Category: News room

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!

The meetMED Assessment of Appliances share of the Total Energy Consumption in the SEMCs – Special focus on Air Conditioning Appliances and the study on the Design of a Regional Program for Appliances in the SEMCs are now available on this website!

This meetMED report collects the results of questionnaires, interviews and field research in the target countries assessing the share of total energy consumption connected to the use of household appliances in general, with a special focus on air conditioning. Based on this report, the meetMED experts have prepared a proposal for the design of a regional program for energy efficient household appliances in the target countries.

The proposed regional program for appliances will work towards accelerating the adaptation of Standards and Labels (S&L) and MEPS and improving the effectiveness of national EE programs, which will contribute to the development of EE measures in the SEMCs region. This will be achieved via the alignment or harmonization of national MEPS, labelling and the facilitation of the exchange of knowledge, information and good practices between member countries.

Read the full meetMED report on the Appliances share of the Total Energy Consumption in the SEMCs here.

Read the full study on the preparation of a regional program for appliances here.

The Market Survey on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources Professional Training

Under the project’s capacity building activities, a market survey of the RES
and EE professional training schemes in Algeria, Egypt, Greece, France, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia was conducted by the meetMED experts. This was done in order to ascertain 1) the state of development of the training schemes for Renewable Energy Technologies and Energy Efficiency; 2) the number of available courses; 3) the status of the training institutions; and 4) the quality of the training schemes in each of these countries. In conclusion, a gap analysis was elaborated, lessons learnt and best practices highlighted, and recommendations made in order to improve these professional training schemes.

 Read and download the full report here.

On 4 and 5 December 2019, 20 experts from Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal and Tunisia gathered at the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona, Spain for the first meeting of the UfM Working Group (WG) on Energy Efficiency for Appliances.

The meetMED national experts presented their national experiences and engaged in topical discussion with experts from SE4All, UNEP, UNIDO C2E2, as well as from the ONG CLASP Europe and the private sector representatives from APPLiA and FRESH Egypt.

The discussion built on meetMED country questionnaires on EE in appliances and on the key meetMED reports on quality infrastructure, consumption of household appliances and regional labelling program, which will be published on the meetMED website in the upcoming months.  
The participants confirmed their interest to convene again the WG and indicated the need for a road map towards a common approach to standards and labels for appliances in the Mediterranean region in view of the UfM Ministerial meeting in 2021.

The work of the WG will be presented at the next meeting of the UfM REEE platform in January 2020.

On Wednesday, 4 December 2019, ENEA hosted in Rome the meetMED workshop “INVESTMENT CLIMATE FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY IN SELECTED MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES” in the presence of high level representatives of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, experts from the Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Management (MEDENER) and the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), as well as other energy stakeholders involved in the meetMED activities.

The workshop presented preliminary country reports developed by ENEA on investment climate for energy efficiency and renewable energy in two strategic countries of the region, Algeria and Palestine. A roundtable was also held among experts to highlight the state-of-the- art among the other meetMED partner countries. The event was attended by stakeholders of the public and private sector, financing institutions and banks, experts and researchers, regional and international organizations as well as of the civil society.

The discussion underlined the need for further dialogue and a greater awareness of the opportunities arising from investments in energy efficiency and renewable energies, also in terms of job creation, as an effective tool to address social issues from a forward-looking perspective. A round table discussion took place among major stakeholders of the Mediterranean Energy Associations, RCREEE, MEDENER, APRUE, PEC, NREA, ALMEE, LCEC. This highlighted the current barriers faced by domestic and foreign direct investors in energy efficiency and/or in renewable energy and revealed possible solutions to overcome legislative and institutional gaps that were identified at national level