Environmental Technologies
- Posted by Clarisa on August 29th, 2007 filed in Environment
Since our last Green Café was a success, we are preparing another one for next Tuesday with the help of Viitor Plus. The topic will be Romania’s Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP), specifically, the measures concerning the “greening” of the construction industry.
The idea of this working session is to capture feedback from some stakeholders in the construction industry and to send the feedback to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
The topics:
- Research and transferring environmental technologies from the research stage to availability on the market
- The creation of a guide for improvement of energy efficiency for existing buildings
- Passive house standards
- Incentives for using environmental technologies
- Investments for improving energy efficiency
The comments received by the Ministry will be considered and if relevant, included in the Action Plan. In any case, the ministry is supposed to give an answer and justify the including or omitting of the comments in the Action Plan. Members of the public may read and comment on the action plan but comments are only accepted until Sept 15.
We will again employ the World Cafe method of facilitating a productive meeting from a diverse group of participants.
Some of these initiatives may take time to be fully realized but, the answer is clear. With rising energy, climate change concerns, government support and funding… the promotion and adoption of green technology will grow significantly.
Written by Clarisa
September 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am
[...] Following up from Clarisa’s post on the recent Green Cafe on ETAP, and from Anca’s post on the previous event, many interesting points are coming out of our Green Cafes, and perhaps one of the most interesting aspects is just the simple networking and interface of representatives from many viewpoints. Pictures from the event can be found here. Of course, many suggestions were raised for the upcoming Environmental Roadmap document for Romania, and it is so exciting to see that comments from our events are reaching policy-makers and being both considered and incorporated into policy. The outcome of our event, however, is not just a set of suggestions, but a document that we can send to policy-makers and representatives from involved Ministries, addressing numerous issues altogether in a cohesive way. The goal is to join with others to make a long-term difference for our community and for our quality of life. As Clarisa pointed out, there are a number of issues we focused on which are unique, but when combined form a set of issues for sustainable development. A few include: Incentive Programs Many countries have successful examples of incentive programs offered by various organizations: National Governments, Local Authorities, Local Utility-providers, Special agencies for specific issues. UK for example has a multi-level incentive program for energy efficiency, as well as incentives by special agencies for waste management and recycling, and most interestingly an incentive program for a Symbiosis Programme helping businesses to partner with each other so that one company’s waste is another company’s resource. Incentives encourage green practices by a range of consumer groups: businesses, individuals, organizations, industries, municipalities. Incentives can take the form of VAT reductions, tax credits, tax holidays, property tax reductions, direct grants, monetary cost offsets, and financing. The value of incentives is ultimately to encourage the public and business to incorporate green practices into processes and projects and to overcome the initial hurdle of learning and development. However, incentives are also a way of building public awareness, and driving policy with real rewards. One kind of incentive that has recently been increasingly published is the better ROI and relatively minimal up-front costs for green, as published by the USGBC and the World GBC. These surveys note the result that green does not necessarily equate to higher cost, or is not necessarily as higher-cost as some may think, but when analyzed over time, the ROI for the building investment increases with green, and continues to increase over time, based on lower operating costs and increased value in the market. PassivHaus standards Germany, UK, and other countries are incorporating PassivHaus (super energy-efficient) standards into their building standards. However, PassivHaus is not just for Houses. And PassivHaus buildings do not have to appear differently from other buildings. PassivHaus buildings (based on careful planning and management) simply function better than other buildings. [...]
September 13th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
[...] A few days ago we hosted a Green Cafe, as I had wrote here. It was very interesting to see people discussing passionately for fifteen minutes, and then having to change subjects as each session ended. One of the things that captured my attention at this event, as it was one of my responsibilities, was the food. We decided for a catering company, Best Chef. [...]