Category: News room

June 9, 2021: Building upon their joint interest to reinforce activities related to energy efficiency in public buildings, throughout the Mediterranean basin, meetMED and Interreg Med Community Project- Efficient Buildings signed a memorandum of understanding virtually during the Efficient Buildings Digital Days.

Under the newly signed MOU, the two parties have agreed upon creating synergies to facilitate the identification of tools and cities that could be involved and supported within both projects on EE in buildings and reinforce the exchanges on, and transfer and promotion of, decision-making tools set up by Interreg MED Modular Projects (and others), especially in activities related to supporting local authorities.

Additionally, the MOU laid the ground for the creation of a joint calendar for the two projects to join forces in organizing common activities for local and regional authorities.

About Mitigation Enabling Energy Transition in the Mediterranean region (meetMED)

meetMED is an EU-funded project, developed by the Mediterranean Association of the National Agencies for Energy Management (MEDENER) and the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE).

Following the success of its first phase (MEETMED I, from 2018-2020), meetMED project commences its second phase aiming to enhance the energy security of beneficiary countries (namely Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia) while fostering their transition to low carbon economy. Accordingly, meetMED II will be contributing to the creation of more stable, efficient, competitive and climate-resilient socioeconomic contexts in the targeted countries.

MeetMED II activities aim at strengthening the implementation of EE measures and improving countries’ energy mix focusing on building and appliances’ sectors through a multiscale, multi-partner and inclusive approach at local and regional levels, thereby fostering regional cooperation.

About Interreg MED Community of Projects Efficient Buildings (Efficient Buildings)

Efficient Buildings started in November 2016 and is due to end in October 2022. Efficient Buildings is a strategic coordination, communication and capitalization community of projects, aiming to implement, at territorial level and throughout the Mediterranean basin, the transfer and replication of successful decision-making tools set up by the Interreg MED Modular Projects, with regards to energy efficiency in public buildings. In 2021 and 2022, Efficient Buildings focuses on concrete actions to effectively implement the transfer and capitalization of these mature decision-making tools and further assist local and regional authorities with their decision-making process.

The report of the 7th MEDENER International Conference on Energy Transition in the Euro- Mediterranean Region has been released!

The Conference was held on 26 September 2019 at the Museum of Modern Greek Art-New Wing of the Nestoridion Melathron in Rhodes, Greece and focused on the ‘Sustainable Energy Solutions for Islands and Remote Areas: Frontrunners for the Energy Transition in the Euro- Mediterranean Region’.

The Conference highlighted the additional challenges islands have to face when it comes to the energy transition due to the peculiarities of insularity and identified the similarities with some remote areas. Hence, the latest solutions for energy efficiency, renewable energy production, energy storage facilities, demand response systems, low carbon transport and sustainable water and waste management were presented. The role of circular economy investments boosting economic self-sufficiency and inclusive growth in isolated territories and in the Mediterranean region was also emphasized.

The 7th MEDENER International Conference was organized by MEDENER in cooperation with the Greek Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES), in partnership with the Clean energy for EU Islands Secretariat, the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), Greening the Islands and REVOLVE.

Read and download the full report here.

The “Concept Note for the Creation of an Industrial Association of EE and RES Components’ Manufacturing to serve Local Markets ” focusing on the Maghreb countries is out today, as well as the meetMED report on Quality Infrastructures for Defined EE and RES Equipment and Services in the SEMCs !

The concept note assesses the feasibility of the creation of Industrial RE and EE associations in three targeted Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). Regional experiences and national case studies that contributed to the preparation of this concept note were shared at a workshop held in Algiers in November 2019.

Read the full meetMED concept note here!

The meetMED report analyses the important role of product standardization and personnel certification as effective tools for the deployment of new clean energy practices at the regional and national levels. In order to do so, this report compiles the results of the questionnaires developed and conducted by the meetMED experts to the key national quality infrastructure representatives across the SEM region. Furthermore, it provides categorized recommendations that were generated during a workshop held in Algiers in October 2019 .

Read the full meetMED report here!

In December 2019, the meetMED project in coordination with the EU Commission and the UFM secretariat organized in Barcelona a workshop on EE appliances with a focus on air conditioning and lighting technologies, which set up the Working Group on Air Conditioning within the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Platform for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. 23 participants from 16 Mediterranean countries attended the workshop and contributed to the discussion.

This meetMED report on EE for appliances – focus on air conditioning analyzes the results of the country surveys and of the debate held during the workshop . The analysis of possible EE policies focuses on the MEPS and labeling policies as well as on scrapping/replacement programs.

Special attention has been given to air conditioning, as it is one of the appliances with the highest electricity consumption in the Mediterranean region.

Read the full report here.

The meetMED Country Report on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Investment Climate in the Palestinian Territories has been published today on meetMED website. This aims at giving an overview of the energy efficiency and renewable energy markets in the Palestinian Territories providing for transparent and comprehensive analysis of the existing legal and regulatory framework applicable to an investment in the energy sector.

The report underlines the pressing need to deploy initiatives and actions in order to trigger more RE and EE investments and, hence, to deeply change the regulatory framework and the market rules in order to overcome the existing barriers and decrease the investment risks.

The report is the fruit of very effective teamwork between the experts from the Italian National Agency for Energy (ENEA) and from the Palestinian Energy Council (PEC) under the framework of the EU-funded meetMED project.

Read the full report here.

Professional trainings remain a key component to build on human capital and foster energy transition in the Mediterranean region. The publication of the meetMED training packages makes these materials replicable in future training activities, hence, making them concretely contribute to strengthening capacity and raising awareness among the representatives of the public and private sector.

The meetMED training package on Energy Audits in Industrial Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is designed to provide energy experts with the necessary skills and knowledge to improve energy efficiency and profitability in the industrial sector as well as to gain required methodology for the completion of a thorough energy audit. Furthermore, the course includes the exchange of regional experiences among the meetMED targeted countries, in planning and implementing EE plans and related measures for industrial SMEs. These training materials were first used in a 5-day training held in Cairo in December 2019.

The meetMED training package on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings, instead, provides the stakeholders of the UfM Member States with theoretical and practical tools to integrate energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. For energy efficiency, this includes information concerning both the structural components of the building and the electromechanical equipment, as well as behavioural aspects; whilst, for renewable energy, this includes information concerning PV systems and solar thermal systems. Information concerning the use of
micro-grids has also been included. These training materials were first used in a 5-day training held in Tunis in February 2020.

Read the full training package on Energy Audits in Industrial Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) here.

Read the full training package on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings here.

 

During the last decade, the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) have demonstrated their political will and commitment to deploy innovative green energy alternatives.

Besides their positive environmental effects, RE and EE projects can have major economic impacts. Hence, the newly released meetMED report maps the impact of RE and EE projects on local economies and labour market, by identifying the number of jobs created, as well as the employment factor, per technology and all along the value chain. Particularly, the report focuses on Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon.

The meetMED experts also prepared a regional proposal to investigate the possibility to create a regional impact assessment tool to calculate employment generated by RE and EE projects. This tool would be able to measure the net employment as well as the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the industrial, technological and professional qualifications and abilities needed in the SEMCs.

Read the full report here.

Read the full regional proposal here.

 

The building sector is one of the largest energy consumer sectors of the meetMED target countries, thus making it one of the main targets of the existing National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs).

The main goal of the meetMED report on EE in buildings is to provide an overview of the current EE measures implemented in the building sector of the target countries, with a special focus on energy efficiency building codes. It also identifies the principal challenges encountered in the implementation of the measures and concludes with set of recommendations to encourage and promote the development and implementation of EE measures, but also the enforcement of the already existing policies.

The meetMED REN experts drafted country papers, which were then discussed at the meetMED workshop held on 18 June 2019 in Tunis, Tunisia. This report is based on the country papers and discussions among the meetMED REN experts.

Read the full report here.

The “Concept Note for the Creation of an Industrial Association of EE and RES Components’ Manufacturing to serve Local Markets in the meetMED Target Countries” is out today!

The meetMED experts discussed the feasibility of the creation of Industrial RE and EE associations in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region at a workshop held in Cairo in November 2019. Regional experiences and national case studies from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon were shared and contributed to the preparation of this concept note for creating a regional industrial association that could benefit the EE and RE market, regionally and locally.

The creation of a solid structure (e.g. Associations) at national and -potentially – regional level would serve along various manufacturing operations to develop and introduce RE and EE measures, as well as to promote local production of RE and EE systems’ components. Associations could also serve as an industrial and commercial lobby defending and promoting the development of a local market through a clear and efficient public policy for energy transition, including regulation and financing means.

Read the full meetMED concept note here!