In focus

• 25 May 2011

  FREE calls on the European Commission to include rural areas in the scope of the Smart Cities and Communities Initiative

  The FREE initiative welcomes launch of the Smart Cities and Communities Initiative and calls upon the Commission not to concentrate the energy debate solely on cities but to either integrate rural communities into this proposal or create a separate initiative dedicated to ‘Smart Rural Communities’.

  At the EU stakeholders meeting on 21 June 2011 Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger officially launched the new Smart Cities and Communities Initiative. Participants could exchange their views about successful smart solutions and get an overview of the different available European instruments and activities. The FREE initiative contributed to the public consultation and participated in the discussion, calling on the European Commission to integrate rural areas in the scope of the Smart Cities and Communities Initiative or to create a separate initiative dedicated to Smart Rural Communities. Such a parallel programme for rural areas could commit rural communities to ambitious climate and energy targets. The opportunity to develop smart community initiatives in rural areas represents a huge opportunity both for carbon savings but also to improve the quality of life for rural citizens. FREE Supporter Euromontana adds “For example, mountain areas benefit from great resources of renewable energy that are still untapped. This is why policy measures targeted at those rural areas are needed to enhance the development of adapted energy policy.”

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• 7 September 2011

  FREE urges younger generation in Ireland to ‘Tell the Future’

  Following 2010’s successful FREE national road show which hosted a series of regional public debates involving Ireland’s politicians, rural organisations and people from the commercial, educational, environmental and community sectors, this year’s campaign has focussed on the decision-makers of tomorrow.

  Tell The Future’ encourages school children to write a short story about their ideas on how to power our homes, hospitals, factories and schools into the future. Launching the competitions, Aoibhinn explained: “Growing up, most of us will have imagined what it would be like to be in charge of everything - to make all of the rules and the big decisions. ‘Tell the Future’ has a strong environmental focus and gives primary school children a chance to express their ideas about how they see the future. As a teacher, I see firsthand the interesting ways in which young people sometimes think about the world. In school, I see the energy, enthusiasm and passion of young people who care for the environment and everyone around them. This competition seeks to tap into the creativity of our younger generation and give adults and legislators food for thought on providing energy for our future in a responsible way.”

  More to come about the winner.

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• 26 September 2011

  Rural Energy Day 2011

  On 21 September 2011, the second edition of the Rural Energy Day organised by the FREE initiative took place in Brussels. On this occasion, leading energy research institute Ecofys presented the results of its country studies 'Rural Energy in Europe' on rural  energy demand patterns and related greenhouse gas emissions. Throughout the day, this FREE calendar event attracted around 270 people from EU institutions, NGOs, energy and industry associations, regional authorities, rural and agricultural organisations.

  In the morning, the EU quarter was invited to ‘Experience Rural Europe’ at an informal mini rural fair at the European Parliament’s doorstep which demonstrated the best Europe’s countryside has to offer, whilst highlighting some key rural energy challenges these areas are particularly faced with. In the afternoon, the Rural Energy Day Conference hosted some 100 stakeholders at the Concert Noble to discuss today’s rural energy situation as presented by Ecofys, to draw initial conclusions and jointly pave the way to a sustainable lower carbon energy mix tomorrow. Members of the European Parliament, the Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions and a leading member of the European Economic and Social Committee agreed that the Ecofys findings ensure that policymakers can no longer ignore the current polluting energy situation in rural areas, nor the need for a transition to a decentralised, lower carbon energy system. All vowed to bring these results to the attention of the European Commission, their respective members and peers. The conference was concluded with a networking cocktail in the midst of an exhibition of rural energy challenges and solutions supported by 10 exhibitors from the FREE network.

  Interested in the Rural Energy Day Conference presentations - Click here for more information..

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• 10 January 2012

  Energy thieves are right there, at your home

  Small every day actions could increase energy efficiency at a household level and decrease electricity bills, advise Polish FREE experts. Despite this, almost one third of Poles do not undertake any actions to decrease energy use in their households, underlines a TNS OBOP study commissioned by the FREE initiative in Poland.

  FREE experts advise unplugging TVs and game consoles in addition to devices such as phone and laptops chargers, as even if not in use, they still consume electricity. FREE experts also share one of the oldest and simplest methods of saving electricity, and that is to always turn off lights when leaving an empty room...

