The Alhambra is to take part in a European project about energy efficiency in historic monument

From today the Alhambra is a stage for debate and reflection on the European EHCMaps project aimed at Improving Energy Efficiency in Historic Monuments. This initiative, which is included in the Erasmus + programme for 2014, aims to draw up “conceptual maps of energy efficiency in historic buildings so as to establish learning tools and a programme of further education for the testing and development of the maps”.

This morning at the Palace of Charles V, María del Mar Villafranca, Director of the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife, welcomed the European experts who will be taking part in this second day of debate. The first took place in February in Croatia.

The Alhambra will be joined in this ‘European adventure’ by the Regional Energy Agency of Istria in Croatia; the Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture of Sapienza University in Rome; the Malta Energy Management Agency, and the Department of Entrepreneurship and Transfer of Technology of the University of the Algarve in Portugal.

With a budget of 296,972€, and an estimated execution schedule running from September 2014 to August 2016, the EHCMaps project will be of great benefit for the Alhambra as it will reinforce the role of the School of the Alhambra and its Centre of Advanced Studies and Research, so enabling it to continue training specialized technicians from all over the world, via online courses. “We are convinced that these measures will improve the skills and capacities of heritage professionals with regard to energy efficiency and its application in historic monuments”  

Villafranca also stressed that this initiative fits in very well with the Alhambra Strategic Plan, which proposes a series of measures to improve the sustainability of the Monument, for which energy efficiency is a key factor, as is “cooperation with further education institutions in Open Educational Resources (OER) at a European level”. 

For more information, please see www.alhambra-patronato.es