Davos

Davos: green factor

• Introduction to green factor assessments
• Environmental overview of resorts
• Environmental initiatives

Major Initiatives

Davos Committed to Protecting the Climate

The possibility of recreation in beautiful alpine surroundings, healthy air and a healing climate have attracted guests from around the globe to Davos for more than a century. Therefore, protecting the climate in the alpine metropolis is a special concern and Davos has committed itself to meeting the targets of the Kyoto Protocol.

As one of the biggest health and holiday resorts in the Alps, the impact of increasing global warming would have a particularly severe impact on Davos. So the community has a special interest in getting proactive in protecting the climate by first "putting its own house in order." The Landschaft Davos community has set itself the goal of slashing annual climate-harming CO2 emissions amounting to over 100,000 tonnes by 15 percent by the year 2014.

In a study conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos, partly funded by the community, it was found that 75 percent of the CO2 emissions in Davos are generated by heating systems. Road traffic accounts for 17 percent or 19,000 tonnes a year. In addition, the study shows that Davos is highly dependent upon fossil fuels (crude oil, diesel, petrol/gasoline and natural gas). They cover 70 percent of total energy consumption. With the exception of hydropower, renewable energy is being scarcely used in Davos. Wood, geothermal energy, solar energy and biomass account for a meagre 2.5 percent of total energy usage.
As a result, the community will focus its efforts on four areas -promotion of energy efficiency, utilisation of renewable energies and the regional wood cycle and providing information to the local population about their own possibilities of contributing to climate protection.

Renewable Power User

A study presented in early December 2006 was the continuation of years of efforts by the resort to utilise energy efficiently. As the first community in the Grisons region, Davos won the "Energy Town" (Energiestadt) label or European Energy Award® in November 2001. For this purpose, the community had to implement a catalogue of energy-related measures in the areas of regional and development planning, communal buildings and installations, supply and disposal, mobility etc. and to subject itself to regular quality checks. This has been done and is still being done under difficult conditions, for Davos with its population of 13,000 must provide an infrastructure for at least 30,000 to 40,000 guests.

As part of this process, various projects were implemented and twelve community-owned properties were rewired to lower energy requirements. The community also promoted the construction of a private biogas plant. Together with the electric power company of Davos (Elektrizitätswerk Davos, EWD AG), the community draws a total of 200,000 kilowatt-hours of power generated by biogas from this plant, making it a major client of this private power producer. The community covers about one or two percent of the total energy requirement of its properties by eco-power (biogas and solar power), acting as an important role model.

The community of Davos is "Energiestadt" since 2001. This honour is equivalent to the "Europeen Energy Award" (Silver). Davos was the first ski resort in the alps to receive this prestigious award. Davos puts all its efforts in a result-oriented and lasting energy policy and thus we focus on renewable power sources. The municipality itself covers approximately ten per cent of its energy with renewable power sources (terrestrial heat, fermentation gas, wood, solar). If water power would rank among it, we would come to approximately 35 per cent. You can find more details on this in the resort's home page www.gemeinde-davos.ch under the keywords: "Energie" and "Energieverbrauch Davos"..

Recycling

Within waste management at Davos recycling is a priority as well. In Davos they collect and recycle glass, paper, cardboard and tinplate. Batteries and special refuse are also collected. More details on this issue: www.gemeinde-davos.ch under the keywords "Abfälle" and "Abfallstatistik Davos"

Traffic Reduction Policy

Success has also been achieved in public transport services offered. By 2007 the number of passengers carried every year has risen to 5.5 million. The public transport company in Davos (Verkehrsbetrieb Davos, VBD) not only offers an outstanding public transport network, but also operates vehicles which are all equipped with catalytic converters and particle filters. Since November 2005, the twelve VBD buses as well as six vehicles operated by partner companies apply this exhaust gas treatment system (Continuously Regenerating Trap or CRT System). The system slashes harmful emissions - SO2 by about 98 percent and fine particles, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide by more than 90 percent. In all, the VBD fleet including the vehicles of partner companies use such vehicles on 95 percent of the total annual kilometres travelled, discharging about five tonnes less harmful emissions into the atmosphere every year. More details at: www.gemeinde-davos.ch under the keywords "Luft" and "Lufthygienischer Bericht Davos".

Waste Reduction Policy

In principle, the municipally cannot reduce the quantity of waste as such, it can only promote that the portion of the recycling goods increase. Sometimes it can contribute for waste to be avoided. Davos promotes this with different information campaigns. The city's most important information platform is the " Sammli " calendar, which is sent to all households every year. More details can be found at www.gemeinde-davos.ch under the keyword "Abfälle".

Green Building Policy

Swiss legal regulations are strict and controlled. The editions primarly concern the energy consumption. With the development of a program for the promotion of renewable energies environmentally friendly buildings will be the priority in the future.

Policy to Counter Global Warming

We have an obligation to reduce our contribution to global warming. Presently different interesting projects are underway about this issue in Davos. The fact that Davos is the founding member of the "Davos Climate Alliance" shows, that the municipaly of Davos
takes this problem seriously.

Since resorts are continuously increasing and improving their environmental practices, we update the Green Resort Guide throughout the year. If you have any information about new resort environmental policies/practices or anything that you think we may have missed, please email greenresortguide@skiclub.co.uk.

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