Energy saving in Bulgaria and Romania

In Romania, the terms of sustainable development and Agenda 21 are often used without having a clear idea about the actual meaning of the terms and practical action in this field. There is a lack of positive examples for solving environmental problems and for sustainable actions in businesses and administrations. Due to the economic situation and the lack of information environment related issues don’t play any role in large parts of the population either. Awareness raising and motivation for taking over/accepting responsibility for the environment and the society as well as for the active participation of young people in issues of sustainable development are mainly initiated and carried out by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) like our project partner Environ. After the successful joint energy saving project of UfU and Environ, implemented in 2015/2016, the experience from our project is that the authorities running the schools lack information and that existing regulation don’t allow the implementation of such systems. This is why schools can’t keep the saved money from the energy saving project. This means – as of now – there is no financial incentive for the municipality or the school to implement energy saving projects at schools. The municipalities participating in the project are however willing to develop and implement financial incentive systems as they are required to implement energy saving measures since 2014 (law 121). This is where the proposed project will step in.

In Bulgaria, the level of awareness concerning environmental issues is similarly low but the way schools are financed is different. That’s why, theoretically, they can keep the saved money but have to negotiate with the municipalities about how to spend the saved money. The project partner NTEF recommends initiating discussions between the energy teams (the pupils taking part in the project) and the leading body of the school to make sure that the pupils, who achieved the savings, can take part in making the decision on how the money saved is spend. Also, contacts between the schools and the municipalities should be established. In the project, we will be aiming at making the school aware of the financial advantages of user-oriented energy saving measures and developing a model of how the money saved can be used in cooperation with the municipalities.

Therefore, the targets of the proposed project correspond with the respective situation in the target countries:

1. a) In Romania, the user behaviour oriented energy saving projects at the pilot schools are to be developed further and a financial incentive system that will be functioning in the Romanian situation is to be developed.
2. b) In Bulgaria, user behaviour oriented energy saving projects are to be established in pilot schools. Furthermore, we want to set up a method that the participating schools can spend the money saved on energy saving measures or on other energy-related activities.

The project is realized through train-the-trainer and teacher trainings, conferences/workshops with school authorities and political representatives, provision of guidelines for schools authorities and pedagogical and technical support of the schools