LSAP Csíkszereda - RE

Local strategy and action plan
Miercurea Ciuc, Romania
June, 2014.
László CSÁK, PhD, PgCert
CDC Consulting SRL
RE-SEEties: Towards resource efficient urban
communities in SEE
Local strategy and action plan
2
Contents
1.
The national and local framework..................................................................................... 4
1.1. National goals and strategies............................................................................................ 4
1.2. Local energy and waste management strategies and policies ........................................ 10
1.3. Recommendations for improvement of local policies ..................................................... 11
1.4. Weakness and mapped improvements in existing SEAP ................................................. 11
2.
The city case study ........................................................................................................... 12
2.1. General information about the city/municipality ............................................................ 12
2.2. Mission and objectives..................................................................................................... 17
2.3. Key stakeholders .............................................................................................................. 18
3.
Application of the common RE-SEEties methodology to the local case study ................. 19
3.1. Building the data input at city level ................................................................................. 19
3.2. Applying the toolkit ......................................................................................................... 19
3.3. Getting results ................................................................................................................. 20
4.
Technological measures for improvements of local infrastructure ................................. 25
4.1. Energy efficiency measures .............................................................................................. 25
4.2. Utilization of renewable energy sources .......................................................................... 30
4.3 Waste management .......................................................................................................... 34
4.3.1 Waste prevention ........................................................................................................... 34
4.3.2 Integrated waste management systems ........................................................................ 34
4.3.3 Waste to energy ............................................................................................................. 34
5.
Measures for changing behavior of consumers on local level......................................... 35
5.1 Energy efficiency ................................................................................................................ 35
5.2 Renewable energy sources ................................................................................................ 35
5.3 Waste prevention and management ................................................................................. 36
6.
Expected results/effects of taken measures .................................................................... 37
7. Financing mechanisms for implementation of measures and endorsement process ......... 38
7.1.EU funding ......................................................................................................................... 38
7.2. Regional development banks and specialized funds ........................................................ 38
7.3. National funding ............................................................................................................... 38
8. Policy recommendations...................................................................................................... 40
9. Conclusion - SWOT ............................................................................................................... 41
10. Monitoring and control of the action plan implementation.............................................. 43
11. References ......................................................................................................................... 44
1.
The national and local framework
1.1. National goals and strategies
In order to get a clearer picture on the energy related issues of Miercurea Ciuc, first
we need an insight into the main trends and policies at the national level. Policy
research has shown that in Romania, analysis of trends allows a more realistic
understanding than the sometimes formal and declarative policy documents.
In Romania there is a certain decreasing trend in power generation at national level,
due to a low growth in the industrial sector. The RES (renewable energy sources)use
is quite high, mainly due to the huge hydro potential of the country which has been
exploited for power generation since the communist period – large scaled hydro
plants are located mainly on the river Danube and at the Tarnita mountainious hydro
complex in Cluj county. There is also a 1GW installed capacity pumped hydro plant
under construction in the Tarnita valley.
Fig. 1. Share of renewable energy in transport
Source: EUROSTAT
Fig. 1 shows that the share of RES in the Romanian transport sector has had an
almost increasing trend between 2004 and 2010, while it decreased to 2% in 2011,
which is nearly the half of EU28 average. As Romania has an agricultural potential
comparable with that of Poland and Germany, there is an opportunity of growth in
this respect, because these member states use more RES in transport mainly based
on agricultural byproducts or energy crops driven biofuels.
4
Fig. 2. Share of renewable energy in power generation
Source: EUROSTAT
As we see RES share in power generation is around 30% even in the long term, so
electricity in Romania has a much lower carbon impact than in other member states,
even if the EU28 average is catching up, its trend’s growth value is higher than that
of Romania. We can also conclude that the slight growth in RES share in Romania
coupled with the decrease in power generation means that RES related electricity is
not growing in the given period – on the other hand recent investments in on-shore
wind turbine parks in the south of the country can change the pattern: less hydro
share but growing RES share due to new WT farms and solar PV plants.
If we compare 2001 and 2010 values, see Fig. 3., we can find some information on
the trend before the decrease in power demand started. In 2010, CHP decreased,
hydro supported the peak in power demand, and nuclear was boosted. The
Cernavoda CANDU type nuclear plant is planned to be doubled in the future, so in
this context Romanian power generation policy seems to be based on conventional
large scale hydro, pumped hydro, nuclear, high efficiency natural gas (OMV recently
commissioned its multi-megawatt CCGT at its Ploiesti site), and harvesting its WT and
solar PV potential at a low level. We may also add that the CHP technology was
present since the seventies, but these sub-systems were closed down almost
everywhere and the Cernavoda waste heat use for district heating of the nearby
town is almost a unique example.
5
Fig. 3. Gross power generation in GWh
Gross power generation in GWh
20 000
18 000
16 000
14 000
12 000
10 000
8 000
6 000
4 000
2 000
0
2001
2010
Nuclear
Hydro
Pumped
Hydro
Wind
Source: EUROSTAT
Fig. 4. Share of renewable in heating and cooling
Source: EUROSTAT
6
Combustible
CHP
Fuels
Combustible
Fuels
The heating sector is the most important for a town with an average HDD (heating
degree-days) at 15,5 oC of 3530 (15% higher than Stockholm). In the case of Romania
the high share of RES in heating is a symptom of an underdeveloped economy and
society because it is fire wood almost in every case, while in other member states
the originally low level has changed into growth due to investments in the RES
sector, mainly by means of active solar solutions.
