Circulators are responsible for up to 15% of the electricity bills of private households. With energy efficient technologies these costs can be reduced significantly. In the EU-27, the electricity consumption by circulators for heating purposes in households amounts to more than 50 TWh per year and causes CO2 emissions of more than 30 million tons per year. The energy used by circulator pumps is equal to about 2 % of the overall electricity consumption in the EU. The use of energy efficient models can reduce the energy consumption and the costs for electricity of circulators in Europe significantly.
Objectives and target audience
To reduce the use of the non renewal energy resources and to innovate the production of these processes (technologies alternative).

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The total cost of this plant was of Euro 500.000,00. Partners involved: Municipality Of Milan.

Process

The objectives in the short term are: to widen the number of models on the market, to increase the original model one and to reduce their price through an increase of the production.  In order to reach the objective, the plan will adapt the methodology that was tested with what has planned in the plan energy+ for the transformation of the market of the refrigerators.  Therefore:

1. Combine great purchasers (as an example associations of popular houses) for support action from the manufacturers of pumps.
2. Connect the purchasers, the producers and the supporter through a periodic list of products available and with personal contacts.
3. Develop support material of the sale of efficient pumps; as an example an electronic sheet for their dimensioning. To diffuse the material through the associations of category and the producers.
4. Organize a contest for the more efficient products energy+ and to carry out independent tests of the performances of the contenders.
5. Disclose  widely the plan and the information through the situated dedicated web, the bulletin, the communication channels of mass and the fairs of the field.

Results

To reduce the use of the non renewal energy resources and to innovate the production processes (technologies alternative).

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The type of action is favourably applicable because the plants are the subject of widespread intervention.

Archimede Project is a solar power plant project under construction in Sicily. The Archimede Project represents the first application worldwide of the integration of a gas – burned combine cycle power plant and a thermodynamic solar energy system. The project is named Archimedes, after the famous resident of the nearby city of Syracuse. The existing gas-fired power plant on the site will be augmented by Archimedes, which should produce 5 megawatts of electricity, enough for 4,500 families. ENEA has set up several new projects aimed at addressing some of the major issues in the fields of energy and the environment, amongst which, a vast research programme in Clean energy, focused on Distributed energy and renewable sources (Clean carbon; Bio fuels; Thermodynamic solar power). This institute has been involved in developing the solar thermo dynamic project since 2000, when the Italian Government granted an extraordinary contribution to Enea, by the Law n°388/2000 for a research program, development and demonstrative production to the industrial scale of electric power by using solar energy as source of heat for high temperatures. This law stated that the phase of realization of the Archimede plant would be realised by Enea in collaboration with an industrial partner. In 2004  Enel , Italy’s largest power company and Europe’s second-largest utility for installed capacity, was involved in this project. The mirrors are the core in the plant, the result of the partnership Enel-Enea. A field of large mirrors concentrate solar radiation on pipes containing an auxiliary fluid. The heat is used to raised the temperature of the fluid and keep it high, in order to take advantage of solar power at any time of the day or during any weather condition.
On the 26 March 2007, Enel and Enea signed an agreement, in order to build the ‘Archimede’ plant in Priolo Gargallo. In this second phase of the project, Enel, became the main contractor.

Objectives and target audience

The aim of this project is  to develop a technology that will produce energy by solar source, offering an efficient alternative to oil energy and a path to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It will increase with 5 MW the power of the existing combined loop plant in Priolo, entirely through renewable source, allowing Enea to use its scientific results into a commercial standard plant and to produce green energy at market prices, with an industrial national partner.
The first production of energy is forecasted for the end 2009 or beginning 2010.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The Archimedes project is part of Enel Environment Plan which provides investment for more than 4 million euros between now and 2011 new plants using renewable sources and research and development of environment-friendly technologies.
Partners involved:-

• Enea;
• EnelArchimede solar Energy;
• A consortium of industrial suppliers.

Process

Applying ESTEEM
The Esteem tool was applied on the Archimede project. In 2007, the tools were tested along their six steps, with Ceris/CNR as a ‘consultant’ to project management representative (PM), M. Mauro Vignolini, Enea.

Step 1:  Project history, context and actors
The ESTEEM process starts with the ‘narrative’ of the Archimede project. Ceris could describe the project past and present, using the interviews with the project management and material gathered by other sources.
Starting by the project narrative, defining moments have been identified, during which the project has been modified. This sub step helped to clarify the events and the actors involved. It was very useful for the PM since it represented a synthetic vision of the past and present project history. It was a reflection moment on the chronological events and on the internal changes of this project.
The ‘context analysis’ and ‘actors’ table’ were the tools that helped PM and consultants to have a clear idea of the barriers and opportunities related to the project, and to identify the ‘key actors’ involved in the Archimede project. Ceris enriched the context in which the project will be put into, looking for information sources such as national or local debates, policy initiatives and laws.

Step 2:  Vision building
Starting from the past and present situation, the next step envisaged the project future, trying to identify major changes that could happen in its social dimensions, such as politics, societal, market science technology. Key actors were also identified accordingly.
Ceris and PM discussed about the future visions and together made the selection of the core stakeholders, on the basis of the project context analysis.
The time considered for the future visions was no more than 5 years, that is the visions concerning the project. Ceris has chosen to follow the method of the individual  interviews rather than the organization of a workshop, considering it was more suited to this case. Representatives of the Italian Ministries of Economy, of Environment, and managers of Enel (future PM) and of the Consortium of industrial suppliers (leader) were interviewed one by one.
Based on the single recorded interview, Ceris designed for each vision the future social network map. This was necessary mainly because the key actors participate with different interests.
Comparing the drafted visions, interesting remarks emerged, such as a time horizon difference between the future vision of different stakeholders: some had very short term orientations and others had rather long term ones. Equally, different level of commitments were observable (short term visions were often associated with weakest commitment).

Step 3:  Vision confrontation
Ceris has worked on all the inputs gathered, to find a feasible direction of this project, gaining a clear view of the alignments and misalignments within the project.
At this point, it became clear for the consultant that the project is entering in the demo industrial phase and that there are no significant oppositions to it. In the short term the project will find a realization, due to a convergence of all the key actors, for different reasons and interests. At the same time, new roads are opening for long terms technology evolution and application.
This reflection helped to pinpoint possible conflicting issues in terms of problems and opportunity for the solar thermodynamic technology future.

Step 4:  Identifying solutions
Closely related to the previous reflections, this step was crucial and revealed the room for action towards this pilot project.
In this demo, it proved less useful to compare the PM position with other stake holder’s options.
Instead, all stakeholders were asked to position themselves freely on some critical issues, to be collectively debated. Participating in the stakeholder workshop, they could imagine interesting possible alternatives.

