Today’s big topic: New survey of support for wind turbines and solar panels yields a surprise
What’s happening?
According to a new report from the Danish Council on Climate Change, Danes think only a third of local residents support onshore wind turbines and solar panels. In reality, twice as many – two-thirds – support putting up more renewable energy in their own area.
The broad support for Denmark reducing its greenhouse-gas emissions applies not only to deploying renewable energy but more generally as well.
Only a very small minority, according to the Danish Council on Climate Change’s new report, is skeptical about whether climate change is caused by our emissions, or whether it is worth the effort to try to reduce them. That support, the report notes, holds across the country and is only slightly stronger in cities than in rural areas, where neighbors have to look at the so-called ’iron fields’ and listen to the whirring and humming of wind turbines.
The conclusion comes after the outgoing SVM government, in practice, had to abandon its goal of quadrupling the expansion of green power on land. It has been especially difficult to find room in the landscape for wind turbines. They can be installed without state subsidies, while new offshore wind farms require support in the tens of billions.
Why it matters!
There has been a perceived general consensus when it comes to implementing renewable energy sources in Denmark: Public support for renewable energy sources is low, especially if they are to be implemented in local areas.
However, solar panels and onshore wind are by far the area of climate policy where Danes most underestimate how much public support there actually is.
»When there is more support for putting up renewable energy on land than you might have assumed, then politicians and other decision-makers can do something. They can design a climate policy that people see as effective and fair«, says Bente Halkier, vice chair of the Danish Council on Climate Change, referring to two words that recur throughout the report.
In her view, effectiveness is about how much CO2 reduction society gets for the billions invested in new climate measures. Here, she said, politicians, not only in Parliament but also in municipalities, have a task in explaining how effective onshore wind turbines and solar panels are.
Fairness takes more words to explain. Because it is not only about money, and in the case of wind turbines and solar panels, not only about whether neighbors share in the economic surplus the facilities generate.
Still curious? Read the full article here.
In other news
– Denmark’s one-of-a-kind tech ambassador is stepping down
In two weeks time, Denmark will no longer have a tech ambassador. Anne Marie Engtoft, who has held the post for the past six years, is leaving the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a private company that builds quantum computers. Whether a successor will be appointed is the big question – one the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to decide. Mikkel Flyverbom, a professor of digital transformation at Copenhagen Business School and chairman of the government’s expert committee on tech giants, was skeptical of some of the ideas behind the post at first, but today he would recommend that the new government continue it.
When Denmark, nearly 10 years ago, opened a tech embassy with offices in California, China, and Copenhagen, it was the first of its kind in the world.
Read the full article here.
– A Secret Report Reveals Harsh Criticism of Danish Aviation Safety
For more than four years, a confidential report on aviation safety and oversight of Denmark’s airports has been hidden from the public. The report, which Politiken can now cite, shows that the Danish Transport Authority came in for sharp criticism from the EU’s aviation safety experts. The authority insists that safety has remained at a high level throughout. EASA’s inspectors found that the Danish Transport Authority was severely understaffed in the aviation sector, that staff lacked the necessary training to oversee aviation safety, and that the authority was neglecting several parts of its oversight of Denmark’s airports.
– Almost defying nature: Two guys from Thy are sitting atop the world of cycling right now
Jonas Vingegaard and Michael Valgren threw their arms around each other in a gesture that embraced more than the fact that, as Danes, they belong to cycling’s world elite – both also first turned their pedals in races as members of Thy Cykle Ring. Yesterday, Michael Valgren won his first stage at a Grand Tour, attacking in the final kilometer to go solo from the six-man breakaway. Jonas Vingegaard had a less central role than in the previous stages, but remains in the pink jersey, 4 minutes and 3 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.
New cafe in Frederiksberg Have
Birgitte reviews the breakfast at the new French-inspired café in the Josty building in Frederiksberg Gardens.
A new café has opened in a historic setting, charming with its romantic, old-fashioned style and a location in the heart of one of the capital’s most idyllic parks.
The location:
You can hear wood pigeons, blackcaps, great tits and magpies. Not exactly exotic, I think.
But yes, it actually is. Sitting at a café in the middle of the capital and clearly hearing birds, without the slightest traffic noise mixing in, is genuinely exotic.
Josty has an incomparable location a short way into Frederiksberg Gardens, so when you sit on the terrace with your morning coffee and croissant, surrounded by newly leafed beech hedges and looking out at century-old, 25-meter-tall linden, pine and oak, you can easily imagine that you’re the owner of a little pleasure pavilion for a morning.
The history:
For more than 200 years, Josty has been an institution in Frederiksberg. It was a Swiss pastry chef, Anton Joss, who received the king’s license and in 1823 opened a place where you could eat baked goods and buy hot water, so you could brew coffee with beans you’d brought yourself!
The place’s more recent history hasn’t been quite so wholesome. Josty has made headlines for looming bankruptcy and above all, because the police have had to show up and shut down several parties for lacking a liquor license. At one wedding, guests were turned out onto the street and had to walk down Frederiksberg Allé in search of a bar to continue the celebration.
At New Year’s, the ailing Josty was taken over by fresh hands, Food Studio, which is running it as an event venue and, as a new initiative, a café open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
What to get?
The coffee is good and served with an appreciation that there’s a difference between a cappuccino and a flat white. Also try a fresh-pressed green juice (55 DKK). It tastes healthfully of celery, spinach, apple, lime and ginger, with a little bite from green chile.
Read the full review of Josty here.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.