Fig. 5. District heating in Romania
District heating (100%=1993)
140%
1.213511872
1.103025953
0.997233573
0.392992822
0.643478741
0.563942573
0.367807841
0.749745997 0.3208172280.39350635
0.417785754
0.665129763
0.562363335
25.60%
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
0.452352292
20%
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
0%
Source: INS TEMPO
On Fig. 5 one may see that DH (district heating) is declining in Romania where there
are entire towns where the DH system has been shut down completely. Climate
change is not the driver of this change: previous DH investments in the era of
„systematization” focused on low investment cost and high DH penetration, while
O&M costs were not taken into account. In this context in most of the towns in
Romania, with low HDD and as a consequence, lower heat demand, HDs were closed
and decommissioned, forcing citizens to find individual ways of heating and HW
(domestic hot water). Inappropriate legal framework also supported DH decrease as
there are no binding regulations prohibiting individual heating and HW where DH is
functioning – even in the case of blocks of flats.
Fig. 6. Emission, GDP and power generation
7
CO2 emission, GDP and power generation
(100%=2000)
165%
155%
145%
135%
125%
115%
105%
95%
85%
CO2 emission
GDP
Electricity produced
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Source: EUROSTAT
In Fig. 6 CO2 trend of CO2 emissions, GDP and generated electricity are compared. It is easily
seen that there is a positive trend in CO2 emission due to relevant policies applied in this
respect after launching the EU accession process. There is a strong correlation between GDP
growth and electricity produced, but Romanian economy and industry is not that power
intensive, so GDP growth rate is higher than that of the carbon emission. One can also add
that the global crisis hit the economy in 2008, the fact is reflected not just in GDP decline,
but also in power generation and carbon context.
Generally, the Romanian policy documents mainly focus on energy efficiency,
sustainable housing, RES growth but they do not provide appropriate means to reach
these targets. In particular:
-
-
PV (photovoltaic), WT (wind turbine) and micro hydro subsidies` system is
changing several times (green certificates system)
RES investment support from ERDF was designed at very low level
CHP is out of scope
Low quality and design thermal insulation of blocks of flats had been financed
by the state, local authorities and owners, continued with serious ERDF
funding allocation, dealing only with the building envelope and windows
In the 2014-2020 programming period energy efficiency will be supported
through an extension of the block insulation program and adding energy
efficiency measures for public buildings
Official EU2020 targets of Romania as declared to the European Commission:
-
24% RES share in final energy consumption
43% RES share in power generation
10% RES share in transport
22% RES share in heating and cooling
20% growth in energy efficiency
19% growth in GHG (greenhouse gas) emission
8
9
1.2. Local energy and waste management strategies
and policies
In Miercurea Ciuc, there are no local strategies or policies at the level of the
municipality, but there is a waste management investment project with a deadline in
2015 which deals with the collection of all the municipal waste and its transportation
to a landfill in the municipality of Remetea, about 75 km north from the town. The
county level landfill mainly accepts selected waste, so there are necessary steps in
selecting waste in order to boost recycling.
Electronic waste is collected separately by an authorized company.
The problem is that the quantity of waste is low due to low population and low level
of income. In this context the only feasible solution can be biogas production from
organic waste, but the necessary infrastructure is not yet present or even designed.
The municipality`s original landfill is closed, decommissioning and covering it is part
of the county level waste management project. Setting the system’s boundaries on
the municipal territory any GHG emission from waste management will tend to zero
in the municipality – in a local action plan and strategy GHG caused by waste
transport to the regional landfill cannot be taken into account, so in the case of
waste only local pollution of collecting and transporting waste from households and
organizations to the local waste management unit – which has a quite low impact
and share in the energy use and pollution of the town.
At the county level waste management site landfill gas will be collected and burned,
no investment has been foreseen for biogas or syngas production.
10
1.3. Recommendations
policies
for
improvement
of
local
The municipality in close cooperation with the county level relevant agency should
put the emphasis on the following:
- Build networks with municipalities dealing with similar issues (ageing and declining
population, size, climate, environment).
- Create local partnership for EE and RES.
- Take fuel poverty seriously.
- Calculate twice instead of investing in badly designed projects.
- Improve urbanism related activities with EE and RES approach.
- Help the population avoiding low quality technologies.
- Support local and zonal economy developing the EE-RES sector.
1.4. Weakness and mapped improvements in existing
SEAP
There is no SEAP for the municipality. The municipality has joined the Covenant of
Mayors and the SEAP will be adopted as soon as possible, but not later than the end
of 2014.
11
2.
2.1.
The city case study
General information about the city/municipality
Miercurea Ciuc is a small town, located in the Centru region of Romania. Its
territorial context is shown on the map below.
Map 1
Source: Google Earth Pro licence
The population is rapidly changing since 1990, the average yearly decrease is 0.75%,
slightly getting better after 2002. For details see figure 7.
Fig. 7
Population change (100%=1990)
1
0.98
0.96
0.94
0.92
0.9
0.88
0.86
0.84
0.82
Harghita
Romania
Miercurea Ciuc
Linear (Miercurea Ciuc)
y = -0.0075x + 1.0005
Source: INS TEMPO
12
Fig. 8.
