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Phasing out fossil fuels increases the demand for biomass resources. The Gražiškės community in the surrounding eldership-owned lands is not appropriate for farming needs, with hilly areas where farming is not favourable due to lots of rain or drought, and small farms dominate. Thus, the community and several small farmers decided to create an energy plantation (around 30 ha).…
Full House Community is a Catholic religious community that aims to support the social and psychological rehabilitation of people with alcohol and drug addictions, funded by charity and community means. The project includes a pilot wood passive house (the first to be certified in Lithuania; energy consumption of 14 kWh per m2 per year), a heat pump with vertical soil collectors (16.2 kW), and eight solar heat collectors. The inhabitants of the community actively participated in the construction work; there was strong support from the Church, which was among the founders of the community and strong support from Lithuania’s Passive House Association and its members, enabling them to demonstrat…
The enCompass project aimed to implement and validate an integrated social and technical approach to energy-saving-related behavioural change. This was done through the development of innovative, user-friendly digital tools that make energy consumption data accessible and understandable to different consumers and stakeholders (residents, workers, students, directors of construction companies, utilities, and information technology providers), enabling them to work together to save energy and manage their energy needs in cost-effective and comfort-saving ways. The solutions that were developed were tested by realistic pilot studies that assessed the impact of elements of behaviour change in th…
Through the Co2mmunity project (the EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme), an expert-driven RENCOP (Renewable ENergy Cooperative Partnership) has been established in Lithuania with members including the Kaunas regional energy agency, two universities, representatives from municipalities, and national associations (renewable energy, solar energy), and three private companies engaged in renewable energy technology. The RENCOP has focused on raising awareness of community energy projects and clarifying social, financial, and ecological benefits. In Pagramantis, in 2017, the idea was put forward to establish a community house to support the independent living of single, elderly people. In ear…
Energia Positiva, a cooperative start-up, was founded in 2015 in Nichelino, Turin, Piedmont, and is committed to innovation and evolution of energy sharing. The collective aims to offer the greatest number of people an alternative way of participating in the energy system as producers and consumers of renewable energy. Through an IT platform, shareholders can purchase shares in the plants (photovoltaic, wind and hydroelectric) the cooperative owns across Italy and create their own “virtual plant”, of which the economic returns will reduce the cost of the shareholder’s own energy bill, managed by the cooperative itself.…
Energia su Misura was a project (2015-2017) in Milano, Italy that aimed to support vulnerable families living in social housing owned by the local governments by providing energy advice to improve their energy consumption and reduce their energy costs through the reading of energy bills and the installation of smart devices connected to electrical appliances and a central electricity meter. The project took the form of cooperation between the Municipality of Milano (local authority), Metropolitana Milanese S.p.A. (social housing provider), Ministry of Economic Development (national authority), and RSE S.p.A - Energy Research Institute (University/Research Centre) and actors on the ground. Th…
KDZENERGY is an online portal dedicated to providing information on energy efficiency and targets children between 7 and 14 years old, created by the Italian National Agency for Energy Efficiency ENEA. KDZENERGY was born with the idea of experimenting with a new communication model that sees children as the main actors of communication, as spontaneous witnesses who share their experiences, their ideas about energy and technology and their proposals for promoting the efficient use of energy at home and in the city. Entering the kdzenergy portal, the user is welcomed by E-Prof, an avatar who accompanies you to discover the world of energy and energy efficiency. A quiz game helps us to reflect …
The Scientific and Technological Park for the Environment in Turin, Italy, is a private company owned in part by local authorities and utilities. It has a vision to develop and promote environmental sustainability as an engine of competitiveness. To do this, the mission of the Environment Park is to be a point of reference for public and private actors engaged in innovation processes for environmental sustainability. The activities of the Environment Park are twofold and have helped it to become a centre of competence for innovation for sustainability for national and international networks and a catalyst of projects over the past 20 years. Namely, through: 1) the management of the technolog…
Torri Superiore is a small medieval village in Liguria, north-west Italy, restored by a community association and turned into an ecovillage and holiday centre for ecotourism, as well as training, information and cultural promotion in the field of environmental and social sustainability. The guiding principles of Torri Superiore are harmony and respect for people, nature and the environment through sustainability, cooperation, and solidarity. The activities at Torri Superiore are managed by three interrelated organisations: the Torri Superiore Cultural Association; the Ture Nirvane cooperative company Ltd.; and the resident community. Examples of their activities include permaculture and food…
Involving the energy-efficient renovation of the church building and building’s engineering systems, implementation of energy-efficient lighting, and switching to a local heating system utilizing biomass pellets.…
