Issue III / July 2011

Editorial: EnercitEE and exchange of experience

We already have a lot of knowledge and experience concerning how to approach and improve the very different aspects of Energy Efficiency.

We know how to approach certain challenges on a local and regional level. We have experience in policies, actions and tools. We know what is a good strategy for achieving certain goals, and we also know what we should avoid. We have a lot of practical experience in how to build Energy-Efficient buildings, in how to generate and disseminate Energy Efficiently, and in how to organise transport in a more sustainable way. There are innovative solutions for a more Energy-Efficient lifestyle, business and working style. Last but not least, we have experience in how to take people with us as citizens, as well as municipal staff, how they can better understand what each person can do and how they can make a difference.

In all EnercitEE regions, we have different experiences and good practices that are worth sharing. Therefore, EnercitEE places a strong emphasis on the exchange of experiences.

As I am responsible for coordinating EnercitEE’s activities regarding the exchange of experiences, I am very glad to be able to take this opportunity to give you a short overview of our approach and activities.
In the project, we use different ways of exchanging experiences and disseminating them beyond the EnercitEE partnership. This newsletter, handbooks and brochures, our website, study visits, local and regional seminars, and training sessions are all tools for supporting the exchange and eventually the transfer of experiences and good practices. In total,
it is planned to hold over 30 different events dedicated to the exchange of experiences. All activities are accompanied by communication and dissemination activities.

A guide on the good practices from the EnercitEE regions will be published by the end of summer 2011 and covers the following areas of excellence:

• Energy-Efficient buildings
• Energy Efficient heat/power generation and distribution
• Energy Efficiency and sustainable transport
• Emerging Energy-Efficient innovations and technology
• Increasing Energy Efficiency through good communication and motivation

I would like to emphasise again that we need to learn from each other in order to reach the EU 2020 targets. An open mind is certainly needed in our work. Furthermore, we need to set high short-term and long-term targets concerning energy saving. We need to get them accepted and decided upon on the political level. Follow them and have them communicated over the years to get the necessary implementation.

There are already successful tools for the various parts and stages of this process. We just need to get to know them better in order to be able to adapt and apply them in the specific regional context.

                            Hans Gulliksson, EnercitEE’s Component 3 Manager 
                            (responsible for coordinating exchange of experience)

EnercitEE’s 1st interregional symposium “Energy-Efficient heat/power generation & distribution”

In early April 2011, representatives of five EnercitEE regions met in Växjö / Sweden for the first EnercitEE symposium in order to discuss and exchange their experiences with regard to “Energy-Efficient heat/power generation & distribution”. Around 30 persons from the partnership and the sub-projects took part.

The first symposium covered a very broad field from combined heat and power generation (CHP) to innovative energy generation, covering district heating concepts to refurbishment of pipelines.

The symposium was well prepared by EnercitEE’s partners – each providing information on regional energy consumption, production, targets and policies. This was the basis for the presentation and discussion at the symposium. In the lively discussion, it became clear that the situation in each region is very different. This concerns the available figures, the political scope, potentials and challenges.

Three EnercitEE symposiums will take place in total. The next symposium is planned for the end of January 2012 in Annecy / France where we will concentrate on ‘communication and motivation’ (citizens as well as local authorities). The 3rd EnercitEE symposium will cover ‘EE buildings and innovation’ and will be organised in October 2012 in Leipzig / Germany.

Good practice from Smaland

Linked to EnercitEE’s first interregional symposium, study visits and training sessions were organised. The participants visited a CHP plant, a small district heating plant and a passive house.

A study visit was led to Sandviksverket VEAB, Växjö’s central CHP plant. Mr Lars Ehrlén, the technical director, gave a presentation of the background and strategies, and provided technical information. The plant produces more than 150 MW in total. In addition to heat and electricity, district cooling based on an absorption cooling machine is produced. In Växjö, more than 90 % of all heat and around 50 % of electricity is based on biomass.