Step 5:  Stakeholders workshop
The conclusions drawn from previous steps were presented during a semi structured Workshop organised by Ceris in December 2007. The consultant considered this event as a strategic moment to test the commitment and the feasibility of new roads for the technology, highlighting the differences among stakeholders’ future visions and facilitating a free confrontation.
The aim was to produce a much higher awareness of the viability of the alternatives to solar thermodynamic technology. Another goal was to jointly define the pathway of the project with regard to technology development, feasibility and long term support for the project.
One particularity of Archimede, as a project, is the high level of institutionalisation of its stakeholders. Ceris had to take this fact into account to adapt and apply ESTEEM.
CNR contacted and informed each of the participants, involving not only the core stakeholders group but also representative of the civil society: NGO’s, environmental and consumer associations, industrial associations.

During this meeting all of them discussed three main issues proposed by CNR:

• Availability of sites and production of energy from solar thermodynamic in Italy
• Techno-economical efficiency of the plants and production in Italy or export of this technology
• The role of the Italian government: what we can learn from other experiences?

The number of participants allowed an open and lively discussion on matters such as technology, market and political issues related to the project. It has been a unique occasion for the project manager to present some clarification directly to the Government on some key aspects of the technology applications. The interest of Archimede in terms of storage and high temperature as well as underline the existence of alternative storage applications, such as diathermic oil was exposed, as well as the existence of several investment projects abroad. The technology, even in its early experimental phase, seemed to have already attracted some clients. Environmental associations did not fully share the visions presented, and this dialogue will probably have to be carried out further in the near future.

Step 6:  Recommendations for action
The reactions and remarks collected from the stakeholders were summarized. Ceris could identify three kinds of activities that did not required substantial change of the original plan:

• A short term action plan might include further investments in the thermodynamic solar technology to facilitate its diffusion, as well as some efforts in the component industry.
• A Collaboration plan aimed at mobilizing the ‘right people’, including a close relation and coordination between the different European , national and regional levels.
• Finally, a long term action plan, that can be supportive to the new PM, aimed to strengthen the communication channel and to check the social acceptance, organizing for example initiatives towards young people, and monitoring the European policy for the solar technology.

The solar plant consists of a solar field of 40acres, a storage system and a steam generator. In the modular solar field the solar energy is collected in 360 linear parabolic collectors with a surface of 200.000. The movable collectors are arranged in parallel rows that each form a single string. The number of strings determines the thermal energy and thus the power of the plant. ENEA introduced a new fluid heat carrier (mixture of sodium and potassium) in order to increase the operating temperature and the possibility of storing heat. Another innovation of ENEA is the design of a new type of concentrator based on thinner mirrors that saves construction and installation costs.
The use of large scale heat storage is another innovation in the Archimedes project. Due to two storage tanks operating at different temperatures, the plant provides heat to the steam generator at a constant rate 24 hours a day, regardless of variations in solar energy availability. The steam generator consists of ‘tube and shell’ heat exchangers in which heat is transferred to water to produce super-heated steam for use in a conventional thermoelectric plant. The Archimedes project is the first of its kind in the world. Apart from disseminating new technologies, ENEA also wants to stimulate the creation of a self-sustained market. The sunlight, especially in the south of Italy, can make the country rely mainly on solar power.

Results

The plant’s battery of the 360 parabolic mirrors will focus the sun’s rays on pipes, through which runs a saline liquid that can store heat up to 550 °C and retain it for hours.
The addition of the solar plant to the power station should significantly reduce the amount of gas burnt at the plant and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 7,300 tonnes.
The Esteem tool allowed the PM of Archimede project to enlarge his vision to socio-economic aspects and to include new stakeholders. It has been useful  for putting into evidence the necessity of working stakeholders such as the public, the media, the non expert decision makers and how they can frame the technology from the early moments, building positive expectations. The workshop has been a key moment for the PM to present some clarification in a public forum on some critical aspects of the technology applications and potentiality. Esteem has produced mainly an improvement of the Archimede project communication strategy towards environmental and social associations and the large public, together with a list of recommendations directly presented by stakeholders.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges?

In general, the aesthetics of standard photovoltaic modules is a major obstacle for broader diffusion of the technology. Other relevant factors that emerged by this experience is the attitude of monument protection authorities. They need to be ‘educated’ about innovative solar technologies, due to the considerable lack of knowledge.
A strong recommendation is made for several activities that are needed to overcome the barriers that the project faced.
The main ones are:

1. transferability of results
2. disseminations
3. training and teaching
4. networking.

Finally, the economic aspect must be regarded as a key factor: this is a concerns for all the stakeholders. The existing incentives have to be made more efficient with respect to innovation and design; financial support systems should be long-term oriented, in order to decrease risk and attract private investments; an effective incentive scheme should devote part of the financial resources to promotion and information dissemination activities. On the other hand, the interest of SMEs and architects is concentrated on costs and amortization aspects and about how much improved aesthetics can cost more than the standard version.

Heat delivery to Jühnde began in September of 2005.  The core of the project is a biogas facility that ferments local raw materials such as rye, wheat, sunflowers, maize and liquid manure from farmers in the region and uses the resulting methane to produce electricity and heat in a small power plant.  A local heat grid carries the energy to (at the moment) 142 households.  In other words, more than 70 percent of Jühnde’s inhabitants use local bio-heat.
780 people, 10 farms, 400 cows and 1500 pigs watched by the world – that’s Jühnde.  A village that defies the electricity companies, and has two power stations of its own that generate twice as much electricity as its residents use – cheaply and biologically.  And the best thing is that the whole world profits from it.  You see, in just one year the village’s CO2 emissions have reduced by 60 per cent.

Objectives and target audience

The goals of the Federal Government are quite ambitious.  As stated in Article 1 of the EEG, Germany is aiming to increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewables to at least 12.5% by the year 2010, and to at least 20% by the year 2020.
By 2050, at least half of Germany’s primary energy consumption should come from renewables.  This will only be possible if at the same time energy is used far more efficiently.
The aim of the project is to convert biological material into electrical power and heat. A Block-Type Thermal Power Station (or Heat and Power Generator) run by bio gas is now realized.  For additional heating during winter a wood hogged heating system is implemented.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

This plant had a total cost of approximately € 5,300,000,  with 1/3  of the funds from the German Ministry BMELV and Lower Saxony it was possible to invest in such project.
Partners:-

• Bioenergiedorf Jühnde eG;
• Dipl.-Ing.Hans Erich Tannhäuser;
• HAASE Anlagenbau AG;
• IZNE Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für nachhaltige Entwicklung.

Process

Applying ESTEEM
Through personal meetings and various telephone calls, Öko-Institut offered the project manager and  active project partners concerned with the dissemination activities to test the ESTEEM tool.  The original Jühnde project directly involved all relevant stakeholders with several participative tools.  The dissemination project used a similar approach and tools, and most of the potential stakeholders were already known and “on board” by the time ESTEEM was started.  Nonetheless, critical situations regarding the involvement of important actors came up.  While the majority of these problems were externally driven, the project management started intense discussions with all relevant key actors to find specific solutions, supported by the ESTEEM process.

