Title: Urban and energy planning in Santiago de Compostela: Final Report
Abstract: The purpose of Deliverable 4.2 is to give an overview of urban energy planning in the six PLEEC partner cities. The six reports illustrate how cities deal with different challenges of the urban energy transformation from a structural perspective including issues of urban governance and spatial planning. They will provide input for the following cross-thematic report (D4.3). Target group The main addressee is the WP4-teams (universities and cities) who will work on the cross-thematic report (D4.3). The reports will also support a learning process between the cities. Further, they are relevant for a wider group of PLEEC partners to discuss the relationship between the three pillars (technology, structure, behaviour) in each of the cities. Main findings/conclusions Santiago de Compostela has several urban and climatic features that can be considered positive for energy efficiency. Consequently, the topic has not been a high priority issue for both the society and the municipal authorities, and is not yet an explicit component of local urban plans. Santiago‘s role in energy efficiency is basically following the regional policies of the Galicia Autonomous Community, which in turn follow the state level policies. The largest amount of energy consumption in Galicia is in the industry sector, followed by transport, and finally domestic and public services. The Galician industrial sector has a larger proportion of final energy consumption than that at Spanish level, while the domestic has much less. The regional policies address these four consuming sectors. As the seat of the Galician government, and final destination of the Way of Saint James, Santiago has widely profited from state and regional funds, agencies, policies and urban interventions, mainly focused in its historic centre. The link conservation-energy efficiency is therefore very important in Santiago, but until now mainly a matter of studies than significant interventions. The most direct sustainability related planning initiatives have been sustainable transport plans elaborated at both municipality and autonomous community with the purpose to increase public transport and diminish private car use, which have delivered meagre results. An important issue constraining Santiago council to deliver joined up energy efficiency measures relates to the features of its planning system and planning tradition, based on building codes and rigid plans, with slow procedures. Activities carried out including methodology used The six reports are based on workshops (Stoke-on-Trent, Turku, Copenhagen), interviews with stakeholders in the cities, the analysis of local reports, planning documents and news in the press, as well as close contact with our city partners (see methodology chapter). The PLEEC Project Energy efficiency is high on the European agenda. One of the goals of the European Union's 20-20-20 plan is to improve energy efficiency by 20% in 2020. However, holistic knowledge about energy efficiency potentials in cities is far from complete. Currently, a variety of individual strategies and approaches by different stakeholders tackling separate key aspects hinders strategic energy efficiency planning. For this reason, the PLEEC project – Planning for Energy Efficient Cities – funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme uses an integrative approach to achieve the sustainable, energy–efficient, smart city. By coordinating strategies and combining best practices, PLEEC will develop a general model for energy efficiency and sustainable city planning. By connecting scientific excellence and innovative enterprises in the energy sector with ambitious and well-organized cities, the project aims to reduce energy use in Europe in the near future and will therefore be an important tool contributing to the EU's 20-20-20 targets. page
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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