Project summary Name of the case study Municipal Energy Efficiency Programme, Municipality of Gabrovo Where is it located? Bulgaria What type of activity is it? Renovation of the city energy infrastructure Short description of the case study The case presents an integrated evaluation approach applied to the elaboration and implementation of Municipal Energy Efficiency Programmes in Bulgaria. All stages of the process, from the initial gathering of information to the implementation of particular projects are concerned. The methodology is developed as an initiative of EnEffect and the Municipality of Gabrovo in order to overcome estimated general shortcomings at the municipal level: (i) estimated low energy efficiency; (ii) bad technical conditions of the sector infrastructure; (iii) insufficiency of experts.
The overall development of the project provides two important points of reference:
• International cooperation and outside financial support - they were crucial at the starting point of the project; Bulgarian potential at both national and municipal level developed in the meantime; Bulgarian experience was later on disseminated to other countries from Centre and Eastern Europe (CEE) region.
• The project was successful in creating a basis of its own – it developed the human potential, the institutional capacity and the instruments needed (including evaluation tools and database); missing data on energy consumption at the municipal level was continuously filled-in during a period of 10 years.
The Programme provides for a good combination of long-term goals and visible short-term effects. Its implementation supposes actions with clear results that were integrally estimated. The effects of the programme implementation were: 3.6 times less municipal consumption of energy in the city of Gabrovo, considerable reduction of GHG emission and the same time better quality of life for the whole community.
The effective implementation of the project and the dissemination of the experience throughout the country led to the establishment of a nation-wide municipal EcoEnergy network and stimulated legislation changes at the national level.
This case study is related to ‘the security of energy supply’ (PETUS key-issues in energy sector) What tools were used to assess sustainability? Ranking Criteria for Priority Assessment (RCPA) More information
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