Dear Reader

As you may know, the current ManagEnergy service contract comes to an end next month. However, we are pleased to confirm that the ManagEnergy website will remain open (with a limited service) until the start of the new contract, scheduled for late 2009. In addition, the ManagEnergy Partner Search Service will be fully supported until 25 June 2009 to assist those of you who are putting together proposals for the 2009 Intelligent Energy - Europe call which is now open.

As well as news from the European Commission, this newsletter includes details of recent reports, guides and tools produced by ManagEnergy, as well as by the Thematic Groups on Education, Transport and Buildings.

A further newsletter will be sent out at the end of May 2009 containing details of the ManagEnergy tools and publications developed during April and May. Important announcements from the European Commission will continue to be sent to ManagEnergy registrants during the interim period.

ManagEnergy Support Team

European Commission activities:

• 2009 Intelligent Energy - Europe work programme includes 15 million euro for cities [revised 15-Apr-09]
• Ecodesign proposals for televisions and white goods

ManagEnergy Activities:

• Check out the new ManagEnergy Thematic Pages!
• Four new Sectoral Information Kits available
• Three new animations added to KidsCorner
• Updates to the Teacher Database on Energy Education Resources
• Case Study of the Month: Implementing EU Appliance Policy in Central and Eastern Europe

EUSEW 2009:

• ManagEnergy Annual Conference: New Opportunities for Local Energy Actors
• Video Recordings from EUSEW 2009

[Ed: Revised 15 April 2009]
On 31 March 2009, the European Commission adopted the 2009 Work Programme of the Intelligent Energy - Europe (IEE) Programme. For the first time financial support will be provided for technical assistance helping cities to develop bankable projects or investment programmes in the field of urban sustainable energy. The IEE 2009 budget is more than 96 million euro of which 15 million euro is foreseen for developing the potential of municipalities and regions to accelerate local investments, notably in buildings and urban transport.

The financial facility for cities should be operational by the end of 2009 and it will be jointly operated by the European Investment Bank and the Commission. 15 million euro are earmarked for local or regional authorities including those adhering to the Covenant of Mayors Initiative with the commitment to contribute to the objective of the EU sustainable energy policy, i.e. to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020. It will help those local authorities to obtain large scale loans from development banks such as the European Investment Bank.

An additional € 65 million will become available under the 2009 call for project proposals to support European projects promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean transport, which can help deliver a cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy future for Europe while fighting climate change.

The 2009 call opened on 31 March 2009 and closes on 25 June 2009 at 17:00.

• The full call text including information on how to apply is available on the Intelligent Energy – Europe website at: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/call_for_proposals/index_en.htm
  
  
• A memo with information on the projects selected for funding under the previous call for proposals may be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/doc/2009_IEE_memo.pdf
  
  
• You can find partners for your projects in the Partner Search section of this website.

View all the video recordings from the IEE Info Day

Further information on the Covenant of Mayors

On 31 March 2008, the European Commission announced that EU Member States declared their support for new rules to improve the energy performance of several products at the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulatory Committee meeting. The package sets mandatory energy performance requirements and creates an upgraded energy labelling system for televisions and 'white goods'. These new measures are expected to cut the EU's electricity consumption by 51 terawatt hours by 2020, which corresponds to the combined annual electricity consumption of Portugal and Latvia.

"This package of ecodesign and energy labelling measures is a crucial contribution to achieve our energy efficiency goals. I am particularly pleased with the new energy label, which is very clear for consumers, accelerates the race for top efficient products, and boosts market transformation and energy savings", said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

Read the full Press Release    Ref: IP/09/516    Date:  31/03/2009   [EN FR DE]
Further information on Ecodesign and energy labelling

During March 2009, new web pages have been developed for the three Thematic Groups (TGs). Each page includes: a summary of the objectives of the TG; links to deliverables produced so far and details of deliverables in the process of being produce; and contact details for TG members. The TG pages can be access from the Thematic Pages section of the website. Details of deliverables, as well as a link to each TG page are listed below:

Thematic Group on Buildings
Passive Houses: the Need for Behavioural Change	View the presentation on Passive Houses developed by the Thematic Group on Buildings to understand the pressing need of behavioural change in the buildings field.        PowerPoint Presentation (10737 Kb Microsoft .ppt)         PDF Version (2376 Kb PDF) A second document highlighting examples and success stories for passive houses in the social housing sector is coming soon.
Thematic Group on Transport and Mobility
Animated Mobility Checklist	Enjoy using the animated mobility checklist designed by the Thematic Group on Transport and Mobility to help local and regional energy agencies build up their own mobility-related capacities and services...      Animated Mobility Checklist (290 Kb Adobe Flash) ... and take inspiration from the three detailed key actions for your own initiatives at local level:      Educational Campaign for Children (104 Kb PDF)       Employers mobility plans (109 Kb PDF)       Walking Bus (119 Kb PDF)
Thematic Group on Education
Education Guide for Secondary Schools	View the presentation of the ManagEnergy Guide for an Integrated Sustainable Energy Education, First steps to climate neutral schools for secondary schools and download interesting best practices and useful exercises. The ManagEnergy HTML "Guide for an Integrated Sustainable Energy Education, First steps to climate neutral schools for secondary schools" with best practices and exercises will be available on the Thematic Group on Education page later this month.           Presentation of the Guide (641 Kb PDF - updated 6 April 2009)       Exercises (443 Kb PDF       Good Practice Examples (1.13 Mb PDF)

In addition, all the existing thematic pages covering buildings, education, SMEs and transport and mobility have been updated, and new pages have been developed on:

Energy Efficiency: Find details of EU legislation, funding and local activities and view presentations from high level Euroepan speakers on the newly updated energy efficiency page.

Sustainable Communities: Get thematic and sectorial access to locally relevant energy information on EU legislation, funding, major initiatives and much more.

Sectoral Information Kit: Energy-Efficient SMEs
	Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up some 99% of businesses in Europe. Although each of these smaller firms consumes relatively small amounts of energy – with a correspondingly minor impact on the environment – collectively, their effect is massive. Moreover, with rising energy prices and uncertainty over the security of future supplies, boosting energy efficiency makes business, as well as environmental, sense. This information kit will provide you with information on: The sustainable energy challenge Intelligent energy management in SMEs: a wide range of activities can be undertaken in an SME in order to be more efficient A more rational use of energy not only represents a challenge for SMEs Efficiency in cooperation: cooperation between local and regional energy agencies and the members of the Enterprise Europe Network Good practice: SME energy toolkit: the development of an easy-to-use energy checking tool for specific SME sectors in five European countries: Good practice: energy efficiency benchmark to help food and drink SMEs to enhance their energy efficiency through the implementation of energy management systems targeted at their sector. Download the sectoral information kit
Sectoral Information Kit: Biomass and Biofuels
	The fight against climate change is a challenge that, if it is to be properly addressed, requires a technological, social and cultural revolution. The need to tackle global warming cannot be separated from the quest to make use of more sustainable energy sources and, therefore, solutions to both problems – which are interlinked – must be found. This information kit will provide you with information on: The energy challenge at local level What are the tasks of an energy agency? Achieving visibility and recognition ManagEnergy support to local and regional energy agencies Download the sectoral information kit
Sectoral Information Kit: Communication tips for energy agencies
	The fight against climate change is a challenge that, if it is to be properly addressed, requires a technological, social and cultural revolution. The need to tackle global warming cannot be separated from the quest to make use of more sustainable energy sources and, therefore, solutions to both problems – which are interlinked – must be found. This information kit will provide you with information on: The energy challenge at local level What are the tasks of an energy agency? Achieving visibility and recognition ManagEnergy support to local and regional energy agencies Download the sectoral information kit
Sectoral Information Kit: Energy-Efficient SMEs
	The fight against climate change is a challenge that, if it is to be properly addressed, requires a technological, social and cultural revolution. The need to tackle global warming cannot be separated from the quest to make use of more sustainable energy sources and, therefore, solutions to both problems – which are interlinked – must be found. This information kit will provide you with information on: The energy challenge at local level What are the tasks of an energy agency? Achieving visibility and recognition ManagEnergy support to local and regional energy agencies Download the sectoral information kit

A link to the KidsCorner animations home page has now been added in all languages to all web pages for the 11-15 age group. This page includes the Walk to a Better World short animated film created by pupils at Millfield School, Norfolk UK, originators of the innovative Stamp Stanley Walk to School project, and presented during the ManagEnergy Annual Conference earlier this year.

In addition, two new Flash animations for older pupils have been added with teacher notes and links to further information.



The new animation on Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) and Bioenergy, shows willow being harvested, transported and used for local heating in a simplified biomass boiler system. The animation is put in context by teacher notes, and links are provided to the  Short-Rotation Willow Coppice - Growers Manual, published by the Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering.



The animation on Carbon, Capture and Storage (CCS) illustrates simple post-combustion capture and storage via injection and trapping in porous rock. Again the animation is simplified to illustrate the basics of CCS. Teacher notes are provided along with links to more detailed technical information on the CO₂ Capture Project website www.co2captureproject.org

Although the animations were designed for children, the notes and links make them a useful tool for explaining the basics of CCS and SRC to the wider community and even non-technical professionals in the energy sector.

