Marika Rosa’s research while affiliated with Riga Technical University and other places

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Publications (6)


Fig. 1. Summary of most relevant COVID-19 restrictions during 2020 and 2021 in Latvia [24]-[30].
Fig. 4. Total heat energy consumption, compared to baseline (2018-2019).
Fig. 5. Electricity consumption in all buildings, MWh/month.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MUNICIPALITIES
SUMMARY OF THE DATA SET

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Impact of COVID-19 on Energy Consumption in Public Buildings
  • Article
  • Full-text available

June 2022

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95 Reads

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4 Citations

Environmental and Climate Technologies

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Marika Rosa

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on energy consumption in the world and many researchers have found very different energy consumption patterns. The goal of this study was to analyse the patterns of energy consumption in municipal buildings. Altogether data from 262 buildings from 4 municipalities were used and analysed. Results show very different energy consumption patterns for different types of buildings. In schools and education facilities the link between Covid-19 restrictions and energy consumption deviations are visible, but in administration and office buildings it is not the case. This leads to a conclusion that energy consumption in the buildings is not always linked to the level of occupancy of the building, meaning that there is room for improvements on energy management practices and procedures in the municipalities.

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Fig. 1. CoM approach and proposed key steps for preparing a SECAP [26], [27].
Fig. 2. SECAP measures divided by sectors.
MAIN IMPACTS OVER THE TERRITORIES
Upgrade from SEAP to SECAP: Experience of 6 European Municipalities

June 2021

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101 Reads

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10 Citations

Environmental and Climate Technologies

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Sofia Martins

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Since 2008 many municipalities in the European Union have taken part in the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative and have developed Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP) to contribute to climate change mitigation. To respond to new policy goals for 2030, the CoM has expanded its focus and since 2018 requires municipalities to cover climate adaptation actions. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the first experiences of six municipalities from Spain, Portugal and Latvia in upgrading their existing Sustainable Energy Actions Plans to Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP). SECAPs were developed through a participatory process involving all relevant local stakeholders, to gain maximum understanding and acceptance. Each municipality implemented climate adaption actions to demonstrate the need for adaptation and the ways it can be accomplished.


Figure 1. Activities during the study.
Scales used in the survey and respective numerical values.
Measure categories and examples of actions in the EnMS action plans.
Cont.
Data for the case studies.
Getting Municipal Energy Management Systems ISO 50001 Certified: A Study with 28 European Municipalities

March 2021

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275 Reads

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16 Citations

Sustainability

Managing energy use by municipalities should be an important part of local energy and climate policy. The ISO 50001 standard constitutes an internationally recognized catalogue of requirements for systematic energy management. Currently, this standard is mostly implemented by companies. Our study presents an approach where consultants supported 28 European municipalities in establishing energy management systems. A majority (71%) of these municipalities had achieved ISO 50001 certification by the end of our study. We also conducted two surveys to learn more about motivations and challenges when it comes to establishing municipal energy management systems. We found that organizational challenges and resource constraints were the most important topics in this regard. Based on the experiences in our study we present lessons learned regarding supporting municipalities in establishing energy management systems.


Fig. 3. Change in electricity consumption by country.
CALCULATION OF SCORES
NET ELECTRICITY AND HEAT SAVINGS IN THE YEAR OF THE SAVING COMPETITION
SPEARMAN'S RANK CORRELATION BETWEEN SCORES AND ENERGY SAVINGS nelectricity ρs, electricity nheat ρs, heat
Top Energy Saver of the Year: Results of an Energy Saving Competition in Public Buildings

November 2020

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115 Reads

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2 Citations

Environmental and Climate Technologies

Non-residential buildings in the European Union consume more than one third of the building sector’s total. Many non-residential buildings are owned by municipalities. This paper reports about an energy saving competition that was carried out in 91 municipal buildings in eight EU member states in 2019. For each public building an energy team was formed. The energy teams’ activities encompassed motivating changes in the energy use behaviour of employees and small investments. Two challenges added an element of gamification to the energy saving competition. To assess the success of the energy saving competition, an energy performance baseline was calculated using energy consumption data of each public building from previous years. Energy consumption in the competition year was monitored on a monthly base. After the competition the top energy savers from each country were determined by the percentage-based reduction of energy consumption compared to the baseline. On average, the buildings had an electricity and heat consumption in 2019 that was about 8 % and 7 %, respectively, lower than the baseline. As an additional data source for the evaluation, a survey among energy team members was conducted at the beginning and after the energy competition. Support from superiors, employee interest and motivation and behaviour change as assessed by energy team members show a positive, if weak or moderate, correlation with changes in electricity consumption, but not with changes in heat consumption.


