The PLEEC project - Planning for energy efficient cities

More than 50% of all people globally are living in cities today. Enhancing sustainability and efficiency of urban energy systems is thus of high priority for global sustainable development.

What is the PLEEC project?

The PLEEC project is a three-year international research project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission. 18 partners from 13 European countries are collaborating to make European cities more energy efficient.
PLEEC is using an integrative approach to achieve the sustainable, energy efficient, smart city. By connecting scientific excellence and innovative enterprises in the energy sector with ambitious and well-organized cities, the project aims to reduce energy use in Europe contributing to the EU´s 20-20-20 targets.
Through the run of the project, the project consortium developed individual Energy Efficiency Action Plans for the six PLEEC cities on how to improve their energy efficiency in a strategic and holistic way considering their technological, structural and behavioral capabilities. In order to make this knowledge accessible to further European cities a model for energy efficiency and sustainable urban planning has been developed.

Objectives

The core objectives of the PLEEC project are:
• To assess the energy-saving solutions and potentials for a comprehensive city planning
• To demonstrate how integrative planning is more efficient than separate measures
• To create Energy Efficiency Action Plans to be presented to decision-makers in the cities
• To develop a synergized model for energy efficiency and sustainable city planning
• To identify the future research agenda on the issue of energy smart cities.

Partnership

The consortium consists of 18 partners from 13 different European countries comprising six medium-sized PLEEC “model” cities (Eskilstuna/Sweden, Tartu/Estonia, Turku/Finland, Jyväskylä/Finland, Santiago de Compostela/Spain, Stoke-on-Trent/UK), nine universities (Mälardalen University, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Vienna University of Technology, University of Copenhagen, Delft University of Technology, University of Rousse, Santiago de Compostela University and University of Ljubljana) and three industry partners (LMS Imagine-Siemens/France, Smart Technologies Association SMARTTA/Lithuania, Eskilstuna Energy & Environment/Sweden).

The methodology of the project

The PLEEC project follows a place-based approach to enforce endogenous urban development by considering local conditions. By supporting a forward-looking and evidence-based strategic planning approach, cities have identified their strengths and potentials (Smart City Profiles (WP2)).

Based on the city profiles technological, structural and behavioral energy efficiency solutions (WP3, 4 and 5) have been elaborated for each PLEEC city as the aim of urban energy efficiency should be seen in the transition to a fully sustainable urban energy system. Therefore it is crucial that measures are not tackled isolated, but rather integrated into a holistic approach taking into consideration each city´s individual preconditions.
The integration of technology, structures and behaviour is a crucial aspect for a sustainable transition into a truly energy efficient smart city. The Energy Efficiency Action Plans (WP6) developed by the cities have integrated the individually best matching solutions into a strategic approach guiding the cities on their way to become energy smart.

Results – what did the PLEEC project achieve?

• One of the core outputs of the PLEEC project is the PLEEC model for energy efficiency and sustainable urban planning (WP6): It is a guide for European city planners how to successfully develop an Energy Efficiency Action Plan (EEAP). The guide consists of the PLEEC partners´ joint experiences from developing six EEAPs. By taking part of the model content, through literature studies, checklists, movies and city partners' advice, the reader gets a strong base to initiate the Action Plan. One of the lessons from PLEEC is that understanding local conditions in different cities is key to developing an EEAP which can be successfully implemented. No action can be copied from one city to another but by sharing experiences we can come a long way towards a more energy efficient future. http://model.pleecproject.eu/

• All PLEEC “model” partner cities have developed individual Energy Efficiency Action Plans (WP6)

• Green Thoughts, Green Futures: This booklet presents the main findings of the project in a popularized, easy-to approach manner

These results and all further Work Package reports can be found at the following link:
http://pleecproject.eu/results/documents/viewcategory/14-reports.html

The PLEEC project is a three-year international research project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission. 18 partners from 13 European countries are collaborating to make European cities more energy efficient.

M.A. Julia Haselberger
Research and Transfer Centre 'Applications of Life Sciences'
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Faculty of Life Sciences
Ulmenliet 20, 21033 Hamburg/Germany
Tel.: +49-40-42875-6358; Fax: +49-40-42875-6079
julia.haselberger@haw-hamburg.de
www.pleecproject.eu

This release was published on openPR.