On April 24-25, 2006 the finalizing seminar on the ROLL-2000 Program Star Community Initiative (SCI) took place in Irkutsk. It gathered 10 SCI Project Consortia Coordinators who were presenting the results of their 34 projects in 2005-2006.

The Initiative generated the number of significant results including: $ 1.2 million co-funding of the project activities from local sources; over $500 000 of the proven savings from the energy efficiency projects with $150 000 that have been already reinvested for the municipal communities basing on the principles of citizen input, multisector cooperation and transparency. The presentations also proved the high replication value of the SCI with the anticipated proven economic effect of about $2.5 million in 2006-2007. A number of mechanisms for transparent reinvesting of those savings and citizen engagement for improving life in the municipal communities were adopted.more >>>

Two successful ROLL Energy Efficiency projects implemented in the Khabarovskiy Raion in 2003-2004 initiated a second wave of activities implemented by the Raion municipal administration at their own expense in 2005-2006. Effective end of April 2006 eight new projects funded from the local budget generated over $60 000 of savings per annum. In the beginning of 2006 this cumulative positive experience in increasing efficiency of municipal communal networks gave birth to the Khabarovskiy Raion municipal program for replacing outdated and ineffective equipment in the sphere of municipal energy production.

In 2003-2004, two projects of ROLL Energy-Efficiency Round 12 were carried out: Vostochnoye Housing and Utilities Company modified the heating system in Skvortsovo settlement, and Nekrasovskoye Housing and Utilities Company installed energy-saving equipment at Garovsky Water Inlet. more >>>

The Ecopolice Pushchino grant that is now being carried out under the USAID funded ROLL Program by a consortium of organizations in Pushchino (100 km from Moscow), “Sustainable Development of Model Communities on a Municipal Level in Russia”, is meeting a broad response in this city of scientists. Thus, the project “Trickles of Saved Energy” of the Municipal Unitarian Enterprise Teplovodokanal (Pushchino), which is one of the three projects of the Consortium, has launched a public information and education campaign devoted to the issue of the reform of the utilities services. more >>>