Description of the challenge you will be working with (Goal + challenges/s) and its context.
We will be working with challenge number 7 Ensure Access to Affordable, Reliable Sustainable, and Modern Energy for All, this challenge is closely related to challenge 13 take urgent action to combat the climate change and its effects. Energy is the engine of prosperous societies. A well-established energy system supports all sectors from business, education, medicine, agriculture, infrastructure, communications, and high technologies. And conversely, the lack of access to energy supply and transformation systems is an obstacle to human and economic development.
- 13 per cent of global population still lacks access to modern electricity.
- 3 billion of people rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating
The 2030 agenda wants to guarantee universal access to adequate energy services, increases the share of renewable energy, and double energy efficiency. Research infrastructure and clean technologies will be crucial in achieving this goal. To do it we need to promote investment and international cooperation. Moreover, energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, to achieve sustainable development we have to immediately undergo an energy transition bases on rational use and non-polluting energies. This way all people can have access to energy services.
What specific measures will be implemented?
The main idea of the project consists of implementing generators in public bikes. It allows people to produce electricity while they are riding a bike. This electricity will be generated in an indirect way not involving any pollution.
The project will be implemented gradually. Firstly, at a local level, the City Council of Burgos will buy a pack of batteries for public bicycle stations, connected with the streetlights nearby, which they will receive the energy produced by those who ride a bike.
Currently, the number of stations in Burgos is 23, and we must point out that the total bike consumption in 2019 was more than 30.000 times a year, an amount which was eagerly reduced in 2020, due to the Coronavirus context. Curfews and lockdowns made this number decrease to less than 20.000 times.
In the 2021’s budget of the City Council of Burgos, it is shown that almost 6.000.000 € are invested for street lighting, consuming 600 kW per year. Our goal is to reduce that amount progressively, after input for batteries and its adaptation to bicycles. There will be a connection between streetlights and bike stations. With a small investment, we will test its savings for the City Council. After that, every bike in the city will have a battery and it will save a lot of money, which will be re-invested in bonuses for people with not enough resources, affected by the COVID pandemic.
Our plan doesn’t stop here, we will launch our proposal to every interesting city, creating a multilanguage partner network to debate more adaptations, new proposals, or new ways to reduce costs, which will enrich us not only in terms of sustainability but also culturally and economically.