Best Policy Practices

Best Policy Practices
Agència d’energia de Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
It is a strategic political choice whether
a city decides to invest in a coherent
energy policy or not. Barcelona does.
The Barcelona Local Energy Agency – Towards a New Energy
Culture – is a public consortium created to drive, manage
and monitor Barcelona’s Energy Improvement Plan. The Agency
is an instrument to facilitate collaboration and coordination
among various stakeholders.
The Barcelona Energy Improvement Plan of 2003 addresses
all citizens, companies and administrations to improve
environmental quality and to contribute to a sustainable development
of the city. Setting up the Barcelona Energy Agency
was one of the actions proposed in the plan, which calls for increased
awareness and the promotion of clean, renewable energies,
as well as more efficient systems. It includes projects
for which the City Council has direct responsibility or has to
approve, such as
• in housing: improvement of windows and insulation in
refurbished dwellings, high-performance boilers, energy
saving lighting, and review of energy standards
• in public buildings and facilities: replacing existing street
lighting, LED traffic lights, improving energy management
of lighting, solar power in schools, energy management
programmes in schools and universities, performance
contracting and energy pools, energy use standards,
reduction of energy used for decorative lighting
• in infrastructure networks: district heating and cooling
network as well as a photovoltaic power central for the 2004
Forum site, district heating and cooling network for District
22@, use of cold produced by the LPG re-gassing plant in
the Port of Barcelona for air conditioning purposes
Links
www.barcelonaenergia.cat/ and www.barcelonaenergia.com/homeeng.htm
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