FEEDSCHOOLS

FEEDSCHOOLS

Financing environmental and energy efficiency in schools.

Project description

The EU target of reducing total emissions by 20 % by 2020 has been met with action by both the public and private sectors. In addition, the EU has issued a directive with a number of binding measures in the field of energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings. In Central Europe, a large part of the existing buildings were built before 1970 and these buildings do not comply with the required standards. Building renovation is necessary, but incentives are only provided to private investors. On the other hand, the renovation of public buildings is greatly hampered, as local authorities face severe budget constraints. Another obstacle is the lack of knowledge about the implementation, capabilities and cost characteristics of advanced components and systems for efficient building renovation. FEEDSCHOOLS aims to provide a new solution for local authorities with better and more favorable technical and financial conditions for the renovation of buildings into nearly zero-energy buildings. The low energy consumption required by these buildings is mostly obtained from renewable sources. The innovative approach involves the development of a transnational and comprehensive support tool with two user-friendly applications. The first is dedicated to energy efficiency assessment and environmental evaluation, the second shows financing models.

Three “pilots” will be developed in six regions, each comprising at least 48 energy audits, supervised by an international technical team. Preliminary plans for the renovation of existing schools will be prepared for each of the participating regions as “reference models” to increase the replicability of the project activities. The international and multidisciplinary expertise of the partnership will be fundamental to strengthen the knowledge of local energy managers and school technicians and will be transferred to their implementation of the activities.

Goals

The strategic objective of FEEDSCHOOLS is to facilitate the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive and to create the conditions for more municipalities, financial institutions and consultants to undertake a deep school renovation in the coming years. At this point, pilot activities will take place in associated or interconnected regions; they will include: energy audits of representative school buildings, preparation of preliminary renovation plans, calculation of carbon footprint, development of energy service models and financing schemes, training of energy managers, municipal staff and students, development of policy recommendations to overcome and identify barriers and integration of project results into municipal plans.

Programme: Interreg Central Europe

Project duration: 2017-2020

Project budget: EUR 2 million, ERDF: EUR 1.74 million