Penelope - Promoting ENergy Efficiency to Local Organisations through dissemination Partnerships in Europe

At the beginning of 2003, the Penelope website European project database contained 60 good practice projects in the field of sustainable local energy policies (energy supply, buildings and transport). The good practice cases are translated in 8 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian). This database has now been integrated into the Energie-Cités website

PENELOPE was previously known as the PENELOPE-BACCHUS SAVE project, intended to promote sustainable development in the cities and regions of the EU and CEECs through improved energy management and increased use of renewable energy sources. Initially submitted under the SAVE call 2000, the two projects PENELOPE and BACCHUS were then "clustered" to mutually reinforce their actions. Their common objective is to promote sustainable development at urban and regional levels though the dissemination of good practice cases in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and Structural Funds. The PENELOPE-BACCHUS SAVE two year project started in April 2001.

PENELOPE is mainly concerned with promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources through partnerships between the national and the local/regional levels, in particular energy agencies.

BACCHUS was intended to increase the capacity of the regions to develop projects financed by the Structural Funds in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

The PENELOPE-BACCHUS project was launched in Vienna on 25-26th October 2001. Hosted by EVA, the National Energy Agency who is a partner in the project, the meeting gathered about 50 representatives from local, regional and national agencies, as well a representatives from municipalities and regions from the EU and CEECs, SAVE contractors and officials from the European Commission. On this occasion the PENELOPE-BACCHUS project was described and its progress, since it was started in April 2001, was reviewed. In particular, the results of the enquiry (questionnaire) used to identify the needs and concerns of local and regional users were presented. The participants were invited to participate actively in the project, to provide the partners with examples of good practice and to promote replication.

As an example of good practice, Helmut Strasser from SIR (Salzburger Institut für Raumordnung und Wohnen) presented the E5 programme for energy-conscious communities, an Austrian initiative towards sustainable energy activities.