Cutting down public spending and supporting the local construction and renewable energy sectors are the two main objectives of the Medeea project which aims to implement the European Energy Award certification system in Euro-Mediterranean countries.
The results of the study were recently presented in Naples within EnergyMed, an energy expo which has reached its seventh edition, during a congress on 'The Med Medeea project, energy plans in Mediterranean cities', organized by Are Liguria, Liguria's regional energy agency, which heads a Medeea project.
'The European Energy Award system is widespread across northern European countries while it is not taking off in the Mediterranean basin and needs to be adequately promoted', Roberta Casapietra, who is in charge of European projects within Are Liguria, told ANSAmed. The project is aimed at 70 cities in nine regions across seven countries. The areas concerned are in Italy's Liguria region and the city of Cosenza, Spain's Murcia region and Jael province, Portugal's Algarve, Greece's island of Crete, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia.
'We have verified common problems in the Mediterranean areas taken into consideration', said Casapietra. 'There is a certain backwardness in energy policies compared to cities in northern Europe, both from a standpoint of competence and planning. The different structure of city administrations in the Mediterranean also has an influence as they have less opportunities of making independent choices compared to cities in the north which, for example, can sell energy they produce'.
Energymed was also used by the project's partners to urge national authorities to help local authorities reach the 20-20-20 objectives. The recommendations made were based on the idea that initiatives to save and have more efficient energy represent a real chance of development which can contribute to minimize the economic crisis, as well as help the environment.
Among the recommendations made is a bid to support local initiatives, also through funding from the FESR and FSE programmes, as well as policies and regulations to integrate urban planning, energy, traffic, public works, more attention in the training of technicians and public personnel. The project also called for the use of innovative technologies for renewable energy, and the retrofitting of buildings also by stabilizing funding and supporting pro-environment acquisitions.
The Medeea Project, co-funded by the European Union within the Med Programme 2006-2013, will end with a meeting scheduled to take place on May 15-16 in Cyprus.
By ANSAmed
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