Open day of the BENEFIT project

MUNICIPALITY OF BITOLA

Day V of the Energy Efficiency Week

The last day of the Energy Efficiency Week in the Municipality of Bitola ended with an Open Day of the BENEFIT project. Within this day, the renovation of the Sports Hall “Boro Curlevski” in Bitola and other results obtained with the BENEFIT project were promoted in front of the journalists and other interested parties, which are of interest to the general public.

The open day started in the Sports Hall “Boro Curlevski” – Bitola on Friday 03.09.2021 starting at 11 am, according to the scheduled agenda, with a small change – due to urgent obligations in Skopje, the mayor of Bitola was not able to greet those present. The number of registered participants was 37.

The event began with an address by the project manager BENEFIT, Natasa Lukic, who explained the goals of the project and what has been achieved so far.

Then, during the study visit from the companies MZT Engineering, contractor of the energy renovation of the sports hall in Bitola, and the companies 3D Vision Engineering and Skipi from Bitola, supervisory bodies for the performance of the energy renovation works explained the realized infrastructural interventions on the sports hall and their impact on the energy efficiency of the gym. The representative of 3D Vision Engineering, Vesna Nedelkovska, MA, explained that with the implemented interventions, the energy class of the sports hall will improve from class F to class C, in accordance with the Law on Energy Efficiency. Also, that soon the Sports Hall “Boro Curlevski” will receive an energy passport – confirmation that the building belongs to energy class C, which finally meets the legal obligations for public buildings, according to which all public buildings should belong at least to class C. Unfortunately, very few public buildings meet this legal provision.

After the study visit, the attendees moved to the restaurant “Krozo” on Shirok Sokak in Bitola, where the open day continued.

First of all, in front of the interested and the journalists, prof. Dr. Igor Nedelkovski from GAUSS Institute – Bitola presented the software – computer web game to change the attitude towards energy and energy efficiency. Prof. Nedelkovski explained that the game was made in cooperation with the University of Western Macedonia from Kozani, Greece and was synchronized for both countries. For the two countries, two public facilities have been set up as case studies (for the Republic of Northern Macedonia, the Sports Hall “Boro Curlevski” and the Primary School “Kole Kaninski” in Bitola have been set up). Managers of public and private buildings and all citizens through play – simulation will be able to “learn” how investments in energy renovation would affect the energy consumption of the building, how long it would pay and so on. But more importantly, through the simulation they will be able to see how the behavior towards energy consumption affects the energy class of the building, energy costs and profitability of investments. The essence of this application – online computer game – users to get acquainted not only with the impact of energy efficiency measures on energy costs and environmental pollution, but even more importantly as the change in behavior towards energy consumption, ie. energy saving contributes to energy efficiency and environmental protection.

After the presentation of prof. Nedelkovski, Goran Nedelkov from the Municipality of Bitola presented a series of considerations what is the change in behavior in the field of energy efficiency and why it is important for the Municipality of Bitola.

The Energy Efficiency Week closed with an exhaustive and detailed presentation by Emilija Sarafska, MA from the Municipality of Bitola. Ms. Sarafska gave an overview and information on all projects in the field of energy efficiency and environmental protection implemented in the last four years by the Municipality of Bitola. He also presented the investments of the Municipality in those projects and the benefits that were obtained with the realization of those projects – financial, sociological and environmental.

The Energy Efficiency Week ended around 3 pm, and then all participants continued with a working lunch in Restaurant Korzo, Bitola, where in an informal atmosphere they summarized the events realized within the Non-Energy Efficiency Week in Bitola. The general impression was that the Energy Efficiency Week was successfully realized and fulfilled the set goals.

The event is organized in accordance with the KOVID-19 protocol for organization of working meetings, trainings, courses and seminars. Vaccination or KOVID-19 certification was required to participate, as well as wearing a protective mask during the sessions.