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Victoria Mindova

"We believe that the development of innovative green projects will create great opportunities for investment in the future," clearly stated the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Tina Birbili. She spoke at the innovation forum, organized by the Economist magazine, devoted to the high-speed information technology in the process of emerging from the crisis. Birbili announced that pilot projects for the construction of buildings with zero energy consumption start this year.

The first project will be implemented in the residential district St. Varvara in Athens, which will renovate old buildings using the latest technologies in energy efficiency. The project was developed in collaboration with private companies that import and apply new technologies and will participate in the pilot program of the ministry voluntarily. "Smart" electronic networks, which will comply the household needs for electricity, heating and water with the standards for environmental protection, will be used in the improvements under this project.

The museums, which will be equipped with modern information systems, will also be included in the project for zero energy consumption of buildings. They will use intelligent network and online management systems for minimizing energy consumption. The other goal of Tina Birbili is to make the village of Arta and the island of Lipso completely independent energy communities.

Birbili talked about the bioclimatic restoration of urban environment by target greening of densely populated areas in the country and installation of modern electronic systems to indicate the atmosphere at different times of the day. They will provide online real-time analysis of the microclimatic condition of the atmosphere for citizens’ information.

"We want to introduce innovations in culture, education and ways of thinking," said Arthouros Zervos, who is the executive director of the Greek NEC. He talked about the new initiatives of the electricity program, including the development and operation of environmentally friendly ways of energy production.

Arthouros Zervos said that Greece is already working on building the infrastructure to establish the new practices in this area. He gave the example of the hybrid power plant on the island of Ikaria, which is under construction and will combine the wind power with that generated by the hydropower plant. "The innovative way of combining these two different ways of energy production provides solution for manufacturing and storage of electricity." He emphasized that the goals are to fully cover the electricity needs of the island, giving more importance to the development of the local economy in terms of environment protection.

The vice-chairman of the opposition New Democracy Stavros Dimas spoke at the forum too. He said that Europe's future is in the hands of today's leaders that have to address not only the foreign debt issues but the debt to the future generations concerning the environment.

The economic growth must be based on innovative technologies that help develop new practices connecting the production and services with the environment protection and the reduction of harmful gases emitted into the atmosphere. He said that Europe and Greece will face even higher energy prices in the near future and major restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions. This requires the countries of the old continent to better align activities around the objectives of reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 20 percent by 2020. Stavros Dimas has even suggested the target of reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 30% in less than 10 years instead of the officially determined 20%.