During study visit at Sandviksverket CHP plant

Furthermore, the strategic work in the city of Växjö going on since the 1990s was presented by Mr Henrik Johansson. He gave insights into the work towards achieving a fossil fuel free city in the future. This includes strategies for buildings and transport, as well as the production of bio fuels.

One study visit to the Rottne district heating plant was organised. This small-scale district heating covers around 85 % of the heat energy load in the village of Rottne with 2000 inhabitants. It consists of two biomass boilers and one oil boiler, with around 4 MW heat power. The plant mainly uses woodchips as fuel (95 % of the heat production). Almost all municipalities in the county of Kronoberg have small-scale biomass-based district heating.

Last but not least, the passive house Portvakten was visited. Mr. Anders Franzén provided information on the building technology and about the fact that using wood in building is a smart way of binding CO2 for a long time.

Approved EnercitEE sub-projects after the 2nd Call for Proposals

E-FoxES – Energy saving Foxes in European Schools

Lead Sub-Project Participant:
Bautzen Innovation Center (Saxony)

Sub-Project Participants:
Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden
(Smaland (Kalmar and Kronoberg)/Blekinge),
Prioriterre (Haute-Savoie)

Overall budget:    EUR 216.310,00

The proposal for E-FoxES was submitted under the sub-project priority 2 ‘Awareness raising policies (EE competitions and games)’.

E-Foxes aims to contribute to the change in behaviour of the citizens in the involved EnercitEE regions concerning energy consumption. First of all, pupils will be addressed to think about energy saving and Energy Efficiency. For that purpose, energy saving contests between schools will be established by the sub-project partners. These contests will follow a common developed conception. The project partners will test the common conception in pilot projects, exchange their experiences and offer the developed and tested concept to further interested municipalities and regions. E-Foxes will investigate the most important success factors for energy saving contests amongst pupils in European towns and regions. A summary will present the results and experiences and give recommendations for future contests. Policy makers, jury members and other stakeholders will be invited to the public award ceremony. In this way, a high number of citizens besides the pupils involved will be stimulated to think about a new lifestyle based on a reduced personal carbon footprint.

ActEE – Actions and communication Tools about Energy Efficiency 

Lead Sub-Project Participant:
Mountain Riders (Haute-Savoie)

Sub-Project Participants:
DAPT – Department of Architecture and Urban Planning
(Emilia-Romagna),
Regional Development Agency “ARLEG” S.A. (Lower Silesia)

Overall budget:    EUR 129.096,00

The proposal for ActEE was submitted under the sub-project priority 4 ‘Promotion & exchange of citizens' good practice examples on EE’.

ActEE aims at detecting and spreading good practices in the field of communication tools which will allow the development of long-lasting, effective and sustainable tools. The benchmarking of existing tools combined with partners’ experiences allow ActEE to develop a communication tools package with lower costs and great impact. The project's actions involve a study on regional good practices on Energy Efficiency communication, exchange of these practices among the partners and experimentation of the tools detected in the countries involved. The project is expected to reach citizens in the countries involved, changing their behaviours and consumption attitude in an appreciable way. ActEE will involve citizens, opinion leaders, decision makers, who are going to be reached through fairs, events and new communication tools, such as marketing campaigns, videos and the media. Our aim is to combine a funny, positive attitude and innovative communication tools with a scientific approach and content.

GRACE – Grants and other incentives for cost and energy efficiency

Lead Sub-Project Participant:
Bautzen Innovation Center (Saxony)

Sub-Project Participants:
Wroclaw Research Centre EIT+Ltd. (Lower Silesia),
Energy and Sustainable Development Agency of Modena (AESS),
(Emilia-Romagna)

Overall budget:    EUR 129.150,00

The proposal for GRACE was submitted under the sub-project priority 5 ‘Exchange of incentives and grant programmes for citizens’.

