Within our EUKI project Humus per la Biosfera we promoted and realised organic composting in schools, for private households and municipalities.

Following environmental education lessons and outdoor activities with 4500 students, a total of 19 school composters were installed in 11 municipalities. Each year, we calculate that more than 12 tonnes of CO2 eq. will be sequestered thanks to them. The 4500 schoolchildren who were taught took home special instructions and recommendations for small garden and balcony composters as well as fermentation using the „Bokashi” method. Subsequent surveys revealed an implementation in the households of (extrapolated) 495 own humus productions to date (11% of the total students involved).

The HUMUS project encourages municipalities to provide and promote communal composting areas for their residents. Together with local experts and a model municipality in southern Sicily, we explain to the 27 municipalities participating in the planned biosphere reserve „Terre della Biosfera“ why and how to set up such an initiative on a permanent basis and how much money could be saved by recycling their own organic waste.

A growing amount of today 3 community composters are promoted and partly already installed in cooperation with municipalities with a realistically estimated sequestration quota of 45 tonnes of CO2 within the next 10 years.

In total, the carbon sequestration achieved so far is about 30t and in the next 10 years we expect it to reach 165t thanks to school and community composters.

The German non-profit organization IJP would like to announce its seventh special fellowship for journalists interested in reporting in the field of climate and energy.

The bursary is offered to up to ten journalists from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia with a passion for climate and energy topics. During the six to eight-week stay abroad, participants from Central Eastern Europe will work at a German host media organization and at the same time report as correspondents for their home media. In return, German journalists participating in the programme, will spend up to two months at a host media organization in one of the Central Eastern European countries mentioned above.

Journalists, who are granted the climate & energy bursary, will receive a deeper and more detailed insight into the fields as well as their host region and get the opportunity to work and specialize topically and internationally alike. Participants are also welcome to pursue a transnational research project on a common topic during their fellowship.

The application deadline is on 1 May 2024. For more information, please click on the following links:

•  For journalists from Central Eastern Europe

•  For journalists from Germany

The webseminar was moderated by Ewa Iwaszuk of the Ecologic Institute, the speaking guest being Mr. Bertram Fleck, a German politician who served as District Administrator of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis from 1989 to 2015. Mr. Fleck is known for his advocacy of decentralized energy generation and for leading the district’s transition to renewable energy.

After a brief overview of the legal framework in Germany for energy production and trading, Mr. Fleck explained the region’s concept of climate protection in the context of the necessary expenditure and investment. He talked about typical challenges faced by municipalities, including lack of knowledge/expertise, technological and financial barriers, complexity of system operation, (local) regulations, and land use issues.

The district Energy Transition success story started in the ‘90s, one of the first steps being the efficient management of public-owned buildings, where measures have been taken to reduce heating, water consumption, and CO2 emissions. Among the region’s most important initiatives, Mr Fleck mentioned:

• Implementing regulations on the construction of new buildings;
• Extracurricular learning center for environmental education;
• Investments in renewable energy production (wind energy, photovoltaic, biomass)

At the end of 2020, 278 wind power plants with a capacity of 712 MW were operating in the region, producing more than 1.57 million kWh of renewable energy per year. This investment generated an annual income of €7.8 million for the municipality. Over the years, with an investment of €9 million, 17 local biomass energy networks have been created, providing heat for 22 school buildings, 8 sports halls, 1 town hall, 2 indoor and 1 outdoor swimming pools, 1 library, and 2 elderly people’s homes.

Another important aspect of this energy revolution has been the involvement of citizens in the process. Citizens have been ambassadors for the „1000-roofs-photovoltaic“ program, encouraging each other, and as a result today more than 6500 houses have PV installations. Community involvement has been stimulated through a continuous communication process, with weekly articles in local newspapers and campaigns focusing on the direct benefits for citizens, such as the „Rhein-Hunsrück saves electricity“ campaign, the light bulb exchange campaign, the „State of Rheinland-Pfalz“ customer advice center, the use of surplus electricity from wind and sun for the benefit of citizens by charging seven electric cars made available to residents.

Participants were curious to find out what the biggest challenges were in the transition to renewable energy and how reluctant citizens were to make the switch. And also, how small and medium-sized cities can overcome the barriers of lack of local budgets and funding to implement climate protection and energy innovation projects.

