Six ‘smart’ LED benches installed by a joint UN collaboration at the 2015 edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival have borne fruit in style.

Over the past year, 87.84 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy was produced by the benches’ solar panels, including 65.14 kWh used to recharge mobile phones 17,520 times, saving 444kg of CO2 emissions, it emerged during the festival’s Enviro Day on 17 August.

The multifunctional seats were installed at the 2015 edition of Enviro Day by UN Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Bosnian capital and make the country only the second in the world to benefit from this type of technology.

Together with classmates, 20-year-old Croatian Ivan Mrvoš built the ‘solar e-bench,’ which allows users to recharge mobile phones, create a wifi hotspot area and use a streetlight. The LED panels furthermore power air sensors, allowing users to access information on air pollution levels in that area.

“This installation, however small scale it may look, is a symbol showing that when you bring innovation into practice on the ground, the people like it and use it, while being reminded of the importance of cleaner air” said Jan Dusik, UN Environment's Director for Europe.

During 2015, safe levels of particulate matter (PM10) in Sarajevo were exceeded for a total of 100 days, while nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels were unsafe for 18 days, Enis Omerčić of the Hydrometeorlogical institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina revealed during a panel discussion held as part of Enviro Day. Meanwhile, the number of people suffering from chronical respiratory diseases has steadily increased in Bosnia and Herzegovina and has now reached 176 cases for every 10,000 people, said Mirza Palo of the World Health Organisation.

Installation of the solar benches, which are made by the Steora company based in Croatia, was made possible thanks to funding provided by Sweden to UNDP.

Two cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have meanwhile joined the UN Environment -led Global District Energy in Cities Initiative. Banja Luka and Sarajevo form part of the programme, which supports national and municipal governments in their efforts to develop, retrofit or scale up district energy systems - one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A project launched by Banja Luka with UN Environment in January will modernize the city’s heating network and could reduce fuel consumption by 27 per cent, leading to a reduction of 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and €4.5m in fuel cost savings.

The main culprits behind Bosnia's air pollution are emissions from traffic, household stoves and local heating using heavy fuel oil, and high-intensity energy used to power industry. Air pollution has since been identified as one of the two greatest health threats in the pan-European region together with climate change by UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook report.

For more information on UN Environment’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina please click here or write to piercarlo.sandei@unvienna.org