Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The city has begun moving towards a more sustainable energy model by working to maximise power generation using local renewable resources, at the same time as reducing final energy consumption by applying energy saving measures and using resources more intelligently in all its activities and services. It wants to lead the way in energy policies, while prioritising and promoting a series of measures and actions designed to enable it to achieve the energy transition.

The current energy model is based on a preference for fossil fuels, so it has obvious limits - physical, economic, social and environmental. A change is therefore required in the short/medium term that will give us a city that mainly uses clean and renewable energy sources. This restructuring has to be linked to a significant change in the patterns of power generation and consumption which, among other things, must involve promoting the development of facilities using solar power, the most abundant renewable resource here.

So the city is committed to creating its own energy future by developing, at the same time, energy efficiency, clean, renewable production and the necessary collective change of chip to make that possible.

A change that cannot be carried out without time and determination, and must involve all the players concerned - the City Council and public bodies that have to set an example - in implementing and promoting good practices to train the general public, aside from developing tools so the public themselves, through their own efforts, can take steps to improve their habits, minimise consumption and promote renewable generation in the city.

This change also involves rethinking funding solutions, designing new, appropriate governance models and understanding urban planning as a tool for moving towards a sustainable, low-carbon future.

With this in mind, and a medium- to long-term strategic perspective, the City Council is setting up the Energy Operator as an instrument that will enable it to develop comprehensive, efficient, coordinated energy policies that should ensure it achieves the city’s energy transition, as well as implement all the measures envisaged within the framework of local energy planning, currently set out in the 2011-2020 Energy, Climate Change and Air Quality Plan.