The central idea of the Jühnde model is a complete shift of energy sources for an entire village, away from conventional (fossil) energy sources to the renewable and CO2 neutral biomass.  One such community is the bio-energy village of Jühnde, located in the southern part of Lower Saxony, Germany.  It is the first of its kind in Germany, and aims to completely replace its fossil energy use for heating and electricity through bio-energy.

STEP ONE: Visions of the project
Jühnde was selected in a step-by-step approach from a group of some 54 villages in the county of Göttingen on the basis of 30 criteria on nature, society, infrastructure, and economy (Eigner, 2001).  The Jühnde village especially offers a local agricultural supply structure with the necessary quantity of biomass production from bio-energy crops, and forest residues.
Two local farmers were interested to change their traditional economic ‘attitude’, shifting from ‘farmer’ to ‘energy supplier’.
Moreover, several technical conditions like a minimum density of heat demand had to be met in order to establish the new district heating grid at reasonable cost.  Also, a good and functioning social network existed in Jühnde which is necessary to promote the ideas of the project, and to build on the trust between the local actors.  From the infrastructural point of view, facilities like a sports gym or a community centre were needed for public meetings.
Besides the question of implementing a new supply technology, the Jühnde model focuses on the active involvement of the village inhabitants and their specific know-how.  Primarily based on the idea of a group of social scientists from the University of Göttingen1, the aspect of participation and identification with the project’s ecological aims and technological requirements of changing the energy system as a whole is one of the central objectives.
At the beginning of the process, seven general objectives were formulated:-

• Protection of climate and resources – The use of biomass compensates CO2 emissions and, therefore, reduces the greenhouse gas effect;
• Soil and water protection – Soil and water contamination with nitrates and biocides could be reduced considerably through environmentally sound concepts for cultivating bio-energy crops (‘double-cropping’ with maize, triticale, sunflowers);
• Plant diversity – A wide diversity of plants, even weeds, can be tolerated as all those can be utilized in the fermentation process for biogas;
• Regional business cycle and economic effects – Selling plants and wood for energy can generate a new income base for local farmers, and could lead to higher employment levels;
• Participation – The involvement of the inhabitants is fundamental for a shift from conventional to renewable energies, as they have to invest money for their own connection to the grid. Encouraging villagers to participate and motivating them to help solve local problems will promote collective opinion-building;
• Decentralisation of energy supply – The energy plants will be operated by a local cooperative.  Its decisions will be compatible with local needs.  With the shift to local energy sources, a minimization of technical, environmental and economical risks comes along;
• Quality of life – The experience of common decision-making and problem-solving could generate a new self-confidence and quality of life within the community.

STEP TWO: What were the various expectations of the case?
The project ‘Bio-energy Village’ aims to shift from fossil energy sources for electricity and heat to a fully renewable base with active participation of the population.  In that sense, it is a demonstration project for an environmentally and economic sound energy supply system in a rural region Ecological and economic aspects are reasons for the usage of renewable energies.
IZNE developed the first vision of a ‘Bio-energy Village’.  The focus was the implementation of a biomass strategy linked to societal and economical welfare in rural areas.  Later on key partners like the mayor of the village, inhabitants and engineering firms joined.  A very important promoter of the main ideas was the mayor of the village of Jühnde.  He motivated the inhabitants in the name of future generations with the argument of a sustainable development.  As he is a person of high recognition and integrity, he could convince the traditional and conservative oriented villagers.  The economic and fiscal framing as well as the business model of a cooperative was mainly developed by local expertise of two tax advisors.
In the beginning of the selection process Jühnde was one of 54 potential village partners in the region.  The research team looked for a village community with motivated, qualified persons and a village environment with necessary agricultural land.  In the end, 17 villages volunteered to become the ‘Bioenergy Village’ – out of these, Jühnde and three other villages were chosen because of the very positive and engaged feedback by the actors and inhabitants.
The main ‘target group’ were the inhabitants of the village, as they had to change their heating systems, and to buy local energy (heat and electricity from biomass).  On the one hand, it was expected that the villagers make long-term decisions on the economically relevant issue of energy supply.  On the other hand, IZNE had an important influence on the information base for these decisions.

STEP THREE: Understanding ‘participatory’ decision-making: negotiating expectations
In the pre-selection process to identify the model community, several instruments of information were used in 17 villages, such as:-

• Information flyer and brochure;
• Press and media work;
• Public presentations (external experts, visualizations);
• Consulting;
• Door-to-door information;
• Visiting demonstration projects (best practice).

The use of those instruments was organized by IZNE.  The selection process was underpinned by a series of different surveys in the 17 candidate communities.
One of the main questions dealt with the willingness to change and connect to the new heat supply system.  Here, the inhabitants of Jühnde agreed to switch with a 69% share of all households.
Another issue was the question of active involvement and the identification with the general philosophy of the project. While 87% of the inhabitants of Jühnde covered the idea of the project, a share of 22% of the house owners was willing to support the implementation actively (in working groups).
A 35% share of all households wanted to invest in the cooperative.
With these numbers in view, IZNE selected Jühnde as the model village, and funding from the Federal Ministry for Agriculture was expected.

STEP FOUR: From visions to reality
Since the selection of Jühnde as a ‘Bioenergy Village’ in 2001, the project was implemented in four steps.  After a first overview of the regional potential and discussion with 54 villages, the second selection narrowed down the list of candidates to 17 villages. Out of these, a group of four villages was selected, mainly by identification of the villagers’ expectations and engagement.
In a second survey, the inhabitants of Jühnde showed the most convincing attitude regarding the prospective project.
In May 2002, the ‘Bio-energy Village’ cooperative was founded and established membership contracts with some 70% of the Jühnde inhabitants. Financial support was made available from the national and the regional level.  Even 10% of the Jühnde villagers gave money to get the planning process started.  After the positive decisions on the financial grants the investment money was ensured, and the local cooperative became operative in 2004.
The villagers who participated in the local cooperative decided collectively on the restructuring of their energy supply system.  They built up a self-managed production and distribution infrastructure.
The village implemented the bio-energy system, the district heating grid and an operating cooperative within the period of four years. Meanwhile, over 73% of the inhabitants are linked to the local heating grid.  Due to rise of fossil energy costs since 2004, the promoters of the project feel encouraged and confirmed, as the economy of the projects became even better than assumed before.
The energy production process itself works as follows: Under anaerobic conditions, micro-organisms engage in enzymatic digestion of liquid manure and silaged plant material to create biogas in a central facility.  The combustion of biogas in a combined heat and power plant (CHP) then generates enough electricity for the entire village, and the co-generated heat is mainly used to heat homes and other living space, replacing fossil fuels. A smaller portion of the generated heat is required as process energy for the digestion plant.  The amount of heat generated cannot cover the high demand during winter months in Germany, though.  During this period, an additional heating plant fuelled with regional wood chips is required.  After the technical implementation, the villagers now discuss visions and further projects to realize the social aspects of the ‘Bio-energy Village’, like an attractive local coffeehouse and meeting point as well as a supermarket for organic regional food products.
With conception support from IZNE, the local public developed experiences of implementation which could help to transfer the model to other villages in and outside of the region.  The Jühnde model has received high national as well as international attention, and local authorities of other villages want to replicate the organisational and technological approach.
Despite of some problems regarding efficient cooperation and management the ‘Jühnde’ model is a quite successful one.  At present, 12 other villages in the same regional context want to become the ‘next Bio-energy Village’.  The project and its dissemination will be continued, also with the support of IZNE as a project manager.  The funding Federal ministry now also supports a ‘lessons learnt’ study which aims to identify success factors for future replication.

