Does Tivoli Greencity sound familiar? This is a sustainable district mixing housing and economic activities in Laeken. The project is ambitious and aims to integrate environmental protection issues - in particular the production of green energy and the reduction of energy consumption - as well as awareness and citizen participation. 

The aim is to respond to these issues by setting up innovative and responsible initiatives within the neighborhood. 

Photovoltaic panels on the roofs, cogeneration, charging stations for electric vehicles, etc. The eco-district already has many useful assets in its integration into an energy community. There are also strong complementarities between the energy consumption profiles of the nearby Greenbizz SMEs and the Tivoli residents: the former consume more during the day on weekdays, the latter reach their maximum consumption in the evening and on weekends. 

Such complementarity allows us to extend our Greenbizz energy community to Tivoli: 

The extension of our energy community would allow us to make the most of the different consumption patterns of the participants (SMEs, residents, schools, ...) to offer everyone an optimal use of local and green energy!

A few weeks ago we decided to meet with some of the residents of the neighborhood, who were particularly concerned about using less and better energy. The objective was to prepare the extension of our energy community and to understand their expectations. However, being already aware of one's energy impact does not mean being already convinced by the energy communities. Jean-Baptiste let us know right from the start, "I don't understand my interest in joining an energy community!"

Through a playful and interactive presentation, we ping-ponged questions and answers between the residents of Tivoli and ourselves, to answer those questions that we often hear: 

• Who is WeSmart and what is our role in the energy community?
• What is a local and renewable energy community and how does it work?
• What are the benefits (economic, social, environmental) of being part of such a community?
• How does one set up such a community in practice? 

After 1 hour of discussion the feedback is unanimous! "I really understood what an energy community was all about, and there are advantages! "says Patrick.

Mission accomplished! Not only did we raise the awareness of these inhabitants, but we also made them want to get involved and to involve others around them. 

The involvement of the residents is a precious help and will allow us to facilitate the extension of our energy community to Tivoli during 2021. To be continued!

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