scholarly journals Advanced tool for elaborating a sustainable energy and climate action plan at municipalities level

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 51-69
Author(s):  
Sabine Saad ◽  
Chawki Lahoud ◽  
Marwan Brouche ◽  
Mohamed Hmadi ◽  
Mazen Ghandour ◽  
...  

The development, implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan require a significant amount of data and analysis, as well as an effective and comprehensive decision making process. This chapter presents the pilot application of the proposed “MPC+ (Map - Plan - Choose - Check)” framework, through the “Action3” Decision Support System, in a Greek energy-producing community. The pilot application is conducted in three phases, namely the development of the baseline emission inventory (Phase I), the creation and evaluation of alternative Scenarios of Actions (Phase II) and the monitoring of the actions and measures implemented (Phase III). The city's univocal economy orientation of energy production through lignite is considered as a basic, inhibitory factor towards sustainability. In this respect, the city has committed to implement a series of appropriate renewable energy and rational use of energy activities in its territory, laying balanced emphasis on the local energy and heat production, and the promotion and implementation of measures on energy savings. A significant part of the CO2 emissions' reduction will come from the installation of biomass district heating systems in local communities.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 6248
Author(s):  
Chiara Tavella ◽  
Charlotte Spoerndli ◽  
Dorin Beu ◽  
Andrei Ceclan

CoME EASY is a European Union H2020 project started in May 2018, which aims to help local public authorities secure a more sustainable energy and climate policy, in line with the New Green Deal and Fit for 55 initiatives. The main idea of CoME EASY is to offer an integrated package of on-line tools that synchronize European Energy Awards (EEA) with Covenant of Mayors (CoM), ISOs, Smart Cities, and other initiatives that allow local communities to have multiple commitments for energy efficiency and climate with less effort. EEA is a quality management and awarding system for municipalities and regions, which started in 1988 in Switzerland and now includes more than 1700 municipalities from 8 countries and 10 new pilot countries with more than 65 million people belonging to the local communities that are involved. There are six main areas of activity in EEA (Development and Spatial Planning Strategy, Municipal Buildings and Facilities, Supply and Disposal, Mobility, Internal Organization, Communication and Cooperation) through which municipalities are driven by advisors so as to receive a score in percentage for each area, which further allows them to compare with other communities. Romania has been an EEA pilot country since 2016 and, despite initial problems in implementing the system, now has three communities, Iași (Romania second largest city), Alba Iulia (the so-called other Romanian capital), and Vama Buzăului, included in CoME EASY. These cities tested frameworking tools and managed to be assessed with EAA tools, and developed a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan synchronously. Owing to the CoME EASY tools, all of these communities were able to deliver key performance indicators that are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.


The main scope of this chapter is to present the “Action3” Decision Support System that integrates the MPC+ approach (Map - Plan - Choose - Check), supporting local and regional authorities to the development, implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (especially within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors). The proposed intelligent system integrates three main modules, namely the “BEI-Action” for the development of the baseline emission inventory, the “MDS-Action” for the creation and evaluation of the alternative Scenarios of Actions aiming at the identification of the most promising Scenario, as well as the “SEC-Action” for the application of the “Methodological Approach for Monitoring SEC (Sustainable Energy Communities) Targets”. The system was developed using the “Java” programming language and the “NetBeans IDE” software development platform. Particular emphasis was laid on the system's design, so as to be user-friendly, combining intuitive menus and navigation throughout the steps of the system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiara R. Na’puti ◽  
Phaedra C. Pezzullo ◽  
Leah Sprain ◽  
Lydia Reinig

Abstract Energy democracy hopes to foster community engagement and participation in shaping our transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy-based economy. These considerations result from critiques by environmental justice, climate justice, and just transition advocates. Although many are sympathetic to energy democracy ideals, climate goals often are articulated in math terms. This essay defines the aforementioned key terms and asks: what are the limitations and possibilities of engaging publics when climate action solely is articulated in numbers? A compelling case study is the City of Boulder – recognized as a global leader in climate science and a national leader in innovative environmental planning. This essay shares work from 2016, when the City shared a climate action plan for public feedback, supported several public participation events, and passed climate action legislation goals. We argue a just transition and energy democracy ideals are hindered if we reduce climate goals to math.


2012 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 4695-4702 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Spirovski ◽  
A. Abazi ◽  
I. Iljazi ◽  
M. Ismaili ◽  
G. Cassulo ◽  
...  

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