Age groups in 1990 and 2013
7000
6000
5000
4000
1990
3000
2013
2000
1000
0
Source: INS TEMPO
The age structure of the population has changed a lot: the number of children and
young people is almost half of the value in 1990, while the 50+ group has grown
significantly, their number more than doubled. It means that Miercurea Ciuc has a
decreasing ageing population. In 2020 Miercurea Ciuc is going to have less then 38k
inhabitant – see calculated trend figure 9.
Fig. 9
Population change - 1991-2013-2020
50000
45000
40791
40000
37920.69
35000
30000
25000
trend
20000
statistical
15000
10000
5000
0
Source: INS TEMPO
13
Fig. 10
Dwellings in Miercurea Ciuc
200
150
100
50
0
2002
2003
2004
2005
building permits
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
change in the number of dwellings
Source: INS TEMPO
There were 16,383 dwellings in Miercurea Ciuc in 2012. On the above figure one can
observe that the yearly number of building permits had been increasing before the
start of the crisis in 2008, but now the trend is negative.
Given the fact that Miercurea Ciuc has very low quality housing conditions (at least in
EU28 context), the low change in housing has a bad influence on the quality of life.
At least 30% of individual dwellings are ready for demolishing (not suitable for
refurbishment). Poor housing conditions are present also in the case of collective
blocks of flats.
The economic performance of the town is low and it has a decreasing trend. During
the period between 1995-2005 the share in the county`s economy was around 30%
although it decreased to about 22% in 2011 (figure 11). The low and decreasing
economic performance is reflected in the decrease of power and natural gas sold to
industrial and economic users. The bad news is that even if the economic trend
seems to stop declining in 2011 (the last verifiable data at local level), the use of
power and natural gas continued to decrease.
All in all, Miercurea Ciuc has an ageing population characterized by a 0.75% per
annum decrease, a decreasing and low economic activity, and this latter causes low
employment level, low wages and as a result high fuel poverty. The fuel poverty
issue is highlighted also by the extreme heating conditions, see also Fig. 12.
14
Fig. 11
Main urban settlements` share
in the economy of the county
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
2006
2007
Gheorgheni
2008
2009
Odorheiu Secuiesc
2010
2011
Miercurea Ciuc
Source: listafirme database license
Fig. 12
HDD per week at 288,5 K in the last 36 months
250
200
150
100
50
1
7
13
19
25
31
37
43
49
55
61
67
73
79
85
91
97
103
109
115
121
127
133
139
145
151
157
0
Source: BizEEE Degree Days
Miercurea Ciuc has 3530 HDD per annum at 15.5 oC. The weekly breakdown is
represented in figure 12. There are only a few regions in Europe with similar heating
needs: Oslo, Karelia, Ostra Mellansverige, Bolzano have similar heating needs – to
15
put it into context, in Budapest and Nitra one may calculate with approx. 2000 HDD,
and in Ptuj with 1900 HDD.
In this respect it is clear that district heating and heating in general should be in the
focus of any local energy efficiency plan.
The administrative structure of the town can be resumed as follows:
-
-
Local administrative unit (LAU)
Capital of Harghita county
Second rank town as defined in the national territorial development plan
Local elected body: local council with directly elected councilors
Mayor: also directly elected
No appropriate unit in the town hall dealing with energy issues
LAU owned companies in this respect:
 Goscom: DH
 Csik Trans: public transport (bus lines)
Technical knowledge and capacity building welcomed at the town hall and
also in owned companies.
16
2.2.
Mission and objectives
Previous achievements:
-
new public transport design: new lines and recently procured used buses
new, insulated pipes for the DH
new boilers for the DH
1.3% biomass share in DH
refurbishment of a 15k m2 school
cycle route network launched
Major obstacles of increasing energy efficiency
-
very low acceptance of the DH company
low quality housing
low level of awareness
no appropriate public policy at national or regional level
high level of fuel poverty
The main objectives of the present strategy are:
-
identifying innovative solutions
European good practices
fighting fuel poverty
create new job opportunities
raising energy efficiency awareness, building partnership
improving housing conditions
improving comfort in public buildings
17
2.3.
Key stakeholders
The key stakeholders identified are as follows:
-
LRA




-
the municipality and the town hall itself
county council
the county level energy management agency
environmental agency (state)
Suppliers

-
LRA owned suppliers
 Harviz for water and sewage
 Goscom for DH
 Csik Trans for public transport
 Eco Csik for waste management
 Private suppliers
 E.ON for natural gas
 Electrica Furnizare TS for power
Designers (in order to design steps forward to sustainable housing and green
urbanism)
NGOs (environmental, cycling and civic)
The local community was consulted by the following means:
-
-
Quantitative survey carried out in spring 2014
Online questionnaire for target groups:
 Living in blocks of flats
 Living in individual houses
 Quick survey for those with less time
 Civil servants working in public buildings (like schools,
hospitals)
Public hearing in order to collect ideas and comments.
Online communication using the cdc2020.com website.
The participatory approach had a major impact on the strategy and action plan.
There is a certain passive character of the state agency responsible for
environmental issues, and surprisingly public companies run by the municipality
were reluctant to take part in discussions. On the other hand the online consultation
and the workshop with architects were of great quality and inspiring.