The target group is individual rural homesteads and small farmers. The objective of the project has been to collect and further explore appropriate renewable energy technology solutions and develop physical prototypes and an open license manual to promote decentralized renewable energy generation opportunities. The project involved the installation and demonstration of alternative technologies in selected farms and practical workshops in which experts trained an interested rural audience on self-making and installing technologies such as solar heat panels, solar PV panels, and other related equipment capable of generating energy as a part of energy-active rural houses. The wide development o…
PowerPoor is an EU Horizon2020 programme funded project which aims to develop support programmes/schemes for energy-poor citizens and encourage the use of alternative financing schemes, e.g., establishing energy communities/cooperatives and crowdfunding; it will also encourage the exchange of experience and knowledge, the realisation of small-scale energy efficiency interventions, and the installation of RES technologies. Pilot support projects are planned in eight EU countries under the direction of trained/certified energy supporters and mentors.…
Ten households from the Alūksne local municipality (novads) and ten households from South Estonia participated in a study on energy consumption habits in households and made a record of their household energy consumption for one month in a specially created “Energy Diary”. When writing the Diary, the households involved used various forms of equipment and data sources - energy consumption and microclimate metering/monitoring equipment, remote electricity meters, heating and water bills, fuel checks and others. Each household analysed the results which were considered the most important by the particular household. Also, more than 90 households (total in both Vidzeme and South Estonia) partic…
To promote energy-efficiency improvements, including the installation of micro-scale RES utilizing technologies in single-family buildings, a specific programme was adopted for the first time in Latvia in February 2021. This programme had two target audiences: (1) any single-family building outside the capital city of Riga and suburban municipalities of Riga and Jūrmala city, and (2) families with three children (including the case of pregnancy) subsiding independently in a single-family building. The regulation was re-cast in March 2022. The main amendments relate to the goals of the new programme, which (i) aims to provide technical assistance and an investment grant of a defined amount on…
The EU (Interreg Baltic Sea region programme) co-financed projects Co2mmunity & Energize Co2mmunity supported the development and real-life implementation of renewable community energy pilot projects in the Baltic Sea region. The presented case of community energy is one of two pilots implemented in Latvia. These pilots are implemented on the scale of an apartment building. The presented pilot project is implemented in a row-house (six-section) building. The decision to implement the solar PV technologies was made by the community of apartment (sections) owners. The projects “Co2mmunity: co-producing and co-financing renewable community energy projects” and its follow-up extension project “E…
The church parish community has invested into 15kWp of PV solar panel modules to power the buildings of the church and areas around it. The parish is now planning to install extra power to be able to host a community centre, care home and events powered on renewable energy. The case is included on the list of RENCOP’s (Renewable ENergy Cooperative Partnership) examples in Lithuania.…
The Retenergie cooperative was founded in 2008 in Fossano, northern-western Italy, by a group of people engaged in the field of self-production of renewable energy. The foundation of the cooperative involved the continuation of the “adopt a kilowatt” initiative by Solare Collettivo, which aimed to include the end-users of energy in production activities. The idea behind the cooperative was to produce renewable energy with low environmental impact through the form of popular shareholding, with strong social ideals and fairness in distribution. The cooperative form was chosen because the initiators believed that the objectives must be consistent with the means used to achieve them, i.e., parti…
Ènostra was born within the European REScoop 20-20-20 project to promote the acceptability of renewable energy. It is a cooperative, non-profit energy supplier that sells 100% renewable electricity from photovoltaic, wind, and hydroelectric plants. They only buy energy from sustainably produced energy, preferring production companies linked to local communities, and invest in renewable energy production through collective capital. Furthermore, they offer their members energy efficiency services and solutions for energy saving and storage. Ènostra also endorses an “energy transition from below” approach based on democratic values and creates opportunities for participation of the producers, c…
The Network of Renewable and Solidary Energy Communities (CERS) aims to build a bottom-up alliance to fight energy poverty through renewable energy. The network wants to make communities protagonists in the just ecological transition and the relaunch of the Italian energy system by finding local solutions to environmental and socioeconomic challenges. The network promotes an alternative economic model to help communities reduce inequalities and create inclusive and sustainable participatory processes. The initiative was launched by the NGO Legambiente, the Energy and Solidarity Community of East Naples and the Municipality of Ferla in December 2021, inspired by successful examples. Public pa…
Kristīne Garklāva is an anchor and public figure in Latvia. She is a World Wildlife Fund ambassador, Fjällräven ambassador, and also known as an environmental activist who uses different social media platforms to promote environmentally friendly lifestyles and take part in other kinds of TV programmes concerning the environment.…