Results

The initial design estimation establish a 4.000.000 kwh of electricity generation per year, but they have achieve 4.500.00 kwh.  Also they produce approximately 3.000.000 kwh of heat, which represents 67% of the annual heat demand of the Village.
Is important to mention that even though farmers use slurry as a fertilizer they have just decrease the use of fertilizer by approximately 25%. In the case of Herbicides and Insecticide use has reduced by approximately 1/3 has been establish mainly for the crops use for the biomass process since the quality requierements are not that high.
In 2008:
Energy production: 10.000.000 KWh
CO2 savings: 3.300 to annually.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Jühnde has inspired others in the region to follow its example. The responsible district authority in Göttingen has already found eight additional boroughs which might be eligible for local heating grids. A feasibility study may be made available to these villages by fall of this year. And those boroughs whose citizens join the project may be supplied with bio-heat as early as the end of 2008.

The reduction of emission of greenhouse gases, the promotion of sustainable resources and energy efficiency were recognised as strategic challenges for the European Union and centred in its political program.
Among the first initiatives included in the “Parco dell’energia” has to be citated the realization biomass power plant (“cippato”, wood chips) which will start to function in autumn 2008 and which enable to serve all features of the Institute and some buildings owned by the municipality of San Michele all’Adige. Other works which are in planning, with technical support of Technological District of Trentino (DTT), are the planning and implementation according to the standards of the bio building and the energy saving of the “Palazzina Ambiente”, intended for hosting lab and office of the “Dip. Valorizzazione Risorse Naturali”.

Among the activities of research included in the project of anaerobic digestion of biomass with the purpose of energy production (electricity and heaving) hold a very important role, also in order to the possible applications to different realities and typologies of the biomass produced on the provincial territory.

Objectives and target audience

The task is that of reducing fossil fuels (gas oil and natural gas), contributing on that way to the reduction of greenhouse gases (estimated 800 ton of CO2 per year) and of constituting an example for others realities characterised by the concentration of buildings in a restricted kilometric radius (< 2 km).
In regard to the more strictly research aspects two are the objectives pursued: increasing the percentage presence of methane in the bio gas compared to that normally obtained (55% of CH4 in the bio gas) and orientating the microbial reactions to the production of more quantities of hydrogen.
The objectives for 2020 predict:
1)    The cutback of 20% of greenhouse gases emission;
2)    The reduction of the 20% of the energetic consumptions respect the projection for the 2020;
3)    A binding objective of the 20% of energy produced with sustainable resources on the total energetic consumptions of the European Union;
4)    A binding objective of 10% of biofuels on the total of consumptions of fuel and diesel fuel.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Agricultural institute of San Michele all’Adige

Process

The farm Schelfi has been picked out as an example of zootechnical enterprise located in the alpine territory (altitude >900 meters above the sea level) which could become a model of “green island” because of the realisation, the implementation and the interactive coexistence in the existing structure of technical solutions and technological innovations hinge on the environmental and energetic sustainability.
The characteristic of originality of the business are the aggregation of more different productive and cheap sectors:
-    raising milk cattle (100 head UBA);
-    internal dairy for the production of typical cheeses (fresh and mature) directly commercialised;
-    fatting pigs (30 heads which will be augmented to 70 in the next months) for the production of sausages directly commercialised in the local and seasonal market ( in the province of Trento and in Veneto);
-    photovoltaic system on the surface, which extension is 372 squared meters and which is used to produce more than 250 different types of horseshoes exported all over the world;
Moreover , in the short term, other structures will be realised:
-    house and linked farm holidays, projected and built according to the standards of the bio building (energetic saving);
-    a system of anaerobic digestion fort eh production of energy form the zootechnical refluents (production of sustainable energy), which practicability study is co financed by the MIPAAF ;
-    a system of phytodepuration and of composting for a sustainable administration of digested material.
The original character of the proposal is the coexistence and integration in a unique business reality of more innovative technical solutions which consider as main characteristic the reduction of energetic consumptions, the valorisation of available residual biomass, the exploitation of the sustainable energetic resources (micro Aeolian) and in realisation of a house and a farm holidays, built and functioning according to the standard of bio building and energetic efficiency.
Other characteristics concern the chance to resolve some environmental problems with the valorisation of sub products and residual biomasses (sewages and manures, residues of the dairy and wastes of slaughter for the production of sausages).
Near to the traditional process for the production of heating, the attention move to technologies as gasification and pyrogasification which enable to transform the biomasses in synthesis gas with following production of energy using cycles of high energetic efficiency.

Results

The use of sustainable resources is one of the cornerstones of the energetic policy in Trentino Alto Adige.
In that region are actually in function biomass power plant able to provide to the citizens clean and extremely accessible energy.
These plants enable to save each year almost 43 million of litres of fuel, with guessable advantages on the environment level, without forgetting in addition the economic aspect (if during the last ten years the prize of fuel increased of 70%, that of wood stopped at a plus 25%).
The supplying of raw materials is mainly at a local level, from the residues of the industries of first production (sawmills) and from woods of Alto Adige , while an minor part is imported from Northern Europe (the first among all countries is Austria).

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Among the sustainable resources of energy the biomasses represent an opportunity not yet fully harness and which gives wide margins of valorisation.
Among the finalities of the project ReXergy there is the creation of models of use of sustainable resources in agricultural field, which could constitute virtuous example and stimulate the spread of initiatives.
The biomass wooden cellulosic hold from always an high energetic interest. While for the wooden it registers an use very limited (only 10% of the real available quantity) because of the problems linked to the difficulty and cots of gathering, the residues pf wooden industry (wood chips) found an use in the biomass power plant for district heating, of which exist in Trentino Alto Adige several example.
The necessity of reducing the growing costs to cover the energetic requirements justifies the high interest at the national and European level in the sustainable energies. The biomass represents an alternative source until now underused and that promise wide possibilities of valorisation. The necessity to put together with the energetic and economic statement also the environmental statement, preliminary to the introduction of some operative solutions, don’t have to be undervaluated in the evaluation of innovative solutions proposed.

