Salerno – Italy
Gioca al Risparmio- play the game of savingBackground
The energy saving and CO2 reduction activities of the Town of Salerno began more than 10 years ago. The most remarkable achievements have come from increasing the efficiency of heating plants serving municipal buildings and from switching fuels from heating oil to methane. These measures almost halved the CO2 emissions between 1993 and 2006.
The Display® Campaign has resulted in further energy saving intiatives. The City of Salerno became a participant of the Display® Campaign when they joined the association Energie Cités in December 2005.
As part of the Display® Campaign, Salerno City Council and, in particular, the Office of the Energy Manager, launched the Gioca al Risparmio project- “Playing the game of saving.”
- The key component of the project is a communication campaign aimed at educating school students on the importance of energy and water efficiency.
- Display® Certificates have been produced for 49 school buildings. Prizes are being used as incentives to encourage behavioural change and reduce energy and water consumption.
- The project has been well publicised through a media promotion event, on the Council’s website and has involved speeches to 4000 school students.
- The project is due to finish at the end of 2007, by which time it is hoped that schools will have achieved significant savings in water, energy and CO2 emissions.
Poster of the project Gioca al Risparmio (play the game of saving)
Building details |
|
|
|
| Type of building : |
Nursery, primary and secondary schools |
|
|
| Year of construction/ Floor area/ Operating hours : |
Before 1976/ 89,909m2 (total area of 49 schools)/8 hours per day for 104 days with heating and 200 days without heating |
|
|
| Heating and cooling / measures installed |
Methane-fired heating |
|
|
|
| Energy/CO2/Water label (before and after improvements if possible) |
Before : 827,708 kWh electricity, 248,990 Nm3 of methane gas, 104,700 lt of fuel oil, 1,170 tonnes of CO2 (data for the year 2005 and for 49 schools)
_ The tables below show the energy, water and CO2 classes of schools taking part in Gioca al Risparmio at the start of the project :
_
_ After : the final results will be available in December 2007 (at the end of the project).
|
|
|
Project Description |
|
|
|
| Aim |
There are three objectives of Gioca al Risparmio :
a) Saving energy and water through the promotion of good practice in schools ;
b) Environmental protection through the reduction of CO2 emissions ;
c) Awakening students’ consciousness to the need for greater care in the use of (available) energy resources.
|
|
|
|
|
| Key points |
The project consisted of 3 steps, as follows.
_ Step 1 :
The first step focused on media promotion and involved a press conference. A representative from each of the project partners took part in this conference, as well as representatives from the City Council. The project was also promoted on the website of the City of Salerno (www.comune.salerno.it).
_ A presentation was made to staff from the institutions involved in the project such as school principals and teachers. This was held in Villa Camarra. During this event speeches were given by the Deputy Major Doc. Eva Avossa, the Energy Manager Doc. Giancarlo Savino, Doc. Tommaso Esposito (responsible for the city’s nursery schools), Mr Antonio Cirino (society Salerno Energia) and Doc. Raffaele Grimaldi, (Consorzio Comuni Bacino Salerno 2 : discharge of urban solid waste).
_ Step 2 :
The second step consisted of putting up Display® posters in schools and educating students on the importance of energy and water efficiency. The Council’s Office of the Energy Manager had collected data on electricity, water and fuel consumption for heating plants over the last four years. These data were used to produce Display® posters for 49 school buildings, representing 66 nursery, primary and secondary schools.
_ Three meetings per week were held between November 13th and December 15th 2006 to promote energy saving behaviour in schools (49 meetings in total). The Energy Manager of the City of Salerno made several speeches of about one hour each to over 4,000 students. They were told that it is necessary to reach Display® Class A for energy consumption to protect the environment. The speeches focused on ways to reduce energy wastage, on climate change due to the greenhouse effect and on the need to reduce CO2 emissions. Students were also told that to reduce CO2 emissions, there needed to be greater use of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics, solar thermal collectors and wind turbines, instead of the current national energy sources that are mostly from fossil fuel.