18
3.
3.1.
Application of the common RE-SEEties methodology
to the local case study
Building the data input at city level
Data sources used are as follows:
First approach:
Collecting data from public institutions and suppliers – the expert identified lack of
correct data, in some cases the dimensions were mixed.
Second approach:
INS TEMPO database (national statistics)
Data from suppliers (to check INS)
Other reliable data sources: EUROSTAT, listafirme, bizEEE, JRC
Surveying the population (proposed by the lead partner)
Online surveys to collect information on behaviour, views, assessments of locals
The second approach should be used also for monitoring purposes.
3.2.
Applying the toolkit
No information on the toolkit application or findings have been provided yet by the
local project partner.
Due to the unavailability of microdata very rough estimations had to be made by the
relevant county level agency, which were incompatible with the toolkit and also
inaccurate. To keep the trustability of the study it was wiser to use internationally
accepted statistical methods.
All data were analysed using internationally accepted statistical methods and
licensed software. The expert involved is responsible for the accuracy of the results.
19
3.3.
Getting results
In the present section we can get an insight in the energy sector of Miercurea Ciuc.
The main source of energy is fire wood, followed by natural gas, electric power and
transport fuels – if one takes into account only their CO2 emission. Wood burnt is
usually collected from forests around the town, with a maximum transport distance
of 30 km, respecting forest handling regulations, so using wood for heating, cooking
and DHW (domestic hot water) is a nearly CO2-neutral activity (a very small amount
of carbon can be associated with forestry, harvesting, transport).
Fig. 13
Annual electricity use
120000000
100000000
80000000
other types
60000000
households
40000000
20000000
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Source: Electrica Furnizare TS
On the one hand the power used by SMEs and industrial users is rapidly declining, as
we mentioned in the case study section, due to the economic decline of the town.
On the other hand electricity supplied to households is increasing with an average
growth rate of 4.4%, higher than the decrease rate of other users. (The 2011 data on
Fig. 13 is surely wrong, but the company could not tell what caused the error.) For
the household-economy split in power consumption see Fig. 14.
20
Fig. 14
Electricity sold (100%=2003)
1.8
1.6
y = 0.0447x + 1.0583
1.4
households
1.2
others
Linear (households)
1
Linear (others)
y = -0.0393x + 1.2075
0.8
0.6
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Source: Electrica Furnizare TS
Given the fact that power use of the households is increasing while the population is
decreasing, using the trends we calculated in the economic section and the present
section, we see that compared to 2012 a 30% increase of the power use per
household is foreseen, see Fig. 15.
Fig. 15
Annual power consumption of households
[kWh/capita]
1 960.59
1900
1700
1500
1300
1100
900
958.23
Source: CDC
The per capita power consumption has a higher growth rate than the per household
value, because power consumption is growing faster than the decrease observed in
the number of inhabitants , see Fig. 16 for trends.
21
Fig. 16
Annual power consumption of households
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
kWh/capita
kWh/household
Source: CDC
DH is the most significant energy use in the town, thanks to extreme HDD levels.
Surprisingly the DH thermic energy supplied to the population is decreasing, see Fig.
17. The DH trend is in line with member state level decrease, which means that local
policies could not correct member state level policy failures.
Fig. 17
District heating (100%=1993)
140%
120%
100%
80%
Miercurea Ciuc
60%
Romania
40%
20%
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
0%
Source: INS TEMPO
22
Fig. 18
District heating and natural gas consumption of
households (100%=2004)
1.2
y = 0.0396x + 0.7942
1.1
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
y = -0.0613x + 0.9771
0.4
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
natural gas
district heating
Linear (natural gas)
Linear (district heating)
2013
Source: INS TEMPO
The main cause of the decrease in DH energy supply is that in blocks of flats
households switch to individual solutions: wall mounted combined natural gas fired
boilers – with theoretically higher costs than that of DH. In reality households
switched from DH use two times less energy (gross energy content of natural gas),
than the energy they used to buy from the Goscom local DH, that equals that
Goscom sells four times more energy to its clients than they really use for heating
and for DHW. The possible causes for that are: lack of reliable metering and
extremely low quality technology and design. (Just take into consideration that the
system was designed for a thermal output four times higher– but this is only one of
the possible causes which caused the extremely bad performance in a cumulative
way.)
In the current situation, without a total rethinking of the HD in the town, switching
to individual heating in blocks of flats means higher energy efficiency, less fossil fuel
burnt (the biomass share is as low as 1,3% in DH). By closing the DH the 20% CO2
reduction target could be nearly achieved (getting approximately a 15% reduction)!
Nevertheless, DH is typically a better solution than individual boilers, so this is not
the correct path to follow.
To sum up the claculations, in Fig. 19 we can see the breakdown of the total
CO2/annum figure of Miercurea Ciuc, while Fig. 20 represents the share of different
user groups of natural gas.
23
Fig. 19
Local CO2 emission per annuum in tonnes
10 560
transport (only local)
power
38 127
natural gas
55 410
Source: CDC
Fig. 20
Natural gas consumption
31%
23%
DH
households
public buildings
others
31%
15%
Source: CDC
24
4.
Technological measures for improvements of local
infrastructure
4.1. Energy efficiency measures
4.1.1 Buildings
4.1.1.1 Energy efficiency in public buildings
For public buildings we carried out an online survey mostly focusing on building
comfort and energy related behaviour. We presented some major finding of the
survey in figures 21 and 22.
