Under the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme the European Energy Award is being introduced in four Romanian pilot cities. The European Energy Award is a quality management and certification system for municipalities committed to sustainable municipal energy, climate and transport policies. It is based on the label “Energy City”, which has originally been developed in Switzerland. Cluj-Napoca, a city of 305'000 inhabitants located in Transylvania, is one of the four selected pilot cities. Based on its Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) it has identified the thermal and electric rehabilitation of aged and energy inefficient public buildings as a priority infrastructure project, in order to support the city in its efforts to decrease energy consumption, to introduce state-of-the-art technology to increase sustainability and to promote innovative solutions when retrofitting public buildings.

The goal of the project is to bring the buildings of both schools to the energy class level B and thereby reduce their energy consumption and maintenance costs. The working conditions for students and teachers are improved.

The direct beneficiaries are the two schools and the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca which will benefit from a budget relief. The indirect beneficiaries will be 1514 students, teachers and other personnel whose working conditions will be significantly improved.

• The thermal rehabilitation of the buildings involving the:
  - thermal insulation and veneering of walls;
  - replacement of existing windows with stratified wood or PVC and double-glazing windows;
  - replacement of thermal installations;
  - installation of an air conditioning system with heat recovery;
  - connection to the central district heating system.
• The rehabilitation of the electric energy, thermal energy and water supply systems (including rain water collection).
• The rehabilitation of the lighting system, installing LED technology.
• The experimental taping of renewable energy sources including with photovoltaic panels (30 kW) and piezoelectric floors.

Achieved results:  

• The fulfilment of Romania’s Ministry of Health prescriptions regarding working conditions for students/pupils and teachers in public schools.
• Various measures to improve the energy needs of two public schools, resulting in energy savings of about 1,200 MWh/year (gas and electricity).
• The energy classes of the buildings could be improved from class E to C and D to A, respectively.
• It is estimated that thanks to Switzerland's support, Brasov is able to save CHF 108,000 in energy and maintenance costs per year and reduce its CO2 emissions by 230 tonnes per year.

Phase 10 27.08.2015 - 27.07.2019   (Completed)