The international conference World Sustainable Energy Days was held from 1-3 March 2006 in Wels/Austria, a great success with more than 930 participants from 56 countries! The World Sustainable Energy Days 2006 offered a unique combination of events:

• Conference "Renewable Heating & Cooling"
• European Energy Efficiency Conference
• Conference "Green Electricity for Europe's Regions"
• Seminar "Green Energy Businesses"
• European Pellets Forum
• Site Visits

Continuing a long tradition of successful international conferences and exhibitions already held in Wels/Austria, the World Sustainable Energy Days 2006 showcased the globe's most outstanding sustainable energy projects and initiatives and provided information on major European and international policy developments. The international conference provided a key forum for presenting sustainable energy solutions, for planning political initiatives, and for launching projects and starting partnerships. It aimed at presenting new impulses to the participating experts and decision makers as they meet the challenge of transforming the world's energy systems towards sustainability.

Dienstag, 28.02.	Mittwoch, 01.03.	Donnerstag, 02.03.	Freitag, 03.03.
Fach-Exkursionen	Wärme & Kälte aus Ökoenergie	Energie-Effizienz-Konferenz Wärme & Kälte aus Ökoenergie Energiesparmesse	Energie-Effizienz-Konferenz Ökostrom Energiesparmesse
Fach-Exkursionen	Wärme & Kälte aus Ökoenergie Europ. Pellets-Forum	Energie-Effizienz-Konferenz Ökoenergiewirtschaft Energiesparmesse	Ökostrom Energiesparmesse

Site Visits

The first day was dedicated to technical site-visits, which met with very high interest. Especially the conference participants from outside Europe welcomed the opportunity to visit a number of interesting sites, including low energy office/service buildings using different renewable energy sources, biomass CHP plants and district heating plants, producers of biomass/solar installations and low energy/passive homes.

Conference "Renewable Heating & Cooling" and European Pellets Forum

The World Sustainable Energy Days 2006 started with the conference "Renewable Heating & Cooling" which took place on 1 and 2 March. The conference showcased innovative solutions for heating and cooling with solar energy and biomass and presented the major technology and policy trends for the coming years. The conference was opened by Rudi Anschober, Regional Minister for Environment & Energy in Upper Austria and the Energy Commissioner of Upper Austria and managing director of O.Ö. Energiesparverband Gerhard Dell.

The first part of the conference was dedicated to an overview of technology and market innovation. In the afternoon, sessions were held on the topics "Policies & programmes" and "Inspiring projects". The European Pellets Forum also took place in the afternoon of 1 March, which highlighted market innovation and the use of innovative pellet raw materials in the field of pellets productions. The conference "Renewable Heating & Cooling" was continued on 2 March focusing on "Best practice examples" and "Success with solar and biomass". The first part offered an overview of examples from Finland, the Slovak Republic, Germany and Austria. The second part was dedicated to the presentation of successful biomass and solar technologies. The participants welcomed the opportunity to discuss related issues with experts from all over the world. Another highlight of the World Sustainable Energy Days 2006 was the award ceremony of the "Energie Star 2006" - the Upper Austrian award for successful sustainable energy projects, in the evening of 1 March.

European Energy Efficiency Conference

The "European Energy Efficiency Conference" was held on 2 March. The conference addressed economic, technical, political, legal and institutional questions related to energy efficiency, with a special focus on how public bodies, private households and businesses can reduce their energy costs and profit economically and at the same time protect the environment and the climate. The first part was dedicated to brief overviews of energy efficiency programmes in the European Union and around the globe, followed by a round-table discussion. Experts from Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, the United Nations and the European Commission discussed the business opportunities on global, European, national, regional and local levels.

A special highlight of the conference was the speech of EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs who presented the EU's sustainable energy policy "Doing more with less".

In the afternoon, sessions were held on the topics "Energy efficiency and innovation in selected end-use sectors" and "Selected programmes". On the second day of the European Energy Efficiency Conference best practice examples in implementing the European Buildings Directive were highlighted. In the afternoon of the 2 March the seminar "Green Energy Business - new clients, new markets" took place which presented new business opportunities and markets as well as networks and partnerships in Sweden, Austria, United Kingdom and Hungary.

Conference "Green electricity for Europe's regions"

The conference "Green electricity for Europe's regions" on 3 March put the focus on green electricity and offered an overview of different exemplary regional strategies, green electricity perspectives as well as technology solutions and regional benefits. A highlight of this conference day was the signing of the declaration "European Regions for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources". This declaration was signed by representatives from the Region of Upper Austria (Austria), the Country Council Norbotten (Sweden), the Region of Castilla y León (Spain), the Province of Milano (Italy), the Regional Council of Central Finland (Finland), the Province of Chieti (Italy), the Region of Navarra (Spain) and the Region of Valencia (Spain).

Voting

An interactive element, "the voting", was included in the conference procedure. During the sessions the audience was invited to answer questions on their opinions about the energy future.

Poster-Presentation

During the World Sustainable Energy Days the poster presentation offered companies and organisations the opportunity to display before a professional audience successful initiatives and projects concerning energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. About 80 companies and organisations have used this possibility.

Energiesparmesse

In parallel to the World Sustainable Energy Days, the "Energiesparmesse", an exhibition and trade show dedicated to renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, was held. It attracted around 100,000 visitors and more than 850 exhibiting companies. The O.Ö. Energiesparverband presented its services on a large exhibition stand (about 450 m²) and more than 100 energy advisers were available for any information on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Additionally, for the participants of the World Sustainable Energy Days guided tours in different languages were organised. The positive feedback during and after the World Sustainbale Energy Days 2006 showed that the conference was very well received both by the participants and the speakers. This year's programme offered a wide range of different events and interesting project-presentations regarding renewable energy from all parts of the world. The audience was offered a multilateral event on renewable energy with the possibility to meet experts from all over the world. It was an ideal platform for initiating new projects and establishing contacts for future co-operation.

WSED 07

The next World Sustainable Energy Days will be held from 28 February to 2 March 2007 in Wels.