Reducing the ecological footprint – this has been the target of the households participating in the urban competition “Sustainability (ba)roques” since October 2019. During coaching sessions, the so-called energy heroes learn the important things about waste separation, water and energy saving and sustainable mobility.
In addition, the participants obtain a ticket for public transport or the opportunity to rent an e-bike for three months. “An e-bike is a fantastic possibility to do something for your own fitness, but at the same time to cover longer distances or transport cargo without too much effort,” says Anna Hoeffler who coordinates the project of the city. As an e-bike is, however, very expensive, the energy heroes have the opportunity to rent one, says Hoeffler. That way they can find out whether it is worth buying an e-bike.
The energy heroes have a lot of plans with the e-bikes
The five household that opted for an e-bike could now pick up their new means of transport at Zedler-Institut. The company provides the energy heroes with one e-bike per household. “Sustainability is an absolute matter of the heart for us”, says Dirk Zedler, founder and managing director of the institute. Therefore, it were a matter of course for his company to provide the energy heroes with an e-bike. “I recommend the participants to ride the e-bikes as much as possible”, says Zedler. About one half of all distances were less than five kilometres long and thus easy to be ridden by e-bike.
“I intend to do all my shopping and errands that are nearby with my e-bike in the future”, says Lothar Mahler. This is how he wants to relieve the environment, to avoid annoying traffic jams and to save parking fees. Jan Butz has the opportunity to lease an e-bike at work. “Before I do that, I want to try out whether it’s worth it for me”, he explains. He aims at commuting by e-bike to the office in future, all in all14 kilometres with 100 meters of altitude. “The e-bike will certainly replace many shorter trips that you would otherwise have made by car, such as shopping in town or visiting the grandparents”, assumes René Kucher. Gise Ruprecht and Michael Klebl want to try out whether the e-bike will ease the weekly shopping for the family of four compared to the shopping by bicycle.
When handing over the e-bikes in a small circle due to the corona crisis, the professionals of Zedler-Institut also gave some short instructions. “We have a few tricks to make them enjoy their new means of transport even more”, says Dirk Zedler. The bicycles were also equipped with a big lock, as each of them costs about 3000 Euro. “We hope that we can inspire the energy heroes with this offer for sustainable forms of mobility in the long term”, said Anna Hoeffler from the city administration.
Author: Carolin Schneider
Photo: Zedler-Institut
