Brasov Could Achieve Energy Savings in the ‘Public Transport’ Sector (By Modernizing the Bus Fleet, Purchasing Energy Efficient Rolling Stock, Etc.)
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1 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views and position of the Table of Contents Executive Directors of the World Bank, the European Union, or the Government of Romania. Executive Summary /1 The TRACE diagnostic is part of work done under the Romania Regional Development Program – a Reimbursable Advisory Background /5 Service activity, undertaken by the World Bank at the request National Legislation Regarding Energy /5 of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Background Brașov /11 Administration, with EU funding. The report was written by a team comprised of Manuela Mot, Ranjan Bose, Sebastian Sustainable Brașov /16 Burduja, and Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu. Cristina Zirimis has Street Lighting/16 provided logistical and administrative support throughout the Municipal Buildings /18 process. The team would like to thank the colleagues at the Power /20 Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration Urban Transport/22 (particularly Ionuţ Trincă and Bogdan Ţigău), as well as the District Heating/29 colleagues in the Brașov City Hall and the Brașov County Water and Waste Water/33 Council, who supported the team throughout. Solid Waste/36 TRACE (Tool for Rapid Assessment of City Energy) was developed by ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Energy Efficiency Recommendations /40 Program), a unit of the World Bank, and is available for District Heating /41 download and free use at: http://esmap.org/TRACE Urban Transport /44 Municipal Buildings /51 Street Lighting /53 Water/55 Annexes /57 1 Executive Summary in the transport sector include: parking, modernization of the bus fleet, After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began its transition from a centralized and the development of non-motorized transport by building more bike system to a market based economy. Today the country is a member of the lanes in the city and expanding the pedestrian networks. This sector has a significant potential for energy savings, and therefore the city authorities European Union (EU) and NATO. After more than a decade of economic restructuring and political change, the country has taken significant steps should look into appropriate measures to decrease the fuel consumption towards catching up with the economic performance of more developed and reduce greenhouse emissions. The district heating sector faced EU countries. Although radical reforms brought about significant changes serious challenges and incurred heavy losses once the large industrial in recent years, the standard of living of Romanians is still behind the EU facilities were closed down. In addition to the loss of several large average. customers, tens of thousands of residential customers have also Brașov is one of cities where such disparities are less obvious. disconnected from the centralized heating plant. Now the system is undergoing a number of changes and attempts to reestablish itself as the This has to do with the relative proximity to București, the wealthiest area in the country (around 160 kilometers away from the capital city), its key heat provider in the city. Under a mixed private and public strategic trade location (along some of the main European routes management, the district heating sector is making serious efforts to including the second largest one, running from France to Kyrgyzstan), and improve the quality of services and regain lost market. However, the hot also its revenues, which are the highest in central Romania. Despite of the water heavy losses in the oversized, obsolete network are an area for the recent economic crisis and economic decline, Brașov County’s GDP has government to look seriously into and try to address. gone up in recent years, at 33% growth rate between 2008 and 2012, Like every other city in the country, municipal buildings constitute one sector that requires proper measures towards improving ranking second in the country. However, like all other cities in Romania, Brașov has suffered from demographic decline, although the city does energy efficiency – particularly in health care and education facilities benefit some from its location along the București-Ploiești-Brașov growth managed by the City Hall. A benchmarking of the municipal building stock, corridor, which is the most densely populated and most developed area in along with audit and retrofit measures should be performed in order to identify the highest savings potential and proper intervention measures. the country. The economic development in the transition period after the end At the same time, although the water system covers the entire city and of the communist regime has led to significant changes in the social and important investments have been done in recent years (such as household economic life of the residents of Brașov. Some of these developments water meters and new pumping stations) the network has a high non- have positively affected people’s life, whereas a few came along with revenue water share. Although the city has implemented the selective inconveniences and difficulties. For instance, closing down several collection of waste, the amount of recycled waste is still very low. important industrial plants in the city (most notably, Tractorul Brașov) has There are also many positive things that Brașov has successfully accomplished recently. Almost all streets in the city are lit, and the local led to an increase in the number of unemployed people, and a difficult process of economic restructuring. Today the local economy is driven by government is currently implementing the first intelligent lighting system the construction and service sectors, which employ almost two thirds of in the country. Although the city has given up on trams, they have been the labor force in the city and metropolitan area. replaced with trolleybuses, which are a good addition to the public transport system. Brașov has a system of good pedestrian networks, and Similar to a country-wide trend, the rising number of cars in the has caused heavy traffic congestion, increased fuel consumption, and led the local administration has plans to continue expanding them in the an increase in greenhouse emissions from transport. Commuting has future. A sophisticated parking payment system, through text messages, become difficult for both private and public vehicles. The main challenges has just been implemented, and new parking facilities in the city will be built very soon. The generation of solid waste is comparable to other cities 1 in the region and some of the organic waste is used to produce energy. management, public lighting, and power and heat) and to provide The heat and hot water production have been taken over by a private recommendations for improving energy efficiency. In each of the service company, and there are future plans towards improving the distribution areas, TRACE uses a benchmarking algorithm to evaluate energy cost network and related services, in an attempt to bring back some of the savings potential and, factoring in the level of influence of local customers that the system has lost over the past decade. Rehabilitation authorities, it prioritizes what the authorities should do according to work has been performed in some schools, health care and social where the biggest savings can be achieved. assistance facilities in the city, and in a few cases the old hot water To complete data collection and to get a more comprehensive idea of systems have been replaced with renewable energy systems. Nonetheless, issues in the city, a World Bank field trip was organized in February 2013. further work needs to be done in order to decrease energy consumption The implementation of TRACE in Brașov was carried out in close and reduce heating bills. collaboration with local authorities and public and private utility services As everywhere in the country, electricity tariffs are regulated by providers. At the end of this quantitative and qualitative analysis, several the national government, who is still subsidizing the energy price for recommendations were drawn out. These recommendations are domestic users. The liberalization of the energy sector is under way with summarized below. industrial consumers and, starting in 2013, it will begin to affect non- domestic users as well. Hence, the subsidies are going to be gradually District Heating Maintenance and Upgrade eliminated by the end of 2017, when the liberalization of the market is In recent years, the district heating system in Brașov has undergone expected to be complete. As of now, the central government is serious changes. The number of customers came down drastically from encouraging energy production from renewable sources, and Green 80,000 in the 2000s, to only 12,000 apartments at present. Today, the Certificates are provided to such producers. Not in the least, Brașov has a district system has the smallest number of clients in the country, but the sustainable energy action plan (SEAP) that has been submitted to the third lowest price for heat. Although some rehabilitation work has been European Union a few years ago, under which the local administration has done and the efficiency of the system has slightly improved, the losses in taken a commitment toward reducing energy consumption by 32% by the transmission and distribution network are still very high. Therefore, in 2020. the short- and medium-term, the TRACE recommendation suggests that In the short and medium term, the Brașov authorities plan a the city government should continue the rehabilitation work and number of projects aimed at reducing the energy consumption in the city, upgrading of the network, and the modernization of boilers and pipelines, and, ultimately, at improving quality of life for city residents. The plans in order to improve the overall efficiency of the system. In this way, losses include purchasing highly efficient rolling stock for the public transport will be reduced, the quality of services will improve, and the company (including the possibility of hybrid buses), developing non-pedestrian could gain back some of the lost market.