Cultural influences on Renewable Energy Acceptance and Tools for the development of communication strategies to promote ACCEPTANCE among key actor groups.
The current understanding of social processes affecting the (non-) acceptance of renewable energy and rational use of energy technologies is limited. Project managers often assume that stakeholders will adopt and adapt to their innovation without resistance. In practice, however, stakeholders such as users, NGO’s, neighbours or local public authorities often have different (and possibly conflicting) visions about the innovation and the future world in which the innovation should fit. If these diverging views are neglected, the project might face severe social resistance in the implementation phase. There is a need for empirically based research to understand the complex interactions between stakeholders, the ways these stakeholders block or facilitate the adoption of alternative technologies, and the (institutional) contexts favourable to the acceptance of technological
innovation.

Objectives and target audience

The objective of this project is to develop a tool that can measure and promote social acceptance of technologies for Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Rational Use of Energy (RUE) by means of:

• Assessing the previously developed Socrobust tool for suitability by mapping its potential and limitations to contribute to social acceptance of RES and RUE technologies.
• Determining the key elements of social acceptance of RES and RUE technologies by assessing the (recent and past) social acceptance of technologies such as hydrogen, biomass, CO2 capture and sequestration (CSS), solar thermodynamics, and wind in several European regions.
• Enhancement of the Socrobust tool platform into a multi-stakeholder tool by integrating knowledge gained in objectives (i.), and (ii.), and by designing the necessary instruments and procedures.
• Validation and deployment of the multi-stakeholder tool in five selected demonstration projects, covering a wide range of RES and RUE technologies as well as various regions in Europe. The preliminarily selected demonstration projects are a hydrogen project in the Nordic countries, a biomass project in the East-European region, Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) in the West-European region, a wind project in Hungary and a solar thermodynamics project in the Mediterranean region.
• Dissemination of the multi-stakeholder tool to key stakeholders involved in implementation of new RES and RUE technologies. The objective of Create Acceptance is developing a new multi stakeholder tool to measure, promote and influence social acceptance.
• The project Create Acceptance started February 1st 2006 and runs until March 2008. The project aims to improve the social acceptance of renewable energy and rational use of energy technologies. It aims at improving this social acceptance through the development of a tool that not only can measure societal acceptance, but can also be used to promote and improve societal acceptance by creating communication, participation and bridging mechanisms for key stakeholders. It builds upon a previous developed tool called Socrobust. The new multi-stakeholder tool will become publicly available to energy managers, policy makers, technology developers, intermediary energy service providers, and other possible users after conclusion of the project. This will occur by providing the tool and information about the tool on the projects.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Project Cost: 1.98 million euro.
Project Funding: 1.35 million euro.
Create Acceptance is sponsored by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme Priority. All project partners are highly qualified European member states research institutes with backgrounds in energy and/or social studies of science and technology.

• Energy research Centre of the Netherlands ECN, Petten, The Netherlands
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, National research council on firms and development CERIS/CNR, Italia
• Ecoinstitut Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• IAE Toulouse, Toulouse, France
• Icelandic New Energy INE, Reykjavík, Iceland
• Institute for Renewable Energy Ltd. IEO, Warszawa, Poland
• Hungarian Environmental Economics Centre MAKK, Budapest, Hungary
• National Consumer Research Center NCRC, Helsinki, Finland
• OEKO-Institut E.V., Institute for Applied Ecology, Darmstadt, Germany
• University of Salford, SURF, Manchester, United Kingdom
• Energy Research Centre, ERC, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Process

WP1 : February 2006 – July 2006
Work package 1 takes Socrobust as a starting point. In this work package Socrobust will critically be reviewed to identify which aspects need improvement and adjustment. This work package builds upon scientific debates on large socio-technical systems, transition management, niche management, system innovations and participatory methods. The work delivers conclusions on how to further modify the Socrobust tool.

WP2 : February 2006 – December 2006
Work package 2 aims to do empirical research to provide a better understanding of how social acceptance is managed in various European regions.
Experiences gained from past participation and communication efforts are analysed in detail to deliver a compendium of best practices for managing social acceptance of renewable energy and rational use of energy technologies. The results enable the development of a regional sensitive multi stakeholder tool in work package 3.
The best practices:

• Case 1: Hannover social marketing for energy efficiency (Germany)
• Case 2: Low energy housing (LEH) (Finland)
• Case 3: Trintat Nova Ecocity energy efficiency project (Spain)
• Case 4+5: Crickdale Bioenergy Power Station & Bracknell Biomass CHP Energy Centre (United Kingdom)
• Case 6: Bioenergy Village Jühnde (Germany)
• Case 7+8: Västerås Biogas Plant & Lund Biogas Plant (Sweden)
• Case 9: Pannon Power biomass conversion (Hungary)
• Case 10: Umbria local bio energy projects (Italy)
• Case 11: EOLE 2005 wind energy programme (France)
• Case 12: Cap Eole wind project (France)
• Case 13: Suwalki region wind project (Poland)
• Case 14: Szelero Vep wind project (Poland)
• Case 15: Pommerania region solar energy project (Poland)
• Case 16: Barcelona Solar Ordinance (Spain)
• Case 17: PV Accept solar project (Italy)
• Case 18: Solar home systems (SHS) (South Africa)
• Case 19: Solar water heaters (SWH) (South Africa)
• Case 20: London CUTE hydrogen fueling station (United Kingdom)
• Case 21: Berlin H2Accept hydrogen bus trials (Germany)
• Case 22: ECTOS hydrogen project (Iceland)
• Case 23: CRUST CO2 capture and storage project (the Netherlands)
• Case 24: Snohvit CO2 capture and storage project (Norway)
• Case 25: Schwarze Pumpe CO2 capture and storage project (Germany)
• Case 26: Podhale region geothermal project (Poland)
• Case 27: Blue Energy (salinity power) (the Netherlands)

The analysis of case studies in WP 2 resulted in a set of characteristics and success factors which were helpful to derive the core set of selection criteria.
The multi-stakeholder tool will be conducted in five demonstration projects:

• hydrogen project SMART-H in Iceland;
• carbon sequestration and storage project in the Netherlands;
• biomass project in Germany;
• wind project in Hungary;
• solar thermal power project in Italy.

A multi-stakeholder process should be initiated for each of these projects. This process includes the following issues:

• Identify and select relevant stakeholders and map their attitudes in the view of the demonstration projects;
• Organisation and structuring of communication processes between the stakeholders and avoid or resolve conflicts.

