On the 14^th of June in Szada the Institute of Environmental and Landscape Management of the Szent István University presented the renewable energy strategy plan developed in the framework of the COACH BioEnergy project. Participants of the forum included members of the local government and residents. The first part of the event consisted of presentations of the most important parts of the energy strategy, followed by suggestions for the potential continuation. Possibilities of energy efficiency were proposed as well as the use of solar energy and biomass. There are good options for providing biomass locally; both the Gödöllő forestry and the local energy plantation could produce enough raw materials to satisfy local heating needs. In the second part of the evening there was an unrestrained discussion about opportunities of the municipality both in the field of energy management and the related creation of jobs and food self-sufficiency.

László Vécsey mayor emphasised that this process was very useful, and it lead to the local government reviewing the situation. It would be important to inspect these areas on a strategic level as it is hard to make long-term decisions about developments if local residents are not bound to the village by job opportunity.

With the submission of this document, the project was finished on one hand, but on the other hand it marks the beginning of the most important part of the work: implementing the strategy with high involvement of the locals. Four specific proposals were phrased as part of the strategy that can have a great effect in the long-run, making the energy supply of the municipality more sustainable.

The discussion went on until late at night, and yielded tangible results:

• The municipality will establish a biomass courtyard for locally produced green waste for composting, and the local government will store and cut forestry waste produced in the area, providing locally produced wood chips to locals heating with biomass during the wintertime.
• An energy management subcommittee was formed within the board of representatives, therefore energy management issues, information of the public and opinion-shaping as well as developments will be handled by one body.
• The establishment of a Local Energy Office will be implemented through civil initiative, to support energy initiatives of local inhabitants. The local government provided a room for this purpose in the Municipality Hall.
• The government will assist in informing the public via the local newspaper and the website, with professional help from a local biomass-material distributor.

Even though there is no local government resource for a full-scale energy efficiency renovation, the municipality applied for a tender to equip the school with photovoltaic panels to produce electricity, while heating costs will be reduced with a biomass boiler in the next heating season.

Something has begun in Szada, but the municipality can only become succesful on the way of energy autonomy if residents can be involved in this process.