Fig. 21
Sick building syndrome in public buildings
caughing
skin issues
joint issues
cold limbs
dry throat
dry eyes
headache
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Source: CDC
As shown in Fig. 21, the majority of civil servants shows at least 5 symptoms of “sick
building syndrome” (SBS), which means that there is no public building with
appropriate heating and ventilation system. Opening the window is not the correct
way of solving building comfort issue.
There is a great potential in public buildings for energy efficiency, and the main
measures proposed are as follows:
-
Promote investments for controlling heating on demand in the rooms
Check the windows and in the case of refurbishment use only triple glazed
windows
Educate occupants to raise awareness
25
Fig. 221
Thermal comfort and air quality
30
25
20
HC - work
HC - clients
15
AQ - work
10
AQ - clients
5
0
5
4
3
2
1
Source: CDC
The thermal comfort of public buildings is not assessed by occupants as good
enough. 31% of respondents reported that at least for 3 days the room temperature
is higher than 28 oC, so there is need for metering temperature and if this the case,
promote the use of shading or other passive solar cooling solutions – and after 2020,
even cooling has to be taken into consideration. Heating is not enough on the other
hand: 51% of those questioned answered that the room temperature is below 22 oC.
Any energy efficiency measure has to take into consideration the thermal comfort
and the health issues of building use. To this end, metering of CO2 and other
particles in schools, metering of room temperature and air moisture content are the
necessary first steps. The rehabilitation of a school building shows that heat demand
was not lower after the total refurbishment and using energy efficient heating
system: previously there were cold rooms and some hot rooms. The heating issues
are solved now, in an efficient way, but natural gas consumption remained the same
due to inappropriate heating system previously used.
If we add ventilation covering air change needs in schools and mainly in hospitals
and other health care and cultural buildings, it is a normal assumption that energy
need might remain at the same level: more comfort, healthy buildings as well as high
efficiency.
1
HC – heat comfort, AQ – air quality, values on horizontal axis: 5 – very good, 1- very poor.
26
Energy efficiency measures in public buildings will not contribute directly to CO 2
reduction, but we assume that half of them will be connected to the new HD
network, so an indirect reduction is possible.
4.1.1.2 Energy efficiency in collective housing
One third of those living in collective housing reported that they were planning to
improve the insulation of the building in the next five years, including changing the
existing windows to low-E ones. Theoretically it means that one third of the
apartments will reduce heat need by 15% leading to a reduction of 637 t of CO2 per
annum until 2020.
From a technical point of view, insulating a building is not recommended if
ventilation and new radiator system are not applied at once in order to avoid the
occurrence of possible health problems.
The concept of energy efficiency in collective housing is highly connected to HD
issues, so it is recommended to realize the HD project and the energy efficiency
measure of the blocks at once.
There is an urgent need for public intervention in this respect.
4.1.1.3 Energy efficiency in individual dwellings
On fifth of respondents living in individual dwellings reported that they are planning
to invest in insulation and window-door change in the next 5 years. Nevertheless, in
order to help owners selecting feasible and efficient scenarios, design support should
be available for them.
As most of these dwellings use wood as a heat source, only 170 t reduction in CO 2
can be assumed until 2020.
4.1.2 Transport
4.1.2.1 Public transport
The public transport system of the town has recently been reshaped, using second
hand buses for local transport, considerably reducing fuel consumption and as a
result: GHG emission before 2012 (reference year).
27
The public transport system`s fuel need should be maintained at current level, while
the number of passengers might be increased by carrying out apublic transport
survey in the town. In this case the public transport can be modified in order to fit
better passengers` needs, so local mobility will be improved. Nevertheless, public
transport in Romania is not seen as a trendy and green means of energy aware
lifestyle, but as a sign of poverty. In this context one may easily conclude that the
capital cost need of an affordable but high quality public transport is so high to
represent a not feasible solution unless public policy it with grants and incentives.
Thus, the public transport`s GHG emission should be maintained at current level, not
influencing in this respect the CO2 balance of the town.
4.1.2.2 Cycling and pedestrian town
In order to help local people shifting from everyday car use to cycling, the cycle route
network should be firstly designed in an appropriate way paying much attention to:
-
Safety measures (road signs, road marks, pedestrian safety design)
Cycle parking at blocks of flats and destinations, places of interest
Incentives or tax reduction for SMEs switching to cycle mobility in town.
About 15% of local car use can be substituted by cycling by 2020, that equals 1.584
tons of CO2 reduction.
4.1.3 Lighting
4.1.3.1 Street lights
The county energy management agency has financed a feasibility study in this field.
Selected streets will be refurbished with new low-E lighting system, with smart
metering of lighting needs – considerably reducing the electricity consumption of the
public street lighting system in these streets. The foreseen CO 2 reduction is 0,015%
of the total CO2 emission of the town: 15 tons of CO2 per annum.
4.1.3.2 Lighting of public buildings
There was a single public building refurbishment in the town, as we mentioned
before. The experience has shown that even if there was a considerable growth in
energy efficiency, the electricity consumption for IT equipments and lighting was the
same – no reduction in the consumption after shifting to energy efficient solutions.
