Within ESMES objective towards developing knowledge and operational capacities of Energy and Educational institutions to plan, implement and evaluate sustainable and cost-effective energy rehabilitations for public schools, ESMES team has conducted the first series of online consultation meetings with the National Energy Hub members which are representatives of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanese Green Building Council and Energy Service Companies.

The meetings have provided a great knowledge exchange opportunity related to ongoing sustainable initiatives and projects naming CEDRO 5, REFIT, ENI CBC Med BEEP, COOL_ME, BUILD_ME, and the National Heat Pumps Project. The outcomes of these projects were discussed, relating them to EMSES objectives and activities. To highlight few topics: The Building Energy Performance Tool to calculate the overall energy performance of buildings and the cost-effectiveness of building energy efficiency measures (BEP Tool) and the Voluntary Classification Scheme for Buildings that were developed under the “BUILD_ME” project which works on increasing ambitions towards achieving climate-neutral building standards in the MENA region, another topic that was discussed was the Sustainable Energy Access and Climate Action Plan (SEACAPS) for Lebanon to minimize carbon emission and its impact, and finally the proper and safe disposal of batteries, and others. In addition, ESMES team had the chance to discuss with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education the major administrative and technical barriers related to Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency planning in public schools.

Those findings of the meetings have set the grounds for developing ESMES investment plan procedure and national strategy to achieve a suitable energy mix in public schools. Also, some technology-oriented material from COOL_ME and the Heat Pumps projects could be useful as training material, especially for the technical school Energy team. A total of 13 Energy Hub members took part in the first series of online consultation meetings on 3, 10, 17, and 31 March 2021. Stay tuned to the next Energy Hub Events!