Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Interestingly, in Italy, despite the unclear reference framework, a smart 'bot-
tom-up' process involving the energy sector has started right from cities. Cities
from all over the country, from south to north, show their willingness to reduce
their environmental impact. Cities from the centre and from southern Italy (Lecce,
Taranto, Andria and Foggia in the Puglia region; and Arezzo in Tuscany, Terni in
Umbria, Latina in Lazio and Siracusa in Sicily), but also from northern Italy, such
as Modena in Emilia Romagna are starting to put money into new infrastructure
for efficient energy production and use.
An interesting case is the city of Modena, whose council joined the Covenant of
Mayors
8
in January 2010 and developed a Sustainable Energy Action Plan for the
Municipality of Modena with a financial support from the project come2CoM
(Intelligent Energy in Europe). The document was taking into account the inputs
from public and private stakeholders, to reach the goal of the Covenant of Mayors
to reduce the CO
2
emissions of 20 % by 2020.
Municipalities are typically strongly constrained by small financial resources.
To turn the Covenant of Mayors commitment from targets into concrete actions,
the Municipality (like Modena) has to look for alternative financing solutions.
Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) offers the Municipalities a solution to
start on the road to achieving 2020 goals. An EPC is a performance-based pro-
curement method and financial mechanism for building renewal. Utility bill savings,
resulting from the installation of new building systems reducing energy use, pay for
the cost of the building renewal project. A ''Guaranteed Energy Savings'' Perfor-
mance Contract obligates the contractor, a qualified Energy Services Company
(ESCO), to pay the difference if at any time the savings fall short of the guarantee
9
.
Prompt financial support for the implementation of the projects themselves
instead typically can be found using European funding (the city of Modena was
supported by ELENA
10
which is a technical assistance facility managed by the
European Investment Bank (EIB) and funded by EU budget). Projects seeking
funding must incorporate energy efficiency, local renewables and clean urban
transport.
According to the National action plan by 2020, for which renewable energy
should cover:
• 6.38 % of the energy needs for mobility and transportations;
• 28.97 % of the energy needs for electricity;
• 15.83 % of energy needs for heating and cooling.
Since more than 50 % of the energy consumed in Italy can be ascribed to cities
(residential and public services), in order to reach these goals, it is necessary that
the Italian government devises for cities a unique strategy and targets to be reached
by 2020.
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9
A deeper insight into the mechanism of EPC will be given in
Chap. 7
.
10
ELENA is a European project, which provides foundings to cities that invest in energy
efficiency. Modena, in Italy, is a good example of the application of this project
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