_ Photos from the presentations to students
_
_
_
_ Step 3 :
The third step involves presenting prizes to recognise those schools that have achieved the highest energy and water savings in 2007 compared to 2006. This will take place when the project finishes in December 2007. This year, due to the communication campaign used in schools, large reductions in energy consumption are expected, particularly for electrical energy (20% or more).
_ Through mutual agreement regarding energy saving, a resolution was passed on October 27th 2006, between the school principals or their representatives and the Energy Manager of Salerno. This resolution states that schools that reduce energy consumption from 2006 to 2007 will receive extra funds proportional to the energy saved. The school showing the greatest energy saving will be awarded with a prize of 100 energy efficient bulbs, kindly offered by the project partner Salerno Energia.
_ The school showing the greatest water saving will win a new set of bespoke water tanks, offered by the partner Salerno Sistemi, to replace the old tanks that only came in one size.
_ Recycling is also part of Gioca al Risparmio. Thanks to the help of the partner Consorzio Comuni Bacino Salerno 2, it has been possible to promote the separate collection of waste paper to show school students that it is very easily recycled. For this purpose Bacino Salerno 2 has provided all schools taking part in the project with special bins to collect paper and has established dates for collection.
|
|
|
|
|
| Reason for inclusion as Shining Example |
Gioca al Risparmio is an excellent example of how widespread communication can be used to encourage behavioural change and consequently improve energy and water efficiency. The communication campaign focused on educating students, but also reached the wider community through the media. Prizes are being used as incentives to initiate behavioural change and encourage schools to improve their energy and water efficiency.
_ This project involved the formation of successful partnerships with organisations involved in water efficiency, energy efficiency and waste reduction. These partnerships provided excellent and relevant prizes for the schools, which lowered the costs of the project. The project partners also helped to involve the wider community in the energy-saving efforts of Salerno through promotions such as giving away energy efficient light bulbs. |
|
|
Costs & Benefits |
|
|
|
| Costs & funding |
The only costs for this project were printing the Display® posters, which was funded by Salerno Energia, and purchasing teaching books, which were distributed to students during the educational speeches. |
|
|
| Benefits |
This project is on track to result in significant water and energy savings with a resultant reduction of CO2 emissions. The final figures will be available in December 2007 at the end of this project.
_ The project has also raised awareness of the importance of saving energy and water both amongst school students and in the wider community and has provided incentives to encourage behavioural change. |
|
|
Partnership details |
|
|
|
| Partners & role |
This project was undertaken thanks to the teamwork of the Energy Manager’s Office and the Council of the City of Salerno.
_ The project also involved several external partners, including :
- Salerno Sistemi – the local water supplier
- Salerno Energia – the local methane supplier
- Consorzio Comuni Bacino Salerno 2 – a consortium that deals with waste disposal and recycling in the local area
_ All of these partners have supported and taken part in this project both directly and through indirect actions, such as Salerno Energia distributing two free energy efficient light bulbs to every family in Salerno.
|
|
|
Recommendations |
|
|
|
| Achievements |
Display® posters have been mounted in 49 school buildings in Salerno. Just over 60% of the school buildings in the project are rated as Class A for energy use and 35% are Class B. This is due to both to the wise management of energy consumption and favourable climate conditions in Salerno.
_ Gioca al Risparmio involved sharing knowledge of good energy saving practice with 4000 students and the wider community in Salerno. In this way, the students and citizens of Salerno have become the main characters in a play whose aim is to promote the conscious use of energy resources and environmental protection. |
|
|
|
|
| Lessons Learned |
Undertaking Gioca al Risparmio has increased the professional and cultural knowledge of the participants. Unlike previous projects, Gioca al Risparmio involved communication to the public and media promotion. This new communication element has been taken on board as good practice for further projects. Communication with stakeholders has been recognised as being integral to the fast and effective achievement of objectives.
_ The analysis of water consumption data for production of the Display® posters has revealed heavy water losses. Fixing this problem will require major changes to the water distribution plants. In the next few months, project partner Salerno Sistemi plans to undertake accurate monitoring of the water plants in the school buildings, to identify and remedy these losses. |
|
|
Useful info |
|
|
|
| Publications |
|
| Websites |
www.comune.salerno.it |
| Arrangements to visit |
Contact Doc. Giancarlo Savino |
|
