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Summary of trainings organized within the REBUS project
A cycle of three training courses "Energy saving in buildings - education and activation of building users" organized within the REBUS project financed from Interreg Europe program is already behind us. The events were organized in on-line format and were addressed to representatives of local administration who are interested in improving energy efficiency of public buildings by changing behavior of their users and active involvement in energy management processes.
The first training in the cycle, took place on November 30, 2020. It concerned the impact of users on energy consumption, as well as their role in the energy management process. During the presentation, participants also had the opportunity to learn about the system of incentives for energy savings, as well as broaden their knowledge about the impact of microclimate on the comfort of people in the building. The event provided the base of knowledge necessary for effective management of all media in buildings.
Climate Change Challenge – A Comic Book by EUKI Project BEACON now available!
The comic book is a beautifully illustrated novel for young adults for whom issues of climate change and adapting its consequences really matter.
The Climate Change Challenge comic book is a result of two years of work by the team behind the EUKI project BEACON. The aim of the BEACON project (Bridging European and Local Climate Action) is to promote climate action and facilitate an exchange between national governments as well as municipalities and schools in Europe. It is financed by the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) and there are 7 European countries involved in its implementation.
The second local training organized within the ENTRAIN project
We have already behind us the second training organized within the international project ENTRAIN: Enhancing renewable heat planning for improving the air quality of communities, financed from the Interreg Central Europe program. The event took place on 19th March 2021 in online format and it is a part of the cycle of four trainings, where each training is dedicated to different aspect of district heating. This time the training concerned economic aspects and possibilities of financing investments related to the development of small district heating networks using renewable energy sources.
The participants of the event were welcomed by Patrycja Płonka - Project Manager in the Association of Municipalities Polish Network "Energie Cités". After the introduction, the floor was taken by Anna Lachowicz, also a project manager in PNEC. She presented the Association's activities to the participants and the detailed scope of the ENTRIAN project - its objectives, stages and activities that are planned for realisation.
New issue of the S3UNICA newsletter
We kindly invite you to read the latest newsletter of the S3UNICA project. The 3rd newsletter summarizes the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on university life, research and teaching work of universities. It also presents the project activities that have been undertaken in recent months. Such as the international exchange of experiences organized online by the Andalusian Energy Agency in collaboration with the University of Malaga, which was attended by more than 40 experts from different European countries. The article mentions the Government of Andalusia’s actions targeting university campuses and briefly discusses examples of good practices presented to increase energy efficiency on university campuses. You can download the bulletin here.
The second international workshop organized within the EnPover project
As part of the EnPover project, the second international workshop took place on 3 February 2021. During the workshop participants from Germany, Hungary and Poland had the opportunity to share their experience in tacking energy poverty. A valuable element of this event was presented by invited speakers from other countries practices bringing closer this problem both from the practical and theoretical side. In order to take full advantage of the knowledge and information gained during the prior presentations, the workshop ended with a common work on recommendations for an energy poverty awareness campaign based on the example of two hypothetical cities.
Final conference of the GRAD project: Green roofs as cities’ response to the progressing consequences of climate change
After over two years of the work on pilot green roof strategies, which foresee innovative approaches towards the achievement of local sustainable development and climate adaptation targets, the results were presented at the final conference of the GRAD project. The conference, held under the name „Green roofs as a tool for climate adaptation in urban areas”, took place on the 11th of December 2020 and gathered a significant pool of participants interested in comprehensive approaches towards green roof development in cities.
The first local training organized within the international ENTRAIN project
On 24th November 2020 the first local training within the international project ENTRAIN: Enhancing renewable heat planning for improving the air quality of communities took place. The aim of the training was to familiarize participants with the heating sector in Poland, its possibilities of cooperation with RES and to present existing good examples of objects that use local renewable energy sources for heat production.
The event started with an introduction to the ENTRAIN project itself by Ms. Anna Lachowicz - project manager in the Association of Municipalities Polish Network "Energie Cités". The main objective of the project, its stages, planned activities and expected results were discussed. This training is the first in a series of trainings for representatives of municipalities and other entities dealing with district heating, which are to ensure knowledge transfer in the above mentioned area.
How to organise vision workshops in a city – the BEACON project training
The ToT – Training of Trainers, organised as a part of the BEACON project, took place on 15-16 October 2020. Its aim was to transfer an innovative methodology and a set of tools that will be helpful for the participants when running vision workshops on their own in their cities in the future which will concern climate neutrality, as well as mitigating climate change, addressed to selected local activists’ groups. The participants of the workshops included stakeholders and municipalities’ representatives from Bielawa, Cieszyn, Jasło, Sztum and Zamość. The training was an occasion for the participants to familiarise themselves with the available methods on how to raise ecological awareness, which they could also test. Although the training was delivered online, all the exercises were performed very enthusiastically. Thanks to it, the participants had a chance to see how interesting and innovative the tool for raising climate change awareness can be, being an opportunity to exchange ideas, deepen knowledge and spend time in a fun way at the same time. The pictures below, taken during the workshop, are the best proof for active and engaged participation encouraged by these cutting-edge methods. If it is enough for the future trainers to like these exercises so much, then what results can be achieved by delivering the whole vision workshop programme! The set of materials given to the participants is available here.
Polish cities towards climate neutrality - multi-level dialogue in Warsaw
Despite the difficult situation related to the coronavirus pandemic, the “Polish cities towards climate neutrality” workshop, organised as a part of the BEACON international project, took place in Warsaw on 7-8 October 2020. Due to concern for the safety of the participants, we ensured to respect sanitary rules and we made it possible for the representatives of the regional and national level, as well as the participants from Germany, to take part in the workshop remotely.
On the first day, the representatives of 8 local governments discussed the success factors that determined the success of energy and emission reduction investments in the cities, as well as the most important challenges related to their implementation.
After the BEACON project and the workshop concept presentation, Patrycja Płonka, a project manager at the Association of Municipalities Polish Network „Energie Cités” (PNEC), presented a short overview of the legal framework and financing sources in the context of actions regarding energy efficiency, RES and improvement of air quality, thus defining the scope of discussion. The short theoretical part was followed by the practical one.
The conclusions and the possible solutions for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the tools and the support systems were summarized, and the most important ones were structured and prepared to be presented the next day to regional representatives: Ministry of Climate, National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, Marshal's Office of Mazowieckie Voivodeship.
Members of our Association among the winners of the ECO-CITY 2020 competition
During the International ECO-CITY 2020 Conference on 21st September this year, results of the 7th edition of the Eco-City competition were announced. The winning local governments were awarded in following categories: water management, energy efficiency, urban greenery, waste management and sustainable mobility. In each competition category two prizes were awarded – the first one for cities with less than 100,000 residents, and the other one for cities with more than 100,000 residents. Furthermore, special prizes and a distinction from Michał Kurtyka, the Minister of Climate were awarded.
In total, 59 cities from 14 voivodeships applied for the 7th edition of the contest. 90 applications were sent, of which over 60% by local governments with less than 100,000 residents. This year’s winners include two cities belonging to our Association, actively participating in the BEACON project, which are: Bydgoszcz and Zamość.
In the ‘energy efficiency’ category, Bydgoszcz won the prize for comprehensive activities in the field of energetic efficiency improvement, the use of renewable energy sources, as well as energy and water cost management systems. Aside from activities typical for the improvement, such as installing of renewable energy sources installations, the city distinguished itself by conducting investments related to the development and the promotion of energy-efficient construction and the management of the Renewable Energy Sources Demonstration Center, which plays a significant role in the pro-ecological education of the youth.
