The Green Economy in Apulia

Apulia is becoming a leader in the green economy not only on the national level. The Region of Apulia and its president, Nichi Vendola, decided a few years ago to stake everything on the sun and the wind. Numbers seem to agree with this correct political and economic resolution that today is in the limelight thanks to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, whose commitment in this field has reached the global scale.
Producing 946 Megawatts (three times higher than that of 2005), Apulia establishes itself as the first among Italian regions in wind energy production Moreover, it has dominated the country’s photovoltaic energy production. Having been ranked in 12th in the nation in 2006, today it has secured first place with the biggest installed solar capacity of 56.5 Megawatts, overtaking the region of Lombardy.
The region’s aim is to become the leader in green energy production in order to create a real chain of green economic policies and to no longer depend upon imported power from other countries such as Germany and Japan.
This is the main objective of the Distretto Tecnologico Nazionale dell’Energia (National and Technological District of Energy, DiTNE), which will be based in Brindisi and will collaborate with research institutes, universities and other firms to transfer technological knowledge to the enterprises.
Public regional policies that favour green economy along with its regulations and administration permitting to realize quicker investments without bureaucratic entanglements explain these important results. Apulia, thanks to all the efforts made in the last few years, is considered by the top economic analysts the most attractive region to investors. It is projected that in the future, approximately € 1.5 billion will be invested in Apulia’s green economy.
Apulia is therefore in the forefront for green building on the national level. In 2008, the region promoted the Distretto Regionale dell'Edilizia Sostenibile (Regional District of Sustainable green building). The District collaborates with more than 150 entities such as construction companies, producers of biological materials and institutes for scientific research.
The region aims at strengthening its market through the consolidation of scientific research and the formation of specialized professionals. The District is working to promote a wide market of sustainable constructions in Apulia.
This strategy will be further strengthened by the so-called Piano Casa (Home Plan). In Apulia this plan is completely oriented to energy conservation and efficiency of buildings as well as to green building.
Two important and innovative research projects of this fantastic Apulia green adventure must be mentioned: the University of Hydrogen, "H2U" and the consequent development of a network of hydrogen dispensers in each province of Apulia and the development of solar and thermodynamic plants resulting from a project, coordinated by the Nobel Prize winner Carlo Rubbia, that aims at the realisation of plants transforming solar energy into electric energy.
The development of these research projects will depend upon the dedication of funding for the environment and for the scientific research by the Minister for the Environment on the national level.
This region is on the right track for its future to allow young people to have a future job in an innovative field and in their territory, not depending upon the choices of the delocalisation of production, set by the strong international competition.