EKOenergy Newsletter 26: EKOenergy Day in Slovenia, Fishrun, Janne Svendsen

1. EKOenergy Day in Slovenia

Slovenski E-forum, the Slovenian member of our network, organized an EKOenergy Day at the Slovenian Parliament.

Main items on the agenda were EKOenergy, as well as the new 'Energy Concept Slovenia', a strategic document outlining Slovenia's energy options for the coming 40 years. Icy rain has recently caused power cuts in Slovenia. As a result, the reliability of the electricity supply was a hot topic during the discussions. There was also a lot of interest in decentralized electricity production.

Over 100 people attended the event.

2. Fishrun: EKOenergy for fishermen

"EKOenergy wants to mobilize the positive energy of 1000s of persons" says our Criteria Text.

In the last months we have brought together fishermen and hydropower plant owners for a brainstorm. Would fishermen be willing to pay a little bit more for their hydropower-electricity if this extra price would be used to build fish passages and restore rivers? And would hydropower plant owners be interested in committing to such projects if they find consumers willing to pay (a part of) the costs?

A first result is Fishrun (website in Finnish). Finnish fishermen are looking for 2500 households and companies willing to switch to KalatiesÃ¤hkÃ¶, 'Fish Passage Electricity'. This is the first step towards an ambitious river restoration project at and around one of the most contested hydropower plants in Southern Finland.

4. Person of the week: Janne Svendsen Moe

Janne Svendsen Moe is Product Manager at ECOHZ. Her job is to develop products that are valuable, usable and feasible.

"I find it very exciting to work with the enthusiastic EKOenergy team. EKOenergy can help international customers to prove their commitment to social responsibility, e.g. via the financing of new renewable energy projects. The Norwegian cloud storage company Jottacloud was the first customer to purchase EKOenergy from ECOHZ. This year we are working on having European electricity suppliers to offer EKOenergy to their customers. We will also continue to market EKOenergy labelled Guarantees of Origin as part of the LEED certification for green buildings."

For more information about ECOHZ, see the company's homepage.

5. EKOenergy in Italy

Between 17th and 24th of February, Costanza Boggiano Pico from our Italian member organization REEF and Riku Eskelinen from the EKOenergy Secretariat met several of the main Italian environmental NGOs, electricity suppliers and consumer organizations. We are now very close to getting EKOenergy launched in Italy.

We also met with Oikos, whose project has been selected for funding from our Climate Fund and brainstormed about our future cooperation.

And EVS volunteer Fabiola NardÃ² published an article about EKOenergy on the ETalia platform.

6. DÃ¼sseldorf, here we come

On 17 March, EKOenergy organizes a workshop about the possible role of EKOenergy in Germany. The workshop takes place at the DÃ¼sseldorf Intercontinental Hotel.

We will present EKOenergy: why did we develop this pan-European ecolabel, what are the ambitions of the EKOenergy Network and how can companies and consumers join forces with usâ€¦

For the invitation and for registration, see: http://www.ekoenergy.org/de/ekoenergy-in-dusseldorf/ (German) and
http://www.ekoenergy.org/ekoenergy-in-dusseldorf/ (English)

In the afternoon (of the same day, i.e. 17 March), EKOenergy participates in a panel discussion during the pre-conference session of the RECS Market Meeting. The topic is the role of ecolabeling on the electricity market. See the website of the RECS Market Meeting for more information and for registration.

1. EKOenergy Day in Slovenia

2. Fishrun: EKOenergy for fishermen

3. Animated movie: Obama about EKOenergy

4. Person of the week: Janne Svendsen Moe

5. EKOenergy in Italy

6. DÃ¼sseldorf, here we come