The results of the case studies in WP 2 raised several key factors influencing the success of RES and RUE projects.
The demonstration projects are seen as opportunities to consider further and more detailed which of those factors – and which additional ones – can increase the social acceptance in the context of new and renewable energies.
The demo projects are meant to extend the scope of the WP2 case studies with respect to more (and new) project initiators and a variety of stakeholders.
Therefore, the inclusion of stakeholders and their participation are relevant additional criteria for the demo selection.

WP3: July 2006 – January 2007
Work package 3 integrates the results from work package 1 and 2. The result of work package 3 will be a new multi-stakeholder tool. The focus is on developed specific methods and instruments. This includes interview protocols, methods for mapping stakeholder expectations, workshop designs and the design of action plans.

WP4: January 2007 – December 2007
In work package 4 the multi-stakeholder tool developed in work package 3 will be validated and deployed in five selected demonstration projects, covering a wide range of renewable energy and rational use of energy technologies as well as various regions in Europe. The demonstration projects are further introduced in the following pages. The project partners organise a multi-stakeholder process for each of these projects, based on the multi stakeholder tool developed in work package 3. Finally, this work package will evaluate and refine the multi-stakeholders tool after its application in the demonstration projects.

WP5: February 2006 – January 2008
Work package 5 contains the project management and aims at ensuring the adequate achievement of project objectives, on time and within the estimated costs. The project manager ECN also secures adequate levels of communication and promotion of scientific discussion among partners in order to achieve expected levels of scientific and technical outputs.

Results

The result of this project will be a publicly available tool that can measure, promote and improve social acceptance of new sustainable technologies.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

What makes this project a rather radical innovation is that it uses and creates sound theoretical social science knowledge to develop a tool. The tool will be used by practitioners dealing with the implementation of (radically) innovative renewable energy and rational energy use technologies. This aim is rather innovative, since intervention in society by (means of) social scientists is a highly debated (and not yet highly praised) issue in social science research.

Why do without the sun and use electricity even when we could avoid it?
Why waste huge amounts of non renewable energy – expensive and not natural-during the day either to light or to heat areas which are just in the shadow at that moment?
Again, in similar cases, electricity is not a proper answer to the problem- lets just think about how motorway tunnel entrances lighting works during daytime when outside the sun is shining.

Objectives and target audience

The system is designed to eliminate the “black hole” effect at the entrance of road and motorway tunnels. This process allows the driver to have all the time the visibility he needs to get into the tunnel safely.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Autostrada Torino-Savona Inc. – Italy

Process

The inventory and geo-referencing work on the unauthorized dumps consisted of four stages: 1 – A survey data form was designed: the first section containing geographic information on the site affected by abandoned waste, while the second section is for the collection of data on the characteristics of the waste and the surrounding areas. 2 – By means of field surveys, the inventory and mapping of unauthorized dumping areas in each larger section of the city: a separate data form was completed for each site, including location map references. 3 – Analyses and re-processing of data, which consisted in the evaluation and interpretation of all the data collected for the purpose of compiling explanatory maps indicating the locations of the sites distinguished according to environmental hazard classes. For this purpose, tables were designed for the analysis of environmental geological hazards, social and natural landscape factors, the extension of the unauthorized dumps and the feasibility of intervention measures. So, it was possible to compute a total score for each site for each factor considered, as well as a comprehensive score serving to establish the priority level for implementation measures, and thus optimizing the economic resources available. 4 – Georeferencing and the creation of an on-line data bank, with the aid of a Geographical Information System. Georeferencing was carried out in association with a database containing the information collected on the separate areas.

Results

The inventory, mapping and characterization based on the environmental geological hazard represented by each unauthorized dump site lead to a definition of intervention priorities to safeguard the landscape and the social and environmental heritage of the land. Based on the available economic resources, the plan is going on with the reclamation of the sites and the adoption of preventive measures serving to discourage people from dumping waste which can create problems of an environmental and geological nature owing to possible contamination of the soil.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The “Plan of sustainability in the territory of Ortona” started up in 2004, co financed by the national Ministry of the Environment.
The idea to promote the project in an area of 22.000 inhabitants (Ortona) came from the cooperation of public and private local actors (Provincia di Chieti, Regione Abruzzo, Municipality of Ortona and ALESA) which found common interests in the Plan’s goals.
Ortona is one of the most important towns in the provincial territory according to the relationships among economic, environmental and social sectors. In this framework the environmental and social features feel the necessity to join with an important industrial context under continuous and deep adaptation.

Objectives and target audience

The project aims at studying sustainable models for disused areas by the investigation of three different approaches:
1)    the recovery of the tertiary and service areas;
2)    the recovery of a residential-tourist area;
3)    the recovery of residential and industrial-handcraft areas;
The framework of these different approaches is based on the common working methodology of the citizens involvement. This means that all the steps of the project have been carried out by the means of working tables, civic forums and constant consultations of the whole local community.
The involvement of the citizens-users has been pursued with both direct (such as survey of opinion inside the population etc.) and indirect actions (such as information and training activities through the “Resources Centre”).

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The total cost of the project is: 1,383,000 Euro, co-financed by the national Ministry of the Environment (1.260.000 Euro).
The partners are: Provincia di Chieti, the Municipality of Ortona and the local energy agency A.L.E.S.A. Private operators have also been involved, like the electric energy supplier for the territory of Ortona. The local energy agency has worked on the energy analysis of the feasibility studies and took part to the dissemination activities about the promotion of Res&Rue culture.

Process

The project is made up of four phases:
1.    creation of biodiversity areas in urban and/or industrial zones in order to help the recovery of disused grounds. The interventions (such us planting autochthonous arboreous species) were carried out with the cooperation of students;
2.    setting up of an environmental training centre named “Resources Centre” in the downtown with the purpose of increasing the awareness of technicians and citizens toward RES and RUE issues;
3.    feasibility studies for the reuse of industrial areas close to urban centre and/or new residential districts according to a sustainable model and using innovative solutions for resources management (energy, water, waste etc.). In this phase the use of local building materials was studied including the whole life cycle assessment and the costs-benefits analysis. The potentialities related to the use of the RES in the territory of Ortona were investigated (off shore wind power, biomass and solar energy) and management solutions for the mobility aspects proposed;
4.    Dissemination activities (targets: citizens, local mass media, students, households, technicians). The involvement of the local population has been pursued with both direct actions (for instance the initiative of a survey named “The imagined town” that has been carried out in the first months of activity among the citizens, before starting the feasibility studies of the sustainable village) and indirect actions (workshops and training activities in the “Resources Centre”). The survey aimed to realize which the local population expectations were, as well as to affect the acceptability of the proposed interventions. In this way the necessities of the potential buyers of the eco-compatible dwellings were well defined. This phase is strictly related to the creation of the “Resources Centre” as a physical point of reference for many awareness activities, workshop, informative sessions for students, citizens households, technicians, working tables with local stakeholders etc.