Mr Bertram Fleck shared several factors that can help to successfully implement climate protection activities:

• Establishing local networks and partnerships (citizens, schools, authorities)
• Involvement and participation of citizens, finding leaders with passion and courage to inspire others
• Increase acceptance by promoting economic success (regional added value)
• Clear communication on climate concepts
• Interactive learning centers for children and young people (If you want to change the world, you shall start with children!)

This webinar is the fourth in a series of 6 similar events, all part of the Ready4NetZero project. The next webinar, scheduled for 20.02.2024, will focus on raising awareness on this crucial topic, Climate Neutrality. The capacity building programme is addressed to public officials in the Ready4NetZero pilot cities, but also to other local authorities or stakeholders in Croatia, Hungary, Poland, or Romania. During the project, country-specific workshops, online train the trainers’ events, and study visits to Germany will be organized for a transfer of best practices and exchange of experience between local public administrations converging in the development and implementation of long-term local climate strategies.

Ready4NetZero is a EUKI funded project coordinated by the Polish Network “ENERGIE CITÉS”, with a consortium formed of the Ecologic Institute from Germany, ENERGIAKLUB from Hungary, REGEA from Croatia, and Energy Cities Romania. Ready4NetZero aims to support cities from the participating countries in developing and implementing 2050 climate neutrality strategies and seeks to do this by building capacity, knowledge, and skills among local leaders, municipal staff, and local stakeholders, facilitating experiences exchange and dialogue between local authorities.

The aim is to develop professional skills in two exemplary climate-relevant technologies, heat pumps combined with renewable energies and green hydrogen. GreenVOCnet addresses the shortage of skilled workers, the lack of expertise and also the lack of acceptance that hamper the green and social transition in the partner countries. In the medium term, the aim is to reduce harmful emissions through the widespread use of new technologies, in line with EUKI.

In order to identify and  the current needs for the design of new vocational training programmes for the two selected technologies the partners have jointly developed an expert questionnaire. The survey will be conducted online in order to reach as many experts as possible quickly and easily. The data gathered will help to develop tailor-made training programmes that meet the needs of the market in the three countries and may help other countries with similar problems. We will report on the results of the survey here.

Are you a green technology expert? Do you work in the energy industry, in vocational training, in the installation trade, in planning and consulting or similar fields?

Then please support our GreenVOCnet project by participating in the online survey. It will only take a few minutes to participate and your expertise and experience is highly appreciated and very important for the design of future training programmes.

Click here to access the online survey.

Thank you very much for your participation.

Fourteen teams from 11 cities and counties of Latvia participated and presented various solutions. These included the creation of different exchange points in schools for art-related waste, reusable school-related items, clothes, and social enterprises that collect textiles and create pet toys. Other solutions included smart fridges with artificial intelligence and sensors, smart deposit systems that could be applied to the existing national-level deposit system, community gardens with composting options, and innovative takeaway cups.

The winning idea was presented by the Limbaži High School team, which proposed creating a community exchange cabinet. This cabinet would improve the lives of the local school and neighbourhood community, promote the thoughtful reuse of resources through shared activities, and encourage sustainable practices.

After the hackathon, young participants shared that they gained valuable knowledge about the circular economy. They also developed skills such as perseverance, idea development, out-of-the-box thinking, and problem-solving.

REA experts and other mentors also participated in pre-hackathon webinars to explain the principles of the circular economy and help improve participants‘ problem-finding, prototyping and presentation-making skills.

The hackathon was organized by the RTU Science and Innovation Centre, and the Environmental Education Fund, in cooperation with REA, „Milzu!“, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, and the European Commission Representation Office in Latvia.

REA’s participation in the hackathon was made possible thanks to the CURE+ project – an EU Project that aims to promote and design urban practices for the effective tracking, production, reuse, repair, remanufacture, and recycling of household construction and demolition waste. The project also focuses on learning from good practices in other regions and developing locally adapted solutions that prioritize citizens‘ needs.

CURE+ partners are Riga Energy Agency, the City of Tartu, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Municipality of Kavala, and Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering.

During the webseminar moderated by Linda Mederake from Ecologic Institute gGmbH, the importance of the Ready4NetZero project was highlighted. The project aims to develop a Guide to Developing Local Climate Neutral Strategies, which includes case studies, key elements, measures, and strategies related to climate neutrality. The webseminar featured three guests from the German municipalities of Osnabrück, Ahrweiler, and Kempten, who shared their success stories of engaging citizens in the journey toward a low-emission future.

