More than 400 participants gathered at the Kfar-Saba Country Club to celebrate the final event of the ‘Smart Energy’ project, funded by the European Union, under the SUDEP South programme. The final event congregated pupils from the 20 schools participating in the Energy Management System (EMS) coming from the municipalities of Kfar Saba, Tira, Kfar Kasem, Kfar Bara, Kalanswa and Jaljulia.

The EMS has allowed a reduction of 11 % of the energy consumption compared to average consumption of 2014-2015. The main actors have been the participating schools that are now able to monitor energy inefficiencies in the building through monitoring devices that allowed measuring the exact energy consumption in every class room at every moment. Time controllers were installed to limit consumption of air-conditioners and water-coolers beyond working hours. A competition was organized between the participating schools to know the most energy efficient centre. The top scoring schools will be awarded with public money to continue implementing energy efficiency activities.

This initiative has allowed Arab and Jew students to better communicate, interact and work together towards a common objective, energy efficiency. Political representatives present in the event congratulated for the fact of this cohesion and encouraged to continue working together.

For the mayor of Kfar Kasem, Abel Badir, the SUDEP South project has brought an “state of mind” in the municipality that is changing the city. According to Mr. Badir, the municipality will change the public street lighting into LED after having realized the importance of energy efficiency through the SUDEP South project activities in the schools.

The SUDEP-South project began in early 2015 with 12 cities in 6 countries of the southern Mediterranean. The objective of the SUDEP Programme is to assist local authorities in responding to the sustainable energy challenges and to enable them to implement sustainable energy actions leading to energy savings, energy efficiency and more use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy.

SUDEP support mechanism activities are mainly focused on:

·         -Assistance to local authorities and reinforcing their capacities and their partners in the implementation of the demonstration projects.

·         -Promotion for the replication of innovative actions and the visibility of the programme’s results.

·         -Creation of an enabling environment for the exchange of good practices between project beneficiaries.

·         -And finally the development of their own local strategies to ensure widespread dissemination and sustainability of their projects.