MED-ENEC in partnership with the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations and MENA-OECD Investment Programme organized a business dinner on MENA Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency on Monday, 8th April 2013 in Cairo, Egypt.

With the MENA region having one of the world’s highest energy intensities, a more efficient energy economy is an ambitious, but accessible goal. This is the key message of the 32 page MED-ENEC brochure now released to furnish the political dialogue, for instance, by arguing that Energy Efficiency should be priority, as energy which was not consumed is the cheapest and most environmental friendly solution. The increased use of EE solutions and renewable energies is essential to ensure a competitive business environment as well as growing employment.

MED-ENEC is organizing a workshop in Tunisia in April 2013, to support implementation of Energy Efficiency building codes (EE BC) in the MENA region. Basically EE BCs are a set of rules covering various parameters which specify the minimum acceptable levels of saving energy in building constructions. Specific binding requirements must be applied by investors, architects and engineers – essential for improving the energy performance of buildings.

In December 2012, the so called "Energy Dream Center" in South Korea opened its doors to the public. Main goal of this zero emission building is to demonstrate the potentials of Energy Efficiency (EE) and Renewable Energy (RE) solutions to the public, declared the German Institut Fraunhofer ISE which had the lead in this project. It might also be an interesting example to be examined by MENA countries, also as an interesting approach to raise public awareness in the region and catch up.

How to reduce energy consumption of future buildings in new urban developments? In December 2012, 42 urban planning professionals attended a workshop to learn how to address energy related issues when designing urban areas. This workshop was organized by MED-ENEC in cooperation with the Urban Training Institute (UTI) in Cairo and was the first of its kind in Egypt.

An Energy Audit training workshop was organized by MED-ENEC together with GEF-UNDP and the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Energy during 27 to 31 January 2013 at the Ministry of Electricity and Energy’s premises in Cairo. The purpose of the training is building the capacity of local experts with the target in order to support the efforts of the country to use energy more efficiently and, thus, to save energy.

An eventful year in the MENA region is drawing to a close restrained by crucial challenges of the transformation period following the Arab Spring. Even more the impression is intensifying that the Arab world is confronted with a new era of economic insecurity posed - amongst others - by questions of the future energy demand and supply.

“Arab economies are not energy efficient.” This is the starting point for the “Energy Efficiency Handbook” which is intended to support buniness as a housekeeping guide for energy efficiency best practices. It focusses on commercial office buildings across the Arab region. The handbook is published by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) in cooperation with the MED-ENEC project.