Andreas Witte presented an overview of the Osnabrück region, focusing on energy needs and renewable energy production capacities, especially in terms of exploiting regional wind resources. The region’s main objective was to reduce the use of fossil fuels, using waste heat generated by the industrial sector, identified as a solution to the heating problems. As part of the „Strategic Masterplan“, they assessed industrial energy demand and waste heat, concluding that almost 20% of final energy consumption was wasted. They utilized PInA (Industrial Waste Heat Portal) as a tool to gather information, facts, and examples for their project and to identify hotspots and heating demands in existing buildings (residential and non-residential).

Wilhelm Schulz’s presentation, entitled „Involving citizens for sustainable development“, detailed the Ahrweiler region’s response to the devastating floods in 2021 as part of a comprehensive plan for the sustainable reconstruction of the Ahr Valley. The entire planning process was a collaborative effort that involved citizens in every step. Two multi-stakeholder conferences with over 5,000 online participants were held. As a result of the ideas that emerged from these conferences, a plan for the future was developed. While such a rebuilding process can normally take up to 10 years, the Ahrweiler district aimed to complete the transition in 4 years, with one of the biggest challenges being the resistance to change of citizens, especially the elderly.

Thomas Weiß presented the participatory planning process through the prism of his experience, based on the two processes that the municipality of Kempten has carried out in recent years. The two initiatives concerned the Mobility Concept of the City of Kempten for 2030 and the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. In both cases, these are processes with long-term outcomes, requiring the involvement of both local authorities and citizens, in which the commitment of the participants was very important. Various entities including public administration, political representatives, companies, schools, and youth organisations actively participated in the workshops.

This webseminar is the second of a series of 6 other similar events, all part of the Ready4NetZero project. The next one will be organized on the 30^th of January 2024. This capacity-building program focuses on the municipal administration staff from the Ready4NetZero pilot cities, but also other local authorities in Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Throughout the project, the team will organise in-person workshops to address country-specific needs, online train-the-trainer events, as well as a study visit to several forerunner cities in Germany for a good practice transfer and experience sharing among local public administrations converging on developing and implementing local long-term climate strategies.

Ready4NetZero is a EUKI funded project coordinated by the Polish Network “ENERGIE CITÉS”, with a consortium formed of the Ecologic Institute from Germany, ENERGIAKLUB from Hungary, REGEA from Croatia, and Energy Cities Romania. Ready4NetZero aims to support cities from the participating countries in developing and implementing 2050 climate neutrality strategies and seeks to do this by building capacity, knowledge, and skills among local leaders, municipal staff, and local stakeholders, facilitating experiences exchange and dialogue between local authorities.

Greece’s first raising-awareness event was held in Athens, on Friday, November 3, 2023 while the second one was held on the 19^th of December. The events were hosted by the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (project coordinator) at their premises and was supported by the Hellenic Passive House Institute (project partner), the Cyprus Energy Agency (project partner who flew to Athens), and the German Da-Di-Werk (project partner who attended online).

The event focused on deep energy efficiency renovations in schools across Greece, Cyprus, and Germany and the importance of upskilling those involved in such renovations. Even though the event was open to the general public, it was mainly addressed to the students’ community being the future professionals in the field, especially those of the Department of Physics and the Building Environment Research Group.

Mr Andreas Pastides, Communications Manager for the Cyprus Energy Agency, and lead partner for the Communication & Dissemination of the project, welcomed the audience with a brief presentation on the UPGREAT’s objectives and milestones up to date. Mr Dimitris Pallatzas, Building Physicist at the Hellenic Passive House Institute, took over to present the principles of building physics, and cases of schools in Greece that have adopted the Passive House standard. In the same context, Ms Christina Palochi, Architectural Engineer at the Cyprus Energy Agency, showcased school buildings in Cyprus that have undergone energy renovation, and shared best practices in the methodology and implementation of the interventions. To add on these, Dr Oliver Ottinger, Energy Planning Consultant at Da-Di-Werk, presented the German paradigm with cases of schools in Germany that follow the Passive House standard.

