Second international trade fair and Conference on renewables and energy efficiency in Bosnia and Herzegovina, called RENEXPO BiH, was held in Sarajevo, on 4 and 5 November. Given that the program had a dual character, exhibition and conference, the fair was attended by about 70 exhibitors, over 400 conference participants and more than 3,000 visitors including local representatives of cities and municipalities, ministries and scientific institutions, and representatives of the Federal Development Planning Institution.
This event offered a great opportunity to promote the potential and available resources of local communities throughout BiH suitable for development of projects in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, opening new investment opportunities of this sector, as well as to promote the current and implemented projects of local communities and all activities of the energy sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the first day of the Conference on energy efficiency, the achievements were presented as well as future plans for the implementation of energy efficiency in the areas of information, laws and regulations, IT tools, training and long-term learning process, as well as the actual application in the local governments in the last 5 years.
The conference part of the first day was designed on the principle of panel discussion that began by speech of Dr. Matthias Schmidt-Rosen - Director of KfW Development Bank of FR Germany in BiH. Short presentation of Dr. Matthias gave an overview and analysis of the macro-economic benefits of the building renovation program carried out by KfW in Germany. In the discussion on the topics: economics, macro-economic impact, policies, strategies, economic opportunities in the future, participated Ph.D. Kasim Tatić, professor at the School of Economics, University of Sarajevo, and the Dean of the School of Economics, Ph.D. Adisa Omerbegović Arapović, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. Professor Tatić, in his speech, repeatedly referred to the needs of preparation of cost-benefit analyses when it comes to the implementation of energy efficiency programs. On the other hand, the respected dean Arapović pointed out a problem that in BiH there are no adequate Strategic documents in the sector, and in the state. Professor Tatić also stressed the need for establishing and creating the model to further explain the reflections of energy efficiency programs in the movement of basic macroeconomic models. Thereby, the Professor mentioned the Federal Development Planning Institution that prepared the macroeconomic model which, in his opinion, should include this area.
In this part of the discussion, panelists were representatives of the RS Ministry of Physical Planning, Miloš Jokić and Srđan Todorović, director of the RS Institute for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency, and they talked about the activities that have been made in the current period in the RS. The second part of the discussion on the first day mainly consisted of presenting concrete programs by local governments, in Bihać, Laktaši, Bijeljina, Gradiška, Zenica, Zvornik, Livno and Prijedor.
On the second day the panelists were Tony Borković (R Croatia), Jaminka Katica (FBiH Ministry of Physical Planning), Tomislav Grizelj, (“Grizelj” d.d.), Nijaz Delalić (Association of Thermal Engineers) and Jasmin Huremović (Xella d.o.o BiH). The panel discussion on the second day mainly dealt with unsound spatial plans, and less concerned the topics of influence of energy efficiency programs on macroeconomic trends.