  But energy is not only consumed in the form of electricity, it is also consumed in heating. As most heat is lost through insufficient insulation, it is important to introduce modern solutions at a household level. House owners can insulate external walls, replace old and leaking windows and upgrade their heating and ventilation systems. “Proper insulation and high tightness of the building combined with heat recovery ventilation can dramatically reduce households heating needs,” according to FREE expert, Dr. Arkadiusz Weglarz.

  It is also important to adjust the temperature in different rooms of the house, for instance by keeping a slightly lower temperature in the bedroom and rooms which are rarely used. “Lowering the temperature by one degree per household, will allow us to reduce the energy bill on average by 5-7%,” says Dr. Weglarz.

  Energy efficiency could also be increased by the employment of modern, safe and environmentally friendly energy solutions, such as heat pumps, cogeneration systems, solar, and hybrid systems which use Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Almost 50% of Poles believe that the use of low-carbon solutions brings tangible benefits to the environment, while nearly 41% believe it also reduces energy costs. Nearly 36% are convinced that low-carbon solutions help to improve air quality.

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• 1 February 2012

  FREE conducts energy audit of eight villages in the UK

  The FREE initiative organised energy audits of eight UK villages across eight low profile English regions.
  

  To provide additional information on all housing in the village, the FREE initiative distributed Audit Questionnaires. The questions varied from housing issues (i.e. type, insulation, heating system etc.) to social aspects (i.e. income level, benefit entitlement etc.).

  The aggregated physical audit and questionnaire results will be used to identify energy efficiency measures, which can be delivered to homes through the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT funding).

  CERT is a government scheme used to fund energy efficiency measures, such as cavity and loft insulation, which are installed into homes either free or charge where residents qualify through social or financial criteria, or at a subsidised cost.

  The results of the Audit show the diverse nature of housing types, income levels, and social demographics within rural communities. For example, the South West has a particular problem with high levels of second-home ownership, whilst Yorkshire & Humber has identified an estate village in extremely poor condition, owned by a local Lord.

  This information is particularly valuable in the run up to the ‘Green Deal’ regarding the special nature of rural housing and particularly the barriers to energy efficiency improvement in rural communities.

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• 13 February 2012

  Energy Efficiency in Rural Areas: Call for Action

  On Tuesday 14 February, Energy Ministers will discuss the Commission proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive. While discussions may focus on specific details of the proposal, the FREE initiative (Future of Rural Energy in Europe) wants to raise Member States' attention on one very simple fact: energy efficiency in rural areas is in a critical state and needs to be addressed.

  Rural households and small businesses face several disadvantages with regards to their energy use, particularly due to the nature of the building stock. Rural buildings are significantly older (in France, half of them predate 1950) and their renovation is more costly for their owners. When it comes to insulation for example, individual rural homes cannot benefit from the same benefits of scale that urban homes with multiple tenants may have. This situation, which applies to all Member States in various degrees, leads to higher fuel costs in rural areas, where the income per inhabitant is 21% to 62% lower.

  The Commission proposal unfortunately fails to take these challenges into consideration. To date, it has concentrated its efforts on cities, on the basis of their demographic importance and their contribution to half of greenhouse gas emissions. While FREE understands the Commission's logic, its members would like to rebalance the focus of EU-driven initiatives towards rural areas. For Member States, the benefits in terms of job creation at local level and CO₂ emissions reductions would be very significant. The impact on the lifestyles of rural communities could be even bigger. FREE believes that equal access to energy efficiency should be guaranteed to all citizens, wherever they are located.

  Rural and remote areas also present ideal conditions for the deployment of efficient forms of decentralised energy production in order to reduce energy losses along the grid. Through a combination of binding measures and policy recommendations, the EU has a role to play in providing the right framework for the deployment of clean and efficient technologies for end-users.

  For this to happen, some adjustments should be made to the proposal. For example, as part of Article 6, energy efficiency measures applied in predominantly rural areas (as defined by the OECD) could count double towards the achievement of the 1.5% annual energy saving target. This would encourage obligated parties to intensify their efforts in rural areas. Member States should remain free to designate obligated parties or take measures with an equivalent impact for rural areas.

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