PeSCoS Project Receives Funding from the EU!
FC submited a Grant Application Form in February 2010 for a Development of Innovation proposal under the Leonardo Life Long Learning Programme. The project proposal "Personalised Sustainability Coaching for SMEs - PeSCoS" concerns the development of a methodology for the preparation of personalised unsustainable ways withdrawal plans for SMEs. The personalised plans, will help SMEs, depending on their industry, to diminish their negative impact to the environment. The proposal involves 7 partners from 7 countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and The Netherlands).
On 23-Jul-2010, DG EAC announced the Selection Results for the Development of Innovation Sub Programme under the Call for Proposal 2010 (DG EAC/41/09), as it was adopted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. PeSCoS project (Project ID: 510344-LLP-1-2010-1-GR-LEONARDO-LMP, Coordinator: AVACA Technologies S.A.) was selected to receive funding.
The idea behind the current proposal is the implementation of a personalised training system for SMEs to be able to eliminate their unsustainable ways and embrace new, greener habits. The aim is to offer personalised training to SMEs on the amount of carbon, energy, euros and other resources they expend through hundreds of choices and daily actions in an effort to diminish their negative impact on the earth. Following the completion of the training, SMEs will have a personalised unsustainable ways withdrawal plan.
The content that will be developed to support the training system that will be designed will offer businesses practical advice for cutting down energy and water usage and reduce their environmental impact. At the hart of the training system will be an environmental "genie" which will guide the SMEs so as to provide the necessary inputs with respect to the characteristics of their business (e.g. recycling system, heating system, etc.). Following the provision of all the necessary information, the "genie" will produce a detailed report explaining to the SME how to cut costs and turn its business greener. The training system will be geared to small and medium businesses looking to save money, be less harmful to the environment and create a "strong environmental brand ethos" amongst customers and staff.
Justification
The Member States of the EU have agreed upon ambitious climate protection goals and several EU Directives define concrete goals for energy savings and for the use of renewable energies. EU has introduced a guideline for the support of renewable energy sources demanding the increase to the consumption of energy from renewable springs from 5.8% in 2005 to 18% by 2020.
To date, the use of renewable energies and energy saving measures has been the result of work and effort conducted primarily by engineers. However, there are simply not enough engineers with the necessary expertise and in order to achieve optimal results in efficient energy use, specific measures must be adopted depending on the specifics of each region and of each business.
Plenty of SMEs would like to diminish their negative impact on the earth for environmental and economical reasons but aren't sure exactly what to do about it as there is no comprehensive advice on the variety of possibilities and the use of renewable energy sources and there is a dependency from certain manufacturers of products, since specialized knowledge is not sufficiently available.
On the other hand, while a simple Google search will return links to information from experts and amateurs on all subjects relative to sustainability and the environment, the information is generally scattered across many websites and is developed by all sorts of people and entities. One will find information from domain experts to absolute amateurs, but there is no way for an SME with an interest in sustainability to filter from a quality perspective this info so as to end up with the information that is of actual use to its business.
Furthermore, there is no single place guiding an SME as a potential sustainability enthusiast on how to start, depending on its unique situation (financial capability, educational background, geographical location, etc.). As a result, SMEs may turn away from a solid investment or even worse go about it the wrong way and end up losing money and time at times when it is getting more and more difficult to make up for both of them.
Having an environmental expert at hand capable of providing an SME with a full sustainability check-up would definitely help. What would help even more is if besides compiling a check list of very specific issues to improve, SMEs were provided with a personalised carbon emissions reduction plan and the appropriate training material for implementing the actions in the plan. If these are coupled with a low energy consumption certificate that could be used to boost sales, then SMEs will be confronted with a package which is hard to refuse.