The aim of the sub-project GRACE is to analyse costs and the real impact of public and private funding schemes focused on the Energy Efficiency for citizens and communities. On-going programmes will be evaluated in terms of the beneficiaries involved, the satisfaction of the beneficiaries, the energy saved and the carbon dioxide emissions reduced. The sub-project partners will promote successful examples of local and private initiatives, e.g. promising projects of communities for their citizens. Results from pilot projects in the partner regions concerning new financial instruments, including revolving funds and tax-related measures, will be analysed in detail. Regional authorities that are responsible for incentives and grants for citizens will be directly involved in the project. At the end of the project, suggestions on how to further develop existing programmes or to establish new funding schemes will be formulated.

EEMTE – Energy Efficiency in Municipality – Training and Exchange of experience

Lead Sub-Project Participant:
The Commune of Jelcz-Laskowice (Lower Silesia)

Sub-Project Participants:
The City of Leipzig (Saxony),
Municipality of Cluses (Haute-Savoie),
Municipality of Oskarshamn
(Smaland (Kalmar and Kronoberg)/Blekinge,
Prioriterre (Haute-Savoie)

Overall budget:    EUR 231.750,00

The proposal for EEMTE was submitted under the sub-project priority 7 ‘EE training instruments for public authorities' staff & knowledge exchange’.

EEMTE’s objective is to jointly develop information and training materials, as well as training instruments. Training courses combined with presentations and demonstrations will be organised to enable an integrated approach to solving problems associated with obtaining improvement in Energy Efficiency, to familiarize government officials and employees of public institutions with the legal regulations in force, to exchange experiences and good practices. The methodology and training instruments developed within the project will be promoted and made available to local stakeholders (public authorities of different levels). Furthermore, EEMTE partners will set up an overview on existing training concepts and, from this starting point, provide recommendations for good training concepts. Each partner will adjust these general recommendations to the needs and specific aspects in the regions.

FIPREC – Financing instruments, by Potential and Requirements of Energy saving Contracting

Lead Sub-Project Participant:
CISA scarl – Innovation Center Environmental Sustainability
(Emilia-Romagna)

Sub-Project Participants:
Saxon Energy Agency – SAENA GmbH (Saxony),
Commune of Olawa (Lower Silesia)

Overall budget:    EUR 129.616,00

The proposal for FIPREC was submitted under the sub-project priority 8 ‘Financing instruments as policies for local authorities’.

The overall objective is to contribute to the solution of the applicative problems in public-private partnership and project financing, which have arisen in the energy sector interventions, especially where the financial return requires a long time, whilst Energy Efficiency measures in end-use rarely have financial products that do not require property guarantees or sureties. Within FIPREC, energy-saving measures, which can be easily implemented in and carried out by local authorities, in buildings and technical facilities should be developed, and, at the same time, financial resources should be conserved. In addition to the reduction of the annual energy costs, possibilities for communities and local decision-makers are found to be able to perform the required renovations of technical equipment, without the use of equity capital. The target groups are local decision-makers, communities and businesses. FIPREC will play a leading role in the area of the ESC. Other regions can learn from the results and experiences. They can get an impulse to develop such ESC models.

Successful start of the 1st Call sub-projects

All EnercitEE sub-projects approved after the first Call for Proposals started successfully at the beginning of the year 2011.

The first meetings to kick-start each sub-project were organised to provide an exchange on the state of the art, policies and challenges in each region, concerning the topic of the sub-project, and to jointly agree upon the next steps. Furthermore, all the partners were made familiar with the reporting procedures and deadlines within EnercitEE. For each sub-project, at least three interregional meetings will be held in order to exchange information, assign tasks, take decisions, adjust planning, discuss results etc.

The sub-project kick-off meetings took place as follows:

LEEAN:
9 March in Dresden, Saxony

SCC:
16 - 17 February in Växjö, Sweden

SUSTRAMM:
8 - 9 February in Karlskrona, Sweden

RIEEB:
9 March 2011 in Dresden, Saxony

CLIPART:
27 - 28 January in Bologna, Italy and

PraTLA:
7 - 8 February in Brussels.

EnercitEE Publicity material

The 2nd EnercitEE newsletter is also available in:

• German
• French
• Swedish
• Italian