The city of Rijeka was rewarded by the International association Eurocities for a technology project that contributes to energy efficiency. Eurocities is a network of major European cities which  gathers 130 major and 40 partner cities from 35 European countries.

Rijeka was rewarded within the Green Digital Chapter, an initiative aiming to find new and creative solutions to help cities handle climate change. It beat the cities of Amsterdam and Valencia to the prize, announced the city government.

Rijeka was rewarded for the system, developed within the iURBAN project, which enables municipal governments to analyze energy spending in public buildings and detect sources of inefficiency, such as heating and light left on overnight or during weekends, or power-hungry devices that might be turned off or replaced.

The system also helps building managers identify areas where they need to invest in insulation, the lack of which is a leading cause of energy loss, especially in less developed countries. Private customers might especially benefit from these services as their use reduces their overall energy bills.

As part of the iURBAN project 26 buildings operated by the city and the utility company Energo d.o.o. were equipped with smart meters, which provide information about the consumption in real time. An IT solution was developed for tracking consumption in public buildings.

Based on the information gathered, the system tells the City how to improve energy efficiency, and helps Energo d.o.o. to optimize tariff policy and introduce new business models.