On July 12, 2019 the Government of Tuzla Canton and Centre for Development and Support organised the closing forum titled „Energy efficiency – investments and benefits“. The aim was, trough presentation of the effects of implementation of the SMART SCHOOLS project, to present to the forum participants the benefits of investments into energy efficiency and to motivate the creativity in preparing and implementing the energy efficiency projects. The forum was attended by over 130 participants, mainly the representatives of municipalities and public enterprises from Tuzla and Zenica-Doboj Canton, cantonal authorities, the government of the Federation BiH, educational institutions from Tuzla Canton and civil society organisations.

In the very beginning, the promotional movie was shown about the project SMART SCHOOLS. After the movie, the following topics were presented to the participants:

1. Cost Benefit Analysis of energy efficiency measures implemented within the project SMART SCHOOLS, Edin Zahirović, Centre for Development and Support;
2. Experiences of Tuzla Canton in implementation of the project SMART SCHOOLS, Erna Kusturica, Ministry of Economics of Tuzla Canton and
3. Role of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency in achievement of the 2030 new climate and energy policy goals of the European Union, with a view to 2050, Prof.dr.sc. Ljubomir Majdandžić, engineer, full-time professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computers and Information Technologies, Osijek, SDEWES Centre, Zagreb, Croatian professional association for solar energy.

After the presentation and a short break, the panel discussion was held with the topic „Energy efficiency – investments and benefits“. The panellists at the forum were Osman Puškar, Minister of Economics in Tuzla Canton, Goran Mišić, assistant minister of environmental and nature protection at the Ministry of physical planning and environmental protection of Tuzla Canton, Jasmina Katica, representative of the Federal ministry of physical planning, Elma Kapetanović, representative of the Environmental Fund of the Federation BiH, Siniša Rodić, representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), office in BiH, Goran Krstović, representative of the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ GmbH), office in BiH, and Ljubomir Majdandžić, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computers and Information Technologies, Osijek, SDEWES Centre, Zagreb, Croatian professional association for solar energy.

The slogan of the forum, which was also the message sent to the participants at this forum is „Energy efficiency is not a cost, but investment“.

This forum was organised within the crossborder cooperation project „Innovative minds for smart schools – SMART SCHOOLS“. Within this project, energy reconstruction of 7 schools was done in Tuzla Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Brod-Posavina County (Republic Croatia). In addition, the schools competition in energy saving was organised, in which 105 primary and high school from Tuzla Canton and Brod-Posavina County participated; 42 school employees were trained about energy management and 19 young innovators were supported in use of renewable energy sources.

See here the Cost Benefit Analysis of energy efficiency measures implemented within the project SMART SCHOOL.