Following feedback from the ManagEnergy Education Workshop during EUSEW 2009 in Brussels, new categories have been added to the teacher database. The new resource links cover funding mechanisms, vocational training, teacher training and energy award schemes. The websites featured in this newsletter have been recently added to (or updated on) the KidsCorner teacher database. These are just a small selection of those added to the ManagEnergy Teacher Database in recent weeks.
EducaPoles www.educapoles.org	The ManagEnergy database of energy education resources continues to be maintained and expanded and we are always happy to receive recommendations for new links, particularly in the areas of vocational training, funding mechanisms and teacher training. These can be sent via email to: kidscorner@managenergy.net For websites in languages other than English, please include a short summary 50-100 words that can be added to the database and used to facilitate keyword searches.
CO2nnect (CO2 on the way to school) www.co2nnect.org	YEP (Young Energy People) www.youngenergypeople.com
Fifty Fifty Plus www.fiftyfiftyplus.de	SUS-EMAS (Sustainability through EMAS) www.sus-emas.ro

This Case Study is one of more than 600 case studies (including 74 Good Practices) on the ManagEnergy website.

The CEECAP - Implementing EU Appliance Policy in Central and Eastern Europe project aimed at supporting Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in creating suitable conditions for implementing appliance labelling and efficiency policies in accordance with EU Appliance efficiency legislation and programmes. The project started in early 2006 and lasted for 30 months. It was carried out in 6 countries of CEE (Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). SEVEn from the Czech Republic was the coordinator of the project. Main activities included the identification of the national experts and decision makers and their training and cooperation, design and preparation of national appliance labelling and efficiency actions, identification of key problems and initiation of action to solve them in collaboration with the project target groups, and the international and local knowledge transfer. Under the project, awareness of major stakeholders on correct labelling has been strengthened, close cooperation with retailer and consumer associations as well as public authorities and energy utilities established. On the other hand, the verification procedures still remain to be strengthened in the CEE countries.

View the Case Study

ManagEnergy Annual Conference 2009

The plenary session of the 2009 ManagEnergy Annual Conference, New Opportunities for Local Energy Actors, which took place in the Charlemagne Building on Wednesday 11 February 2009, aimed to guide and assist local and regional actors as they take on the challenges offered by the Covenant of Mayors. The event was attended by around 500 delegates from local and regional energy agencies, regional government, municipalities and cities, as well as other local and regional energy actors. These actors, many of whom are listed on the ManagEnergy website, are well placed to carry out and support the activities, opportunities and challenges offered by the Covenant of Mayors, Intelligent Energy - Europe and increasing EU energy sustainability.

View all the video recordings from the ManagEnergy Plenary: New Opportunities for Local Energy Actors
Search for partner organisations for your local and regional energy activities

All the participants that took part in the ManagEnergy Annual Conference were asked to complete a questionnaire in order to evaluate their impressions and provide feedback for future events. Responses were received from around 10% of participants and the results have now been analysed.

We are pleased to confirm that almost all of those who completed the questionnaire indicated that their general impression of the Annual Conference was that it was good or very good. In addition, individually the ManagEnergy Plenary event, workshops, training, stand and partner search facilities were judged to be good or very good by at least 77% of the participants.

Thank you to everyone who responded. We value your opinion and will be using the results of this evaluation to maintain high standards and tailor future events to your need.

View the full evaluation report (55 Kb PDF)

If you would like to contribute to the evaluation, please take 5 minutes to complete the form, which should be returned to workshops@managenergy.net:

Download the evaluation form (117 Kb Microsoft Word .doc)

Video Recordings from EUSEW

As in previous years, a number of events from the 2009 EU Sustainable Energy Week were broadcast live on the internet at www.managenergy.tv and the video recordings have been available online since the beginning of March. Click on one of the recorded events listed below to view video recordings of all the presentations from that event:

• EU energy & climate package – a new “green deal” for Europe
• Towards a New Energy Efficiency Policy for Europe
• The Covenant of Mayors Ceremony
• ManagEnergy Plenary: New Opportunities for Local Energy Actors
• Intelligent Energy - Europe Programme – Information Day: How can you take part in the programme?
• Information and Communication Technologies for Energy Efficiency
• Climate change: The potential of Eco-innovation for SMEs
• Towards energy efficient housing: from Concerto to IEE
• Conference on Urban Mobility
• Wind Power in the Single European Electricity Market (TradeWind Final Workshop)
• Mediterranean Solar Plan - a win-win opportunity for everybody