Bizerte – pioneering municipal energy efficiency in Tunisia

An ambitious vision towards the Smart City

Overview

Bizerte municipality in Tunisia has set an ambitious vision to transition into a smart municipality by 2050.  The municipal plan integrates smart components into the development of future projects, namely in the management of mobility, energy, building and housing, public services, and integrated management. In order to concretize this vision, the municipality has partnered with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including representatives of civil society (the Association Bizerte 2050, the association Hippo Dirutus), development agencies, research institutions as well as companies and regional representatives of the private sector. As part of the action plan towards this vision, the municipality has successfully piloted a number of projects including the energy retrofitting of municipal building and improving energy efficiency in municipal vehicular fleet.

Background

In alignment with its vision to become a smart city and contributing to the national target of a successful energy transition in Tunisia, Bizerte municipality has embarked on a program for energy transition which includes among its targets improving energy efficiency in public buildings and reducing fuel usage by its fleet. The project has tackled a major challenge that many Tunisian municipalities face, which is the reduction of the high energy cost borne by the municipality due to intensive and ineffective energy consumption. To implement this project, Bizerte municipality has partnered with the national energy agency ANME (2021). As an example of the local actions, Bizerte municipality has implemented energy retrofitting in one of its municipal buildings. The projects resulted in economic, social and environmental benefits, as it conserves energy leading to a reduction of energy bills, in addition to improving the indoor environmental quality and work conditions for employees and other users of the buildings. By employing GPS tracking to its fleet, the municipality has also succeeded in achieving a significant reduction in fuel consumption. Moreover, Bizerte municipality has completed the replacement of streetlighting with LED lighting fixtures.

Objectives

  1. Use technology facilitation to transition into a smart city that is sustainable, transparent and accountable by 2050.
  2. Achieving energy efficiency in municipal buildings, municipal vehicular fleet and streetlighting.
  3. Raising public awareness in Bizerte on energy saving public policies and municipal relevant plans.

Activities

  1. Employing the national sustainable building rating software CLIP that is utilized in designing and labeling of high-performance buildings.
  2. Develop local action plans for energy efficiency that were built upon the conducted municipal energy auditing.
  3. Executing energy retrofitting to the municipal building including the installation of double-glazed windows and thermal insulation to the building envelope (roof and walls). In addition, replacing low efficiency appliances and lighting fixtures with energy-efficient appliances and LED lighting fixtures respectively.
  4. Installing the LoRaWAN®, which is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect battery operated ‘things’ to the internet in regional, national or global networks, and targets key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility and localization services. This system allows to predict and control the consumption of electricity and water in municipal buildings.
  5. Forming a municipal energy team to monitor energy consumption by utilizing LoRaWAN® technology.
  6. Reduction fuel consumption by the municipal vehicular fleet by utilizing GPS tracking.
  7. Organizing workshops in the presence of civil society organizations to present the retrofitting project proposal for approval by the elected municipal council.
  8. Completing the replacement of streetlighting with LED lighting fixtures
  9. Incorporating public needs into the design measures undertaken by the project team including the installation of elevators in the retrofitted municipal building to ensure the ease of accessibility of people with disabilities to the building.
  10. Conducting public hearings and awareness raising campaigns targeting the local community in Bizerte on energy saving public policies and municipal relevant plans.

Effects

  1. The conducted energy retrofitting measures of the first public building resulted already in 30% energy savings, which entails saving more than
    3500 Euro of the municipal budget as well as the reduction of 21.5 tons of GHG emissions annually. This is a pilot for further buildings to be renovated soon.
  2. Achieving a better indoor environmental quality of the retrofitted municipal building, thus benefitting both the municipal staff as well as the visitors of the municipal buildings.
  3. The GPS tracking of municipal fleet has resulted in 30% energy savings.
  4. Reallocation of municipal budget saved due the reduction of water consumption and energy consumption into other municipal projects.
  5. Setting a standard for the energy transition in Tunisia, in which the municipality and the local community are strong promoters to achieving this long-term vision.

Conclusions

Energy conservation should be prioritized at the local municipal level in order to facilitate the energy transition in Tunisia. The municipality of Bizerte has had the leading role in pioneering energy efficiency and raising public awareness on this pressing topic. The municipality has led by example and has proven how transparency and public engagement are the key drivers to promoting energy efficiency practices.

Furthermore, the municipal representatives of Bizerte have highlighted the need to conducting market research on the available technologies for smart municipalities, which in the case of Bizerte has revealed a number of reliable service providers in private sector in the field of Internet of Things who can provide reliable and commercially-competitive solutions. In addition, the municipal representatives have highlighted that national energy agency (ANME) has been an empowering partner. Their support was manifold and included technical trainings and awareness raising. ANME has also developed the software CLIP National Agency for energy calculations and the energy classification of buildings   

more Information

Website of the national energy agency - Agence Nationale pour la Maitrise de l’Energie (ANME)
http://www.anme.tn/

Published: 28/07/2021

Contact

Ms. Sonia Dhaouadi
Technicien principal- Commune de Bizerte
s.dhaouadi2019(at)gmail.com

Ms. Wiem Amri
wiemamri.munbizerte(at)gmail.com

Images

Categories: Good Urban Governance Smart Cities / Digitalisation Integrated urban development Energy efficiency and renewable energy Sustainable mobility Urban heritage
Regions: Tunesien Bizerte Middle East

Location

Related Good Practices

Related events

Top