Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the national territory of the principles of urban sustainability through an integrated
approach to the various sectors (building renovation, sustainable mobility, high-
efficiency lighting, citizens awareness raise, etc.), bringing as added value an
engine for economic and image recovery of many local communities (Lumicisi
2013
).
5.2.1
The Case of the Sicilian Region
The involvement of local political authorities, but also of citizens and business, is
of fundamental importance within the energy policies of the Sicilian Region. The
Covenant of Mayors is just one of the major tools for a broad involvement of
municipalities to reach energy savings targets and to increase renewable energy
systems.
Sicily, in fact, is the only region in Italy that is putting in place a funding
scheme for municipalities wishing to sign the Covenant of Mayors agreement. The
funding is proportional to the number of citizens of the municipality.
The financial support is given for the definition of the Basic Inventory of
Emissions (BEI) and the Sustainability Energy Action Plan (SEAP) to reach the
reduction of CO
2
emissions of about 20 % as compared to a given reference year.
Analysing the SEAP approved by the JRC
2
for Italy, it is evident that more than
50 % of the municipal administrations has included among the actions of their
SEAP the modification of the building code, showing that such tool is quite
important to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and concretely produce a
reduction of CO
2
emissions.
The yearly report about the energy audit of the Sicilian Region (Energy Report
2012
, elaborated by the Energy Department of the Sicilian Region) provides
evidence about how much the building sector is a central issue in the energy policy
of the region.
From the analysis of the gross final energy consumptions in Sicily for years
2010-2011, it can be observed how over the total, a percentage of 45 % can be
attributed to liquid fuels deriving from oil, 32 % to natural gas consumption and
22 % to the consumption of electrical energy.
From this short analysis, it can be pointed out that the Sicilian industry is
strongly characterized by ''Energy Intensive'' industries (Refineries, Petrol-
Chemical, Cement, etc.), which are not likely, for their production needs, to reduce
their consumption. For these sectors a deeper insight is needed to understand what
might be the margin of improvement. It is thus clear that to achieve the targets set
out in the ''Burden Sharing Decree'' (Italian Ministerial Decree March 15th
2012
),
it is necessary to operate in other sectors which make up about 65 % of the entire
energy consumption in the region.
2
The Joint Research Centre is within the Covenant of Mayors the european institute for the
validation of the SEAP that are elaborated and presented by the municipalities.