To dive into the importance of upskilling the workforce of deep energy efficiency renovations, Mr Vasileios Ntouros, Building Physicist at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, took the baton. His presentation explained the rationale behind the UPGREAT’s Total Training Toolkit; from acknowledging the existence of gaps and barriers in energy efficiency implementation methods, to defining these gaps and barriers through a targeted survey. Mr Ntouros’ presentation was also an opportunity to launch the series of free training courses based on the Toolkit, that the partners in Greece and Cyprus are offering to the building professionals. The event closed with an open discussion and a networking lunch.

Cyprus’ first raising-awareness event happened a week after; on November 11 whereas the second event was organized on the 20^th of December. The events were hosted by the Cyprus Energy Agency, at the Municipal Multicultural Centre of Nicosia. Other than the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Hellenic Passive House Institute, who flew to the island to contribute to the first event, the events were also supported by the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus, the Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus, and the Knauf company in Cyprus. The participation of the three latter was significant in delivering the aims of the events.

Cyprus’ raising-awareness events had a very similar structure to Greece’s, yet their focus were mainly on the training of the professionals involved in building renovations. Starting with a presentation on the island’s building stock and the legislative framework regarding energy efficiency in buildings and energy upgrades, delivered by the Cyprus Energy Agency’s Director, Mr Savvas Vlachos, the discussion moved to the training and certification of the building workforce -from white to blue collars. The presentation of Mr Christos Maxoulis, Senior Scientific Officer at the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus, focused on the engineers; while that of Mr Christos Tzamas, Human Resource Officer at the homonymous Development Authority in Cyprus, focused on the technicians. Finally, Mr Matheos Kleovoulou, Sales Manager at Knauf Cyprus, took a products perspective to stress once again the need of upskilling the building professionals.

All four events were implemented successfully, attracting enough participation so as to initiate a dialogue on deep energy efficiency renovations in schools and other public or private buildings, as well as on the gaps and barriers in implementing such methods, like the lack of trained and skilled professionals while in particular the two final events summarized the project and its deliverables the last two years and invited those interested in learning more about the Toolkit to reach out and find out how to gain access.

Responsible for the content of this article is EUKI project UPGREAT – Training Tool for Efficient Schools.

The final Conference of HINGE project took place Wednesday 29 November 2023 in the Sala Nomellini of Palazzo Granducale, hosted by the Lead Partner Livorno Province.

The proceedings were also followed via video conference on Zoom platform as well as on Youtube.

Promoting the intermodality of bicycles with public transport was the main objective of the activities that catalysed the opportunities offered by HINGE project within the European frame of reference of the EUKI Programme, including good practices and support for interregional cooperation.

After the institutional greetings by the Lead Partner representative, Silvia Borgo, and the EUKI Programme representative, Luciana Lehro, project activities and results after almost 3 years of cooperation and a series of Intermodality Days in the 3 partner regions in 2023, were illustrated by Michela Chiti of Livorno Province.  Speakers of the 3 partners explained, afterwards, the main content of the Action Plans drawn up, which open the way for further consolidation of the various activities undertaken.

Partner representatives also highlighted the importance of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed among the 3 regions to collaborate further in various fields of interest for the initial period of 5 years.

The event started on the 8^th of November at the HAW University. The official opening session was an opportunity for discussion and networking.  The aim was to embark on a transformative journey towards sustainable energy management in cities, universities, and districts. We were honored to have had esteemed speakers from diverse backgrounds, related to the topic of energy management. The guests presented insights from their projects that will give inspiration, offer actionable strategies, and guide our collective efforts. The session of questions and answers gave the chance to expand the competencies of all participants.

In the afternoon, the Centre of Competence for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CC4E) – a central scientific institution at HAW Hamburg – and its “Energy Campus” was visited and explored. This building and its facilities address the current and future challenges of the energy transition in an interdisciplinary manner which could be seen during the tour. Practical solutions are developed there for a broad spectrum of technological, social, political, and economic problems. Our programme in the evening took place in the HafenCity – Europe’s largest inner city development area. The participants could visit the Kasselhouse, where the information centre is located. They could learn more about the history of that district and the plans for building sustainable city quarters and using innovative solutions. The HafenCity port district with its diversified functions has created attractive connections with the Elbe river. The whole project is based on the requirements of sustainable development, with particular attention to the energy efficiency of buildings.

On the second day of the visit, the group spent time on the other side of the Elbe river. Visiting the waste incineration plant (MVR) and waterworks with biogas installation (Hamburg Wasser) was possible thanks to the efficient public transport in Hamburg, which also provides ferry services. The trips on ferries from Hamburg port to the technical facilities provided a unique view of the city.

