The mayor of Valdemoro takes part in an innovative virtual trip into space created by the Naturgy Foundation to raise awareness of the planet’s environmental challenges, the energy transition and the circular economy.

The new travelling awareness-raising project, Energy Challenge, was presented last week under the framework of the COP 25, and starts its tour around Spain in Valdemoro.

The Energy Challenge will travel some 4,800 kilometres, visiting around forty Spanish municipalities during next year, where it hopes to attract 100,000 visitors.

Energy Challenge Valdemoro

Today, along with members of the Council, the mayor of Valdemoro, Sergio Parra, visited the new awareness-raising project by the Naturgy Foundation, the Energy Challenge, a travelling and innovative experience that is visiting the city today and tomorrow to teach little ones and the general public about the energy transition, the circular economy, air quality and new energy technologies.

The technology behind the Energy Challenge experience includes touch screens with a 360º projection of a hundred videos, rotating seats and a smart robot called Energy 360. The installation can be visited free of charge from 10 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm to 7 pm.

After visiting Energy Challenge, Parra thanked the Naturgy Foundation “for offering us the opportunity to be the starting point of an experience whose message will surely reach students and also the citizens who have the chance to visit it wherever it goes. I am convinced that they will be surprised by it, as I have been, and that it may even inspire young people to pursue careers in this field, by addressing issues that are going to be a priority in the present and the immediate future.”

Energy Challenge, which was presented last week in Madrid as part of the COP 25, is scheduled to travel some 4,800 kilometres and will visit around forty towns and cities in the Community of Madrid, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia, Andalusia, Valencia and Catalonia. Its goal is to have 100,000 visits by the end of 2020. 

A futuristic aircraft which offers proposals to solve the energy challenge

Visitors are invited to take a trip into space, in a futuristic aircraft commanded by state-of-the-art robots. By doing so they become part of a space mission to solve the energy challenge at a time of transition to decarbonisation like today.

On their 20-minute journey, crew members observe the Earth and the Cosmos to reflect on and become aware of the planet’s climate emergency and the need to contribute to key issues such as the circular economy, air quality and new energy technologies.

The initiative shows the key role of innovation and responsible consumption habits in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on energy.

What’s more, the Naturgy Foundation has installed this experience in an environmentally friendly 70 m2 vehicle, which has a dual natural gas engine. When running, it generates between 15% and 20% less CO2 emissions than conventional diesel engines. It also contributes to improved air quality by reducing particulate emissions by 39% and NO2 emissions by 30% compared to a vehicle running on diesel fuel alone.

The Naturgy Foundation’s managing director, María Eugenia Coronado, defined the new project as a “disruptive initiative to explain the environmental challenge facing the planet”. “All citizens should be aware of the challenges we face and of the fact that it is our responsibility to reverse climate change,” she said, “Initiatives such as the Energy Challenge, with which we will travel throughout Spain, can help to raise awareness among the population and explain that we have new energy vectors, such as renewable gas, which can help make the circular economy and energy transition a reality.”

The Energy Challenge experience will be complemented with another informative resource from the Foundation, The Circular Challenge, an interactive competition on renewable gas production and the circular economy, which will be installed next to the efficient vehicle on all the stops it makes.

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