Photo: C4S
Four Croatian cities – Zadar, Rijeka, Osijek, and Velika Gorica, and four Cypriot cities – Agios Athanasios, Lakatamia, Aradippou, and Paralimni – are among those taking part in the European energy-saving competition under the Compete4SECAP project (C4S).
The project, funded under the Horizon 2020 program, is also being implemented in Latvia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Hungary.
The C4S aims at helping local authorities put their existing Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) into action. The project promotes the adoption of standardized energy management systems in municipalities and helps facilitate the upgrade of SEAPs into Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), in line with new planning standards defined by the Covenant of Mayors.
Within the project, each town designates a local Energy Management Team to implement an Energy Management System (EnMS) in public buildings and other municipal operations (i.e. public facilities, street lighting, municipal vehicle fleets).
The project also includes competition among the Energy Management Teams in order to facilitate the involvement of the cities and foster the implementation of project activities.
Croatia includes 12 public buildings in competition
In Croatia, the project is implemented by the Society for Sustainable Development Design (DOOR), and the cities have included 12 public buildings – kindergartens, schools and buildings of public utility companies – in the competition, according to a DOOR statement.
The Croatian cities are also competing with each other in achieving the best results in energy savings in one building on an annual basis.
In order to make cities more successful in the competition, as well as in introducing the energy management system, municipalities can use an Energy Management System Guidebook for Local Authorities, developed as part of the project.
Employees from Cypriot municipalities setting example for all citizens
The Cyprus Energy Agency (CEA) is an in-country project partner.
According to the C4S website, the C4S project in Cyprus aims to mobilize municipal SEAPs and empower the capacity of four local authorities by applying energy competitions and ISO 50001 in the buildings and operations of the municipalities.
The municipality of Agios Athanasios is participating in the energy saving competition with three buildings, while the municipality of Lakatamia expects to develop a powerful Energy Management System under the project.
The local authorities of Aradippou aim to upgrade their SEAP to SECAP and to be certified with ISO 50001, while Paralimni intends to use the energy-saving competition to give more incentives to the employees to be energy efficient as well as to set a good example for all the citizens.
Be the first one to comment on this article.