Implementation of Certified Energy ManagementSystem in Municipality. Case Study

September 2020

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468 Reads

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10 Citations

Environmental and Climate Technologies

The European Union has taken the course to become climate neutral by 2050. To reach that target significant changes in all sectors are necessary, resulting in increasing regulatory pressure on energy producers, consumers and other sectors. Increasing legal requirements was also one of the reasons why the city of Daugavpils (population of 82 000) took a decision to implement an Energy management system (EnMS). In the boundaries of EnMS Daugavpils included more than 100 public buildings, public transportation and public lighting. This research paper presents results of the EnMS implementation, main drivers and barriers that Daugavpils has faced and overcome in the implementation process, and also assesses the benefits the city of Daugavpils has gained from EnMS. The success rate of EnMS in such an organisation as a municipality is based on the awareness and knowledge of the municipality’s employees and support from the municipality leaders. The case study of Daugavpils shows energy savings of 12 % in the public building sector after implementing EnMS.


Fig. 1. Structure of the questionnaire process. The period covered by SEAP varies among the 42 municipalities. All CoM signatories have developed their SEAPs before 2017 covering actions until 2020. Other municipalities have developed their SEAPs recently (in 2018) and the actions are planned until 2025.
Fig. 2. Ratings of political support for implementing climate and energy related measures from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
CHARACTERISTICS OF MUNICIPALITIES
Assessment of the Implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans at Local Level. Case Study of Latvia

November 2019

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73 Reads

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7 Citations

Environmental and Climate Technologies

The need for sustainable energy management at the municipal level is growing, in order to meet EU climate goals. Multiple initiatives have been launched to support municipalities in energy planning and strategy development process. Despite available support, research shows mixed results about implementation of plans and strategies. This research paper analyses what targets municipalities set, how they monitor implementation of their sustainable energy action plans (SEAPs) and searches for the most important factors that have enabled or hindered the implementation of local SEAPs at Latvia. The article shows that, in some cases, there is evidence that SEAP development is a project-based activity, supported by external experts. From municipal personnel point of view, it is a project that ends with approved SEAP, but not a part of their future daily routine. Eventually implementation of the plan is difficult, because municipalities lack experience in daily management of energy data, distribution of responsibilities and implementation of procedures. Municipalities also tend to exclude important stakeholders in their SEAPs, like, private sector, household sector and transport sector, which lead to lower targets and lower achievements in GHG reduction.

Citations (6)


... Furthermore, high concentrations of particles not only affect performance but also facilitate the transmission of viruses [6]. The COVID-19 pandemic has exemplified this, as continuous indoor ventilation has been necessary to mitigate contagions [7]- [10], but this has impacted energy consumption and is especially clear in educational buildings [11] Therefore, this project aims to analyse the impact of ventilation on air quality and thermal comfort in classrooms and indoor environments. It investigates different ventilation methods and their characteristics to determine the most appropriate method for optimizing air quality and minimizing energy consumption through simulations. ...

Reference:

Evaluating the Feasibility of Hybrid Ventilation in Educational Spaces: A Simulation Study in the Basque Country Climate
Impact of COVID-19 on Energy Consumption in Public Buildings

Environmental and Climate Technologies

... One of the approaches to sustainability assessment associated with energy efficiency is the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) (Jekabsone et al., 2021). This is an operational tool used by European municipalities that participated in the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative (Covenant of Mayors, 2018) to develop local actions aimed at meeting the target of at least 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels set by the EU "Climate-Energy Package" (Directive, 2009). ...

Upgrade from SEAP to SECAP: Experience of 6 European Municipalities

Environmental and Climate Technologies

... The growing need for energy management across industries is driven by corporate responsibility, governance, risk management, and compliance by regulators and shareholders (Bovkun et al., 2021;Jovanović & Filipović, 2016;Kaselofsky et al., 2021). The risks related to energy pricing and consumption are especially urgent in a global economy, leading to a demand for energy management certification schemes. ...

Getting Municipal Energy Management Systems ISO 50001 Certified: A Study with 28 European Municipalities

Sustainability

... However, when it comes to evaluating the impact of green IS, studies fall short in considering the influence of the different elements used. Green IS that include both types of elements are evaluated as a whole, disregarding specific motivational or instructional elements and their relative impact on measured outcomes (Iria et al., 2020;Kaselofsky et al., 2020;Oppong-Tawiah et al., 2020;Ro et al., 2017). Looking at the use and relative influence of instructional and motivational elements in green IS on sustainable employee behavior, though, yields valuable insights into how such systems can best be designed to help employees engage in sustainable behavior. ...

Top Energy Saver of the Year: Results of an Energy Saving Competition in Public Buildings

Environmental and Climate Technologies

... In many cases, municipalities are encouraged to develop sustainable energy and climate action plans, but eventually, they do not know how to properly work with data and make evidence-based decisions [31]. To fulfill the obligatory structure of the SECAP given by the CoM is not easy, especially for medium-and small-sized cities [32]. ...

Implementation of Certified Energy ManagementSystem in Municipality. Case Study

Environmental and Climate Technologies

... Most municipalities cannot distinguish how many financial resources are used for SEAP activities and most of them have no specific budget for this purpose. SEAP implementation is seen as a side effect from the municipal budget point of view [37]. ...

Assessment of the Implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans at Local Level. Case Study of Latvia

Environmental and Climate Technologies