Consumer awareness Archives

Urban energy efficiency and energy community

“Our cooperation with the city of Szolnok goes back many years, and with this agreement we have taken another big step towards an even more sustainable future. This investment is particularly important for us, not only because we are implementing a unique, forward-looking community solution, but also because we have found a partner in the municipality who, like us, wants to actively fight climate change and is leading the way. We work every day for these shared successes and we want to be an example to others.”
Zsolt Jamniczky, deputy CEO

Company name:

E.ON Hungária Group

Implementation Year:

From 2022

Focus Areas:

Climate protection and adaptation, Alternative energy use and energy efficiency, Stakeholders, local communities, Consumer awareness

Program Objective:

Energy communities are community, non-profit organisations made up of individuals, public institutions and businesses that offer a stable and environmentally friendly solution to energy supply.

The aim of the Szolnok Smart Municipal Energy Model is to build a complex, energy-efficient, innovative energy system that can simultaneously meet the needs of consumers, producers and the grid connected to the municipal network, and optimise the energy distribution and use processes between the different units.

Under the cooperation, 9 solar power plants with a total capacity of 330 kW will be set up at 6 locations to serve Szolnok’s energy needs, and energy communities will be established to further help use the energy generated efficiently. The investment will provide an environmentally friendly and forward-looking energy supply solution, helping to operate more cost-effectively and reduce energy expenditure.

Program Measures and Commitments:

The modernisation of the buildings of the institutions of the municipality has a significant impact on reducing energy demand and thus on maintenance costs. The project will therefore:

we are replacing facade doors and windows in 3 apartment buildings and 6 other institutional buildings (nursery, kindergartens, doctor’s office, nursery management office), as well as
we perform facade thermal insulation on approximately 4,883 m2 of wall surface and
slab thermal insulation on 3022 m2.

In these buildings we will also upgrade the heating, replacing around 82 boilers with new, modern, energy-efficient condensing gas boilers, including chimney restoration and replacement of radiators.
To meet energy needs, new decentralised solar PV systems will be installed on the roofs of 9 buildings with an installed capacity of 331.75 kWp, in the form of small household-scale power plants. We are also installing an innovative solar covered carport, which will provide covered parking for 15 cars in addition to generating electricity. We will also install five AC car chargers, each with a capacity of 1×22 kW, and a DC charger with a capacity of 75 kW. This will ensure access and development of electromobility for the population.

Both the municipality and E.ON are committed to maintaining and further developing the energy efficiency and innovative improvements created by the project. The current phase includes the integration of the designated buildings into the energy community and the maximisation of the members’ consumption of locally produced renewable energy. Future plans include the inclusion of other buildings in the municipality and the inclusion of consumers living in the municipality’s rental housing in the energy community. In addition, the continuous monitoring of consumption will provide the opportunity to balance consumption and generation in the future by using storage, which through further optimisation will provide the opportunity to increase local energy supply and thus cost-effective maintenance.

Program Impact and Results:

The project is in the construction phase, so final results are not available. Based on our calculations, the installation of nearly 5,000 m2 of modern insulation and the replacement of windows and doors will significantly reduce the heating demand of the consumers living in the apartments, while modern gas boilers will result in reduced gas costs and lower emissions. The more than 330 kW of solar PV systems to be installed will generate at least 400 MWh of electricity per year: a saving of nearly 100 tonnes of CO2. The 5 fast chargers and 1 electric charger to be installed will make a significant contribution to supporting the spread of e-mobility.

The project will have an impact on the entire population of Szolnok, reaching nearly 70 000 people.

Key words:

energy communities, energy efficiency, energy supply, partnership

11.12.2024

„New Life by Auchan”

Circular economy, Climate protection and adaptation, Consumer awareness

“Auchan Hungary, as a responsible company, is aware of the need for retailers to take action for a more sustainable future. One more thing I would like to highlight in this context is education, as this is part of our sustainability goals. We are constantly working to ensure that changes are noticed by our customers and that they are comfortable with them. We also want to promote a collective change of attitude through our environmentally friendly investments and measures, as we have many people coming to us every day who see what Auchan is doing in this area.”
Viktória Lucenko, CEO

Company Name:

Auchan Magyarország Kft.

Implementation Year:

2022

Focus areas:

Climate protection, Climate adaptation, Waste management, Circular economy, Consumer education

Program Objective:

In March 2022, the retail chain also took up the fight against the polluting effects of the textile industry by launching a second-hand clothing business called New Life by Auchan. The company’s revolutionary measures to reduce electronic waste, in addition to eliminating plastic and reducing textile waste, will also include second-hand phones from July 2022. Fully refurbished mobile phones will come back with a one-year guarantee, at a much lower price than the original. This means that customers will be able to buy high-quality products at a much lower price than new, both online and in four stores.

