The first international workshop organized within the EnPover project

 

The first international workshKonferenzFotoEnergie Firstworkshopop within the EnPover project took place on the 20.10.2020 and 21.10.2020 in a hybrid format. On site in Nuremberg, the team of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe met municipal representatives from the cities of Nuremberg and Munich participating in the project. The Polish and Hungarian participants joined in via zoom. After several qualified inputs on the basics of energy poverty and a presentation of German best practice examples, the workshop ended with a group work phase. Together, the participants examined the advantages and disadvantages of existing municipal framework conditions and measures to alleviate energy poverty.  

To kick off the event, Patrycja Płonka from the Polish Network of Energie-Cités (PNEC) presented the goal and the approach of the project as well as the current state of energy poverty in the participating countries. Furthermore, she gave a short overview of already existing programs and measures to alleviate energy poverty. This allowed the participants to identify first commonalities between the different countries, while also setting incentives for transferable solutions.

Next, Johannes Thema from the Wuppertal Institute gave a more detailed insight into the problem of energy poverty in Germany. Participants learned how energy poverty manifests itself in Germany, how it has developed over time, and what legal frameworks and programs already exist to help alleviate it.

The third presentation highlighted German best practice examples: First, Hannah Chao-Kinkelin from the city of Nuremberg presented the city's EnergieSparProjekt and then Joachim Hayen from the city of Munich gave a presentation on the diverse measures against energy poverty of the Bavarian capital.

After a short lunch break, Jakub Sokołowski from the Polish Institute for Structural Research continued the event with a more scientifically based presentation and showcased the complexity of measuring energy poverty in Poland by explaining its many different dimensions.

The second part of the workshop was particularly exciting, as participants were able to share their own experiences as well as the newly learned information in an online group work. In three individual groups, the participants looked at the current country-specific conditions in connection with energy poverty using a SWOT analysis. In doing so, they highlighted both the weaknesses and strengths of existing measures and framework conditions as well as existing opportunities and barriers.

Overall, the event enabled a great transfer of knowledge and exchange of experiences between participants and countries. The presented best practice examples gave the participants occasion to rethink their own municipal measures and try out new approaches.

The second day of the workshop consisted of an internal discussion about communication measures and future project ideas with the German project partners from Nuremberg and Munich.