Arco’s Energy Report to Cut Emissions and Boost Community Savings

A complementary initiative to the photovoltaic streetlights project, it focuses immediately on reducing CO2 emissions, which are highly detrimental to our ecosystem, but ultimately aims to achieve what now seems like a distant goal: energy savings for the entire community.

The main figure, needless to say, is Fabrizio Miori, the environmental councilor of the municipality of Arco. Among the resolutions approved at the end of the year by the Arco council, Miori managed to include the assignment, to Okoinstitut Sudtirol of Bolzano, of the task of drafting an energy report for some municipally owned buildings.

The Alto Adige-based study group will begin, in the coming weeks, to examine a series of properties to identify their energy consumption. Using the collected data, an estimate of the overall energy saving potential will then be made.

Buildings and infrastructures involved

The Bolzano institute will also examine the public lighting network but mainly about fifteen buildings, including Palazzo Panni, the historical archive in Piazza 3 Novembre, the municipal headquarters where the registry and technical offices are located, the two social housing complexes of S. Giorgio and Vigne, school buildings (from nursery to middle school with gymnasiums), the music school, the youth center, the stadium, and even the Bolognano sports center, which is about to be reconstructed.

“We also included the Stivo sports field,” explains Councilor Miori, “to verify the real benefits of our decision to switch from oil-based heating to methane. This study (costing over 19 million euros) is a concrete first step toward reducing energy consumption. Once we have all the data, we’ll be able to understand where and how to act.”

The creation of this energy report represents the first phase of a comprehensive project called “municipal energy management”. The subsequent phases will help determine which buildings will need specific interventions and how to implement them. With hope, and there’s no reason to doubt it, that this time, instead of remaining merely theoretical, studies and research will be translated into practical actions.