What is the ESC forum ?

The objective of this Energy Sustainable Communities Forum (ESC Forum) is to give ESC a permanent possibility to enter in contact with each other and to share information with communities which either have the same characteristics or which already have extensive experience in sustainable development.

This forum of exchange of information also proposes to better understand the criteria that define an advanced ESC, i.e. one that is already energy sustainable, as well as the ones that define an ESC which is still in an early stage of development. By presenting the success factors of ESC it encourages dissemination of the concept and aims to engage other communities in the initiative Energy Sustainable Communities.

This ESC forum is part of the Sustainable Communities project, April 2003 - April 2005, of the European Community, represented by the Commission of the European Communities, DG TREN, and the project consortium constituted by the following partners: European Renewable Energy Council, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, International Scientific Council For Island Development, National Technical University of Athens, Association pour la Recherche et le Developpement des Methodes et Processus Industriels, O.Oe. Energiesparverband, Mid Wales Energy Agency, and Energy Centre Bratislava. It proposes the following sections:

ESC concept

This part provides information on the general concept of ESC (Energy Sustainable Communities), as well as on the technical, the socio-economic and the political aspects of ESC. This section contains the introduction to the ESC concept as well as summaries of the chapters on technical, socio-economic and political aspects of ESC. It also contains the extensive guide for local policy makers and energy sustainable communities. The guide is available in electronic format (pdf), or as a print version. Please go to the ESC concept page.

Communicate

The “discussion forum“ encourages interaction, participants can post their community messages into the web forum. Messages will be organised in function of some key topics chosen in advance.
The second part “ask the initiators” gives the possibility to participants to ask specific questions directly to the project partners according to their field of expertise

Partner Forum

This section provides the possibility to find information on some most successful ESC examples. The forum also proposes to new communities to join the forum.

Contact us

Lastly, a section proposes a feedback form - suggestions for improvement can be posted via this form, and contact details.