Freiburg is considered by many to be one of the Greenest Cites in the world. It is internationally reknowned for its environmental approach and its extensive use of solar energy and other renewable sources.
Freiburg Green City can showcase a multitude of effective technical and organisational solutions related to sustainable energy management.
Solar City
In terms of both economy and ecology, Freiburg has been most successful in the fields of renewable energy research and marketing. Solar panels can be found on the roofs of the Badenova Stadium and the City Hall, on schools, churches and private houses, on facades and towers.
Looking further afield, wind turbines rise from the Black Forest. With more than 1,800 hours of sunshine each year and an annual radiation intensity of 1,117 kilowatts (kW) per square-meter, Freiburg is one of the sunniest cities in Germany. Factors such as the citizens’ high levels of environmental awareness, political priorities and targeted economic development, have allowed Freiburg to become a Solar Capital. Here, the opportunities offered by solar energy, in terms of climate protection, the economy and urban development were recognised earlier than anywhere else.
This pioneering action has been reinforced by countless awards and high visitor numbers to unique projects, such as the world’s first energy self-sustaining solar building, the Heliotrope, the solar village created by Rolf Disch, or the zero-energy houses of the Vauban neighbourhood. Even the local football stadium has become an attraction as the first stadium worldwide to have its own solar plant.
Freiburg's Traffic Concepts
In 1969, the City of Freiburg undertook to develop an urban transport policy that sought to ensure a good level of mobility that did not encroach upon positive urban development, nature and the environment. Freiburg’s traffic and transport policy, which drew attention nationwide, gives preference to environment-friendly modes of movement (pedestrian traffic, cycling, local public transport). The city was rewarded for its efforts with the "European Local Public Transport Award".
Successes of Transportation Policy: Between 1982 and 1999, the contribution of cycling to the city’s volume of traffic increased from 15 to 28 percent. At the same time, public transport increased from 11 to 18 percent, whereas the distances driven by motor vehicles decreased from 38 to 30 percent. Compared with other major cities in Germany today, Freiburg has the lowest motor vehicle density, with 423 motor vehicles per 1,000 people.
Preventative Traffic Measures: The most important objective of Freiburg’s traffic and transportation policy is traffic avoidance. This is achieved by designing a compact city that can be crossed quickly and includes strong neighbourhood centres. Urban development should take place along main public transport arteries and priority is given to centralised development over peripheral growth.
All major urban development decisions follow the concept of preventive traffic avoidance. The new city districts of Rieselfeld and Vauban are both easily accessible by public transport, as are the inner-city university locations. Local markets and neighbourhood centres give priority to those people catering for their daily needs in their localities over the construction of supermarkets on greenfield sites.
Sustainable Urban Development
Vauban - Urban Development with ecological awareness
The Vauban Quarter was created on an area of 38 hectares located close to the city centre, on the terrain where the barracks of the French military forces once stood. It is an attractive, family-friendly neighbourhood for 5,000 people, in which civic commitment, collective building, and living with ecological awareness has great importance.
Low-energy building is obligatory in this district; zero-energy and energy-plus building and the application of solar technology are standard for most.
The rows of old trees were preserved as much as possible. The green spaces between the housing rows account for good climatic conditions and provide play areas for children. Parallel to private development, infrastructure was created that encompassed schools, kindergartens, youth facilities, civic meeting places, a market place, as well as spaces for recreation and play. Vegetation-covered flat roofs store rainwater, which is collected and re-used.
The neighbourhood area is traffic-calmed, with the majority of households not owning a car. Private motor vehicles are parked in either of the two garages of the Quarter. Since 2006, the residential area has been linked to the city tram system, enabling many people to do without a car, using local public transport or riding their bikes instead.
Rieselfeld - Ecological living in the State's neighbourhood project
In an area of 70 hectares, the largest neighbourhood project in the Federal State of Baden- Württemberg is under development, with 4,200 apartments for 12,000 people to be developed by 2010.
Early in 2008, more than 8,200 people were living in approximately 3,200 apartments – built by more than 110 private building contractor societies and investors - in the new neighbourhood of Rieselfeld. The positive image, the comprehensive public infrastructure tailored to suit market needs, as well as the intact neighbourhood life, makes Rieselfeld a good address for owners and tenants alike. Civic commitment and proactive cooperation are important in this district. It borders directly on a natural reserve area covering 205 hectares that serves the inhabitants of Rieselfeld as a green belt.
All houses are built as low-energy buildings. In many of them, photovoltaics and solar heating utilise the energy of the sun.
Additional forms of renewable energy utilisation and district heating from a combined heat and power station complement the far-sighted energy concept of this young district. A consistent water concept and consideration of climatic aspects are further components. The urban development concept attaches great importance to green spaces, playgrounds, open areas, as well as bicycle path and traffic-calmed streets where children are allowed to play.
The Waste Management Concept.
Recycling of paper, plastics, organic material has been wholeheartedly taken onboard by those living here to the extent that the volume of garbage per capita is markedly below state and national average.
Refundable Container Concept and Financial Incentives: The city itself sets a good example by using paper, of which approximately 80 percent has been recycled. A recycling concept was introduced in 1991, which was supported across all sectors, with even the SC Freiburg soccer team agreeing to support the initiative. Waste avoidance is rewarded by a system of incentives: benefits for the use of textile diapers, discounts for collective waste disposal pooling and for people who compost their own green wastes.
Treatment of Non-Recyclable Wastes: Since 2005, non-recyclable waste from the region is incinerated at a plant in the Industrial Park Breisgau, located 20km south of Freiburg. The plant practices waste disposal safety by maintaining high environmental standards. It supplies energy to 25,000 households. Energy generated from the fermentation of bio-organic wastes covers one percent of Freiburg’s energy demand.
Waste Consulting and Teaching: The waste disposal management concept of 2008 defines "avoidance before recycling before depositing" as the future strategy. Avoidance and waste separation show us the way out of the "throwaway" society, towards more informed and sustainable consumer behaviour. Since 1994, Freiburg’s partially privatised waste disposal and sanitation company (ASF) has been organising, in co-operation with schools and Freiburg’s Eco-Station, courses and guided tours, a "Garbage Theatre" for elementary school children, competitions and teaching units, such as "Ideas, not Waste" or "Children and the Agenda 21".