Get Sust! Issue 34

What happened at EU Sustainable Energy Week?

As part of last month’s ‘EU Sustainable Energy Week’ (28 Jan to 1 Feb), the European Energy Network (EnR) published a review of how the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EBPD) has been implemented across Europe, since it came into force on 4 January 2003.

Potentially the Directive could save 45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2010. However, a survey of 21 national energy agencies has revealed implementation of all aspects of EPBD to be disappointingly slow. While the majority of member states have met Articles 3, 5 and 6; only 20 per cent have Energy Performance Certificates fully operational and even then only for new build homes.

The five-day ‘week’ [was the shorter week a deliberate attempt to save energy? Ed] also included the publication of a CoR study entitled "The use of renewable energy sources and measures to boost energy efficiency – significant contributions at local and regional level to combating climate change", launched by President Michel Delebarre at the Seventh ManagEnergy Annual Conference on Local Energy Action. This study includes ten case studies, five on energy efficiency:

* an energy management programme in public buildings in Kuopio (Finland)

* a building refurbishment in hospitals in the region of Skåne (Sweden)

* public lighting improvement in Gödöllö (Hungary)

* a new environmentally-friendly secondary school in Mirecourt (France)

* a holiday village in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).

And five case studies on renewable energy:

* a solar energy project at council offices in Český Krumlov (Czech Republic)

* a biomass district heating plant in Las Navas del Marqués (Spain)

* building refurbishment with combined heat and power and solar thermal plants in social housing in Frankfurt (Germany)

* ground source heat pump systems in farms in Aberdeen (United Kingdom)

* biodiesel-powered public buses in Crete (Greece).

Learn more:

	•	The EPBD report is available at the official EU Sustainable Energy Week website www.eusew.eu
	•	Presentations from the ManagEnergy conference are available as webcasts at www.managenergy.net/conference/2008.html
	•	Copies of the CoR case studies can be downloaded from the ManagEnergy website, or contact studies [at] cor.europa.eu for more information.