Case Study (48 Kb PDF)

Summary

The main objective of the "Municipal Energy-Environmental Plan (MEEP)" drawn up for the city of Forlì is to provide qualified instruments to the local public administrators addressed to improve the energy and environmental standards of the city.

The MEEP examines some crucial aspects of the Forlì territorial energy and socio-economic system and points out the potential development of renewable energy sources and of a more rational use of energy. A relevant reduction of energy consumption is also promoted together with the higher integration of RES in the local economical and industrial system.

The Project aims will be reached through the following main steps:

• Data collection on energy production, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions on the territory of the Forlì municipality
• Processing of the gathered data
• Definition of a set of relevant objectives that can be reached in a few years (in terms of energy consumption, production and gas emissions)
• Outlining the lines of interventions

Results

A set of actions have been planned to reach the objectives outlined by the Kyoto protocol by year 2012:

• Action n.1: Reduction of energy consumption for the new buildings The aim is to get ready to match the requirements of the new European Directive on Building Energy Performance (2002/91/EC); we plan to prepare technical indications for the local authorities in order to help them to draw up specifications for the new buildings of the territory. The objective will be to decrease the current average energy consumption, presently ranging to 140 kWh/m² year, down to 90-70 kWh/m² year.
• Action n.2: Replacement of old domestic boilers with the new condensation boilers in order to improve the combustion efficiency from 82% up to 97%. At the same time, some incentives that will be found by the local authorities, will allow to reduce the domestic energy consumption of the existing buildings and to reduce the total green-house gases within our territory.

Several meetings have been held on a monthly basis with our consultants and the main local stakeholders in order to successfully carry out the project.

Moreover, every three months an additional meeting has been organized with the representatives of the Municipal Administration in order to show them the on-going work, to guarantee that the strategy of the MEEP was consistent with the policies developed by the town council.

Lessons learned and repeatability

The present project has introduced energy planning at local level among the most important planning instrument of the political and administrative actions of the Forlì municipality, such as the traffic flow plan, the plan for the management of waste and the urban development plan.

A very positive aspect of the MEEP was that after it was introduced, all the other above mentioned plans were required to respect the fixed standards of energy saving and promotion of renewable energy sources. Thus, the transverseness and integration of the different instruments showed how the MEEP can have a great "multiplier effect" at local level too.

With reference to the repeatability of the present project, a local Energy and Environmental Plan can be implemented everywhere, but our experience has showed that the support of the local political institutions is of paramount importance to carry out a successful work.