A total of 1,000 cities in Europe lead the way in revamping energy usability by proposing different models to reduce pollution, according to a climate agency.
A European coalition – called Energy Cities – of local authorities from 30 countries, acts as a watchdog for energy transition and reduction in carbon dioxide emission. The consortium has been putting forward various energy transition initiatives expected to be replicated at a larger scale across Europe.
"Energy Cities tries to influence European legislation in the way that cities can implement the energy transition on site,” explained Eckard Würzner, president of Energy Cities, in a statement.
“The association helps understand complex European legislation, supports funding of measures and programmes and encourages the member cities to participate in European-wide projects."
According to Würzner, the progress in pollution reduction is visible, but more needs to be done to ensure that such programmes are successes. To promote achievements better European and national frameworks are required, he said.
“Unfortunately European policies do not always coincide with local requirements, challenges and capabilities."
One such initiative is the EU-funded project CITyFiED, where districts in three different countries are provide with tailored energy and heating systems, each according to their climate region, in a bid to save up energy.
A total of 2,328 houses will have new systems installed in Sweden, Spain and Turkey aiming to save up to 50 per cent of the energy requirements.
"We are implementing innovative systems in order to cover all energy demands of the buildings with biomass, solar or thermal energy, in parallel with a drastic reduction of the thermal demand installing high-performance insulation solutions in the buildings,” said Sergio Sanz, project coordinator in Spain.
The European Union’s objective is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions with 20 per cent by 2020.