Results

The cost-benefits analysis of the sustainable village highlighted the following results:

• about 408 TPE/year saved;

• about 1.020 tons/year CO2 avoided;

• about 220.000,00 €/year energy cost saved;

• 1,5 GWh/year of energy produced by RES and RUE;

In addition to the direct results, the sustainable village represents an exemplification of bio building techniques integrated with innovative solutions based on the direct experience acquired. Another, not tangible, result is the involvement of final users and local stakeholders in the decision-making process with the understanding of long-term costs and direct and indirect benefits of sustainable construction, increasing, at the same time, their environmental awareness.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

At present we are working for a concrete realization of the project in the next future and still carrying out the dissemination activities. A fundamental step, through the results of cost-benefits analysis and the contractual aspects, is the identification of strategic mix (public-private) partnerships for the realization of the eco-compatible buildings. Such operation has already been realized with the arrangement of a programme agreement for the hypothesis of the recon version for tertiary and services use between the Provincia di Chieti and the local energy supplier, the “Odoardo Zecca Srl” Company. At the same time, the pursuing of the awareness activities is guaranteed by the achievement of the title of “Environmental Training Centre” for the “Resources Centre”. In this way, the structure could take part to the call for proposals of Abruzzo Region of other public sources of funding to realize other initiatives. In addition, for the prosecution of the Centre activities, the Provincia di Chieti has already announced a call to find private sponsors. The factor of success for the replication of such a project is the participated approach adopted in each intervention, in particular in the planning of the sustainable village. The survey, for example, is a good methodology to pick up the expectations and the request of the local population, as well as to affect the acceptability of the proposed actions and to overcome the cultural lacks. On the basis of the survey results the whole planning approach has been decided.
This type of approach can be easily used by other parties. The integration of different interventions (both under the technical and educational profile) to insert a sustainable village in an enlarged sustainable context is a positive aspect of this Plan too, but it would be important to involve private partners from the beginning to pass from the planning phase to the executive one.

Environment, technology and development.  This is the lifemotif of the several activities supervised by the Environment Park of Turin.
From the energy theme, with the Observatory that gives advice to enterprises and authorities, to the theme of hydrogen, with the centre of excellence on HySy Lab technologies.
Environment Park was built on the initiative of Regione Piemonte, City of Turin and European Union, it represents an innovative experience in Europe because it is the first Technological and Scientific Park dedicated to the environmental technologies.

Objectives and target audience

The first objective of the Park is to promote the development of the applied research to favour the integration of the environmental principle on the production and on the consumption process through the support to the technological innovation and to the development of the environmental business
Environment Park pursues this objective by the making of a cluster dedicated to the research activity and the environmental development, where research enterprises and authorities could to carry out their activities using the spaces with facilities and the base services, and also to benefit from exchange and comparison opportunity with different experiences.
The Technologic Park has also the task of facilitate the cooperation of little and middle enterprises with the research world: with the projected settling of Authorities like the University of Turin, Applied-science faculties of Turin and CNR, Environment Park represents an ideal solution for the development of technological innovation and scientific research.
The Park wants also to promote the creation of innovative enterprises in the sectors linked to environment and to the sustainable development, giving technical managerial and financial supports in the start-up period of the new enterprises.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

SHAREHOLDERS    N. SHARES    CAPITAL    %
Comune di Torino    1454    479.820,00    11,20 %
Provincia di Torino    1454    479.820,00    11,20 %
Finpiemonte S.p.A.    3737    1.233.210,00    28,79 %
C.C.I.A.A. di Torino    1779    587.070,00    13,71%
AAM S.p.A.    1759    580.470,00    13,55%
AMIAT S.p.A.    1778    586.740,00    13,70 %
IRIDE Energia S.p.A.    419    138.270,00    3,23%
SMAT S.p.A.    419    138.270,00    3,23%
Unione Industriale di Torino    161    53.130,00    1,24%
Università degli studi di Torino    19    6.270,00    0,15%
Totale    12979    4.283.070,00    100,00%

Process

Environment Park was built in 1996 on the initiative of Regione Piemonte, Provincia of Turin, of the Municipality of Turin and European Union and represents an original experience in the panorama of Technologic and Scientific Parks in Europe, for the connection of technological innovation and eco-efficiency.  Environment Park building complex has 30.000 squared meters with laboratories, offices, service centres in a building contest characterized from low environmental impact solutions.
The area is about two million of squared metres (named “Spina 3”) that the Regulating Plan indicates as an area of transformation, destined to put out gradually the maxim urban concentration of services, research and advanced production (the EuroTorino complex). The Spina 3 urban retraining process requires the environmental reclamation and recover of abandoned and often polluted areas, particularly rediscovery of the Dora sides, as a central value for the reconstruction of urban landscape
For the area of Environment Park the Regulating Plan suggests the realisation of a river park on the two sides.
The complex of Environment Park is composed by two compact groups of buildings, built on three levels (levels 0, 1, 2): particularly the level 1 is structured as a big platform, which covers the carparks, upon which several buildings rest. In fact, several buildings are built as a compact whole and present themselves as totally covered by extensive lawns, usable as public park, and separated by the wide split of the green valley.
The architectonic project of Environment Park pursues a strong, technical and symbolic, relation among the greenness and the new architectures.  The roofs covered with ecological lawn, the links by embankment, the low settling density, the insertion of nature in several parts of the built complex and, overall, the wide use also of sperimental techniques of energetic saving, are some points considered more qualifying.  The idea which comes from is the construction of a united landscape able to link river, garden and Technological Park in a system of land architecture with a vocation deeply ecological and environmental.  The rivers of the Dora become integrating and qualifying part of the park and of the landscape of Environment Park.  A band of respect of 70 meters signs the limit of suitability for building: the front built follow exactly the bend of the river.  The idea is to minimize the artificial sign: it is the sign of the river which build the form of the town.
The entire complex, all covered by the greenness, seems to the citizenship as a real public park, completely exploitable by the people who live in the neighbourhood and by who attend the Environment Park.
The distribution of the volumes pursue this logic of redistribution of density of the buildings. This allow to dilute, dissolve the buildings built in the nature, in the landscape: particularly: the buildings for office are low, levelled out in the greenness of the park.
In the complex, there is the unique system in Europe which enable to produce hydrogen transforming the wastes of cheese, milk and sausages production.  The process exploits the natural and simple fermentation actuated by anaerobic bacteriums which metabolising the organic substance which is in the wastes produce the hydrogen which could be used according to the necessities.  These bacteria come from the sludge of depuration of the Complex “Po Sangone”.  With this system it is possible exploit the 80% of the potential energy of biomass.
Environment Park is moreover the first former industrial district in Europe completely carbon-free.  On July 2008, a hydroelectric plant was finished, it during the day furnishes electrical clean energy to all the scientific technological park (70 enterprises and the office of Envipark for a total of 45.000 squared meters); during the night, on the contrary, when the demand of energy is limited, serve a plant of hydrogen production.

