On 22nd December 2021, a Start-up Launching Seminar was organized by the Municipality of Berane (PP5) at the Berane Cultural Center. The purpose of the seminar was that of informing participants and general public about the objectives of the CO-CLEAN project and the activities carried out to reach them. Moreover, the seminar aimed to present the results of the pilot action in terms of energy efficiency and to discuss the importance of its implementation.
Specifically, in the frame of the project, the Municipality of Berane will realize energy efficiency interventions. In particular, the pilot action aims at replacing the current electric heating system of the Municipal Cultural Center with ecological heating from a renewable source - pellet, in order to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption in public institutions.
In fact, the current heating system of the Municipal Cultural Center, which dates back to 1973, is in poor condition and consumes a large amount of electricity for heating. High heating costs and the inability to adequately heat the area are a problem for the municipality and caused the damaging of the building.
The new plant, which consists in the installation of a wood pellet heating system, will reduce electricity consumption and costs, consequently contributing to the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions which are responsible for global warming and pollution. The installation of the heating system consists, besides other materials, of two hot water boilers with heat capacity of 110kw and 90kw, which will be used for the heating of the two different parts of the Cultural Center. In fact, the part of the building used every day by employees will be heated constantly; on the other side, the part of the Cultural Center which hosts cultural events, theater performances, municipal assembly sessions and other events that are not held every day will be heated when necessary. In other words, the 2-boilers system allows a better control of both the space heating and the system in terms of possible shutting down.
To conclude, the system installed thanks to the project will increase the energy efficiency of the building (the expected improvement of the energy efficiency will be about 50%) and will consequently allow the reduction of energy consumption and financial saving. Thus, by directly acting on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the CO-CLEAN project will contribute to the effort of the European Union to reduce energy consumption and increase environmental standards of the community.