The reason for that Is that previously lighting appliances did not meet minimum
acceptable standards, so more light and more energy efficiency resulted in no
change of power demand. As a rule of the thumb we can say that by raising energy
efficiency by 30%, public buildings can have the same power consumption as before.
28
So changing the lighting of public buildings has no effect on consumption or CO2 and
GHG emission.
Due to the very low lighting comfort of public buildings, this measure has priority –
given the fact that it has health effects on public servants, teachers and pupils too.
29
4.2. Utilization of renewable energy sources
4.2.1 Biomass
4.2.1.1 Biogas at the sewage plant
The local sewage plant has no functioning biogas reactor at the moment, but the
project financed a feasibility study regarding a biogas coupled with a gas motor CHP
producing exactly the same quantity of heat and power the plant needs.
Building this CHP plant will allow to achieve a reduction of 479 tons of CO2 due to its
electricity generation, while on the heat side further 126 tons of CO2 – all together
the investment will allow to achieve a 0.58% reduction of the total CO2 produced in
Miercurea Ciuc.
4.2.1.2 Biomass use for DH
There is sufficient biomass from agricultural and forest byproducts and residues, and
SRC plantations for running the DH system of Miercurea Ciuc. That means a possible
62 kt CO2 reduction if one chooses a biomass fired CHP for DH.
In this respect, the feasible solution identified for the town is:
-
Switching back to DH some apartments in order to double the present figure
(reaching 50% of the DH performance of the nineties)
Connecting public buildings - where it is feasible - to the new DH (assuming
that half of the public buildings will be connected)
Using smaller sized heat producing units coupled with heat storage
subsystems
Create a connected system network, at the same time reducing the number
of plants in order to get higher efficiency in CHP plant sizing
Make real calculation on heat demand and make appropriate sizing
Harmonize heating solution inside the buildings in order to
Give priority to areas with higher heat need density
Presently the DG has a calculated efficiency of 13,75% due to design, oversizing,
inappropriate fittings and insulations. Using the biomass CHP approach the nearly
zero carbon DH will be in reach while the project helps also fighting fuel poverty.
In the present action plan we assume that one third of the above mentioned total
project can be realized, so a 20 kt CO2 reduction is a realistic goal.
30
4.2.2 Wind
The wind potential of the town does not make any HAWT (horizontal axis wind
turbine) investment attractive, due to turbulences caused by buildings and
mountains.
VAWT solutions are welcomed only in if there is no grid connection, but this is not
the case, so WT investments are not feasible in Miercurea Ciuc.
4.2.3 Solar energy
4.2.3.1 Solar PV
The solar potential in Miercurea Ciuc is about the same as in Budapest, and 4-5%
higher than in Germany, so an optimal angle and inclination PV system seems
feasible. The average sum of global irradiation is 1400 kWh/m2/annum.
Public and collective buildings (blocks of flats) with +/-10o facing south roofs are
available for BIPV systems, the proposed locations are represented in Maps 2 and 3.
Map 2
Source: Google Earth Pro license
31
Map 3
Source: Goggle Earth Pro license
The total available PV surface is 1.4 ha that may contribute to 1.63% of the local
power demand contributing with 625 t of CO2 reduction to the local target.
We carried out calculations to find out if it is feasible from a financial point of view:
the payback period is 9.5 years, and as the life span of the arrays is 25 years, it has a
fairly good rate of return – at least at current state incentive level.
The investment supposes the cooperation of different local actors: state, LRAs and
people living in blocks of flats.
4.2.3.2 Passive solar heating
Passive solar issues were discussed during the designer session, and architects are
ready using them in designing new buildings in the future – even if the savings are
extremely low at town level, for the people living in a new house with passive solar
features, it is a must.
4.2.3.3 Active solar heating
Due to foggy weather and unfavourable shading conditions active solar heating is an
optional issue – not taken into account in the present strategy for the same reason.
4.2.4 Geothermal energy
4.2.4.1 GSHP for dwellings
32
Geothermal potential can be used in individual houses for heating purposes, with the
following conditions:
-
Due to seismic conditions vertical piping is not recommended
Careful sizing is problematic because no ground temperature data is available
(the same is valid also for underground water potential)
Below -10 oC air source HPs have very low COP (coefficient of performance),
so these are not recommended at all
HP COP is higher when the working temperature is low (35-45 oC) so GSHP
(ground source heat pump) have to be used with floor heating or wall heating
In medium term GSHP cost remains high and it means an obstacle for GSHP use. It is
very unlikely that any household will switch from fire wood or wall mounted gas
boiler system to GSHP+floor heating, so a 20 t CO2 is foreseen, assuming that a small
part of new dwellings will use this solution.
4.2.4.2 GSHP for public and cleric buildings
GSHP is a feasible option for the refurbishment of public and cleric buildings if the
thermal rehabilitation has to be done anyway. In churches horizontal piping GSHP
with HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) is the most convenient
solution, even in financial context, using a time horizon of 15 years.
GSHP for public buildings is only feasible when there is sufficient land available
around the building, not used for any other buildings or trees. At the moment there
is no such public building in Miercurea Ciuc, while the Szen Agoston church is
proposed for a GSHP+HVAC refurbishment – in this context the CO2 reduction is
extremely low.
