Conference on Sustainable Development Strategy with Božidar Đelić
| 21 October 2009 - Comments (0) | Reflections |
Kuće Beodom was invited at the conference on Sustainable Development Strategy of Serbia and of the Netherlands. It was organized by the cabinet of Deputy Prime Minister, Ministry of Science and Technological Development, Mr Božidar Đelić, who came in person to open the conference. The conference focused on energy efficiency in housing and buildings. Here is a short report.
This conference is the result of the ongoing Serbian-Netherlands Government to Government cooperation on sustainable development in the energy sector. The highlight of the conference was the opening speech of Božidar Đelić where he outlined some important actions of the Serbian government in the area of energy efficiency and sustainable development.
Božidar Đelić speaking at the Conference on Sustainable Development Strategy (photo Beodom).
Energy spending and inefficiency
First, Božidar Đelić, stressed the fact that Serbia is very inefficient in the use of energy in the housing sector. Energy efficiency improvement is therefore the easiest way to reduce energy spending and align Serbia with other European countries. Romania or Albania are actually more efficient than Serbia. That energy spending in Serbia translates directly in import of fossil fuels which is detrimental to the balance of foreign trade.
Božidar Đelić speaking at the Conference on Sustainable Development Strategy (photo Beodom).
Energy efficiency is now a priority of the government. He mentioned that it is possible to reduce energy consumption by 50%, although it is not clear how long that would take. Serbia has also great potential to produce energy, notably in the renewable energy sector.
Price of electricity
He said, that the price of electricity in Serbia is an obstacle to improve energy efficiency because it is too cheap. In Montenegro for instance, electricity is twice as much expensive as in Serbia. At the moment, with the economic crisis and frozen pensions and salaries, it is difficult to increase the price of electricity, but it will have to be done eventually. He said that is is much better to help those who cannot afford electricity at a higher price than to maintain the price at the current unrealistic low price.
Božidar Đelić speaking at the Conference on Sustainable Development Strategy (photo Beodom).
Improvements
The new Law on Planning and Construction adopted last august already contains new provisions on energy efficiency standards. The next important step will be the Law for Rational Use of Energy which is being developed as we understood. Standard for energy efficiency will be developed and enforced. All new buildings above 500m² will have to undergo an energy spending review. The law also make possible to resell electricity produced with renewables and the buying price will be set to encourage initiatives.
Božidar Đelić stressed the fact that energy efficiency is 1 of 7 priorities of the government. Serbia will participate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009 and it has to come with concrete propositions to align with other European Countries. This topic is also crucial for Serbia to enter European Union.
We are glad to see that energy efficiency and sustainable development are now high priority topics in Serbia. We will wait to see how that translates concretely in the field, but we can see that Kuće Beodom is pioneering in the right direction.
Amadeo was featured in the presentation of Mr Bojan Kovacic, Deputy Director, Serbian Energy Efficiency Agency (photo Beodom).
On a side note, our project Amadeo, 1st low-energy residential building in Serbia, was featured in the conference in the presentation of Bojan Kovacic, Deputy Director of the Serbian Energy Efficiency Agency.
