The PrioritEE project aims to strengthen the policy-making and strategic planning competences of local and regional public authorities in the energy management of Municipal Public Buildings (MPBs) in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Croatia developing replicable solutions suited to various regional contexts.
The project aims to gather the knowledge acquired in terms of decision support tools, good practices and strategies in one common platform, the PrioritEE toolbox, which can be used by local administrations to manage and monitor energy consumption, assess the cost-effectiveness of a predefined set of Energy Efficiency (EE) and Renewable Energy Sources (RES) measures, and prioritize investments. Moreover, it will release a policy document on common strategies in the MED area to develop local action plans to reduce the energy consumption of MPBs.
The PrioritEE toolbox
The PrioritEE toolbox has been tested on five pilots in the partner regions, focusing on a varied portfolio of local priorities and covering different key energy efficiency issues. The toolbox is composed by five main components which will be available in English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek and Croatian:
A technologic analytical database which incorporates solutions to improve EE in MPBs split by end-use: lighting, space heating, space cooling, water heating and cooking. The database also includes measures to reduce the energy needs of the buildings structure as well as renewable electricity generation technologies providing information on technological characteristics, investment and operation and maintenance costs, energy savings, etc. It can also be used as a benchmark tool and for identification of different alternatives for improving EE in MPBs.
A Decision Support Tool (DST) to prioritize EE measures divided among nine areas of focus: external walls, external windows, roof, ventilation system, heating and cooling system, lighting system and integration of renewable energy (solar collectors and PV panels). The DST provides an overview of results ranked by savings, investment costs and return of investment for each building and building typology allowing also the evaluation of different combination of EE measures. Users can either fill only basic input which will be supplemented with a list of assumptions from the toolbox’s database, or fill-in also advanced inputs for more accurate results. The DST is available in a spreadsheet version as well as in a user-friendly software application.
The toolbox is completed by: a set of How-to Briefs
that are easy-to-use guides for the implementation of selected best practices for EE in MPBs; a Repository of Good Practices to enhance sustainable energy awareness and foster behavioural changes; and an Open data & knowledge access infrastructure which gathers all these components in a central point on the PrioritEE website in order to be easily and freely accessed.
Capacity building and knowledge transfer
Local Living Labs were carried out in each pilot area to engage target groups in the project’s activities, foster energy awareness and implement selected good practices within the local communities. Moreover, Local Workshops were organized to involve key stakeholders and provide an effective transfer of knowledge with the final aim to develop local plans for improving EE in MPBs.
Contact details:
Project number: MED15_2.1_M2_205
Website: https://prioritee.interreg-med.eu/
Start date: February 2017
Duration: 30 months
Project coordinator: Monica Salvia, CNR-IMAA
Contact email: monica.salvia@imaa.cnr.it