LIFE: ‘energy efficiency first’ made easy

Take a trip through Europe and you’ll see evidence of a green evolution in full stride – from wind turbines turning on the horizon to rooftop solar panels and mighty hydropower stations in mountains.  

Such views are becoming increasingly common as Europe chooses renewables, reduces reliance on fossil fuels and improves its energy efficiency. Solar photovoltaic systems, for example account for a 74 per cent increase in renewables across the EU, primarily in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Sweden.  

Last year, the EU anchored energy efficiency into legislation through its revised Energy Efficiency Directive. Key to this is the stronger and wider legal basis for embedding the Energy efficiency first principle (EE1st) across planning, and policy decisions. The four-year, €1.8 million LIFE Local REGIO1st project acts as a conduit to encourage greater adoption of EE1st.  

EE1st has three aims: to produce only energy that is genuinely needed; to avoid investing in ‘stranded assets’; and to reduce energy demand and manage that demand cost-effectively. Some Member States - including Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Greece, Malta, Slovakia and Spain - have already included these aims in their national energy and climate plans. But, says LIFE Local REGIO1st, progress is falling short at regional and local government levels.  

The project raises awareness of EE1st among regional governments and their agencies by providing appropriate guidance to regional authorities. To start with, six regions are participating regions, but there are plans eventually to reach more than 100.  

The Regio1st Planning Framework also obliges participating regions to apply cost-benefit assessments to energy efficiency solutions (prioritising energy efficiency in buildings); to identify a body responsible for monitoring how EE1st is applied; and to report progress to the European Commission.  

‘The Regio1st online decision-support framework will not only raise awareness about the Energy Efficiency First principle (EE1st) among regional governments and their agencies,’ says Vlasis Oikonomou, project coordinator and managing director of the Institute for European Energy and Climate Policy (IEECP). ‘It will also provide them with a strong benefit assessment methodology.’ 

LIFE Local REGIO1st works closely with the EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy through a specially-established community of practice which aims to ensure political commitment within regional authorities. The project also helps integrate EE1st into national energy action plans and supports the Multilevel Climate and Energy Dialogue which came out of the COP27 climate negotiations.  

But political commitment depends on public acceptance, so the project also offers a fully-customisable, interactive digital platform – the Regio1st interactive online framework –to help local authorities engage with different stakeholders and citizens and to explain the benefits and impacts of energy efficiencies.   

LIFE Local REGIO1st supports a number of EU directives, regulations, and policies including the Policy framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030, the Energy Efficiency Directive, Renewable Energy Directive, Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 and the REPowerEU Plan.