Bielefeld, DE

Bielefeld is located in North-western Germany and has a population of approximately 330,000 inhabitants. The municipality of Bielefeld is committed to implement innovative solutions for the sustainable development of the city and has already won the Gold European Energy Award twice as a result of its efforts in this field.

Within the Covenant of Mayors’ initiative and by decision of the Council, the city of Bielefeld has committed to reduce its CO2 emissions by 40% and to increase the share of renewable energies in energy consumption by 20% by 2020. To achieve this objective, the municipality has evaluated the energy performance of the city’s building and has already started to implement ambitious measures to improve the thermal insulation and energy efficiency of these buildings. Among these measures are the installation of a wood pellet boiler in a primary school, the construction of several local district heating networks and the installation of solar panels on roofs and waste dumps. Additionally, the municipality has replaced an old coal-fired power plant by a new wood-fired power plant.

Furthermore, the city has developed its public transport system as the lead partner of the Interreg project BAPTS (Boosting Advanced Public Transport Systems) while promoting cycling among pupils within the European project STARS. Through concrete energy-saving measures, the urban transport company has also developed the concept of reduced CO2 emissions as a new standard for public transport companies within the framework of the EU "Ticket to Kyoto" project.

In the Replication Cluster, the city of Bielefeld will have the opportunity to exchange best practices on energy-efficient renovation strategies while sharing its experience on sustainable mobility with other smart cities.