Environment Technology

Lahti Region Centre of Expertise for Environmental Technology

The most notable strengths of the Lahti Region lie in material efficiency and renewable energy. Approximately 90 percent of all household waste is recycled; residents sort their waste more carefully than in any other region in Finland. The local energy company Lahti Energia has been using recycled waste to produce district heating energy and electricity through gasification for more than a decade. A brand new industrial-scale gasification plant is to be commissioned in 2012, which will further improve efficiency and reduce the use of coal considerably. Renewable energy produced from waste collected from landfill sites and biogases generated in wastewater treatment plants is used in a local brewery and in the generation of district heating energy. Organic industrial by-products are turned into bioethanol, which is sold as fuel for road vehicles.

The Lahti Region Centre of Expertise for Environmental Technology is also working on several notable projects relating to the use of locally sourced biomass, to improving the efficiency of waste-to-energy collections, and to the use of construction waste and ashes. The potential to introduce electric buses to the public transport system and to generate wind power are also being explored. Local mechatronics businesses are keen to improve the ecology of their products and services, and potential for this is also being investigated.

The new Clean Energy Centre, which was built in Lahti in 2010, has created new opportunities for developing equipment capable of processing biogas, bio-oil, and solar energy, for example, and for developing geothermal heat pumps, air source heat pumps, and hybrid solutions. The two Centres of Expertise operating in the Lahti Region – Environmental Technology and Housing – also have a number of joint ventures relating to the use of clean technology to produce heating energy for residential properties, for example.

The Lahti Region invests heavily in establishing international partnerships, especially with regard to water management in Russia, and in attracting investors. Examples of efforts to entice investors include a partnership agreement with the Indian Yes Bank and the annual Cleantech Venture Day event.

Contact details

 Esa Ekholm
Business Director/Lahti Cleantech
Tel. +358 (0)400 414 841
esa.ekholm@lahtisbp.fi
www.lahtisbp.fi