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The Second National Conference on Energy Efficiency

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For several years the Friends of the Earth , of \u200b\u200bwhich I am honored to be part of, are carrying out a series of meetings, conferences, symposia theme, which over time take on a significance, a level of quality and feedback - fortunately - increasing.

That is certainly not due to chance but to a sustained commitment to professionalism, accuracy and objectivity in research analysis, appropriate and so actual choices on the issues to be addressed.

The last of the many initiatives was held Tuesday, October 19 in Rome in the Hall Conferences Montecitorio square where exactly was organized the Second National Conference on Energy Efficiency on " Integrating energy efficiency with renewable .

occasion was presented by the Friends of the Earth a voluminous report entitled "Prospects for energy efficiency policies. Opportunities for Italy "by Andrea Molocchi in collaboration with Monica Tommasi. For the sake of completeness

who want can see it entirely by clicking here .

The text is inspired by a fact: there is an ongoing climate change requires a global response. The greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced at the latest by 2020 and at least 50% of 1990 levels by 2050.

What to do? According

John Milani, CEO of Enipower SpA, the estimates show that, even in 2030, fossil fuels will continue to cover 80% of energy needs of the planet.

There are now actually cheaper alternatives and easier to use. This means that while the man should strive to expand research on new energy sources, the other will be essential to the immediate focus on the road that still has great energy potential and is itself perhaps the most concrete response to the reduction of emissions.

A first fact of interest that emerges from the Report of the Friends of the Earth shows that although Italy is still today one of the first European countries in terms of energy efficiency even before Spain, Germany and France, that placement must be interpreted more as done by our country in the past (at the time of the first major energy crisis in the '70s) that as it has achieved in recent years.

This means that we can not continue to look in the mirror, but rather we must act.

Also according to the FoE report estimates total energy consumption in our country amounts to € 161 billion, of which 119 are due to productive activities (agriculture, industry and services) due to consumption of 33 billion families and 8 billion due to exports.

In 2009 the law "development" had predicted that the Ministry of Economic Development were put in place a special plan for energy efficiency and energy savings by the end of that year. To date we are still waiting.

In terms of production and technology, however, Italy is already able to make significant changes:

- In construction sector, which probably made the greatest waste of energy, and perhaps the field where the potential for savings was higher and in many technologies: high efficiency from plant, the choice of materials to reduce energy losses, thermal insulation of buildings, lighting systems, not to mention the household appliances which have focused greater efforts to provide information to consumers and economic incentives.

- In tertiary (including trade and services sectors, including public administration) where the greatest potential for improvement with regard to air conditioning heat pumps, home appliances and lighting.

- Nell ' where industry will be enhanced by the substitution of the stock motors with pumps, fans and machine tools with high efficiency, more action will be equally important to reduce network losses through improvements to the process of distribution, rapprochement and rebuilding of the lines of the plants to the centers of users.

- In passenger transport sector, through the changes in demand for mobility to the rail, but also to the public road (bus cleaner and more efficient), and the area where the private mobility Regulation (EC) 443/2009 for reducing emissions of CO 2 car (target 130 gCO 2 / km in 2015) is causing a sharp acceleration of industrialization programs. In that regard, particular mention deserves our FIAT which happens to be first on the list for average emissions of CO 2 (g / km) for cars produced with an average of 127, 8.

- In freight sector that requires, according to Friends of the Earth, interventions similar to what has been achieved in the auto industry that act as incentives to virtuous processes.

The report also devotes a specific box to shipping which is the only major area still outside the control of emissions and instead create significant potential for improvement.

Thanks to the mechanism of incentives and tax breaks to the housing sector is undoubtedly the one where you have obtained the greatest achievements in recent years and it is no coincidence that the Friends of the Earth at this conference have remarked on the fact that the two main tools to encourage energy efficiency Today in our country ( tax deduction of 55% for the rehabilitation of buildings, white certificates mechanism ) focus on the domestic sector, while in industry lack sufficient incentives to achieve high energy savings. According to the latest report on white certificates, issued by the Authority for electricity and gas, just about 15% of the savings certificates from 2005 to 31/5/2010 regards industry, against the ' 80% the civilian sector.

An important chapter of the Report is devoted to the proposal of Confindustria for special plan for energy efficiency and for which the return, for reasons of space, to read the Report itself, but in a nutshell, through its reformulation by the Friends of the Earth with the inclusion of economic benefits for the health system and public charges relating to the shares of CO2 has the following results:

- to balance the state budget: - 7.8 billion

- Benefits to users (cost savings in energy costs): +25, 6 billion

- Environmental benefits for the community (net of the State): +10.8 billion

- Benefits for the national economy (value added of interventions): + 116 100 000 000

with a net benefit of the system village of about 145 billion euro.

