Local governance
Porto’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) sets an ambitious objective to reduce CO2 emissions by 45% by 2020 and increase energy efficiency by 20% compared to 2004 levels. The city council entrusted its energy agency, AdEPorto, with the design and implementation of the plan.
The deep renovation of the neighbourhood of Rainha Dona Leonor resulted in a significant reduction of energy consumption, an increased production of renewable energy, reduction of CO2 emissions and an increased quality of life for local residents.
Background
Porto is Portugal’s second largest city and one of the political and economic pillars of the country. The city itself is home to nearly 240,000 inhabitants and is surrounded by a metropolitan area that accommodates 1.4 million people.
Porto was one of the first cities to commit to the Covenant of Mayors, back in 2008. The city considers the Covenant of Mayors as one of the cornerstones of its sustainable development policy.
Porto’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) sets an ambitious objective to reduce CO2 emissions by 45% by 2020 and increase energy efficiency by 20% compared to 2004 levels. The city council entrusted its energy agency, AdEPorto, with the design and implementation of the plan.
The deep renovation project
Rainha Dona Leonor is a neighbourhood of 150 multi-family dwellings built in 1953. The buildings, made up of concrete structure, brick walls and light weight slabs, had never been upgraded, which led to a profound state of degradation of the neighbourhood. The city council had to decide whether to undertake deep renovation works or to demolish the buildings.
In 2009, Porto’s City Council opted for deep renovation and decided to reduce the total number of buildings in Rainha Dona Leonor from 150 to 90, by increasing the dwellings area and adjusting it to today’s life patterns of its citizens. The total gross heated area that was renovated amounted to about 5,000 m2. Renovation of the Rainha Dona Leonor neighbourhood was completed in 2014 and funded through Porto’s own resources.
Porto in numbers
- Number of inhabitants in Porto: 240,000
- Metropolitan area: 1.4 million inhabitants
- CO2 reduction target: 45% by 2020 (Baseline year 2004)
- Energy efficiency target: 20% increase by 2020
- Number of Covenant of Mayors signatories in Portugal: 112
Improvements in energy performance
Even though energy consumption was not a main concern during the deep renovation process, the municipality of Porto had to comply with current thermal regulation. Therefore, new heating and cooling facilities, as well as domestic hot water systems based on solar thermal energy were installed, resulting in an improved energy performance of the building envelope.
Porto’s measures resulted in an annual CO2-emission reduction of 12.9 tons and yearly primary energy savings of 286.54 kWh/m².
In addition, the improvement of the building envelope and the control of infiltrations led to an annual reduction in energy needs of 49.78 kWh/m². The increased uptake of renewable energy by using solar thermal yearly contributes to 9.96 kWh/m² of the neighbourhood’s energy consumption. Even though rents were increased in Rainha Dona Leonor following the renovation, this could be offset by a decrease of about 70% in energy costs for the residents
Project numbers
- Project duration: 2009-2014
- 5,000m3 of heated area renovated
- €17.3 million invested by the 4 municipalities
- 70% decrease in energy costs for the residents
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