Interview with Mr. Blinde, managing director of Pekela.

On March 7, 2009, I interviewed Mr. Blinde, managing director of Pekela, concerning Pekela’s energy policy. Pekela is a small rural town located in the Netherlands. Mr. Blinde plainly described that the energy policy exists out of two separate parts, namely a supervisory segment and an executive segment. The local government’s executive occupations are internal (geographically inside the town-hall) as well as external (geographically outside the town-hall). The supervisory tasks, however, are solely external. Firstly, Mr. Blinde explained the internal executive activities. The town-hall has an environmental business plan (EBP), which describes the manner in which town-officials ought to manage with energy. Mr. Blinde provided me with a few examples in order to demonstrate the town-hall’s good intentions, which are mentioned in the EBP. For example, the town-hall has replaced all the lightings by sustainable lights with motion sensors added on it. Another example that illustrates that the energy usage has been taken into account, is the replacement of high energy consuming devices, such as copy-machines. However, Pekela does not solely focus on Pekela itself, since the town is currently setting up a cooperative relationship with nearby local authorities Veendam and Menterwolde. This new partnership expresses itself by joint purchases of bio-energy vehicles when the life expectancy of common vehicles is expired. Secondly, the interview focuses on the external executive dimension of the environmental business plan, set by the town-council. The external EBP has a few core activities. One activity is giving an appropriate example to the town inhabitants by replacing all public lighting by environmental-friendly lighting. Another core activity is informing and communicating with the town inhabitants by monthly spending a whole page in a regional newspaper discussing local energy problems and possibilities. Thirdly, the town subsidises civilians when they construct new roof gutters that are connected to the main canal. The reason for this subsidy is the following: roof gutters connected to the canal result in lower energy consumption because of the decreasing sewer cleaning costs. Finally, Pekela’s managing director briefly expanded on the external supervisory responsibilities of the local government. This implies that the local civil servants have to control whether companies in Pekela meet the legislation concerning energy usage, as laid down in the law of uniform provisions (WAB) and the law of environmental hygiene (WMH). All in all, Pekela undertakes plenty initiatives to stimulate their citizens and companies in order to create a more sustainable environment. Besides that, the town-hall itself takes the lead in saving energy by keeping internal energy usage in mind and cooperating with other local authorities. The local civil servants also execute their supervisory responsibilities in a trustworthy manner. Hereby, the small rural town is taking its responsibility of ensuring a bearable environment towards Pekela’s future generations of inhabitants, and even towards the rest of the world.

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 25 May 2009 13:28 )