Program Measures and Commitments:

The textile industry has a highly polluting impact on many areas, such as increasing water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and landfill saturation. The continuous production of clothes also leads to a significant increase in textile waste. Auchan wants to draw attention to this problem, which is why it has decided to include a second-hand clothing collection in its range, called New Life by Auchan.

Auchan places a high priority on sustainability and wants to encourage its customers to do the same. It is indeed important to seize these opportunities, because if we think that “it’s not up to me”, we are very much mistaken. A lot of small things can make a big difference, and the more of us who take this path, the more we can reduce the impact on our environment.

The New Life by Auchan collection is a great way to shop more consciously, and we can give new life to some second-hand items in our spring wardrobe. The new collection is accompanied by a heart-warming campaign, with posters with charming words like “I’m ready to start a new life with you” or a windbreaker that reads “Be my new companion and I’ll protect you from the wind”.

Program Impact and Results:

The pioneering initiative was launched on 16 March 2022 in seven Auchan stores: in Budaörs, Debrecen, Dunakeszi, Székesfehérvár, Miskolc, Szigetszentmiklós and Maglód. The second-hand clothes are tastefully arranged, and the selection is wide and includes quality women’s and men’s items. The carefully checked, sorted, good condition clothes arrive after thorough disinfection, packed, labelled and hung up in the stores. Prices for the New Life by Auchan collection range from 990 HUF to 3300 HUF.

Keywords:

NewlifebyAuchan, Auchan, secondhand, secondhand clothes, secondhand phone, secondchance

15.08.2024

Professional Guide for Next-Generation Solar Parks

Alternative energy use and energy efficiency, Biodiversity, Climate protection and adaptation, Consumer awareness

„Our goal is not just to make the electrical energy green, but to ensure that the developed facility can be fully integrated into the local ecological cycle. That’s why we launched this initiative, which is groundbreaking in Hungary. Solar power plants have been considered environmental investments by developers before, but the aim of integrating power plant areas into nature and the comprehensive approach to this had not appeared systematically in the domestic market until now.”
Dr. Gábor Farkas, Managing Director

Company name:

SolServices

Implementation year:

2022

Focus Areas:

Climate Protection and Adaptation, Alternative Energy Use and Energy Efficiency, Biodiversity, Consumer Awareness

Program Objective:

Whatever we do, the preservation of biodiversity is our shared responsibility. Following this principle, we have developed a unique professional guide for the creation of environmentally-friendly solar parks in Europe, which we are implementing under the name ‘Lumen Park.’ Our goal is to combine the benefits of solar energy production with nature conservation and ecosystem preservation. In addition to the sustainability of social and environmental well-being, we aim to ensure the long-term sustainability and value retention of investments. With our partners, we want to set an example for players in any industry: the key is not to compromise nature for the sake of industrial production efficiency but to find solutions for the preservation of both.

Program Measures and Commitment:

Our goal was to create the country’s leading public solar parks in a way that:

simultaneously addresses the increased demand for clean energy,
meets the growing sustainability expectations of society,
maximizes biodiversity,
minimizes the implementation footprint as much as possible.

The Lumen Park professional guide was developed in collaboration with experts from seven organizations. We reached out to potential partners at the beginning of 2020, making a concerted effort to engage a broad spectrum of industry stakeholders. The following were invited:

Engineering design firms,
Contractors,
Operators,
Small and large companies,
Environmental service providers,
NGOs (non-governmental organizations),
National parks.

The English version of the professional guide was completed in 2022, and for this occasion, we invited internationally renowned ecological researcher Hannah Montag to a professional consultation. During a multi-day workshop, we shared our findings and insights. We are currently continuing our collaboration with our partners, primarily focused on promoting the publication.

The professional guide is fundamentally built upon international research findings. It serves educational purposes by presenting the expected positive environmental impacts of solar parks, thereby educating local stakeholders. However, there were no concrete recommendations or toolkits available to achieve or potentially amplify these positive results. Based on the evaluation of international research findings, the company’s experts concluded that a solar park should be viewed as a fallow agricultural field. By applying tools that have been successfully tested in ecological agriculture, such a professional guide can be created for industry use, enabling the establishment of high-value green energy investments. This approach ultimately proved to be unique on an international level, enriching the international professional community with new ideas.

Program Impact and Results:

A professional guide has been created (in English and Hungarian) that allows for the maximization of the positive ecological and environmental impacts of solar panels, thus enabling the production of truly sustainable and clean energy.

The professional guide is actively downloaded by energy and environmental experts, educators, and laypersons from Hungary and all over the world. Based on feedback, national parks are actively using the guide when granting permits for solar parks. After the completion of solar parks, ongoing monitoring continues, so within a few years, there will be precise domestic information about the impact of solar parks on biodiversity.

Keywords:

solar energy, solar park, guide

04.10.2023

Urban energy efficiency and energy community

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„New Life by Auchan”

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Professional Guide for Next-Generation Solar Parks

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