scholarly journals Understanding the Factors Affecting Sustainable Energy Action Plan: A Case Study From the Covenant of Mayors Signatory Municipality in the Aegean Region of Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Efe Biresselioglu ◽  
Muhittin Hakan Demir

This study presents the case of a Metropolitan Municipality in the Aegean Region of Turkey, which undertook a series of initiatives to conduct projects on environmental protection and sustainability. This case study was conducted as two separate studies as a part of Horizon 2020-funded ECHOES project under Work Package 6, aiming to gain insight into the collective magnitudes of energy-related choices and behavior. The starting point of the process is marked, in 2015, by the municipality becoming a party to the Covenant of Mayors movement, joining around 8,000 signatories from over 50 countries. In line with European Union’s (EU’s) climate targets and associated energy-related policies, signatories of the Covenant of Mayors aim to decrease carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 40% by 2030. In order to enhance the design and operationalization of policies for achieving these targets, each partner in the Covenant of Mayors is required to develop a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP). The SEAP is to be prepared within 2 years of becoming a party to the Covenant of Mayors and involves action plans and projects in order to operationalize the strategies for achieving the associated targets. To this end, this study analyzes the Metropolitan Municipality’s SEAP and its components, which include zero-emission public transportation project, transformation of existing buildings to a more energy-efficient standard and related energy audit studies, a project for decreasing waiting periods in traffic via a Smart Traffic System, a pedestrianization project, and a project for increasing the use of geothermal energy for district heating. This study set out to identify the internal and external factors, as well as bottom-up and top-down mechanisms involved in various phases of the preparation and implementation of the SEAP. The research method was expert interviews, incorporating viewpoints and perceptions of stakeholders from different levels of the municipality. Among the key results are understanding the roles of enthusiasts and frontrunners in such initiative and the importance of top-management and central government support.

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.


Author(s):  
Nouha AMRANI ◽  
Ilona SKAČKAUSKIENĖ ◽  
Mohamed HEMMI

Purpose – the aim of this paper is to shed light on a contemporary issue related to performance practices and approaches in Local Authotities (LA) while studying the case of an urban municipality. Research methodology – the methodology applied is a documentary analysis of the Municipal Action Plan (MAP) and semi-directive interviews with territorial executives and elected officials who contributed to the MAP’s elaboration. Findings – the results obtained show that the municipality adopts a developed performance approach similar to what has been applied in public institution according to the organic law of Finance (LOLF). Rresearch limitations – the results cannot be generalized because of choosing a single case study. In addition, some questions in the interview contain technical words that the interviewee does not master, which also risks biasing our results. Practical implications – on the theoretical level, these results can be the starting point for future research in such issues. On the practical level, the results obtained sensitize territorial responsible about the importance of performance approach and inspire them to implement it. Originality/Value – this study in among the rarer that attempted to understand the process of performance approach in LA, especially in Moroccan context, where most research tends to deal with problems related to the budget and financial aspect which reflects originality and novelty.


2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 08013
Author(s):  
Andrea Cinocca ◽  
Luca Di Paolo ◽  
Simona Abbate ◽  
Roberto Cipollone

The increasing attention and sensitivity to issues related to Global Warming and Climate Change are strengthening the actions and policies related to Sustainable Development trying to give to this concept a clearer engineering dimension. Not only policymakers are involved in this aim and experts of interdisciplinary aspects but also the irreplaceable involvement of citizens which with their behavior can make the difference and get much closer to the seventeen goals of the sustainable development by 2030. In this framework, the Territorial Energetic and Environmental Planning provides operational solidity to the concept of Sustainable Development, giving more responsibility to local administrations (as it is due according to subsidiarity), with the Central Government that guarantees the respect of the principles of Subsidiarity and Glocalization. Province of L’Aquila (in the Abruzzo Region, Italy) has been a leading player of this program and, in 2012, has realized the ambitious goal of having favored a Covenant, joining all the 108 Municipalities of the Province. Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics (DIIIE) of the University of L’Aquila designed the Sustainable Energy Action Plants (SEAP) and the monitoring phase of all the Municipalities through a scientific methodology which matched the goal of SEAPs with the dimension of the Municipality. In order to go deep into SEAP’s analysis, in this paper Authors describes the second uploading and necessary steps: a quantitative analysis of the Baseline Emission Inventory, the quantification of the SEAPs planning actions and the definition of the Monitoring Emission Inventory. This second step was done for the Municipality of Avezzano, one of the main Municipality of the L’Aquila Province, and gave the quantitative dimension of the CO2 emissions referred to the year 2017, compared with 2005 baseline emissions. The reduction commitments to be reached in 2020 defines the present distance to the target.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-54
Author(s):  
Aldona Wiktorska-Święcka

