Antwerp has been chosen by the European Commission as one of 112 climate-neutral and smart cities. To make this happen, the City of Antwerp and various action partners drew up a Climate Contract. With this contract they promise that they will do their best to fulfill their promise.
“With its 17,000 inhabitants and ten square kilometers of surface area, Linkeroever is a very interesting pilot project. The diverse city district is constantly changing, has a lot of open space and different types of buildings and homes,” says Alderman for Environment Tatjana Scheck.
Heat network
When you think of ‘climate-neutral city’ you quickly think of saying goodbye to fossil fuels. In the future, the intention is to connect Linkeroever to a heating network. The excess heat from petrochemicals and the port is connected to that grid and goes, among other things, to the large apartment blocks of the Left Bank.
Europark is also being further greened. — © City of Antwerp
“During our research we noticed that there are already many apartment blocks that have gas or oil boilers that need to be renovated,” explains project coordinator Britt Berghs.
“If these buildings can be connected to that network in the long term, a renovation of the boiler room will be an unnecessary cost. That is why temporary energy hubs are in full development. You can view such an energy hub as a giant heat pump that can relieve many buildings of gas or fuel oil at the same time, pending a connection to the heating network.”
Leasing a heat pump
Since the energy hub is a large-scale project that immediately provides 200 to 300 families with heat, a project for individual families and small apartment blocks is also included in the contract: people who want to invest in a heat pump but cannot immediately afford the full amount can contact the company Non.Energy. You can lease a heat pump there and pay it off gradually. In the meantime, installation, warranty and maintenance are also arranged by this company.
In addition to the many greening projects that are planned, the former Combori company site is also being completely renovated. The company PMV supervises sustainable area development and, together with project developer Vooruitzicht, is supporting this residential-work project. This creates a creative place for various parties that focus on mobility solutions and logistics problems.
The Climate Contract has dozens of other components. The contract will be evolved every two years so that actions can be checked off or adjusted.
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