenhouse gases emissions society through cooperation, innovation, enthusiasm and knowledge sharing.
In each country, a group of young personalities work together as “climate advocates” to identify new ways to reduce CO2 emissions or to find innovative applications for methods that have already been discovered. Each national group encompasses a broad range of skills, attitudes, ideas and professions.
The groups look for, gather and develop a number of ideas, with a view to ultimately reaching agreement on a few specific concepts. These are concepts the advocates believe will genuinely be able to cut CO2 emissions, for example by changing the law, business practice or human behaviour.
The outcome of the project is a European network of over 200 young personalities working together to develop more than 40 specific, tangible ideas. In an endeavour to put these ideas into practice, in spring 2009 the groups will present them to the general public, including leading experts, philanthropists, business organisations and entrepreneurs.
More information about Challenge Europe:
