Data 4 Action Final Conference

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Data 4 Action Conference 2017

On 24, 25 and 26 January 2017 the European Energy Transition Conference will be held in Bordeaux. Nearly 3000 participants, from all over Europe – local elected representatives, technicians , businesses, associations, researchers and citizens, are awaited to debate and share their regional energy transition experience at workshops, forums and an « ideas lab ». As they do every year, the co-organisers of the event – Bordeaux Métropole, the Dunkirk Urban Community and ADEME have defined a leitmotif reflecting the current major issues. So the theme for the 2017 edition will be « Transitions: a field of possibilities for the regions ».

Read more and register here.

Sustainable Transport for Business

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Are You Eligible for a Slice of the €450,000 Energy Saving Transport Fund?

GenCat_Transport

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is Providing Funding for Driver Behaviour Training and Monitoring to help reduce our imports of oil in the road transport sector. The transport sector in particular relies almost entirely on imported oil. Options to reduce this dependency include reducing energy demand by being smarter about how we use transport and embracing new technologies in a drive to reduce fuel consumption across the sector.

While the technological advancements in truck technology is playing its part in delivering savings, sustainable savings can’t be achieved with a skilled Driver at the wheel. Professional Drivers are a key component to sustainable cost reduction in operational costs. The trained driver will not alone reduce fuel consumed per tonne/km but will also maximise a vehicles performance capabilities, while increasing the life of tyres, clutches, brake linings, suspension components and of course vehicle residual values.

The SEAI are aware that Driver behaviour training can bring about a significant reduction in HGV fuel consumption. To this end they have agreed to provide funding for Driver behaviour training in the road transport sector, through a model where the proceeds of fuel savings in the transport sector are delivered to support social housing and community group energy saving schemes.

A strategic alliance was brokered and coordinated by The Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency Ltd to form a sustainable delivery partnership between Corcra a telematics provider, Leetherm Project Management sustainable energy solutions provider for domestic and business energy retrofit, Gencat a specialist professional driver training company and Board Na Mona as the obligated party and the recipient of accumulated carbon credits to offset their CO2 target fines for 2020. The group were successful in receiving grant aid approval for the road transport sector using the social and community benefiting scheme. Over € 450,000 has been allocated in the first round of funding under this scheme and it allows for approximately 370 to 450 HGV’s participate and is available to all road transport operators regardless of fleet size, on a first come first served basis before 15th September 2016. GenCat_Transport_DriverRobert Steele is Corcra’s key account manager and he has been very active over the past three years working on accessing SEAI funding for the sector with The Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency following pilot installation in 2014 in South Kilkenny. Robert said that he has being working closely with Gencat Limited who deliver the ‘Creating a Professional Driver Culture Programme’. The training programme is key to successful and sustainable savings. Creating a Professional Driving Culture within a transport operation is crucial to reducing costs and attracting and retaining skilled professional Drivers. Professional Drivers want to work with firms who look after their interests. It’s a complex and demanding role that the trained Professional Driver just makes it look easy.

Both Corcra and Gencat have had considerable success with the combination of telematics and Driver training. Some fleets have seen their fuel consumption reduce considerably, but what is just as important as a reduction in fuel consumption they have seen the success of the team building that is generated from the programme and the emergence of a more professional attitude among Drivers becoming the norm.

To be eligible for funding of 25% of the cost of telematics equipment and Driver training, firms must be able to verify sustainable fuel saving of at least 5-10% over a five-year period up to the end of 2020. Fuel consumption is monitored by fitting the NIBC telematics system. Gencat will then complete an intensive twelve-week training programme which does not involve taking the driver or a vehicle off the road. A once off three-hour class room session is followed by weekly tutorials and behaviour feedback given directly to the Driver. After the initial 12 weeks Drivers and management get quarterly reports up to the end of 2020. The programme is designed to allow firms to continue to use the reporting system for the duration of the five-year event.

To find out more about how to participate in the SEAI fund contact Robert Steele on 0044 7939 920333 or Joe Doyle on 0877507579    

Energy Information Day: Data4Action

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Data4Action logo

Carlow Energy Information Day – Tuesday the 28th of June

Please see www.data4action.eu for more information about Data4Action.

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency in Partnership with Carlow County Library service invite you to join us for an energy Information day in Carlow Central Library, Tullow St, Carlow. Registration begins at 9:30am.
The main topics on the day will include:
• Showing importance of proper energy data access and follow-up through the European funded Data4Action project
• Presenting the Covenant of Mayor concept and successes
• Demonstrating collaboration models in data exchange between Local Authorities, Energy Facilitators and Utility Providers
• Setting up of an Energy Observatory http://www.energyhub.ie/
The information day is also aimed at helping you to make your Business & Home more energy efficient and more cost effective.

For more information please see Sustainable Energy Week

DATA4ACTION aims to foster win-win energy data exchange and collaboration between public authorities and energy data providers. Energy data is crucial for identifying trends, priority sectors and developing targeted measures to support energy efficiency improvements and facilitate the transition to renewable and low carbon energy sources.

barHow do you qualify for becoming a partner region?

The DATA4ACTION project is offering 12 regions the opportunity to become a partner. The following prerequisites are essential:

  • A strong commitment in your region to supporting EU202020 targets;
  • Motivation for implementing collaborative data exchange or collection;
  • Knowledge of regional and local authority needs;
  • Competences in energy planning at the regional level and possibilities to make an impact.

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Download the documents:

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Turin

Data4action: Promoting Sustainable Energy – 19th November 2015, Turin

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Turin

PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Data quality to support local action

19 November 2015 
Metropolitan City of Torino Auditorium, Corso Inghilterra 7,Turin
The metropolitan city of Turin will host on the 19th November an international event under the Covenant of Mayors and the European project DATA4ACTION. During this event, a number of institutions and researchers will bring to light a few examples of success stories of the support of local action to promote energy sustainability. Thousands of local and regional authorities are in fact involved in Europe and Italy, through initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors, in long-term sustainable energy planning to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption. In this context, the collection of data and their quality are often an obstacle to start an effective and convincing energy transition.

The project DATA4ACTION, co-funded by the European Union, foresees that 12 energy observatories, including that of the metropolitan city of Turin, develop and strengthen their own course of action to overcome those barriers.

Program

Registration

Location: Metropolitan City of Torino Auditorium, Corso Inghilterra 7

turin pic

 

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency fighting Climate Change

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Data4Action logo

Carlow Kilkenny Energy AgencyPhone: 056 7790856Email: admin@ckea.ie

Press Release

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency fighting Climate Change

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency, 12th August 2015

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency (CKEA) is creating the first Irish Local Energy Hub to help combat Climate Change and encourage Low-Carbon Development.

The Local Energy Hub is part of the major European initiative: Data4Action.

Combating Climate Change

For the first time in Ireland, Carlow Kilkenny Local Energy Hub will collect annual energy consumption data from energy providers, Local Authorities, participating local businesses, and the general public.  Analysis of this data will help to develop a sustainable energy action plan that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency.

Elsewhere in Europe it has been shown that public participation is the key to enabling individuals and organisations to benefit from the financial savings that can be achieved.  The Local Energy Hub will operate as an information platform helping everyone to improve energy efficiency and save money.

Making It Happen

The Local Energy Hub is being managed by Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency, working together with the Local Authorities, Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, International Energy Research Centre, City of Dublin Energy Management Agency, and Rennicks.

Understanding the pattern of local energy use and greenhouse gas emission will become ever more important as Ireland contributes to combating climate change.   The Local Energy Hub is an innovation that will assist.  It will gather, assess, process and model energy data to underpin sustainable energy planning at regional and local levels.  The Carlow Kilkenny Local Energy Hub will provide a repository: EnergyHub.ie, for all of the data on energy performance in the area.  This will inform the creation of smart, evidence-based Sustainable Energy Action Plans for Carlow and Kilkenny County Councils.

How Can You Help?

The Local Energy Hub will not function properly unless we are able to obtain reliable and up-to-date data on energy consumption – and this is where we need everyone in Carlow and Kilkenny counties to become involved.  The idea is simple – we are creating a secure database to handle all of the energy data from the area – the database will go live in November 2015, but in the meantime we invite the people and businesses of Counties Carlow and Kilkenny to register, have a look at the information that is required, and provide any suggestions or ideas to help improve the Local Energy Observatory.

To access the Local Energy Hub, follow the link: www.EnergyHub.ie.   All of the information that is provided to the Local Energy Hub will remain confidential, and the data will be used anonymously.

For any questions please contact admin@ckea.ie

…End

D4A Bottom Page LogoData4Action aims to foster win-win energy data exchange collaboration models between public authorities and energy data providers across twelve European Union (EU) countries.D4A Flags

 

Data4Action Roundtable Steering Committee 2

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Data4Action Roundtable Steering Committee 2

28/07/2015 – Kilkenny County Hall RSC 1

On Tuesday 28th of July 2015 Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency hosted our second Data4Action Roundtable Steering Committee at Kilkenny County Hall. The agenda for the meeting included:

  • An overview of the Data4Action Project
  • The role of the Steering Committee
  • The Regional Energy Observatory Launch http://www.energyhub.ie
  • Tender Specification REO

An introduction was given from each committee member and the role that each will play in the project for its duration. An important aim was to introduce the concept of our Regional Energy Observatory which was only recently launched and can be found @ http://www.energyhub.ie. The main focus now within the project is to start collating energy data from utility companies, local business, residential and national data providers.

An important goal of the committee is to build strong collaborations with energy data providers and stakeholders within the region to promote and share knowledge on climate change, greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions. We at CKEA currently work with the local authorities in both Carlow and Kilkenny which are also to some extent data providers. Our Regional Steering Committee (RSC) compromises of three data providers, two experts in the field of data collection and analysis and two public authorities. All of the data providers work daily with energy and/or emission data and are considered as experts within their area. The public authorities are represented by two senior executive engineers from Carlow and Kilkenny local authorities. We are aiming for improving the collaboration with regional and local stakeholders and research institutions.

We will be hosting further Regional Roundtables in the near future so if you wish to attend please contact Jonathan Griffin – email: jgriffin@ckea.ie

 

Data4Action: Capacity Building Workshop – 3rd June 2015

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Capacity Building Workshop 03rd June 2015

Presentations:

 You are the Key to Local Energy Observatory

Image Data4Action

 

Data4Action Presentation to AIEA National Meeting

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On Thursday 02/07/2015 Jonathan Griffin & Paddy Phelan (CKEA) presented to The Association of Irish Energy Agencies (AIEA) on the Data4Action project. This is an IEE project which aims to foster collaboration models in energy data exchange between public authorities and energy data providers.

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The presentation focused on bringing awareness of the Data4Action project and our local energy observatory http://energyhub.ie/ to the members of The Association of Irish Energy Agencies.

The Data4Action project promotes energy data exchange to improve decision making in relation to:

  • sustainable energy use;
  • reducing energy waste;
  • improving energy efficiencies;
  • and to make the local region a more attractive prospect to grow existing business and create inward investment from an energy view point.

Partner Collaboration

Partner collaboration is crucial to the success of the Observatory, it is key for the project to build an effective partnership with stakeholders to gather energy data for the Observatory.

The data4action project will aim to:

Provide a platform to enable stakeholders to SHARE Energy Data to improve sustainability!

  • Support knowledge transfer and replication in other European regions;
  • Holistic approach to sharing energy data between utilities and industry to improve public authorities’ access to energy data for a better design and monitoring of SEAPs;
  • Actively demonstrate energy data exchange collaboration models that are currently ‘in action’ in the twelve European partner regions;
  • Real time data available on the Regional Energy Observatory http://energyhub.ie/, which through the partners’ collaboration will be constantly evolving and improving the Observatory dashboard information for all;
  • Effectively mobilise public authorities and energy data providers in a win-win partnership.

Peter Keavney Chairperson AIEA stated “Data4Action could kick-start climate change energy data collection to hit 2020 targets. Bottom up data collection is key to this process”.

It was also highlighted that the Data4Action  project could be beneficial to all local regions.

Powerpoint Presentation: [download id=”1940″]

By CKEA

Energy Data for Sustainable Energy Planning

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Data4Action logo

Carlow Kilkenny Energy AgencyPhone: 056 7790856Email: admin@ckea.ie

Press Release

Energy Data for Sustainable Energy Planning

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency, 19/05/2015

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency will host a meeting on Energy Data Opportunities on Wednesday 3rd June 2015 at the Lord Bagenal Inn, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. The Energy Agency is a member of the EU Data4Action (www.data4action.eu) initiative, which is hosting the event. Go to www.ckea.ie to register.

Through Data4Action, Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency is developing a Local Energy Observatory. The Observatory will utilise local energy consumption data to help to inform future strategic planning and Sustainable Energy Action Planning within both Carlow and Kilkenny counties. Ambition is that the outputs from the local energy observatory will influence decisions made and have real impact on making both counties exemplars of low carbon economies.

To facilitate this process the CKEA is using EU protocols to undertake an analysis of the national energy data statistics and disaggregate these to the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny. This process uses metrics, such as demographic data, to create a baseline guide for use in other EU countries.

The next phase of the initiative will involve the collection of local data from energy consumers via an energy portal. This will improve the accuracy of the information that is gathered. The data will then be used as a reference tool for decision-makers at Local Authority level, enabling them to track the positive or negative impact on energy consumption that results from strategic planning decisions. It will also enable corrective action, where this may be necessary.

Later this summer the Carlow and Kilkenny Local Energy Observatory will be launched for public access to allow everyone to share their energy data – so everyone can play a part in making their local area a more sustainable energy user.

…end

Embargo: 21st May 2015
D4A Bottom Page LogoData4Action aims to foster win-win energy data exchange collaboration models between public authorities and energy data providers across twelve European Union (EU) countries.D4A Flags

 

First Steps to Development of Regional Data – Data4Action

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Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency have taken the first steps to developing Regional Data as part of the Data4Action partnership, more specifically for the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny.

The aim was to gain specific information relative to local communities to assist in the promotion of sustainable energy practices and create more tangible Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

Using the National Energy Balance Data (form 1990-2013), sourced from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the regional Energy Balance was developed for the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny.

The data is presented at a national level in the units of kToe, kilo Tonnes of Oil equivalent. In order to make it more universally accessible, the data was then converted to Gigawatt Hour (GWh), in complement to the Data4Action process.

With the SEAI Energy Balance information converted to GWh a regional factor was applied to the national data to account for the population within Carlow and Kilkenny. The population factor was generated through the use of Census population data sourced through the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Using both the national and regional populations a ratio was developed allowing for the energy baseline to be factored to a regional level.

The images below show some draft results. This initial process, while still in draft phase, has offered some insight for focus in the development of future Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

SankeyCarlow2013

http://data4action.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/EnergyProfileCarlow2013.jpg