Municipal building energy accounting

What factors prompt municipalities to participate in programmes to promote sustainability and energy efficiency? 

The Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 intends to cut the final energy consumption per person and year by 43 per cent between now and 2035.

The PSI programme "Future Region Novatlantis Argovia" is designed to support municipalities in the canton of Aargau in implementing the energy strategy in the communal sector. In the first phase, the objective is to improve the energy efficiency of the municipality's own buildings and facilities.

Only a few municipalities are aware of how much energy their own buildings consume. Targeted measures to improve energy efficiency are therefore often not possible. Money is not being spent efficiently.

Improving energy efficiency

This is where the research project sponsored by the Hirschmann Foundation steps in:

In several municipalities, energy accounting systems for municipal buildings and facilities will be established and tested for their practicability in everyday life. The various existing accounting methods will be tested for their suitability.

In the participating municipalities, the relevant decision-making processes for the introduction of municipal energy accounting will be documented in official and technical committees as well as in the political discourse and evaluated with regard to the success factors.

Energy accounting

The objective is to be aware of the success factors for the introduction of communal energy accounting and to be able to describe them at the end of the research project. Municipal authorities should have a guideline at their disposal as to how they can positively influence the decisive factors and so make a contribution to the Energy Strategy 2050.