Kunnskapsformidling lavutslippssamfunn gjennom kulturarrangement

How do you communicate research projects to most people in a well and understandable matter? These projects may often seem complicated and difficult for most people to understand. That´s why Bodø municipality and Bodø energy had to get creative to find a way of showing the power of renewable energy this summer. Bodø municipality have decided through their Climate and energy plan for 2019-2031 to cut their own carbon emissions with 70 percent, compared to 2009-levels. A part of this adjustment implies that they need to work hard towards materializing their new city with high ambitions regarding climate, energy, and environmental goals. The municipality aims to be defined as a low, or zero-emission city by the year 2050. Their project, “New city – New airport”, has the ambition of developing a zero-emission neighborhood as their first structures. This is the reason that Bodø municipality is a part of the research center FME ZEN. Bodø municipality and local power company Bodø energy had the desire to display the concept of future oriented, local, and flexible energy systems in a low-emission society. They, like many others, were aware that a change in cognitive behavior are needed to change people’s habits in order to meet the energy and resource use goals of the future. Involving citizens is important to succeed with the green shift. Engaging and making people aware of the opportunities that lie within new technological solutions are essential. Change and adjustments in people have a greater success rate and is done quicker if all involved parties are motivated and engaged. But how does one do this? Bodø municipality and Bodø energy links up with the music festival Parken. Parken is one of Northern Norway’s biggest music festivals, with around 15 thousand people attending over the course of three days in august every year. The festival attracts a vast array of people, and with their recent instalment of a family friendly day, the age span is everywhere from 5 to 75 years old. This is the perfect stage to convey the idea of the future’s energy solutions. The European Capital of Culture, which is in Bodø in 2024, also joins the project. Several meetings are held to find the best way to show off the energy solutions of tomorrow. What is to be on display? How to we display it? Why would people be bothered to stop and look at the display while in the middle of a festival? Early in the process, the team decides to arrange a mini concert, powered by solar panels. Bodø energy start working on acquiring a site within the festival area to host the concert. This is where they want to attract people to look at the energy solution. The original idea is that a little wooden stage gets set up, with solar panels on the roof which will provide electricity to power the concert. Furthermore, the idea develops with adding an electric car to the mix. The car can store the excess power that is generated from the solar panels, and work as a battery if clouds block the sun at some point. The whole thing comes together and creates a miniature grid on the festival site. After some more meetings and planning, the team decides that the idea of a concert is not optimal. Festival goers already get enough music at the festival, and it is believed to give a bigger wow-effect if there is something completely different occupying the stage. Instead, the team figures out a solution that turned out to be a very popular one. Festival goers will be able to play videogames powered by solar panels. Nintendo Wii and PlayStation to be exact. The team links up with e-sport team “Skade”, that come from a small town in Norway called Mosjøen. Albeit their small beginnings, they now have athletes competing in both Brazil and Bulgaria. Skade likes the idea of playing videogames on a microgrid and wants to be a part of the project. They agree to send three athletes up to the festival to host the event – they will be playing the popular football videogame FIFA Why would anyone want to go toe to toe against professional FIFA-players? The FIFA-team of Skade is represented by local sweetheart football club, Bodø/Glimt. The apple of every Bodø citizen’s eye. The football club is now also included in the project, and they bring club legend Runar Berg to the event, along with a current first team player. Bodø municipality and the festival will give one lucky festival goer a ticket for next year’s festival, but only if they can beat one of the players. The synergies that happen between Bodø municipality, Bodø energy, Parken, Bodø/Glimt and Th European Capital of Culture brings together an event that proved to be very popular at the festival. The event had a steady stream of people, that showed a great deal of interest for both Bodø/Glimt, FIFA, and the energy solutions of the future.

Virkninger og effekter, kort sikt: Det var stort engasjement og masse positiv omtale rundt forskningen som ble kommunisert i prosjektet. Dette ble observert både i sosiale medier, aviser, samt internt i organisasjonene som deltok. Det ble også bygd kompetanse og erfaring knyttet til innstallering og kommunikasjon av et mikrogrid. Gjennomføringen av dette prosjektet har også bidratt til å øke kompetansen, samt åpnet opp mulighetene for å formidle forskning og medvirke til endring via kulturarrangement hos alle de deltakende organisasjonene. Virkninger og effekter, lang sikt: Den økte kompetansen og erfaringen med innstallering av et mikrogrid i Bodø vil forenkle overgangen til denne type løsninger i fremtiden, som er essensielt for å bli et lavutslippssamfunn. Det er allerede ytret et ønske om å fortsette å bruke kulturarenaen Parkenfestivalen og Familieparken for fremtidige medvirknings- og kunnskapsformidlingsarenaer. Det er også blitt foreslått og utvide det til Svømmehallen, som er en helårlig konsert/kulturarena til å gjennomføre noe lignende i fremtiden. Dette vil kunne bidra til å normalisere og ufarliggjøre endring som forskning bringer med seg ved å eksponere befolkningen for det, samt normalisere nye løsninger.

Bodø kommune, Parkenfestivalen og Bodø Energi AS ønsker å benytte en av Bodøs mest populære arrangement, Parkenfestivalen, til å illustrere hva forskning peker på knyttet til fremtidsrettede, lokale og fleksible energisystemer. Vi ønsker å midlertidig etablere et uavhengig mikrogrid/energisystem inne på festivalområdet under Parkenfestivalen 2022, hvor vi skal illustrere en energidelingsløsning som er relevant for det grønne skiftet. Konseptet går ut på at innbyggere går inn på et avgrenset område. Det skal tydelig kommuniseres at arealet består av 100 prosent fornybar fleksibel kraft. Området vil bestå av en elbil med Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) -teknologi og energiproduksjonsenheter. Dette skal gi strøm til å drive et kulturinnslag, som for eksempel en artist eller DJ. På denne måten ønsker vi å illustrere hvordan vi kan bruke elbilbatteri som en fleksibel ressurs i et lokalt energisystem, i kombinasjon med lokal energiproduksjon i Nord-Norge. Konseptet er utviklet på bakgrunn av relevante FoUI-prosjekter, konseptutredninger og samarbeid mellom Bodø kommune og Bodø Energi AS med flere.