Case Study (256 Kb PDF)

Summary

One of the major goals of the EU is to save at least 1% of energy per year and to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions by 20 % by 2020. To reach these goals on a local level, one of the projects of the Energy Agency of Podravje (EnergaP) is oriented towards the field of reducing energy consumption in public buildings and to raise awareness of the importance of energy saving among pupils, teachers and other users of the buildings in Maribor (which is the second biggest city in Slovenia). In a partnership with the Municipality of Maribor, which is also the main source of funding, EnergaP has installed the Central Energy Management System (CEMS) in 70 public buildings. CEMS is a software tool, which uses general data from the buildings such as climate characteristics, energy use and consumption (energy bookkeeping). It can take into account saving measures, price of energy, possible savings and CO₂ emissions. The system offers around 2-3 % potential energy saving because of the good monitoring availability and 8% cost saving within the first year of installation because of mistakes that are found (i.e. on the bill and in the metering system). Besides new technologies and advanced systems, user behaviour is today one of the most important ways to achieve energy savings and to reduce GHG emissions. That's why the second part of EnergaP's project is oriented towards an educational campaign focusing on pupils and teachers in primary schools. The two parts are connected in a way that pupils and teachers can see and use the real data of their school and monitor its impact on energy use. With a better understanding of energy issues and the potential of energy saving, the pupils can also influence their parents' behaviour.

Results

CEMS enables on-line monitoring, processing, analyzing and verifying of energy data and information. By using CEMS we can identify cost anomalies, mistakes and weak points in the buildings. With a reduction in energy costs we can use these savings for future energy investments. With the help of the Central Energy Management System (CEMS) the municipality has already reduce their energy costs by 160 000 EUR annually. This means that the payback period is less than two years. In the first year of operation the reduction in energy use was around 3 % (805 109 kWh and 1365 t CO₂). This reduction is only due to organisational measurements. With the introduction of CEMS and energy bookkeeping, we can assume that the user's awareness of the importance of reducing energy consumption will improve. Furthermore, due to the results of the educational campaigns in schools, teachers and pupils (as well as their parents) will become more responsible energy consumers. Until now EnergaP organised more than 40 workshops for pupils between 6 and 15 years old.

The direct beneficiary of this project is the Municipality of Maribor, all together 70 public buildings out of 120 and more than 25,000 people will be affected. EnergaP have had more than 100 meetings with different stakeholders, authorities, politicans, headmasters, users and children.The City Council is informed annually about the results and with this real data they can make more realistic decisions about where the biggest saving opportunities lie. By the end of 2010 all public buildings that are financed directly or indirectly from the municipal budget will be added to CEMS. The city is responsible for financing the schools, kindergartens and some of the other public buildings, which includes the payment of electricity and heating bills, energy recovery and energy investment costs. CEMS helps to create a good overview of energy regarding costs, energy saving potentials and investment planning. CEMS offers schools, and other users of public buildings with CEMS installed, an overview of their individual results, it provides a better understanding of energy consumption, gives them information on how to improve their energy use and has an affect on raising awareness about the importance of energy issues.

Lessons learned and repeatability

The introduction of energy management in public buildings is time consuming and difficult, but not impossible. EnergaP wants to showcase our central long distance energy management system. With good information and education campaigns EnergaP will be able to show the importance of the energy issues in public buildings regarding living conditions, and also inform others about the maintenance costs to the city administration and managers of buildings. The energy costs are somehow lost in the budget because they are kept under different budget lines. With a central energy management system, there is no more work for financial officers in buildings or municipal staff. It helps to have a good overview of energy consumption regarding the costs and investment planning.

In the beginning of the project EnergaP spent a lot of time explaining to people in different municipal sectors and public buildings about the importance of sustainable energy use and about the benefits of the CEMS. Users viewed the system as additional work that consumed their time. But after using the system for some time they also found the positive aspect and benefits of CEMS. EnergaP initially had similar problems organising workshops for schools because some of the teachers thought that energy issues could not be part of their curriculum. But during the time of cooperation they found that energy can be part of all subjects and that it offers a lot of space for discussions regarding environmental problems and sustainable development.

EnergaP estimates that projects with an energy management tool and educational approach have a very high potential for replication elsewhere in Europe. The software tool for remote energy management presented in this case study could easily be used in any other European public or private sectors. In the field of education in energy-related issues, there is a lot of information, case studies and materials available for teachers and pupils, which have recently been developed and a lot of documents are available online.