EUSEW 2018: Presentation of finalists – Upgrading 300 public schools in Paris

Winners of the EU Sustainable Energy Awards 2018 will be unveiled on June 5. A total of 12 finalists from 10 different EU countries across 4 categories (Consumers, Public Sector, Businesses, and the newly added Young Energy Leaders) are on the shortlist of the year’s most successful projects.

The full list of finalists is here, and Balkan Green Energy News has picked three to present in detail.

Paris is working on fitting new technologies in old buildings in order to help save energy. With its implementation of energy efficiency measures at 300 schools between 2011 and 2020, the ‘300 schools energy retrofit’ programme is enabling the education sector in Paris to lead by example.

Heating, exteriors and new technology

Given their role in educating and inspiring the younger generation and their potential influence on parents and other relatives, schools are an ideal place to start. Half of the schools in Paris date back to earlier than 1948, making the adaptations particularly challenging. The importance of the work is underlined by the fact that schools account for a third of the total energy consumption of the city’s public buildings.

The retrofits are tailored to each school based on age, construction materials, size and state of repair. The retrofits include heating systems and building exteriors, as well as smart technology to monitor the temperature and level of energy use of each classroom. The latter allows every radiator to be controlled remotely and adjusted hour by hour.

Positive results

The results so far are encouraging. The aim was to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 30%. But in over 100 schools for winter 2015-16, these rates were reduced by 38.1% and 40% respectively, compared with 2008-09 levels.

Energy consumption has been reduced by a total of 11,000 MWh a year – the same as the average annual consumption of 2,000 French households. As for now, Paris’ target is to make its schools carbon free by 2050.

As in previous years, the Citizens’ Award will be chosen by the public by voting here.

About EUSEW

Every year the European Commission (Directorate-General for Energy and EASME) organizes the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) – the biggest event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe. This year’s tagline is ‘lead the clean energy transition’, and it will cover a series of activities with an EU-wide scope.