Anna Dylag

Who are you?

Anna Dylag started her energy consultancy in Poland in 2009 where she has promoted renewable energy solutions for domestic homes and commercial properties. Her company has designed and installed many renewable energy improvements, including solar thermal, solar PV and heat pumps.

Knowledge of renewable energy solutions is lower in Poland than some other European countries and Anna has promoted her activity with scientific arguments about climate change. She joined Pioneers into Practice to gain new skills and experiences, and to consider how she could deliver her company’s work differently.

What did you do?

Anna met a very varied group of people on her Pioneers programme but felt they all had similar mindsets and motivation for tackling climate change, and enjoyed working with them.

Her placement was at the Mobility and Environmental Departments of the Comune di San Lazzaro di Savena near Bologna where she worked with the energy management team to understand how a shift away from fossil fuels was managed in Italy. She was able to compare the different approaches used in the two countries from an awareness perspective, as well as practical construction and temperature differences. During her placement, she learnt many new skills and approaches that helped her promote her company’s work.

Her Pioneers group project in Poland built upon these experiences when Anna and her group worked on designing a ‘happy building’ considering complex issues of energy use, construction and comfort.

Working with the different people during my Pioneers experience opened my eyes to new opportunities. The tools I learnt at the workshops really helped me in my business and when delivering new projects, such as Civic Energy.

What did you learn?

Anna feels that her Pioneers experience gave her a whole range of skills, experiences and practical tools from the workshops and placement. While she had an expert technical knowledge before Pioneers, she now has confidence to try new activities within her business. She learnt that working with a wide range of people showed her different approaches and solutions, making her more confident to try opportunities she would not have tried before.

What happens next?

Anna has used the knowledge she gained from the Pioneers programme to start a new activity with the Wieruszów local municipality to help them think differently about implementing renewable energy through actively engaging civic communities. Anna has created the project group and leads the process of finding solutions to produce and distribute renewable energy with communities. The project has attracted a large range of stakeholders and Anna has worked with them to create a new energy strategy. The project has increased awareness of renewable energy and its role in tackling climate change in Poland. Anna has helped the project secure funds to implement improvements from public bodies. She feels that Pioneers gave her the confidence to implement Civic Energy and gave her the opportunity to work with a large and diverse range of partners.