Abstract The paper impacts the current debate on governance system in Poland upon Europeanisation in terms of co-creation of public services at urban and regional level. In this context, it can be a part of a discussion on challenges related to cities’ and regions’ transition from industrial economy, society, city and government, to creative and knowledge-based ones. Due to its dynamic and vibrant character, the item can be also implemented into the debate on social and economic strengths in order to solving urgent problems in cities and city-regions linking to innovation in governance. Its clue is the concept of co-creation, which occupies an important space in the current study of European integration. However, the starting point for the considerations contained in the paper is the observation, that while it is commonly accepted that the co-creation of services with citizens and other non-governmental actors seems to be the most effective action to answer to the need for new social innovations and the growing demand for personalised services, the research agenda linked to this has investigated this aspect regarding Eastern and Central Europe not in an enough extensive way. In this regards, the paper can contribute to the field. The aim of the paper is to present the results of the general review of key sources concerning existing knowledge in the field of co-creation in Poland, both in domestic science and institutional practice. In the paper author confronted the EU concepts of co-creation of public services, whereby the basis of this approach was the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making processes as a crucial element of co-governance. In the paper a local case study will be discussed on the basis of social housing policy in Wrocław, the 4th biggest city in Poland. The proposed paper is a part of the international research performed upon the project “Co-Creation of Public Innovation in Europe” (acronym “CoSIE”) financed upon Horizon 2020.


2019 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 02004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanislav Chicherin ◽  
Lyazzat Junussova ◽  
Timur Junussov

The constraint contains two elements, namely the heat losses and the electricity consumption for pumping at the producer. The aim was to achieve the lowest acceptable costs in an operation. The options with the supply temperature at the area starting point set to 80/60, then 60/40, and eventually 50/30 (low temperature, 4th generation district heating) were tested. The balance between the savings due to lower heat losses and the electricity consumption of pumps could be performed to assess the economic viability of the solution. This means that if the electricity price is sufficiently high, the model will always choose to minimize electricity consumption and thereby, maximise the profit from high temperature difference. Results concerning heat losses consider both experiences of proper insulation of pipes with variety of design outdoor temperatures (DOTs) and long term measurements from a pump station for district heating (DH) network in Canberra, Australia. We also noted that the heat energy tariffs and purchase price of electricity affect a lot optimal configuration of a DH system. For the best scenario, solutions are obtained that reach over 12% of the available saving potential after calculating 11 equations. Knowing that the policy is updated on a case study base, this is considered a promising result.


Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand

This paper traces the partnership between the University of Toronto and the non-profit Local Food Plus (LFP) to bring local sustainable food to its St. George campus. At its launch, the partnership represented the largest purchase of local sustainable food at a Canadian university, as well as LFP’s first foray into supporting institutional procurement of local sustainable food. LFP was founded in 2005 with a vision to foster sustainable local food economies. To this end, LFP developed a certification system and a marketing program that matched certified farmers and processors to buyers. LFP emphasized large-scale purchases by public institutions. Using information from in-depth semi-structured key informant interviews, this paper argues that the LFP project was a disruptive innovation that posed a challenge to many dimensions of the established food system. The LFP case study reveals structural obstacles to operationalizing a local and sustainable food system. These include a lack of mid-sized infrastructure serving local farmers, the domination of a rebate system of purchasing controlled by an oligopolistic foodservice sector, and embedded government support of export agriculture. This case study is an example of praxis, as the author was the founder of LFP, as well as an academic researcher and analyst.


ARCHALP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (N. 4 / 2020) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Giromini

New Alpine companies, like Crans-Montana on the Haut-Plateau, remain, more often than not, trapped in representative logic opposing the clan of modernists to that of defenders of values anchored in an ideal-typical tradition. The Haut-Plateau territory, so named due to its geographic location and topographic conformation – not for the morphology of the soil – was still a space free of any construction in the mid-nineteenth century. This vast alpine meadow was marked by a few utility buildings for sheltering cattle and hay during the intermediate seasons that precede the full summer. At the turn of the 3rd millennium, the built heritage, essentially consisting of hotel structures and holiday residences, is no longer able to welcome the new socio-economic dynamics linked to the mono-culture of skiing. This crisis calls habits, both old and new, into question, given the youth of the tourist resort. In June 2000, a Federal programme selected Crans-Montana as a case study for testing an Environment and Health Action Plan. This provided an opportunity for a group of architects to formulate an inter-municipal blueprint that activated a series of urban renewal projects. The new architectural formulae that emerge try to go beyond stylistic modernism by reinterpreting the relationship with the built environment and its social context.


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