Energy Neighbourhoods 2

It is the second enlarged and improved edition of an IEE project, awarded in 2010 by ManagEnergy, promoting energy saving in housing as a bet between local governments of cities and citizens, by which the latter needs to reduce its energy consumption by 9% in a given period.

Project launch: May 2011

Duration: 30 months
Coordinator: B. & S.U. mbH Berlin
Partner in Romania: Alba Local Energy Agency - ALEA.
Consortium Partners: 16 of 16 countries.
Key Players: Consortium partners, municipalities, support organizations (eg housing associations, utility companies, etc.).
Target groups: residents, municipalities, policy makers (local departments, regional, etc.
EN2 Project Objectives:

• Consumer information and involvement in activities that lead to behavior change in terms of energy consumption;
• Raising awareness of citizens on energy efficient products;
• Reduced energy consumption and reduced CO2 emissions;
• Involving local authorities in the fight to reduce energy consumption, contribution to European policies on energy saving.

Alba Local Energy Agency, is the Romanian partner in the project "Sustainable Timber Action in Europe" funded by the European Commission.

Objectives:

Overall objective

- Contribute to the reduction of deforestation and forest degradation (DFD) and support the MDGs through the promotion and implementation of sustainable forest management (FM) and Fair Trade (FT) standards with main focus on public procurement policies and practices.

Specific objective(s)
- Raise public awareness on the impact of non-sustainable and unfair production and consumption of timber (products) on DFD, affecting in particular forest communities, indigenous peoples and small producers.
- Build capacity and promote the adoption of sustainable FM and FT as key instruments to contribute to reducing DFD and achieving the MDGs.
- Reach a critical mass of >100 European local authorities (LAs) that systematically implement fair & sustainable timber procurement policies (FSTP) and train >110 timberrelated SMEs on sustainable FM.

Duration: 30 months

Associate in Romania (in addition to the partner - HE) Forestry Department Alba, Forestry Department Maramures Maramures National Park

Program: Europe Aid - non-governmental actors and local authorities in development.

"Renewable Energy - ALEA 2010 Fair "

During 25th - 26th September, the third edition of ALEA Fair  - 2010  was held .
This year the participating companies were given the chance to sell some of the products displayed.
Companies offered visitors promotional materials and objects in a tombola organised at the end of the second day.There were 15 exhibitors among them ALEA was able to identify 5 sponsors. As a novelty, Honda brought two hybrid cars, displayed  in Alba Iulia for the first time.
There was also an Inventors stand, where we proudly mention the presence of Justin Capra the famous Romanian inventor.
Also, during the fair an event for kindergarten children was organised, namely a show where they gave artistic performances, all related to energy saving.
Moreover, The International Automobile Federation organized an exhibition stand outside the pavilion as well. Dozens of bikes were displayed and  many children took part in a bicycle march on a route around Alba Iulia.

Energy Masterplan of Alba County

Main objective  of  ALEA's activities, the energy Masterplan of Alba county is to become an indispensable tool in achieving sustainable development plans at local and county level.

This document will deal with all energy issues: access to reliable energy, economic competitiveness, reduction  of environmental pollution due to rational use of energy.

The Masterplan was elaborated according to strategic documents at European and national level and it is based primarily on data / information collected from local governments and relevant institutions dealing with energy. It was correlated with other existing strategic documents at county level such as: the strategy for the development of the county, the local environmental action plan of the county, the waste management plan of the county, etc.

In the elaboration of the Masterplan the principles followed were: increasing energy efficiency in all types of human activity, use of renewable energy sources where their potential had already been identified, systematic promotion of energy management.

The impact of the implementation of the Masterplan will be monitored and evaluated with development indicators: the decrease in energy intensity, the amount of emissions of greenhouse gases but also the share of green energy in the energy total.

Status of the Masterplan: Finalised, currently waiting for the approval of The National Agency for Environmental Protection

Alba County has a wind map

Alba is the first county that has a wind map. The map was made after the professional measurements carried out for eight months,  whose results were combined with historical data of existing weather stations, data regarding Alba County area. The existence of this map is a result of cooperation between Alba County Council and GTZ.

Read more

Meeting of the consortium of the three partner agencies, created under the "Intelligent Energy Europe"

Consortium of the three partner agencies, created under the "Intelligent Energy Europe” On the 1st and 2nd June 2010, Alba Local Energy Agency organized a consortium meeting of the three partner agencies, created under the "Intelligent Energy Europe. On this occasion, Alba Local Energy Agency, Agence Energies Manche (France) and Aegean Energy Agency (Greece) analysed the fulfilment of the common projects and exchanged experience. The meeting agenda also included other important topics as:

• the involvement of the agencies in the Covenant of Mayors - a  representative project at  European level in which municipalities over 1,700 battle together against pollution
• the identification of a new common project for the consortium partners
• financial sustainability of the three agencies in the period of the post European funding

The Consortium meeting was also attended by the project coordinator Argyraki Vassili, Agence Energies Manche was represented by Director Guy Flucha whereas The Aegean Energy Agency by Alexis Chatzimpiros. Also, the meetings were attended by Ionut Voicu, lecturer at the Genie Energy Thermie et Université de Caen Basse-Normandie.

In addition to reaching the objectives, the meeting was also a cultural exchange opportunity; the guests were impressed by the beauty of Alba Iulia and the surrounding area.

The Consortium Meeting annual meeting is hosted alternately by each of the three partners  Agence Manche Energies(France), Alba Local Energy Agency (Romania) and Aegean Energy Agency (Greece). The first meeting took place at the beginning of the project in France, in Saint Lo.

About ALEA - Alba Local Energy Agency

ALEA - Alba Local Energy Agency  is a non-governmental organization founded in order to contribute to the sustainable development of Alba county by improving the current situation in energy efficiency, energy management and promotion of energy from renewable sources.

ALEA was founded in 2008 by the EIE/TYPE2/07/211 project applied by a consortium composed of 3 local authorities (General Council of La Manche department - France, the Alba County Council - Romania and Municipality Ios - Greece) in the program Intelligent Energy - Europe (IEE) of the European Commission. ALEA was officially launched on April 16, 2008 at the Alba County Council.