Environmental Affairs

Lesson 3: Linkages between the air (and other things) we breathe, housing and business

Case Study - Air in Helsinki

Air and Water Quality

Helsinki - The Energy Efficient City

Helsinki, Finland's district heating system relies on a technology that combines the production of electricity and heat. Heat obtained in generating electricity is now used for heating the city instead of leaking it into the sea. Operating on market terms since its inception, the system currently serves more than 91% of all Helsinki's buildings. The efficiency of energy supply has been raised from 40 % up to 80 % in Helsinki. The specific heat consumption in buildings connected with the district heating network has also decreased from 65 kWh/m3a to 44 kWh/m3a due to the energy saving information, which has been disseminated, to the customers.

District heating has necessitated replacing chimneys of individual buildings with higher chimneys of heating plants where the emissions can be more easily controlled. The coal-fired power stations in Helsinki have been equipped with desulphurisation plant and have been improved reducing the sulphur and nitrogen dioxide content in the air to levels below WHO air quality guidelines. The by-products of the coal-powered stations are recycled and used as by products for cement and for strengthening geotechnically weak areas during construction of civil engineering structures.

The combined-cycle power plant in Helsinki's Vuosaari, which uses natural gas and was manufactured in 1991, got a neighbor in 1998, another new significantly larger CHP plant using equivalent technology. With this new capacity, the portion of natural gas of the Helsinki power production fuels exceeded 50 % and the emissions per kilowatt-hours of output energy were reduced. The new natural gas capacity is connected to the consumption areas with a new 20-kilometer long underground tunnel. This tunnel enables the use of natural gas with a high efficiency in efficient combined production in a manner reliable to the consumer. Altogether there are over 1,000 kilometers of district heating pipeline in Helsinki. District Cooling Helsingin Energia is testing Finland's first cooling plant and district cooling system at the Salmisaari power plant. In cooling production, the utilized energy (i.e. the heat required by the absorbing apparatus) is acquired from the waste heat of the co-generation process that remains unutilized. (from the UN-HABITAT best practice briefings).

UN-HABITAT supports its normative work and the implementation of the Habitat Agenda by providing a wide range of advisory services and technical assistance to governments and local authorities to improve their policies and strengthen their institutional capacities. The main areas of focus of its operational activities include: housing and urban development; infrastructure, water supply and basic services; environmental planning and management, disaster management, municipal finance and management, urban safety and security; and participatory approaches to decision-making and planning.