The European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is the largest event dedicated to renewable energy and energy efficiency that is organized in Europe once a year. During the event week, all kinds of awareness-raising activities are carried out. The aim is to improve Europe’s energy future, show the importance of adopting responsible energy measures and increase the use of renewable energy sources.
In Catalonia, during the week various entities have promoted activities, informative talks and open days in various institutions and organizations. It is worth mentioning the participation of URBICSA, which as the concessionaire company in charge of the operation of the Ciutat de la Justícia of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat organized an open day at its energy facilities.
This open day consisted of an informative talk and a visit to the amenities of the judicial complex of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. For a few hours, accompanied by staff from ‘La Ciutat’, you can visit the different facilities and check the efficiency of the actions carried out in recent years. You can also see the latest investments done in the production of renewable energies.
To carry out all these important advances in energy matters, URBICSA had its own Energy Efficiency Committee for years, which studies how to reduce CO₂ emissions through a better optimization of available resources and an improvement of all the daily processes of the judicial complex. The goal of this continued reduction is to be able to achieve zero emissions by 2050 (Net Zero).
The strategic plan to achieve the ambitious goals set out by the Energy Committee has already made important achievements. Among the most outstanding actions, is the recent expansion of the solar panel park to advance decisively in the use of clean energy production.
In 2008 URBICSA promoted the installation of more than 400 solar panels that have generated approximately 65.6 MWh of green energy per year. Recently, they decided to renew and expand its capacity by installing an additional 2,000 square meters. This means the generation of 597.70 MWh per year and the elimination of the emission into the atmosphere of 370 tons of CO₂ per year.
Other measures that have been implemented in recent years by the URBICSA team, has been the replacement of the 168 conventional streetlamps with Led lamps. Electric chargers have also been installed so that subscribers can recharge their electric vehicles for free and they created parking for electric scooters and bicycles, promoting the use of non-polluting means of transport.
Another highlight is the water reuse system that the Ciutat de la Justícia of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat had for years. In this system, rainwater is stored, greatly reducing the use of drinking water.
