CONCERTO shows the way to Smart Cities
The EU will be issuing the first call for projects before the end of this year. 22 projects in 58 cities and communities across the EU have been completed in the CONCERTO initiative since 2005; the primary energy requirement in the communities involved has decreased by 1.32 gigawatt hours per year. Žydrūné Juodkiené, Vice-Minister for Energy in the Republic of Lithuania, held the keynote speech; Lithuania currently holds the Council presidency. Joudkiené: „The necessary change of the European Energy System has to take place as much at the local level as at the European level. In this context, such initiatives as the CONCERTO, the Smart Cities & Communities Innovation Partnership, the Covenant of Mayors, the flagship for a resource-efficient Europe under the Europe 2020 strategy have an important role to play as they are tools to promote energy efficiency and move towards the European energy targets at local level. Coming from Lithuania, I am happy to state Lithuanian cities and regions also take part in them; for example, 14 Lithuanian cities are the signatories of the Covenant of Mayors.” Juodkiené stressed that in the areas of transport and energy, Smart Cities lessens the EU's dependence on imports while renewable energy boosts local economies. This applies in particular to building renovation, creating opportunities for developing innovative energy services as well as two million new jobs by the year 2020, according to EU expectations. Juodkiené did not see any fundamental differences between Western and Eastern Europe, other than Eastern Europe has easier access to structural fund financing opportunities than Western Europe. The conference revealed a host of other financing options, according to Juodkiené; her own country sees improving insulation as especially promising, and has specific plans to renovate 30 percent of its least energy-efficient buildings in order to reach the EU's 20 percent targets. At the plenary session entitled “From CONCERTO to Smart Cities", Marie Donnelly, DG Energy at the European Commission, spoke in favour of viewing energy supply from a macroeconomic perspective. She pointed out that the EU currently spends € 400 billion on fuel imports, a figure that must be reduced. At the same time, possibilities for reducing costs in renewable energy must be looked into more closely. Cross-national cooperation provides opportunities; Donnelly gave an example for positive effects as seen in Denmark. Here, the cost of feeding renewable energy into the energy supply system was only half of the cost incurred in Ireland. Denmark benefits from close energy connectors with its neighbours, an option that is hardly available to the Irish. Donnelly also called for a holistic approach in combining renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency as well as the importance of keeping a focus on consumers. The parallel sessions encountered particular interest in questions on financing from EU funds as well as the CONCERTO database; the CONCERTO website at www.concerto.eu has further details. They also found that it was not enough to include those involved – everyone should share a common goal. Valerie Bahr from Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum, who is also responsible for coordinating the CONCERTO Premium meta project, used the allegory of a concert to match the CONCERTO project – a concert is only harmonious when all of the musicians play in sync. Orientation towards Smart Cities would turn a simple concert into a whole symphony, including protagonists from transport as well as information and communications into the performance – protagonists that play an integral part in Smart Cities initiatives.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, United Kingdom