“Display. Communicate. Improve”

Since joining the Display® Campaign, the municipality of Lviv has displayed over 1,000 posters in almost 400 buildings. The municipality decided to display energy performances over 4 years so that the public can see the results of its efforts. Press conferences were also organised on subjects like energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. The evaluation shows a 23% drop in energy use and a CO2 reduction of 11,700 tons between 2006 and 2009. These achievements were made possible thanks to creativity, a positive attitude and a remarkably low budget (€1,300). The Lviv municipality was awarded the 3rd “Toward class A”* prize in 2009 and has developed its communication strategy even further since then. (*)The Display® Campaign “Toward Class A” prize rewards cities for the excellence of their communication campaigns on improving the energy performances of buildings.

Background

Strong local government leadership and commitment are the key success factors of Lviv’s programmes for energy and water savings in public buildings. A new Energy Management Unit (EMU) was established within the city administration and resources were mobilised to train all personnel responsible for buildings, administrative divisions and units. This allowed for taking responsibility, created transparency, and enabled informed control of energy and water use in public buildings, laying a strong foundation for sustained improvements in energy and water efficiency.

Objectives

The priority of the refurbishment process is to provide a comfortable environment to students, teachers and visitors of the school.

Project description

In 2012, all 331 old windows of the school (1,292.038 m2) were replaced by new energy-saving T-window insulating units. Furthermore, the heating system was fully refurbished by installing individual heating units and automatic weather control system based on the outside temperature. The refurbishment of the heating system was completed before the beginning of the heating period. The largest share of all energy resources relates to heating, both from a physical and from a financial point of view.

Results

The energy consumption of the Sykhivska School is displayed on energy certificates. These posters are made by the Economics Department of Lviv City Council in the framework of the European Display® Campaign (www.display-campaign.org). The posters are hung in the halls of the public buildings for everyone to see. Therefore all visitors have the opportunity to know the energy consumption of the building and can follow the effectiveness of the investments made. At present, in the Sykhivska School, the Display® posters show the energy consumption of the building for the period 2006-2011. During the first quarter of 2013, thanks to the refurbishment works made in the school, almost 4,000 euros have already been saved.

Next steps

This project is a pioneer that will gradually contribute to develop policies and integrated approaches for readjustment of administrative and residential buildings as well.