4.2.5 Small hydro plants
Small hydro is not feasible as there is no sufficient potential energy in water, but
several micro hydro turbines might be installed on the water supply pipe from the
Frumoasa dam, with a head of 180 m – a fairly good condition for micro hydro.
Nevertheless, as the water system of the town is under modernization, co-financed
by EU Funds, and the project ends in 2015, no change in the network can be done
until 2020 – in this context the investment is postponed after 2020.
33
4.3 Waste management
4.3.1 Waste prevention
Buildings related waste means about 20-30 buildings being demolished yearly. The
so called CDW (construction and demolition waste) issue is not handled in Romania
in an appropriate way, and as CDW can be used for asphalt mixtures, and there are
other recyclable building materials – so it is a good opportunity to the local
construction industry to invest in necessary equipment and infrastructure.
Nevertheless, it has nearly zero impact on CO2 and GHG mitigation at local level.
Instead of waste prevention the waste related culture should be improved in the
household context: people must not burn municipal waste, it should be put into the
bin, and mostly transported to recycling points in the town.
4.3.2 Integrated waste management systems
The integrated waste management system is realized at regional (county – NUTS3)
level, the municipality is taking part in the project and supports its activity, but no
local level steps can be foreseen as useful while the regional project has its
multiannual communication and infrastructure related investment components
carefully designed and carried out at regional level, with serious activities in
Miercurea Ciuc too.
4.3.3 Waste to energy
Waste to energy option is not recommended in Miercurea Ciuc due to low waste
density and avoidance of local pollution
Agricultural, forestry and wood industry related waste handling should be integrated
into the biomass firing CHP DH project.
34
5.
Measures for changing behavior of consumers on
local level
5.1 Energy efficiency
In the field of energy efficiency, the following measures have been identified:
- simplified building permits for EE (energy efficiency) refurbishment, lowering local
taxes
- public or low cost (affordable) advisory services for EE housing
- EE awards for micros and SMEs
- establishing and supporting NGOs in the EE context
- EE competitions and awards organized for pupils and students
- organizing EE week in every year right after winter, involving NGOs
- supporting (advisory, knowledge, partnership) local SMEs entering the EE field
5.2 Renewable energy sources
In the field of renewable energy sources, the following measures have been
identified:
- simplified building permits for RES use, lowering local taxes
- RES and EE urban zoning rules have to be introduced in the building regulation at
local level
- public or low cost (affordable) advisory services for BI RES use
- RES awards for micros and SMEs RES context (local economic development trough)
- demonstrative research at local level for advertising BIPV and other RES use
efficiency at local conditions
- RES competitions and awards organized for pupils and students
- organizing RES week in every year in the autumn, involving NGOs
- supporting (advisory, knowledge, partnership) local SMEs entering the RES field
(possibly creating a RES-EE cluster of forest owners, forestry, wood industry, DH, RES
and EE SMEs, NGOs, LRAs)
35
5.3 Waste prevention and management
As the waste issue is handled at county level, financed from the Environment SOP, in
order not be in the situation of double financing, no activity is proposed.
36
6.
Expected results/effects of taken measures
The total planned CO2 reduction is 25%, reachable by the end of 2020.
The breakdown of the target is represented in Fig. 23 and in the following table.
Fig. 23
Reaching the 25% target
0.08%
2%
1%
2%
1% 2% 6%
BIPV
less car use
0.06%
intelligent public lighting
7%
DH CHP - heat
22%
DH CHP - power
biogas - power
biogas - heat
individual GSHP
57%
energy efficient behavior
insulation of blocks
insulation of dwellings
Source: CDC
measure
DH CHP - power
DH CHP - heat
energy efficient behaviour
less car use
insulation of blocks
BIPV
biogas - power
insulation of dwellings
biogas - heat
individual GSHP
intelligent public lighting
t CO2 % of total CO2 (2012)
15 149
14.55%
5 676
5.45%
1 903
1.83%
1 584
1.52%
638
0.61%
625
0.60%
479
0.46%
170
0.16%
127
0.12%
20
0.02%
16
0.02%
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7. Financing mechanisms for implementation of measures and
endorsement process
7.1.EU funding
The ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds) funds may finance through the
2014-2020 ROP (Regional Operational Program) energy efficiency projects.
Relevant authorities should be noticed regarding the biomass CHP DH approach
integrated with blocks` thermal rehabilitation and public buildings refurbishment
integrated project.
For SMEs and start-ups in the energy efficiency field ESIF funds, including the EAFRD
(European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) in neighbouring rural
settlements can be used.
Financial engineering tools are not planned to be accessible in Romania during the
2014-2020 programming period.
7.2. Regional development banks and specialized funds
In case of lack of co-financing from the ROP, the following opportunities shall be
analysed in order to get funds for the integrated main project: European Investment
Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Green for
Growth Southeast Europe (GGF), Western Balkans Sustainable Energy Direct Funding
Facility (WeBSEDFF), Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), European
Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE).
7.3. National funding
National public funding is not available at the moment, and the member state is not
planning any change in this field.
Banking products are available at high rates, so even if the payback period of the
investments is reasonable, these are unlikely to be affordable for public authorities.
ESCO method should be used in the following conditions:
-
no funding from ESIF funds for the main integrated project by end of 2017,
and
reliable, professional ESCO companies will enter the Romanian market.
38
7.4. Endorsement process
The main objectives and investments of the present strategy has already been
discussed with members of the local council. It is going to be adopted in not more
than 6 months by the local council.
