Renewable energy experts from across Europe gathered in Worms, Germany for the Mid-Term Conference and 4^th Steering Group Meeting of the RENERGY project on 10-11^th October.

Organised by Worms, one of the project partners, the event was attended by all 12 partners from across 10 European countries, as well as political representatives from across the continent.

Over the two days, the purpose of the meeting was to inspire political debate to aid the implementation of sustainable energy measures on a regional level across Europe.

On the first day, after a welcome from Worms’ Lord-Mayor Kissel and a summary of the partner activities from the lead partner, Potenza, each partner shared examples of good practice from their regions. This was followed by a press conference, with posters containing good practice examples being unveiled to the gathering of European press.

The Steering Group Meeting was held on the second day and began with an evaluation of partner action to date, followed by a political debate between experts from all countries in order to discuss existing and new strategies to develop renewable energy uptake as well as energy efficiency.

The conclusions that came from this debate and throughout the conference in general were

• Awareness does not amount to willingness
• Pragmatic examples of good practice are more important than pure policy: the project must teach how to implement change rather than just what to implement

The RENERGY partners are continuing to promote sustainable energy in their regions. The next conference will be held in Durham, UK from 19-20^th February, 2013. For more information visit the RENERGY website at http://www.renergyproject.eu/.