Description (EN): The common challenge of PRO-ENERGY is to improve energy efficiency of diverse public buildings (schools, museums, innovation centres etc). Participating territories face the common problems of old facilities, outdated/degradated building façades, materials& equipment (insulation, appliances, cooling/heating systems etc), low energy consciousness &a wareness, lack of skilled civil servants, leading to high energy consumption & CO2 emissions. Combined with the fact that participating territories are dependent on energy imports, it is more than evident that there is room for improvements in energy consumption & more efficient use of energy. More importantly, the exemplary role of the public sector should be promoted by increasing energy savings in public buildings. With focus on behavioural energy efficiency, PRO-ENERGY aims to address all issues by developing& implementing joint strategies& action plans, increasing competences of public buildings owners& operators, developing& applying technologies& tools for reducing energy consumption in public buildings& promoting good practices& results generated by the project to other local/regional/national entities in the area. The project addresses the policy& institutional level (Joint Strategy&Action Plan), human resources level (Capacity Building for Energy Managers)&the managerial systems level (open-source ICT Platform & CBA Modeller & Energy Performance Contracting-EPC). The novel energy saving technologies promoted by PRO-ENERGY refer to Behaviour-based Energy Efficiency. Behavioural efficiency programs&strategies introduce a cost-effective way to reduce energy consumption, as literature&practice suggests. Clean Energy initiatives are twofold processes which produce energy by means of renewable energy sources (RES) or by finding ways to make efficient use of existing energy at hand. Deployment of RES requires heavy investment, takes time to pay-back&entails the existence of a solid/effective legislative framework. On the other hand, energy-dependent regions&countries are struggling to find ways to become less dependent, even at the slightest possible scale. A modern & proven approach is the concept of “Behavioural Energy Efficiency”, a set of tools that trigger, sensitise, advise&finally drive individual users towards practical & measurable actions for their personal & everyday use of energy resources. Studies reveal that a 3-4,5% reduction in energy consumption may be achieved through simple rules (“switch off the lights when leaving the room”, “maintain a steady temperature on the thermostat”) that may reach 15% when rules are driven/supported by a consistent information system at the hands of the energy user. Based upon the universal fact “You may not improve unless you measure first” the project foresees actual&precise energy readings from different energy sources within Public Buildings which may come available near real-time through the engagement of an ICT interactive platform, whilst a set of proposed actions through the platform aiming to improve these readings, will drive the so called “Behavioural Energy Efficiency” on the buildings. Alongside, data analytics techniques (open to all) imposed through the ICT platform & the design of a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) tool (open to all) will produce a hands-on modeller for measuring net present value of energy efficiency interventions. Also, EPC represents a proven&effective form of ‘creative financing’ for capital improvement allowing funding energy upgrades from cost reductions. PRO-ENERGY suggests improvements on energy consumption actual levels via pilot actions assessed with the CBA tool & monitored throught the ICT system. Target groups/stakeholders include local/national/regional public authorities, sectoral agencies & regulators, infrastructure& service providers, interest groups& NGOs, higher education& research institutes, training centres& schools, business support organisation & enterprises in the areas of the project. They will be involved in the formulation of the Joint Strategy & Action Plan through public consultations & other formal/informal meetings & events. The aim is to integrate their feedback, insights, proposals & ideas in the document to be formulated, to reach the maximum possible consensus& increase intensity of participation & thus local ownership. Target-groups will benefit from the increased energy efficiency, the use of innovative tools& the improved energy-related& management skills.
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Expected Results (EN): The expected results of PRO-ENERGY are:
- Increased energy efficiency in the participating territories through the joint formulation of a strategie & action plan & the joint implementation of pilot actions contributing directly to the respectic energy efficiency objective of the Balkan-Med programme.
-Target values: 20% reduced energy consumption in one year after project implementation, 5 public buildings with improved energy efficiency.
- Enhanced capacity of participating territories & other stakeholders to develop & implement sustainable energy projects through the diverse capacity building programmes planned for Energy Managers & the sustainability / capitalisation actions foreseen.
-Target value: 15 training sessions, 200 civil servants and 500 stakeholders from all territories involved in capacity building & consultations.
- Improved funding opportunities for energy upgrades through energy performance contracting.
-Target value: 3 EPC arrangements prepared.
- Increased awareness of local populations on sustainable energy policies and actions through the extensive communication activities.
- Target value: 500 attendants of project conferences, 2.000 recipients of promotional material (brochures, eNewsletters etc.), 4000 project brochures (1500EN, 1500GR, 500BG, 500AL) produced, 2500 bilingual joint strategy & 2500 bilingual joint brochures (1500GR-EN, 500BG-EN, 500AL-EN each) produced.
The aforementioned results are closely linked to the programme result indicator R0605-Level of adaptation to resources efficiency & climate change resilience measures in alignment with EU policy. Enhanced capacities of project partners & stakeholders shall lead to better formulation & implementation of current & future strategies & actions & as a result to increased energy efficiency, while energy consciousness & awareness shall support the whole effort.
Read more Expected Outputs (EN): Main outputs of PRO-ENERGY:
-1 open-source Joint ICT Platform guiding energy consumers behaviour to energy saving actions contributing to the achievement of 20% reduced energy spending in public buildings & to increased energy efficiency.
-1 Joint Strategy & Action Plan contributing to developing effective energy efficiency policies & measures & to defining pilot actions for the reduction of energy spending in public buildings.
-1 Joint Cost-Benefit Analysis Modeller (open to all) supporting decision-making for retrofits, renovations etc. which lead to increased energy efficiency.
-3 Energy Performance Contracts through open-tendering procedures to finance energy upgrades from cost reductions & contribute in this way to increased energy savings & increased energy efficiency.
-1 Framework for energy-related interventions in public buildings which includes the implementation of Energy Audits in selected public buildings enabling through smart sensor systems the recording of energy consumption & the measurement of the impact of behavioural change measures; the framework increases energy efficiency in the short-term through the direct application of the framework in the pilot actions of PRO-ENERGY but also in the long-term since it can be easily adopted & replicated by other organizations.
- 15 Training sessions (seminars, study visits, eLearning etc.) on energy-related topics (energy management process, monitoring, targeting, energy auditing, regulations & standards, development of energy projects, financial tools & techniques with emphasis on energy performance contracting etc.) contributing to increased capacities of energy managers & other stakeholders leading to medium-term & long-term energy efficiency.
-1 Benchmarking Tool for the benchmarking of participating authorities regarding energy performance & the promotion of energy efficiency & savings in public buildings. All outputs will be open to all while data of the project will be available to the wide public.
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