There is no single responsible department for EE and RES, different departments of
the municipality handle EE and RES issues, but there is a need for a strong
cooperation between them.
39
8. Policy recommendations
Maintain special feed in tariffs for RES power generation.
Support local energy efficiency advisory services.
Design appropriate financing tools for biomass firing CHP DH due to its huge capital
costs.
Take into account building comfort and health issues – not just energy consumption
reduction should be targeted. This is applicable for housing and public buildings
refurbishment both.
Change building regulations in order to have binding rules on stopping
individualisation of heating systems in collective housing context.
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9. Conclusion - SWOT
9.1. DH CHP
Strengths
Weaknesses
existing biomass sources in the 20 km low technological level and knowledge,
zone, available low quality agricultural lock in effect from already done
land for SRC
investments (both public in DH and
private in individual solutions), lack of
credibility of existing DH provider
Opportunities
Threats
fits to ESIF funds framework, attractive
innovative solution for investors and
providers, networking with other similar
HDD regions and towns, existing
technology (or state of the art
technology if choosing 4GDH / biomass
gasifier coupled CCGT DH)
no sufficient human resources available,
outdated design traditions, member
state level regulative issues, the member
state might decide not to finance
integrated projects
9.2 Energy efficient behaviour and less car use
Strengths
Weaknesses
cycling is trendy, pedestrian mobility`s no NGOs at all in EE and RES
conditions are improved
Opportunities
Threats
financial resources form the ESIF change in downtown traffic policy
financed infrastructural projects, with
the climate change the period available
for cycling and walking is getting longer,
increasing fuel prices
9.3 EE refurbishment in the housing sector
Strengths
Weaknesses
high share of those thinking about EE fuel poverty and low
investment in the next 5 years
households
compared
investment costs
income of
to
high
Opportunities
Threats
ESIF for collective housing
organizational and governance failure at
member state level, need for extra
insulation due to high HDD
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9.4 BIPV
Strengths
Weaknesses
available roofs, the program might be lack of trust, low level of cooperative
used also for brown fields as a possible behavior
use for 15-20 years
Opportunities
Threats
ESIF funds if it can be integrated into building regulation and RES feed in tariff
housing EE measures of the ROP and failures at member state level, or at the
into that of the public building EE regional distribution grid operator
refurbishment respectively
9.5 Biogas reactor and CHP (sewage)
Strengths
Weaknesses
modernized sewage unit in few years,
technological experience as the sewage
plant had the same sizing unit decades
ago
no payback without state incentives, the
studies realized did not analyse why the
previous system failed to work in the last
decades
Opportunities
Threats
-
lack of ESIF funding for such investments
9.6 Individual GSHP
Strengths
Weaknesses
EE and RES intentions already present in bad design conditions, lack of reliable
some well off households, reliable data and experince
private pilot projects with good results
Opportunities
Threats
available mature technology
no ESIF financing, member state level
regulation failures, no reliable data on
ground temperature at all
9.7 Intelligent street lights
Strengths
Weaknesses
already updated street light network high costs may result in no financial
with efficient lighting, local companies feasibility compared to the present
with experience in this field
system
Opportunities
Threats
possible ESIF co-financing
the now state of the art technology will
be outdated by the time of investing in
it, because the lighting sector is rapidly
changing these years
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10. Monitoring and control of the action plan
implementation
The planned objective of reducing 25% of the GHG emissions related to the baseline
year of 2012 has to be reached in 2020.
The monitoring of the results presupposes energy related and statistical knowledge
and understanding, so it is suggested to contract an expert in 2017 in order to get a
full insight in the results already obtained and verify if the investments done are in
line with the strategy.
The evaluation of the strategy can be realized as early as in 2019, so for the 2030
planning process the lessons learnt from the 2014-2020 progress can be used. The
2019 timing of the evaluation is possible because the overwhelming majority of tasks
is several years investment, so if an investment is not in its realisation phase in 2019,
no results can be obtained by 2020.
Great attention has to be given to the fact that main carbon reduction means
identified in this strategy require careful detailed design, so the results might change
slightly.
The main risk is public awareness and acceptance of the strategy: the very low level
of acceptance of Goscom means that there is a need for a total recast of the
company – public institutions cannot force citizens to use DH if it is not accepted and
is not at all efficient.
The city hall`s immediate tasks are:
-
-
Establishing a local energy efficiency advisory service for citizens
Creating a knowledge transfer and energy efficiency task team from different
units of the town hall
Initiating local thematic partnerships for energy efficiency, cycling and
intelligent mobility – these groups must be involved in the work of the
monitoring committee
Establishing a joint monitoring committee of the internal energy efficiency
task team, the county level energy efficiency agency and the thematic
partner groups (these latters might have minimum 30% of votes)
Energy use and CO2 figures can be assessed by using the same databases as in the
present strategy.
Mind the trends! For example the behavioral change shall address urgently the
households` power demand.
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11. References
INS TEMPO database: www.insse.ro/cms/ro/content/indicatori-de-statisticaregionala-tempo
EUROSTAT database:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_database
JRC solar data: http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php
BizEEE Degree Days: http://www.degreedays.net/
SEAP guideline: http://www.eumayors.eu/IMG/pdf/seap_guidelines_en.pdf
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