Friends at the gates - Major success for EEA open house event.

The evening’s program was kicked off with a very well attended panel debate highlighting the topic of bio-energy as an option for Denmark from various angles. EEA project manager Peder Jensen explained the opportunities and limitations of bioenergy in Denmark, while the chairman of the energy committee of the Danish parliament Eyvind Vesselbo and MP Anne Grete Homsgaard gave the political views from the government and opposition side respectively, and Lene Lange from the Danish company Novozymes offered the industry perspective. The debate, chaired by Danish Radio journalist Karen Hjulmand, also benefited from an active audience with lots of questions to the panel.

A wide range of activities were on offer for visitors of all ages throughout the evening. A treasure hunt on the theme of energy and aimed specifically at children presented participants with a variety of tasks to solve and questions to answer. A theatre group from a local school (Ballerup ungdomsskole) performed a piece with an environmental theme, especially written for the evening and based on the H.C. Andersen fairy-tale “The Nightingale” and (mainly unplugged) music was provided by the choir KonTakt and the urban street-rock band Oooh Sticky.

EEA communications manager Marion Hannerup says “The success of the evening shows that the environment is definitely of interest to the general public. The event clearly helped raise awareness of both the Agency and the issue of energy saving among Copenhageners.”