The growth of the world’s population and increased energy consumption in developing countries has caused the emission of greenhouse gases to increase greatly. The result is climate change and extreme weather events, which represent one of the biggest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.
The goal of the RURES project:
- Improve territorially based low-carbon energy planning strategies and policies that support climate change mitigation.
The RURES project pursues two sub-goals:
- To take advantage of the potential of renewable energy sources and increase energy efficiency in rural regions, because they have a great potential to become energy independent.
- Provide support to political decision-makers in the process of developing and implementing energy policies.
What will we do as part of the project Local Support Groups (LPS) will be established within RURES, which together will form a regional energy network and will consist of important representatives from the environment (municipality, regional agencies, energy, economy…) and will take care of the implementation of the Plan energy efficiency. An international cooperation agreement will be signed during the LPS. Examples of good practices and models of alternative financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency measures will be investigated, and recommendations for financing will be made based on these studies. As part of the project, pilot measures will be taken in the field of renewable energy sources (ventilation with heat recovery, smart metering, LED lights, PV for thermal and on-demand production, wind energy and plant energy, a plant powered by vegetable oils, energy efficiency measures for water pumps and E-tree), which will be placed in visible and densely trafficked places. The benefit and added value created by the exploitation of RES will be investigated, as well as an online tool for calculation (municipal taxes, other incomes… ) This will reduce the gap between developed and less developed regions, where there will be an exchange of good practices and experiences ( financial and technological), which will lead to new insights and investments in energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources, which will consequently reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The project consists of 3 thematic work packages:
- Preparing the implementation of the energy efficiency plan process
- Implementation of the energy efficiency plan
- Measuring the effects of the economic value of renewable energy sources
5 investments by partner countries:
- ventilation with heat recovery in the sports center (DE),
- energy efficiency measures for water pumps (PL),
- E-tree (SI, Pomurje),
- Establishing an energy renewable environment (HU),
- Establish energy efficiency in the administrative building in Čakovec (HR).
Communications about the project The goal is to inform the public about the results and progress on websites, promotional material based on the established communication strategy.
Partners: 11 partners (including two partners from Pomurje) and one associate partner from 6 Central European countries. Country: Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland.
Project value: €2.16 million. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and through the Interreg Central Europe 2014-2020 program in the amount of €1.82 million.
MATERIAL: RURES Press release