Budapest served as the backdrop to EDA’s conference on Energy Supply for EU Crisis Management – Lessons Learned and Opportunities Identified – which was held from 5 to 6 May. Held in conjunction with the Renexpo Central Europe, it was one of six conferences addressing different aspects of Energy Supply. The two-day event gathered more than 50 experts from 15 nations representing Governments, international organisations, research institutes and industry.
Learning from each other’s experiences and benchmarking other sectors are important for consolidating European efforts on Energy for crisis management. This Conference was a step in this direction. Its aim was to feed the output into current EDA work strands that are working on increasing through-life Energy efficiency and reducing through-life consumption by adopting a systems engineering process.
The Conference was opened by Gyula Keszthelyi, Director General – Hungarian MoD Armament & Quartermaster Office, and Giuseppe Secco, EDA’s Capability Manager Manoeuvre. Richard Buys, Senior Advisory Officer, ECDE, and Laszlo Balogh, President of the Hungarian Association of Renewable Energy Sources, helped further set the scene and emphasised the need for sustainable Energy solutions.
In the Keynote Session Péter Olajos, Deputy State Secretary for Green Economy Development and Climate Affairs, Ministry of National Development, Hungary, and Marie Donnelly, Director of New and Renewable Sources of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Innovation, European Commission DG Energy, provided insight into the high level aspects of energy policy and the drivers for increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption in Europe. This was followed by Christine Lins, Secreatary General, European Renewable Energy Council, giving a view on the market aspects of the renewable energy sector, together with David J. Muchow, President and CEO, SkyBuilt Power, who concluded the session with an overview of energy systems that use renewable technologies currently in operation in theatre.
In the sessions that followed, discussion centered on tackling logistical issues experienced in theatre today, implementation of environmentally responsible strategies, sustainable design and acquisition and novel technologies in theatre.
Programme of the Conference.