In the period of 3rd to 4th of July 2024, Cooltorise Bulgarian partners co-organized a final dissemination event. The topic of the event was “Joining efforts to combat climate changes – Bulgarian energy stakeholders to discuss approaches, ways, and measures to deal with problems caused by climate changes”. The event was organized in city of Gabrovo, Bulgaria.
On the first working day, training of municipal officials to create energy communities was carried out. The legal aspects of energy communities and the relations between EU members were examined. Some good practices were also introduced by a representative of Sofia Energy Agency.
The ONE-STOP SHOP platform was also presented. A discussion about the center for guidance, for training, and for opportunities was commented on.
On the next working day, a panel was dedicated to energy poverty, which included energy initiatives implemented in Bulgaria.
During Panel 1 which was called “The Mayors Speak”, the event started with a welcome speech by the Mayor of the Municipality of Gabrovo. The measures of INPEC project were considered as an opportunity for the development of local business models. The Head of “Climate Change Coordination” clarified the role of local authorities in climate policies.
Technological solutions and business models for the development of heat and power transmission networks, photovoltaic and heat pump installations as well as building automation were proposed. Then a panel discussion with local authority representatives was organized.
Panel 2 “City and local governments in the fight against climate change” included in its first part the following topics: “A model for municipal energy management services”, “Modelling and investment concepts in zero energy urban areas”, and good practices for creating energy communities. The second part was emphasizing on at energy efficiency and renewable energy sources initiatives.
During panel 3, the role of integrated energy renovation services in residential buildings for decarbonisation at a local level was discussed on the round table.
In Panel 4: “Approaches and methods to combat energy poverty” various projects related to energy poverty were presented.
Mr. Georgi Simeonov from the Association CSEG, who is also a Communication manager of Cooltorise, represented the Cooltorise project, its main activities, as well as the outcomes that were generated during the 3 working years of the project. The key conclusions coming from the project were also presented and put at a roundtable discussion with the Bulgarian stakeholders:
- The past few summer seasons have broken all temperature records, and the forecast is for this trend to continue. It is increasingly important to work on heat adapting measures for the population in Europe.
- The activities related to summer energy poverty are complex and complicated because they involve variables related to the built urban environment, surrounding infrastructure and behavioral patterns of the population.
- The urban environment is key to fight with energy poverty in summer. Reducing urban heat has a positive impact on indoor thermal comfort.
- Recovering the value of the culture of heat, popular knowledge, and intergenerational learning is important for adaptation.
- Bulgarian municipal plans for sustainable energy (EE and RES) should start to foresee measures to combat the heat in summer, not only measures aimed at energy poverty in winter.
Panel 5 included trainings on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources (RES) for technicians.
During the workshop, in Panel 6: “Innovative tools for energy efficiency in buildings”, an assessment of the intelligent readiness of buildings and intelligent management of buildings in Bulgaria was made.
The conference finished with an open discussion on the topic: “Perspectives on the introduction of the Smart Building Readiness Indicator (SRI)”.
More than 90 Bulgarian stakeholders joined this high level event. These were mainly representatives of public authorities, energy agencies and energy actors, environmental institutions and NGOs, research and academia representatives, industry representatives, civil organizations, etc.
Presentation from the conference