They then analyzed the potential of the system of so-called high-efficiency transport and measures to improve energy efficiency, focusing on, in terms of efficiency incentive instruments, the need to make some improvements, including, for example, to correct the measure for the sole benefit of the facilities 'users' preventing the property that the owner of a building could cover, with the consent or at the initiative of the tenants, an energy-saving intervention.

The chapter on the so-called system of "white certificates " highlights that since the mechanism (June 1, 2005) to May 31, 2010 was approved to issue certificates of to 6.645 Mtoe highlighting it as a likely point system for achieving the savings targets set for 2020.

the report's findings show that the measures Energy efficiency is very convenient for the community as, against the initial investment, the long-term savings of households free resources for more sustainable consumption, reduce business costs, freeing resources for salaries, investment and innovation, giving development the so-called "green economy .

also energy efficiency, if implemented, represents an important aid to the community because it reduces the costs and health climate for the production of energy, in general, and mainly associated with fossil fuels.

Despite this - argue, however, Friends of the Earth - the current system of incentives should be reviewed and corrected, the current incentives for renewable power, too elevated, open spaces of speculation and by and large foreign fund the dissemination of technologies such as solar panels in China, the most efficient technologies are already being offered by the domestic industry, which could then benefit from a revival of support measures, strengthening its competitive position in Italy and abroad.

To maximize the achievement of European objectives to 2020, a director must be able to rationalize the incentives for renewable electricity and increase the energy efficiency measures, including those for renewable heat, much less expensive and full of opportunities in every aspect, including environmental.

Of course one can not consider the main obstacle to all this: the cost of incentives for energy efficiency quantified by Friends of the Earth in about € 24 billion for the period 2010-2020 recoverable in at least two thirds through the highest net revenue, but that presents an account of just under one billion euro a year.

technologies used to improve energy efficiency concerns nearly all sectors of our economy. During the conference were outlined some of the main case studies currently being developed in Italy: from

heat pumps for air conditioning that use renewable energy at low temperatures to the CHP ; the cycle plants Organic Rankine for generating electricity from waste heat, the integration of solar thermal and high efficiency boilers, the heating ; thermal insulation of buildings, goods and passenger vehicles with high efficiency; services for the diagnosis and management of energy savings are just a few proposals of the Italian energy technologies and products, proposals are emerging, including internationally-in a country with no fossil fuels and land scarce and environmentally sensitive and scenic. A country that looks even more competitive by reducing external environmental costs, which wants to save on energy costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sees new opportunities for stable and qualified.

Now to politics - Reaffirms Value of Friends of the Earth - decide whether these industrial opportunities must remain residual or whether, instead, may form a system winning to become a leader in energy efficiency, an industry-cross the entire economy-in which all the world should invest maximum resources in the years to come.

Finally, I would close with a few brief remarks of a personal nature. During the operations of the conference, besides confirming the need to make corrections to the improvement mechanism of incentives, there have also raised the question of a lack of predisposition on the part of Italian culture to welcome these new proposals and the importance of contributing diffusion and knowledge of these new techniques and practices to compete at last to a change mentality considered by all essential for achieving the objectives.

Some have resorted to very basic examples.

CEO Enipower cited the campaign takes off his tie Eni "to reduce the consumption of air conditioning systems, called for the use of energy-saving bulbs , and finally suggested that lower 1 ° C temperature thermostats for heating our homes; Alessandro Ortis, President of the Authority for electricity and gas, called for greater involvement of schools in these practices and reading for educational and awareness by students of their school bills; Giovanni Lelli, ENEA Commissioner, has suggested that instead of teaching the practice of recycling school students.

As Friends of the Earth are we doing this for many years now. We started in 1998 to bring a project in schools "The Bet - Bet" which was based just on implementation of all these tips for students primarily but not limited to these.

I find solace in the fact that these themes speak now also the heads of major Italian companies.

As they say: better late than never.

I find equally important that some of the protagonists of an initiative thick as this conference, which involved the world of politics and industry have been trying to highlight the importance of establishing a stable contact between the world of technical and what our President, Rosa Filippini, called " the world that was once called the home of Voghera.

I believe that this task of combining two companies still so far apart, the technology world in which Italy have shown great potential for excellence but in fact is still connected to a small circle of followers and that of ordinary people - the vast majority of us - yet so far away from these issues, can and should continue to be one of the fundamental tasks of environmentalism in the years to come.

