Renewable Energy possibilities for European agricultural – mountainous communities
22/05/2009
Wednesday 13th May 2009 the small Bulgarian community of Sapareva Banya (less than 9.000 inhabitants) was the center of an unusual international activity. The municipality’s Geyser, the hottest mineral water in all of Europe (103 °C) and the only active one in the Balkans, welcomed the attendees to enjoy an entire day session of the 1st Stakeholders’ Workshop organized by the EU funded project Mountain RES/RUE. Local agricultural and energy stakeholders had been invited to meet together with other European energy experts for discussing about the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Rational Use of Energy (RUE) possibilities of the European mountainous agricultural communities.
“This seminar is very significant for the energetic development of Bulgaria”- affirmed Vihar Georgiev, from Cibola Energy, a Bulgarian energy financial company – “More than half of the country is formed by mountainous – agricultural communities. It is easy to foresee the potential on RES/RUE that our country has”.
Sapareva Banya is in fact one of the communities that benefits from the project research. Mountain RES/RUE project implements its results in four selected mountainous European communities: Parc Naturel des Monts d’Ardeche (France), Rouge Municipality (Estonia), Karditsa Prefecture (Greece) and Murtal Community (Austria). But also involves Croatian and Bulgarian mountainous communities for reinforcing the potential of its actions.
All these communities have in common their Renewable Energy potential, either from biomass, wind, water or solar possibilities. However, success depends on many random factors. “For example, the Austrian Murtal community is an example of how Renewable Energies are a viable alternative for mountainous communities” – says Prof. John Psarras, Mountain RES/ RUE project coordinator – “Murtal has already achieved 85% of renewable energy self-supply and will reach 100% in less than 10 years”.
Other communities, however, are still far from those results. It has been reported that a certain part of the uninformed Greek farmers in Karditsa Prefecture believe that the scheduled installation of windmills on the area is harmful for their health and the health of their flocks, producing cancer or sterility. Interested powerful stakeholders invent these urban legends in order to strengthen the public feeling opposing these investments and discourage the local community to invest in new and clean energy sources.
“We need to disseminate Murtal’s example. Greek farmers have to realize the potential their land has; how using RES can bring both environmental and economical advantages for them. This is the project’s goal” – stresses Mrs Alexandra Papadopoulou, Mountain RES/ RUE project manager.
For achieving this effective exchange of information, the project will set the structure of the 1st European Network of mountainous and agricultural communities, a common place where every region of the EU will be able to discuss and learn about the RES possibilities through already proved successful cases. In addition, project partners are elaborating some guidelines for developing RES communities, depending on their energy sources strengths and their growing possibilities. A special stress has to be done for involving all the community in the changing process, and not only policy makers or agricultural stakeholders.
“We must transmit citizens of these communities why sustainable energy is the best option” – says Mrs Papadopoulou – “We have to make them understand how this can stimulate the local economy attracting tourism, decreasing their energy dependence and creating new job opportunities for young people, avoiding their migration to big cities”.
Mountain RES/ RUE activities will keep going on. Next step will be the publication of the guidelines towards sustainable mountainous and agricultural communities in seven different languages and the organization of the 2nd Stakeholder’s Workshop after summer, this time in Croatia.
The 1st Mountain RES/RUE Stakeholders’ Workshop was broadcasted online as a webinar by the PRESSENSAVE project www.pressensave.eu
In few days video presentations will be available online at the Mountain RES/RUE website: http://sustainablemountains.epu.ntua.gr/
Want to know more about RES/RUE possibilities for mountainous – agricultural communities?
Mountain RES/RUE project contact:
Mrs Alexandra Papadopoulou
E-mail: alexpapa@epu.ntua.gr
SOFENA (Bulgarian partner) contact:
Mr Zdravko Georgiev
E-mail: zgeorgiev@sofena.com
PRESSENSAVE project contact:
Mrs Hinano Spreafico
E-mail: hinano@minerva-communication.eu
PDF version of the Press Release
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