Bolzano, the capital of energy efficiency in buildings

There are not many things to say about the bycicle ride from Borgo Valsugana to Bolzano.

At 8.00 am sharp the group is ready to leave from the Sportive Hostal of Borgo V. where the previous evening we had a beautiful dinner cooked by our very nice host.

Stefano Casagranda, ex professsional cyclist, is there to wish the best for our daily stage and to give us his suppport for the RWU initiative.

After that the group of around 30 people move together towards Trento and later to Bolzano along the famous Adige bycicle path.

The weather is perfect to ride by bike, with an initial temperature of 5°C and a cloudy/light sunny day.

Along the way we discover that this year the Provincia of Trento has  launched a bycicle initiative called “Ride your bycicle with us/Pedala con noi” that sounds really like  our RWU initiative… and we are proud of it.

We ride all the time together at a moderate speed and at 4 pm we are in Bolzano/Bozen, after 112 km.

Just the time to find our hotel and to have a quick shower and we are ready to rush to the EURAC research where we have a conference on energy efficiency of buildings in relation with the expected target of the Paris agreement.

It is a pleasure for us to be at the EURAC research head quarter for the third time, after the 2014 and 2015 RWU tour. Our friend Carlo Battisti, IDM Südtirol – Alto Adige, moderates a debate to better understand if the existing and future role of energy efficiency in  buildings is enough for the challenge of the Paris agreement and the expected mitigation targets.

Roberto Lollini, EURAC reasearch, Marco Caffi, GBC Italia, Ulrich Klammsteiner, Casa clima and Daniele Pernigotti, RWU, presented their view on it and had a very active interaction with the audience.

But time flows quickly away as a mountain river does, and the second day is almost over. We have just the time for a short walk in the centre of Bolzano and than it is time for dinner and to go to sleep, because tomorrow we have probably the most difficult stage from Bolzano to Innsbruck through the Brennero pass.

The good news is that the RWU forescast, offered by Class Meteo for each specific stage, indicates  good weather for cycling, with around 5°C and no rain or too much sun in the uphill phase. It is expected also a light wind from the South, blowing in the right direction to support our ride North, but actually this is only a psychological help because the real game is all inour legs.