At the end of April the City of Brasov, Romania, winner of the second prize of the Display®/Towards Class Award in 2006, hosted Energie-Cités’ Annual Conference. The theme of the conference, communicating to change our behaviour, was perfect to highlight the advantages of the Display® Campaign and obviously Display® played a special part within the conference programme. In a specific workshop Jeff Kirton from Durham County Council, initiated a lively debate on how to communicate the energy performance of public buildings to the users.

As the closing highlight of the conference an international study tour to the "Grigore Moisil" high school, a National College of Computer Science, was organised by the European Display® users club. The high school is currently undergoing large-scale refurbishment. More than 50 people appreciated the presentations by :

• Camelia Rata from Brasov retracing the energy efficiency week that took place in 2005 when Display® was launched in three schools ; in each of the schools the pupils prepared a special event according to their school profile to celebrate the official launching event (see)

• Berno Ram and his Romanian colleague Costin Cuneşteanu presented the technical aspects of Philips’ new lighting system that has been installed in a number of classrooms and floors. Not only energy savings will be achieved but also the quality of light has been significantly improved.

• Andrei Băceanu from Moeller introduced the new lighting management system, which is not only daylight and zone control but also completely switched off during night time.
• Peter Schilken (Display® coordinator) shortly introduced the recently printed Towards Class A Guidelines

The study tour was concluded by a walk around ; it was very interesting to compare the former and the new lighting systems and to have a look at the AquaClic water savers (the award prize) installed in the toilettes. But the most photographed object was the huge Display® poster at the school’s entrance.

Recently a decision was made to make Display® available to a wider audience. Private sector companies are now welcome to participate in the Display® Campaign.

Any private company with a range of administrative offices at a national or European scale now has the chance to become a participant of the Display® Campaign. The applicant must follow the ethic of Display® i.e. communicate with its employees in order to raise awareness concerning water and energy consumption and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Display can also be used as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity for your company.
If you are a private company that assists local authorities with energy or water management of their public buildings, it will also be possible to join Display®.

Please contact Ian TURNER for further details.

League of Excellence

With only six months to go to reach 100 Shining Examples, competition is strong for who will be the lucky 100th.

In the League of Excellence, the UK is still holding on to their lead, followed closely by France. Germany and Switzerland are neck and neck for third place and Ireland has worked their way into the fourth position.

We welcome Slovakia, the newest member to join the league. However, there are still places to fill and we look forward to the first Shining Examples for Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine.

We invite you to take a look through the existing Shining Examples and get inspired by the excellent work that your fellow Display® members have been undertaking to improve the water and energy efficiency of their buildings and to raise awareness of these issues : www.display-campaign.org/rubrique41.html

Please keep your Shining Examples flooding in to : sarah and Ian

Shining Examples lie at the very heart of Display, because they are about promoting better performance in buildings, and showing people what works.

It is rarely possible to improve an existing public building to an A or B rating, because of its age, budget constraints and so on. So it is equally important that buildings which improve from, for example G to D, are recognised, as general improvements in municipal buildings can produce a better environment too.

If your municipality is improving its building performance – let us know ! – Display can showcase your town or city, and your knowledge can enable others to learn from your experience.

Are you communicating energy issues to your municipal staff, to young and old building users in a creative and display ful manner ? For your municipality, was display ing your poster(s) just the beginning of a much broader awareness-raising campaign on the energy performance of buildings ? It does not matter with which means, messages or materials you bring up the topic among different target groups, what matters is your commitment and originality. Any communication effort in the framework of the Display® Campaign makes you a PERFECT CANDIDATE for the second Display “Towards Class A” Award. Like last year, an expert jury will judge the candidates on the visibility, innovation and model character of their activities.

You should not miss the chance to win one of the following attractive prizes :

 1st prize : Energy efficient lighting panels from Philips.
These well-designed panels are an ideal didactic tool to raise awareness on the energy impact of lighting. Your building users will finally understand that all lights are not created equally. Each panel illustrates how lighting equipment varies in their efficiency and, therefore, contributes differently to a building’s energy consumption and global CO2 emissions

 2nd prize : 50 eCube energy-saving fridge devices
The eCube from eCube Distribution consists of a food simulant contained in a double-skinned enclosure. This little box mimics food temperature. Due to its specific design, the eCube ensures that refrigeration always keeps food at the correct temperature while minimising energy _ consumption. Thus, once fitted to the fridges in your canteens or staff kitchens, it helps to save energy, reduce noise and environmental _ pollution.

 3rd prize : 200 AquaClic shower water savers in Display® design
Shower heads from the Swiss company Aqua Art are designed to reduce water consumption by more than 50 %. The third winner will be able to equip the showers in their sports halls, swimming pools etc. with specially designed AquaClic shower heads. Your municipality can save water and energy and, at the same time, demonstrate its active participation in the Display® Campaign.

Newcomers as well as “experienced” applicants from last year are most welcome to apply for the 2007 Award. The application form can be downloaded in French or
English.

Be part of the competition and send your completed application together with relevant documentation not later than June 22nd to our main office :

TCA Award
Energie-Cités
2, chemin de Palente
FR - 25000 Besançon
France

or digitally to Ian TURNER. If you have any question concerning the Award please contact Ian TURNER.

First Czech poster displayed :

Welcome to Krupka, the first city to use Display® in the Czech Republic. During a ceremony that took place on the 11th of May, the first Display® poster was unveiled in a primary school. To see the photos and videos on the event, please click on the links below ;

Photos
Photos
Videos

For more information contact Jaroslav Klusák.

To the German Government for initiating the Leipzig Charter during their presidency of the EU.

This charter insists on development that involves all players, both internal and external to the administration, and which allows "citizens to play an active role in shaping their immediate living environment."

The draft recommends that all European cities consider developing integrated urban development programmes to be used as "implementation-oriented planning tools" that describe the strengths and weaknesses of cities and neighbourhoods based on an analysis of the current situation, define consistent development objectives and develop a vision for the city.

We hope that Display can play an important role in achieving the aims of the charter.