COOLtoRISE - A project to tackle summer energy poverty

COOLtoRISE project intends to address the problem of summer energy poverty.

Eurostat data shows that in 2018 about 19% of the population was unable to maintain adequately cool their house during the summer period and that 7.3% of the population were unable to adequately heat their homes in the winter. Among the main reasons are low-income, high-energy bills and low housing efficiency.

The situation becomes even more complex if we consider the rise in temperatures: the last five years have been defined as the hottest ever; not to mention 2019: the year in which temperatures reached the highest peaks.

It is very evident that the climate is changing, and this will affect our well-being. Rising temperatures will mostly affect the most vulnerable groups in society, who will continue to be more exposed to heat-related mortality, such as heat stress or disease.

Therefore, the characteristics of the buildings become more and more important: it is widely demonstrated that in old buildings, without insulation, or in apartments with bedrooms at the top, higher temperatures can be reached faster and therefore tenants can have more problems during the heat waves. Closely related to this issue is the access of tenants to an efficient cooling system: not all households, due to low income, have access to air conditioning systems.

Within this context, COOLtoRISE aims to raise awareness on summer energy povertyas well as pilot some soft measures to reduce the impact of the heat waves in low efficient households and deliver tools and information both to householders and to stakeholders to best mitigate summer energy poverty.

Objectives:

Establish a common framework on summer energy poverty in southern European countries (most exposed to heat waves);

• Define common solutions to tackle summer energy poverty;
• Train the 'workers for summer energy poverty', operators and volunteers who will support the most energetically vulnerable families;
• Reduce the percentage of people living in summer energy poverty (helping 7,240 people);
• Promote the empowerment of women in the energy sector;
• Create a communication and dissemination plan that puts the problem of summer energy poverty in the foreground.

Actions:

COOLtoRISE will implement specific actions in its 3-year lifespan:

• Selection of householders in 4 European countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, and Spain). The number of householders ranges between 3100 and 4290 (rounded down or over);
• Selection and training of Summer Energy Poverty Operators (SEPA) - as key figures to raise awareness on energy poverty. The number of SEPAs ranges between 294 and 405 (rounded down or over). Moreover, COOLtoRISE will train professional figures too, and their number ranges between 156 and 212.;
• Organization of summer energy culture workshops;
• Planning of outdoor and indoor interventions;
• Development of a common protocol on hates waves;
• Development of a communication and dissemination plan that puts the problem of energy poverty at the forefront.

Partners:

Universidad Politecninca de Madrid – UPM (ES)

Asociacion Ecoserveis – ECOSERVEIS (ES)

Asociación Bienestar y Desarrollo – ABD (ES)

AISFOR srl (ITA)

Comune di Parma (ITA)

Sdruzenie Tzentar za Ustoychivost Iikonomichesko Razvitie – MOP (BGR)

Obshtina Peshtera (BGR)

Vilabs OE – VILABS (GR)