The visit on site in MVR Rugenberger Damm allowed us to see what the processes there look like in practice and how the technical processes of waste incineration work. MVR strives for effective thermal treatment of delivered waste, generation of district heating and electricity, and production of utility materials while maintaining high standards of safety, occupational health, and environmental protection.

Then, the representatives of Polish municipalities moved to another place – the waterworks by Hamburg Wasser. Through a presentation on the sewage treatment plant in Köhlbrandhöft and biogas production, the technologies used in Köhlbrandthöft and implemented projects were explained. The participants learned more about the biogas and biomethane production aspects. The tour was not only a great experience because of the opportunity to learn about the technical aspects, but also because we got to see a stunning panoramic view of Hamburg during sunset while doing so.

To sum up, the visit to Hamburg was an opportunity to gain technical knowledge and learn about effective management and social engagement strategies in the context of sustainable energy management. The inspiring ideas that Hamburg’s representatives shared with us provide a solid basis for the further development of Polish cities towards a more sustainable energy future.

The Romanian delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Energy / the Department of Energy Efficiency, the Romanian Society of Energy Auditors and Managers and the selected MENERGERS cities – Alba Iulia, Sfântu Gheorghe and Zalău. The Bulgarian group comprised representatives from the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment and Water, the engaged municipalities such as Russe, Sapareva Banya, Svilengrad Municipality, Lom Municipality, Dobrich Municipality, as well as from the Sustainable Energy Development Agency and the National Association of Municipalities.

In the discussion of the Romanian case study, the main challenges of the Municipal Energy Management system were highlighted: low involvement of the local level in national energy planning, difficulties in accessing financial instruments dedicated to energy reduction projects, insufficient human resource capacity, contested multi-level governance and difficulties in collecting and analysing relevant data. Communication with the national level and relevant stakeholders is also difficult. Concrete solutions have been collected to improve communication methods and create contexts to make this process more efficient: more types of meetings to be organised, the need for workshops and events tailored to the needs of local actors, information „translated“ into the language of those invited.

As far as the process of comparing the two countries is concerned, it has been carried out in three different sectors: legislation, vocational training programmes and the practical side. Thus, even if in Romania there is a legal obligation to have energy managers and energy efficiency programmes, the legislation is too broad to be put in practice and there are no legal consequences for municipalities that do not comply with the law. On the other hand, in Bulgaria, there is currently no formal obligation to employ energy managers in municipalities, despite the existence of some legislation. In addition, there are currently no laws regulating energy management in Bulgaria.

In Romania, there is already a professional society and a national centre specialised in training auditors and managers. There is also a clear lack of funding programmes and grants available for people wishing to obtain training. In Bulgaria, although there are some training courses available and qualified staff, the salaries offered are quite low.

At present, in Romania, there is a lack of established best practices for energy management in municipalities and many face difficulties when trying to adopt such sustainable measures. In Bulgaria, the subsidy-based market does not always focus on meeting the needs of municipalities. Energy management data is not used for strategic planning and there is very little energy management capacity. Although everyone understands the importance of implementing energy efficiency measures, there is not enough teamwork for implementation.

An important aspect after analysing the current situation in the two countries was to facilitate discussions on what the representatives of the municipalities present at the workshop need. In Romania they want to implement clear and well-defined legislation for green financial instruments, ESCOs (Energy Services Company) and green bonds. In Bulgaria, they want a well-defined legal framework for the efficient implementation of energy management policies. In Romania, it is important to increase the level of knowledge about energy efficiency practices among the population.

Training methodology should be adopted to ensure effective learning and successful implementation of energy efficient practices. In Bulgaria, EU resources should be used to train experts and provide sufficient ground for competent people to manage energy efficiently. Specialised education in energy management should also be provided.

As far as practice is concerned, in Romania, it would be necessary to establish efficient processes for the renovation of buildings in order to improve their overall condition, and the involvement of as many stakeholders as possible from the relevant fields will make the results sustainable. In order to achieve this objective, it is intended to increase the number of municipal energy managers. Bulgarian municipalities need innovative procurement approaches and political commitment from mayors. Competitive salaries are needed to retain experts. Institutions should support energy management and provide a free national database and energy audits for public buildings. Energy suppliers should report consumption data and automatic data collection should be sent to energy management platforms.