The objective of the proposed Specific RDI Project Sustainable Energy and Environment consists in developing a clear roadmap on how to accelerate the decarbonization process in all relevant sectors according to their already known and established emissions and energy inventory as a baseline in the SECAP, but with the active involvement within the Competence Center of all the as well relevant stakeholders: local community, public authority, business environment, public transportation operator, waste management company, etc.
The focus of this project will be to implement an effective new approach based on multiple benefits approaches and complete with an action plan towards full decarbonization. The sustainable energy and environment specific project have a series of evidence-based proposal approaches on how to support and accelerate the energy transition towards carbon neutrality, using smart tested and validated solutions. There is a clear need to act on climate change and energy security on a multi-level accelerated and in correlation approach: favour the rapid adoption from research to market innovative technologies, scale and encourage the infrastructure capacity of the business environment to implement technologies on a large scale, identify and tackle the paradigm changes that will arise in relation with the transition from the centralized to distributed renewables owned by the consumers, the energy poverty in the new era of the distributed prosumers, etc.
The originality of the project proposal consists of the following: a reality-needed holistic approach to the carbon neutrality achievement at the city level, starting from the order of priority in the GHG emissions generating sectors: residential, transportation, public, private, according to the SECAPs which were implemented in more than 50 Romanian cities. The innovation is because the Sustainable energy and environment project goes from the recently developed urban energy management field, it takes in consideration the energy utilities and the need to shift to smart and secure power grids and other energy utilities, to stimulate de development of local energy markets and collaborative dynamic energy communities. The entire approach will be supported by advanced IT technologies, such as the generation of all components related to the energy sector in a digital manner and their integration in the context of the Digital Twin of the smart city committed to achieving climate neutrality. This approach is of the nature of keeping under control, including through mechanisms/methods based on AI/AR and VR, the harmonization/synchronization of all the components that belong to an evolved energy system, which includes in the context or even the actors (as human of the ecosystem) involved as consumers, suppliers, or prosumers.