Policy maker exchange – mayors from the EnercitEE partner regions will travel to Växjö, Sweden
From 30 May to 01 June 2012 the city of Växjö in Smaland, Sweden welcomes interested mayors from the different EnercitEE partner regions to provide an inside into its climate protection and energy policy and its vision to become a fossil fuel free city until 2030. The city of Växjö has been called “the greenest city of Europe” by many journalists, a recognition for its visionary sustainability strategy.
During the 2 day meeting the mayors will learn why and how Växjö’s vision could have been and will be implemented that successfully. Furthermore they will be presented exemplary energy efficiency measures and solutions in the fields of transport, heat/cooling generation and – distribution, public participation and future strategies that have already been carried out by the city, such as:
Cycle lanes/ boxes
Most CO2 emissions arise in the transport sector. That is why the city fosters the use of bicycles. A map illustrates the 150 km of cycle paths.
Free parking – for biogas, REM, DME, electrical and hybrid cars
This is an incentive to encourage people to use environmentally friendlier cars.
Bus station – biogas bus
The buses in Växjö are run with biogas produced in the sewage treatment plant in Växjö.
Regional EnercitEE conference was held in the capital of Lower Silesia, Wrocław, on 29 March 2012
As INTERREG IVC’s EnercitEE project has reached its halfway stage, the conference organized in the city of Wrocław provided a great opportunity to present its achievements so far with emphasis on regional outputs especially. With 8 sub-projects out of 11 featuring active Lower Silesian partners (including 1 Lead Sub-Project Participant) the region is widely present in the mini-programme, which aims at seeking to implement the EU targets on energy efficiency practically.
The conference main objective was to promote knowledge and exchange of experience as well as present good practices, which influence efficient and sustainable use of energy and environmental resources. It was attended by over 50 participants from local and regional authorities and public institutions.
16 Saxon mayors will learn from Växjö – the city with the visionary climate protection and energy policy
Within the framework of EnercitEE a study trip to Växjö, Sweden will be organised from 30 May to 01 June 2012. The city of Växjö represents a shining example for climate protection with focus on energy efficiency and use of regional biomass.
From 01 December 2011 to 25 January 2012 mayors throughout Saxony were welcome to apply for taking part in the study trip. Therefore mayors of the Saxon municipalities needed to describe implemented or planned measures regarding future energy supply in the municipality as well as his/her expectations on and motivation for participating in the study trip. Out of the 27 received applications the jury consisting of representatives of the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, the Saxon State Ministry of the Environment and Agriculture and Saxon Energy Agency (SAENA GmbH), selected 16 mayors that will go to Växjö.
Sustainable transport: how to do it? 12 good examples
Exchange of experience within SustraMM – Sustainable transports for managing mobility – one of the six approved sub-projects from EnercitEE’s 1st call
The exchange of experience on implemented mobility management measures between participating regions was carried out by SustraMM sub-project participants who collected and presented good practice examples. The good practices presented cover a wide range of topics, such as programs encouraging car commuters to use public transport, the support of bicycle traffic, mobility management measures implemented by companies, and training and outreach programs.
Photo provided by Blekingetrafiken
Several mobility measures with the objective to encourage car commuters to use public transport were presented. In particular, the City of Cluses, France, is reorganizing four bus lines and offering free ridership in order to attract new commuters and to motivate higher usage of public transport. Furthermore, in Sweden, the Blekingetrafiken (public transport provider) offers free ridership during the first one to two months of usage to all car drivers that are willing to use public transport instead of driving to work. Additionally, educational and outreach activities are seen in programs such as The Blekinge Trip, in Sweden. The program is focusing on “the travellers of tomorrow” (i.e. 12-year-olds) by providing hands-on-experience on how to effectively use different means of public transportation and get to the desired destination. Students, traveling in small groups of four to seven people, typically plan a day trip by using buses and/or trains and afterwards they present their trip report in school.
Lower Silesian participation in the international conference „Energy Autonomy for the House, District, Community and Region”
On 2 September 2011 the Lower Silesian EnercitEE regional management participated in an international conference „Energy Autonomy for the House, District, Community and Region” held in Wrocław, which was organized by the Free Entrepreneurship Association (Stowarzyszenie Wolna Przedsiębiorczość), a very active regional agent in the energy sector. Honorary patronage was held by prof. Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, and Rafal Jurkowlaniec, Marshal of Lower Silesia Voivodeship.
Impression from the conference
Joint IEE / INTERREG meeting
I had the chance to participate in a joint IEE & INTERREG meeting organised by INTERACT and EACI. The meeting took place in Brussels from 18 to 19 May 2011. The aim was to bring together different programmes and projects dealing with Energy Efficiency and renewable energy sources.
It was great to see the variety of Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE) projects presented there. IEE is a European tool for funding action to move towards a more energy intelligent Europe.
Besides energy agencies funded by IEE a wide range of projects were present. Among others a projects supporting communities that signed the Covenant of Mayors such as COME2COM or ENGAGE. Other IEE projects aim at bringing together experienced and less experienced local authorities in implementing Energy Efficiency actions such as LEAP or CONURBANT. All projects can be further discovered in the IEE database.
Besides IEE projects representatives of INTERREG IVB and INTERREG IVC were present and contributed to the discussion.
Good practice from Saxony – Excursion to the commune Zschadrass
The commune of Zschdrass is a small community nowadays belonging to the municipality of Colditz in Saxony. Zschadrass is one of the most active communes when it comes to renewable energies and energy saving in Saxony. They are also very innovative in developing new concepts for communal energy production.
According to the Mayor Matthias Schmiedel the commune started looking into their potential of saving energy in order to reduce their operation costs. The local council decided to start with the most visible and the easiest: in this case the street lightening. After 12 pm street lights have to be turned off.
After this they continued to observe the energy saving potential for communal building such as the gym and the school. Additionally, the commune was also looking for possibilities to keep the value added in the region which let also the vision of an energy self-sufficient commune in 2050.
