Icherisheher keeps the lights on and paves way for major emission cut
Baku, Azerbaijan, 30 June 2015 – With UNEP’s support, a demonstration project
for replacing inefficient public street lights provides example of how historic
reserve of Icherisheher could go on to take major step towards its climate target
Some of the 600 LED lights that are replacing public street lights in Icherisheher were
presented to the public in Azerbaijan’s capital city today, launching a demonstration
project coordinated by UNEP showing how the reserve could take a big step towards
achieving its 2020 climate goal.
The move to replace inefficient street lights with LED ones comes under one of the
ambitious climate action plans that UNEP is coordinating as part of the European
Commission’s ‘Covenant of Mayors (COMO) Going East’ programme. Icherisheher has
been a signatory to COMO since 2012.
Outdoor lighting accounts for 70% of total emissions in Icherisheher, the historic core of
Azerbaijan’s capital city Baku. If not only 600 but all of the reserve’s approximately
2000 luminescent, metal halide and high pressure sodium bulbs were to be replaced
with LED ones, 303,900 kWh of electricity would be saved each year - equivalent to 271
tons of CO₂ - compared to a baseline year of 2011.
Replacing all inefficient light bulbs would represent 48% of the reserve’s CO₂ reduction
target to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020 compared to 2011.
At an inaugural event for the COMO demonstration project in Azerbaijan’s capital today,
LED light bulbs replacing public street lights were presented to the media, local
residents, students, Baku and Icherishsher Administration municipality representatives
and national NGOs.
Under the COMO programme, UNEP supported the reserve by contributing to technical
support on street lighting –far more complex than that within buildings - through a
workshop organised with the en.lighten initiative, a partnership between the public and
private sector for shifting to efficient lighting. UNEP also purchased the LED bulbs,
which Azerbaijan’s Communal Housing Department has been replacing inefficient street
lights with as of this week.
The light bulb replacement project comes after Icherisheher developed a Sustainable
Energy Action Plan for calculating and reducing emissions in a range of sectors that was
approved by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.
Outdoor lights operate for 13 hours a day in Icherisheher. LED bulbs are proven to have
up to 30,000 hrs of lifespan and are the most efficient technology available in the
market. All-LED based outdoor lighting will consume only 170,000 KW hours of
electricity compared to 473,900 Kwh consumed in 2011.
The light bulb presentation is just one of the demonstration activities taking place to
raise awareness among the general public and Icherisheher residents on climate change,
energy-saving measures and the Covenant of Mayors initiative.
Background
The European Commission’s Covenant of Mayors sees EU towns, cities and regions
volunteer to reduce their CO₂ emissions beyond the bloc’s climate targets:
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a 20% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to 1990
a 20% increase in the share of renewables in the energy mix
a 20% cut in energy consumption
The COMO Going East programme helps three partner cities in countries that are not
members of the EU to also go beyond the targets.
In this regard, Icherisheher in Baku, the Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia and Beltsy in the
Republic of Moldova took part in the COMO ‘Sustainable energy planning for cities:
Eastern Europe and South Caucasus’ project, which was coordinated by UNEP for
Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian countries and took place between
January 2012 and April 2015.
Other than the light bulb switch, under its Sustainable Energy Action Plan Icherisheher
also aims to promote itself as a car-free town, while Vinnytsia plans to reduce its energy
consumption by over 20% a year for example. Such activities are also helping secure
funding for future work on climate change.
UNEP’s technical support for the light bulb switch project in Icherisheher came in the
form of a workshop held on Energy Efficiency and Street Lighting together with the
reserve, the Covenant of Mayors (COMO) and en.lighten initiative in Baku on 2 and 3
September 2014. The workshop raised awareness among local and national authorities
on energy saving potentials and available solutions for street lighting and policy options.
Full details on the full sustainable energy planning project can be read in this e-book.
More detail on the COMO East project can be read here, and further information on the
en.lighten initiative can be found here.
Icherisheher is a state Historical-Architectural Reserve located in Azerbaijan’s capital
Baku and is the country’s first place to be registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
For more information, please contact:
Isabelle Valentiny, Head of Communications, UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe,
+41 79 251 82 36, isabelle.valentiny@unep.org