CONCERTO shows good exeamples for energy efficient urban development

Since 2005, the European Union has co-financed 22 projects in 58 cities in the scope of the EU CONCERTO initiative. The objective of these project s is to build and renovate buildings in an energy efficient manner and to utilise renewable energy sources in an intelligent mix. This is a commitment that pays off, as was demonstrated in Brussels at the EU Sustainable Energy Week.

Here, CONCERTO Premium held a workshop to present the initial findings of the detailed analysis of the individual projects. Examples of the redesign of entire urban districts were displayed, from which other European towns, cities and communities can learn. For instance, Laurent Gaillard, responsible for urban planning in the French city of Grenoble, reported on the experience of constructing a sustainable district at the heart of the city.

The focus in Grenoble lay on the large-scale renovation of buildings with regard to energy efficiency which was also joined by pioneering new structures. “Without the strict requirements and framework of CONCERTO, the constant monitoring, we would never have been successful,” said Gaillard.

Grenoble is certainly not resting on its laurels and the city is continuing along this chosen path: 1st March 2013 saw the launch of the Smart Cities project, ZenN. “The goal of CONCERTO was to develop reproducible solutions and approaches at district level. The aim is now to tackle the redesign of entire towns and cities. Upscaling this to cities”, stated Sven Dammann of the Directorate General for Energy at the European Commission, explaining the interrelation between the CONCERTO initiative and the Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership. The CONCERTO projects have paved the way for this Innovation Partnership, which got underway in July 2012.

European cities and communities benefit from CONCERTO on their path towards becoming a Smart City. This is due to the fact that the experience, as well as the technical, commercial and political knowledge that was generated in the 58 pilot cities and communities, is processed in numerous different ways before being made public. One important channel in this is the CONCERTO initiative`s website: www.concerto.eu

Amongst other things, this also includes the CONCERTO database which holds detailed information and data about the buildings and energy supply facilities that are components of the projects.

Additionally, this website also offers various other information such as guidelines for monitoring and the definition of indicators, recommended action and practical examples of the use of technology.

A further valuable source of information is the annual CONCERTO conference, to be held in Brussels on 22nd and 23rd October. Here, practitioners and decision makers, in the field of urban planning, have the opportunity to obtain information directly from their colleagues from the CONCERTO cities and communities, and indeed to learn from them.

Contact:
CONCERTO Premium:
Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum
Valerie Bahr and Charlotte Schlicke
Tel: +49-711-123 4021, Tel: +49-711-123 4018,
E-mail: concertopremium@steinbeis-europa.de

The CONCERTO Initiative is co-financed by the European Commission through the European Research Framework Programme. The EU initiative of DG Energy has co-funded 58 communities in 22 projects in 23 countries and started in 2005.
The CONCERTO Premium team:
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Weitere Informationen:

http://www.concerto.eu – CONCERTO website
http://www.concerto.eu/concerto/blog.html – CONCERTO blogs
http://www.youtube.com/user/CONCERTOPREMIUM – YouTube
https://twitter.com/concertopremium – Twitter
http://concerto.eu/concerto/news-and-events/news-events-press-releases.html: This release is available in 10 languages