Michele Salvadori

My Skin Color Changes In Some Parts

Good "eco-bales"

In a complex society, the problems can not, of course, have complex and that solutions.

on waste data from our officially recognized certification bodies provide that in Tuscany alone in 2009, every citizen has produced 663 kg of waste (one of the highest average among the Italian regions): however, this figure refers only to so-called waste "urban" (for example, are excluded special and hazardous ) or just one quarter of the total waste generated. Currently only 55 of 287 municipalities in the region have reached or exceeded the 45% share of of collection (target 2008) and of these only 9 have already reached the new target of 55% expected by the end 2010. The

landfill Case Passerini is now virtually closed for a year in Florence and municipal waste are transported in the Province of Pisa, Peccioli, and partly in the Province of Arezzo, Terranova Bracciolini.

In this context it is clear that every single project, every little idea, every staff, individual practice time to contribute to the mitigation of the problem "of waste management and production" represents an important step.

E 'starting from this assumption that I decided to talk about the experience of a member of the Friends of the Earth in Florence, Aldo De Luca, who is about two and a half years running a small garden by applying solutions in my opinion deserving of more attention because of all sustainable.

Aldo is recovering and reusing the old bales of jute used by roasters to transport coffee and destination, as we shall see, in most uses.

First, he has created within its own garden space used for the production of compost .

Here the old ballads, combined with the reuse of baskets normally used for the olive harvest constitute an original system to produce humus, which is then recovered fully in place for the production of vegetables .

Composting in its early stages ...

... and the final result.

the baskets for harvesting olives, put on old wooden boards and covered with canvas bags of coffee are used for the collection of all kitchen organic waste, thus fully recovered and subtracted by the collection bins. As you fill a basket, start collecting in the plan later. But this system Aldo has applied the so-called " worm farming." The organic waste deposited in the starting phase of their natural decomposition in the first 6-8 weeks, starting from their third month of decomposition, they are "attacked" by earthworms of the species "Red California " that in addition to complete the stage of deterioration of organic compounds contribute to forming a soil particularly rich in nutrients for plants.

whole process occurs naturally and without external intervention by humans. Once released, about two years ago, the first worms in one of the baskets for the staff, they began to reproduce themselves as alone and spontaneously these worms - able to eat every day twice their body weight and live even up to 16 years - migrate from one box to another.

But the re-use of bales of jute is not limited to this. As illustrated by the images shown here, they are also used as mulches . Aldo started to use them to cover the trenches in his garden facilitating crossings. When he saw that the canvas bags of preventing weed growth and weed decided to apply the bales as mulch obtaining additional benefits.

The cultivation of vegetables has benefited: by using the canvas is no longer necessary to use chemical herbicides, the bales also provide an excellent drainage system for rain water which is better absorbed. In doing so, they halved the water requirements for plants. Use of the Hessian is perfectly sustainable as being a natural product does not pollute and allow more perspiration rather than the normal polyethylene sheet mulching prevents. In addition, the bales preserve the land while avoiding the excessive hardening with the result that the change of season is no longer necessary but will plow hoes just a bit 'in the land surface before proceeding to new plantings.

Over the bales does not grow virtually anything and the little that you check it out easily with the gesture of a hand. What grows under the canvas dry quickly due to lack of light and is absorbed directly from the soil.

sum with the use of these true "eco balls", so nicknamed by Aldo - on the theme that has created a website at this address really interesting - you recover organic material is reused something otherwise destined for landfill, reduces the work of man, it avoids the use of herbicides, you'll save on water and composting is achieved thanks to an excellent fertilizer produced locally and ready for 'use.

addition to the garden Aldo is a kind of lounge where you can safely walk without having to use rubber boots.

bales, being totally made of natural fibers, have a series of limited duration - about a year - after which it must be replaced with new ones.
The filaments that make up the bales still new, once separated, may be used and then reused as a single ties to support the plants. Think about that for a single bale cords 600 can be obtained from 70 cm and 300 one-meter!

Aldo about us, however, an important recommendation: recently started the production of jute bags in mixed nylon and probably more durable and economic than the traditional. The latter are naturally to be avoided because it does not meet the ecological requirements of the original all-natural fabric!

In the garden, lounge-Aldo did not throw anything away and so are also retrieved the old compounds formerly distributed by the City of Florence, some of which are used as containers for tools and seeds and some still used for between the original and the other as the final destination of the plies of jute now in a state of decomposition.

But the result is another best of all: Aldo, at the end of my visit gave me a bag of tomatoes and of course I immediately "consumed" in the evening for dinner with my wife. We are late October and now the season for tomatoes you go running out, yet the color, flavor, product quality, I assure you, it was definitely higher than what we are superbly comfortable with and unfortunately forced to buy in large shopping centers.

Anyone wishing more information can contact directly with Aldo at the following email address: aldo@vereecoballe.it

Michele Salvadori