SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT
Smart Energy Scenario towards the Future in Irbid, Jordan
In the context of Sustainable MED Cities project, the City of Irbid has developed its own SBTool (sustainable building tool) and an SNTool (Sustainable Neighbourhood Tool) for measuring the current sustainability level of the Al-Nozha neighbourhood and of two buildings belonging to that area. Through the application of the Sustainable MED Cities Decision-Making methodology, they have identified the optimal package of interventions to improve the sustainability of the area and the buildings assessed.
Tags: sustainability assessment, decision-making, methodology
Challenges addressed
- Develop a building assessment tool (SBTool) and a neighbourhood assessment tool (SNTool) fully contextualised to the specificities of Irbid, for measuring the sustainability at the building and urban scale. Tools support the decision-making processes from the initial design phase to retrofitting stages of the building and the processes for the development, implementation and monitoring of urban plans.
Main objectives
The retrofit concept identified by the City of Irbid, namely the “Smart Energy Scenario towards Future” is a comprehensive plan that promotes renewable energy to tackle climate issues and reduce carbon emissions, incorporating technological advancement, community involvement, and green practices to effectively tackle climate change and contribute towards creating sustainable and liveable neighborhoods. Indeed, it foresees:
- Decrease primary energy consumption and lower the urban heat island effect.
- Increase the dependency on renewable energy in electrical generation and thermal energy generation.
- Conserve the environment by using less resources and less raw material and encourage the purchase of locally produced products.
- Increase comfort and wellbeing for the occupant.
- Create local and national database platforms, facilitating informed decision-making and long-term planning for energy management.
- Reducing dependence on fossil fuels and lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- Decrease the dependence on potable water for irrigation, contributing to water resource conservation, and reducing stormwater runoff.
Facts
Project type
Capitalization project implemented in the framework of ENI CBC Med Program
Partnership
Lead beneficiary: Secretary of Urban Agenda and Territory – Ministry of the Vice-presidency, Digital Policies and Territory, Spain, Cataluña.
Partner 1: iiSBE Italia R&D S.r.l. – I.S. Italy
Partner 2: Municipality of Sousse, Tunisia
Partner 3: Moukhtara Municipality, Lebanon.
Partner 4: Greater Irbid Municipality, Jordan,
Partner 5: Management Unit of Special Account for Research, NATIONAL OBSERVATORY OF ATHENS, Greece
ASSOCIATED PARTNERS
Associate 1: United Nations Environment Programme – Mediterranean Action Plan Coordinating Unit – Barcelona Convention Secretariat, Greece.
Associate 2: Asociación MedCities y/o MedCités, Spain.
Funding
Total budget: € 0.7 million.
EU contribution: € 0.6 million.
Project co-financing: 15%.
Implementing period
October 2021 – December 20
Project description
Sustainable MED Cities project has provided Mediterranean municipalities with a system of innovative tools and methodologies aimed to enhance their capacity in implementing and monitoring efficient measures, plans and strategies to improve the sustainability of cities, neighbourhoods and buildings in relation to the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2025. The SMC tools and methodologies developed in the project have been tested in three pilot case studies by the three partner municipalities: Irbid, Sousse and Moukhtara.
To prepare the optimal retrofitting concept for an urban area and single buildings a detailed decision-making methodology has been applied by the three cities.
The decision-making methodology is based on the use of the assessment tools SNTool, (urban scale) and SBTool (building scale). The process adopts a participatory approach to maximise the involvement of stakeholders in the preparation of the retrofit concept. The participatory approach follows the PGS methodology (Participatory Guarantee System).
The decision-making methodology is articulated in 7 consecutive steps, as follow:
- Initiation
- Preparation
- Diagnosis
- Strategic definition
- Retrofit scenarios
- Decision making
- Retrofit concept.
Following the procedure, the Municipality of Irbid has prepared the optimal retrofitting concept for the city.
Impact and results
SCENARIO DEVELOPED
The Smart Energy Scenario towards Future is a comprehensive plan that promotes renewable energy to tackle climate issues and reduce carbon emissions. incorporating technological advancement, community involvement, and green practices to effectively tackle climate change and contribute towards creating sustainable and livable neighborhoods. The scenario outlines several initiatives with a total budget of 8.22 million Euros, including:
– The use of land and biodiversity to increase energy storage and efficiency.
– Implementing renewable energy sources such as EV batteries, EV motors, solar PV, and battery storage will provide affordable access to energy and promote clean and renewable energy sources.
– Improving energy efficiency savings by adopting green technology and insulation enforcement, funding energy storage projects, building a secure energy supply chain and encouraging the production of critical minerals.
– Water conservation through technology advancements, strategic planning and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Public Buildings – Active The application of active systems to improve energy efficiency and energy consumptions on most levels, including changing active mechanical and lighting systems and control devices and updating energy consuming appliances, in addition to introducing some renewable systems that could contribute to lowering energy consumption and increase the building’s adaptation to climate change.
Residential Buildings – Passive The application of passive systems to improve energy efficiency and energy consumption on most levels, including changing glazing systems, addition of insulation to avoid thermal bridges, and introducing shading devices. In addition to introducing some changes in the exposed surface materials that could contribute to lowering energy consumption and increase the building’s adaptation to climate change.
LESSON LEARNED AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVE
- Considering more residential and public buildings and other types, sizes, and ages of buildings in order to get more comprehensive insights on the sustainable building system.
- Enhancing community engagement: Arranging for using an online virtual platform (e.g., adhocracy) in order to enhance the cocreation process and reach the target respondents more easily and be more inclusive in the cocreation process.
- Arranging with the main partner (i.e., the municipality) to include more stakeholders (i.e., a number of experts with different backgrounds) in order to enrich the outcomes through selecting useful indicators and designing the retrofitting scenarios and interventions.
- Adopting an adaptive governance: to respond to changing circumstances and feedback from the community that are vital for the success of sustainable projects.
- Employing a measuring and monitoring system: to implement a robust monitoring and evaluation system that helps track progress in order to identify areas for improvement and ensure accountability in achieving sustainability goals.
- Policy alignment: to align local policies with broader regional and national sustainability goals. This is critical for creating a cohesive and interconnected network of sustainable cities.
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