The European climate and energy goals towards 2050 ask for drastic systematic
changes in the current European energy system to increase the share of
renewable energies and to reduce carbon emissions – from 1990 to 2050 by 90%.
The project Everything Remains Transformed intends to highlight how farreaching the transformative process from fossil energy sources, like crude oil
and gas coal, to renewable energies sources actually are. In the marine zone,
we will have to decommission platforms and pipelines at immense costs and
the coastline will eventually turn into a patchwork of abandoned harbours and
refineries. In the terrestrial zone, we will have to pull the plug from coal power
plants, while fossil-energy reliant businesses are running down, and citizens will
lose their current high-living standards.
The current energy system adds in this respect to the high ecological footprints of each country in the North Sea territory and requires drastic change in the light of resource management and estimated enormous population growth, according to Eurostat, among the nation states.
Everything Remains Transformed relies on parts of the remaining energy legacy
and the potential to transform its components. The project represents a new,
energetic system in the North Sea that aims to create one big territory with one
low footprint among all adjacent countries through collaboration. It demonstrates on the big scale, that a joint strategy will produce renewable energy to cover the territorial supply, reduces carbon efficiently and brings additional benefits beyond energy production.
A macro-regional strategy for the North Sea builds the overall framework for the
strategy. The aim of the European Union’s instrument is to jointly target common challenges with actors of various fields. On the small scale, in Aberdeen as a case study, I will showcase what influence big scale principles and spatial guidelines eventually have on the space and the societal and economic structure.