Results

The general reduction of energetically consumptions and those of the environmental impact, the use of sustainable resources, the adoption of natural techniques of administration of the buildings, the choose of no polluting or recyclable materials are some principles of green architecture pursuing with coherence by the project.  The wide use of technological and plant engineering innovations, supported by the constructive production and verified by applied research, conduce the building system towards those results.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The ecological architecture of Environment Park express a environmental sentiment expressed by:

• The green roof: the wide use of ecological covering enable to reduce the cost of realisation of buildings and that of administration of the complex – because of the good winter and summer isolation – and overall the total consumption of energy. However also other environmental advantages are evident: the improvement of microclimate, the filtration of polluting dusts of the air and of the rain waters, the reduction of urban acoustic pollution (the lawn is a no reflecting surface).
• The Blue Building system: the southner fronts of office, turn on the street and therefore representative of the technological and environmental vocation of the Environment Park, are realised with the Blue Building system: the system based on the interactive front and on the ceiling of panels heating, produce two results apparently opposing: a wide improvement of internal comfort and a wide control of the energetic consumptions.  The interactive front uses the glasses completely transparent ( an external double glass and a internal window) which allow to have the maxim natural illumination in the internal rooms. When it is necessary screen the direct solar rays, a tend follows down automatically in the cavity between the two windows.  The empty space is constantly aired by the air extracted from the rooms which absorbs the solar heat accumulated by the fins of the tend.  The mechanism offers on that way notable environmental increments: a improved acoustic isolation from the outside; a energy saving both for the air-conditioning (the solar heat doesn’t come in) and for the artificial illumination (thank the augmentation of the diffusion of the natural light); a better internal comfort: the glass and the walls remain near to the room temperature.  The ceiling of panels water heating operated in the same direction, assuring an high environmental comfort and an high energetic saving of functioning.
• The wood chips: about the 85% of the heating power of the Environment Park is produced by wood chips boiler (wastes product of the pruning the tree-lined roads), energetic sustainable resource for excellence and moreover wide disposable in Turin.  The adoption of an absorbing machine allows to use the energy of the wood chip boiler to refresh the Environment Park consuming almost only the vegetal waste of the gardens and of the tree-lined roads in Turin.  The saving is evident: both economic (for the cost of the fuel) and ecological ( for the consistent reduction of the waste mass that have to be disposed in the tips.
• The building material: in the choose of the building material the productions and manufactures that don’t imply polluting activities and procedures in the production, in the placing, in the disposal, or that could be recyclable and reusable at the end of the life cycle of the buildings had the priority.
• The basin of phytodepuration: in the system of water games of the green valley two basins of still waters are installed for the purification by solar raids of the rain waters and of the grey waters with a low content of B.O.D.

Circulators are responsible for up to 15% of the electricity bills of private households. With energy efficient technologies these costs can be reduced significantly. In the EU-27, the electricity consumption by circulators for heating purposes in households amounts to more than 50 TWh per year and causes CO2 emissions of more than 30 million tons per year. The energy used by circulator pumps is equal to about 2 % of the overall electricity consumption in the EU. The use of energy efficient models can reduce the energy consumption and the costs for electricity of circulators in Europe significantly.
Objectives and target audience
To reduce the use of the non renewal energy resources and to innovate the production of these processes (technologies alternative).

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The total cost of this plant was of Euro 500.000,00. Partners involved: Municipality Of Milan.

Process

The objectives in the short term are: to widen the number of models on the market, to increase the original model one and to reduce their price through an increase of the production.  In order to reach the objective, the plan will adapt the methodology that was tested with what has planned in the plan energy+ for the transformation of the market of the refrigerators.  Therefore:

1. Combine great purchasers (as an example associations of popular houses) for support action from the manufacturers of pumps.
2. Connect the purchasers, the producers and the supporter through a periodic list of products available and with personal contacts.
3. Develop support material of the sale of efficient pumps; as an example an electronic sheet for their dimensioning. To diffuse the material through the associations of category and the producers.
4. Organize a contest for the more efficient products energy+ and to carry out independent tests of the performances of the contenders.
5. Disclose  widely the plan and the information through the situated dedicated web, the bulletin, the communication channels of mass and the fairs of the field.

Results

To reduce the use of the non renewal energy resources and to innovate the production processes (technologies alternative).

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The type of action is favourably applicable because the plants are the subject of widespread intervention.

The small rural village of Varese Ligure with its 2400 inhabitants was the first local authority in Liguria to install two 0.75 MW wind power generators. Varese is a small rural local authority in the region of Liguria, in Italy. 95% of the land of the rural local authority has not been built on and is covered by forests.

Objectives and target audience

The local authority of Varese Ligure is close to its target which is to become 100% renewable and 100% organic. A comprehensive programme of sustainable development was put in place to achieve self-sufficiency through the promotion of renewable energy sources and through energy efficiency.
Within the energy framework, the objectives are the following:

• Promotion of renewable energy sources: the focus is on wind (two windpower generators with a capacity of 2 millions kWh/year will soon be installed), solar (a third solar photovoltaic installation on the public wastewater treatment station is scheduled) and biomass technologies.
• Promotion of energy efficiency: focus on biomass: the authorities are promoting the use of pellet boilers by encouraging local production of pellets as a means of generating income and contributing to forestry maintenance.
• Awareness-raising: One of the main actions is the participation in the EU project for schools called FEE (Force Energetique par les Enfantes), to raise the awareness of pupils, families and local stakeholders on energy issues (energy saving and renewable sources) and to the environment in general.
• The wind farm was financed by EU and regional funds (30%) as well as by private

Financial Resources and Partners involved

investments (60%) for a total of €1,800,00. The PV installation was funded by regional and
local funds (€155,000).
The strategy is managed by the City Council under the direct supervision of its mayor, who is supported, as far as the environmental certification aspects are concerned (periodical audits), by an ad hoc committee.

Process

The local authority is now completely self-sustainable as far as electricity is concerned thanks to two wind power generators able to produce 4 million kWh/year and two photovoltaic plants with a capacity of 23.000 kWh/year and meets 98% of the municipal building needs. In addition, 39 PV panels have been installed on a school that produces 4600 kWh. Other two wind power generators with a capacity of 2 millions kWh/year will soon be installed. The establishment of these plants brings also about a considerable CO2 reduction (approximately 9600 kg/year).

Results

The strategy will result in an improvement of the environment and health protection, more
security, comfortable lives and higher standards of living.
The ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications have been key to raise the village’s environmental
awareness and to promoting it outside its boundaries.
In January 2004, at the European conference on renewable energy in Berlin, the local authority received the award of “Best rural EU-local authority for the promotion of renewable energy”.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges