The Environmental Education and Information Centre.
The administration of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve (NVBR) has completed erection of the Environmental Education and Information Centre with a potential area of 675m2 in the town of Salacgriva. This centre is expected to provide local residents, businesses, municipalities and state institutions with information about the natural assets of the reserve as well as about protection of natural resources and the use of innovative solutions in the regional development. By now, a project of the environment-friendly building in the Biosphere Reservation (BR) on the north of Latvia (Vidzeme) has been accomplished. The BR covers the area of Salacas River − a temperate forest zone characteristic of the Baltic Sea coastal ecosystems. Its land area is 4577km2, with the population of about 80 000 people. Half its area is covered by forests and 15% by wetlands. The reservation includes 167.5 km2 of the Gulf of Riga coastal aquatorium.
The Environmental Education and Information Centre building were completed in 2009. The relevant project was funded by the European Economic Area and Norwegian Government Financial Mechanism. The Centre will serve as a model for the use of environment-friendly renewable energy. According to the project, the heating-andcooling equipment was installed for geothermal energy use and solar collectors – for preparing hot water. Energy savings through compression modular equipment were used in the reverse cycle heating of the building and solar collectors − for hot water production up to 90 MWh/ year. As a result, the following was achieved:
• CO2 reduction (taking fossil fuel use as the basis) − 56.6 tonnes / year.
• Number of holes drilled for space heating and cooling − 11;
• Solar collector’s area for production of 500 l hot water − 18 m2 Such systems are highly efficient, therefore they were selected with the aim to reduce the management costs of Environmental, Education and Information Centre. Although there are some Backlogs, however system works and functions in full.
Source: Policy and Strategy aspects for Renewable Energy Sources use in Latvia | By Peteris Shipkovs1, Uldis Pelite, Galina Kashkarova1, Kristina Lebedeva1, Lana Migla, Janis Shipkovs | PDF
