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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/printstory;jsessionid=1B72DEFE23DB0152BB5D401493FE7DE4?id=50863">http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/printstory;jsessionid=1B72DEFE23DB0152BB5D401493FE7DE4?id=50863</a><br>
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<div class="newsSubHeader"> Europeans believe that renewable energy
will bring economic benefits. But in Varese, Italy that prosperity has
already arrived. </div>
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<div class="viewStoryAuthor"> by Jane Burgermeister, European
Correspondent </div>
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<p class="viewStoryIntro"> Varese, Italy has added 140 jobs in the past
ten years. That's pretty good for a town with a population of only
2,400. The town, which is located in Liguria in the northern part of
Italy, is experiencing an economic boom fueled by renewable energy.
</p>
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<p class="viewStoryQuote"> The town has seen a six-fold increase in
tourists in the last ten years, many coming just to see its renewable
energy network.<br>
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<p>Varese became the first
municipality in Europe to get 100 percent of its power from renewable
energy sources six years ago. It now generates three times more
electricity than the people living in Varese need and there are plans
in the pipeline for even more renewables.</p>
<p>For this pioneering role, the town won a prize from the European
Union (EU) in 2004. </p>
<p>What
has happened in Varese is unusual. On a national level, Italy is set to
fall short of its EU objective of generating 25 percent of its gross
electrical consumption from renewable energy sources by 2010. Italy's
share of renewables was just 13.93 in 2005.</p>
<p>But the mayor of
Varese, Michaela Marone, and her predecessor, Maurizio Caranza, turned
their vision of a town driven by renewable energy into reality by
leveraging funds from the EU and using their authority to cut through
red tape. </p>
<p>The town uses wind, solar and small-scale
hydropower, a mix best adapted to its hilly terrain covering a total of
140 square km — and it has plans for more hydropower.</p>
<p>Today,
renewables bring not only environmental benefits but also improved
living standards to a town that had suffered from years of steady
decline. An additional 350,000 euros [US $514,000] in tax revenues is
handed over to the council each year by the private company that owns
the renewable energy network.</p>
<p>"We fulfill all the requirements
of the Kyoto Protocol and are non profit. We use all of our profits
towards paying the electricity bills of the people in the town,"
Michaele Marone, the town mayor, told RenewableEnergyAccess.com.</p>
<p>Four
wind turbines located on a ridge 1100 meters above sea level — where
the average annual wind speed is 7.2 meters per second — generate 8
million kWh of electricity a year that is fed into the local grid
managed by <a href="http://www.acamspa.com/" target="_blank">Acam</a>,
a power company in La Spezia.</p>
<p>The
electricity from the wind turbines alone reduce carbon emissions by
8,000 tons, representing 0.05 percent of the region's total annual
carbon emissions.</p>
<p>Photovoltaic (PV) panels have been installed
on the town hall and the local school. The town hall has 102 PV panels
covering 95 square meters and generating 12,700 kWh a year, which
supplies 98 percent of the total energy consumption of the building. </p>
<p>Varese's
secondary school has 39 PV panels covering 36 square meters and
producing 4,600 kWh a year, which supplies 62 percent of the energy
used.</p>
<p>In addition to that, the town's swimming pool is heated by
solar power and a program to promote the use of wood pellet stoves is
in the works. </p>
<p>In conjunction with the development of a
renewable energy infrastructure, the town has also launched initiatives
to make Varese 100 percent sustainable. A total of 108 organic farms
now supply 98 percent of the town's food; water is purified using
environmentally friendly technology and waste has been significantly
reduced.</p>
<p>The town has seen a six-fold increase in tourists in the last ten
years, many coming just to see its renewable energy network.</p>
<p><strong>Varese Not Alone</strong></p>
<p>Although
certainly a pioneer in Renewable Energy, Varese is not the only town in
Europe to adopt such measures. The same thing is happening in many
towns across Europe.</p>
<p>Güssing in Austria with 27,000 inhabitants
has also switched to renewable energy sources — and has also moved from
poverty to prosperity, underlining the potential of renewable energy
for creating new jobs and new investment.</p>
<p>And it's not only
rural towns that are forging ahead with renewable energy projects.
There has been a marked increase in the numbers of cities across Europe
adopting initiatives to cut carbon emissions and develop green energy.</p>
<p>Following Rome and London, Paris launched a new "Plan Climat" or
climate plan on October 1st 2007 to reduce carbon emissions. </p>
<p>Munich, Germany has also developed a strategy for cutting carbon
emissions in half by 2030. </p>
<p>Beatrice Alcaraz from <a href="http://www.energie-cites.org/"
target="_blank">Energie-Cités</a>,
an association of European local authorities for the promotion of local
sustainable energy policies that represents more than 500 towns and
cities, told RenewableEnergyAccess.com that the driving force behind
all of this expansion was EU policy.</p>
<p>"Municipalities have to
adapt their national policies to the European directives, that is the
European directive of public building. They also have to develop the
renewables to achieve the EU energy and climate objectives," she said.</p>
<p>The
EU is targeting urban areas because more than 80 percent of the
European population lives there, and the energy consumption of cities
is growing. </p>
<p>The latest figures from French Environment and
Energy Management Agency (Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise
de l'Energie (Ademe)) show that the energy consumption of French cities
grew by 14.5 percent between 1990 and 2005 from 27 billion KWh in 1990
to 31 billion kWh in 2005.</p>
<p>"The rapid development of renewable
energy in so many towns and cities across Europe augurs well," said
Beatrice Alcatraz, speaking about how cities are combating this
increase in energy consumption while keeping down carbon emissions from
fossil fuels.</p>
<p>Though cities cover only 0.4 percent of the
world's total area, they consume 75 percent of the energy and generate
about 80 percent of the carbon emissions according to a study by the
Münchener Rück.</p>
<p><em>Jane Burgermeister is a RenewableEnergyAccess.com European
Correspondent based in Vienna, Austria. </em> </p>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara</pre>
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