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Crowdfunding for energy efficiency renovations featured by the CITYnvest workshop in Austria

The CITYnvest workshop in Austria was organised in cooperation with Climate Alliance Austria and its office in the region of Styria, the city of Knittelfeld, and the Energy Agency of Styria. The seminar was a part of the annual event of the Climate Alliance members of Styria and gathered around 100 participants, especially from smaller municipalities.

The workshop gave participants an opportunity to see energy efficiency renovations first hand, as it was combined with a site visit to a local school in the municipality of Weißkirchen, which recently underwent refurbishment. Later that day, other national and European examples were presented. Case studies from Austria included an award-winning project of a school rebuilt with passive house standards and a presentation on using crowdfunding for energy efficiency. The CITYnvest example from Liège was particularly compelling for the Energy Agency of Styria, which is interested in setting up a one stop shop for energy retrofits.

 “We are here to inspire each other. We cannot exactly copy what one of us has done, but we need to find our own ways and adapt what others have learned to our local contexts”, Julije Domac, the director of the North-West Croatia Energy Agency and president of the FEDARENE network, said. He followed with presentation of other inspiring examples of large-scale energy efficiency projects, many of which were analysed in the CITYnvest case studies.

The day of interesting discussions on good practices and innovation in financing of energy retrofits was closed by an awards ceremony for long-standing Climate Alliance members.

Presentations and pictures are available on the dedicated workshop page.