BUILD UP

Since 2006, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) has organised its annual flagship event: the EU Sustainable Energy Week. As the biggest event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe, it has grown into a community at the forefront of sustainable European energy policy, providing a platform for formulating and debating new ideas.

Nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) construction and renovation require increased and systematic quality control. This is where BIMplement comes in. Its enhanced quality control approach revolves around a fully qualified and equipped workforce – one that is capable of implementing, executing and performing all necessary labour with a full understanding of its professional responsibility and actions.

Every month, BUILD UP highlights publications covering a specific topic. July’s Topic of the Month is: ‘Financing energy efficiency of buildings’. The website is already open for contributions and BUILD UP’s editorial board is eager to receive your discussion papers, news and articles.

Drastically lowering energy consumption in buildings is a cornerstone of Europe’s climate and energy policy. However, European Commission estimates show that almost 75 % of Europe’s building stock is currently energy inefficient, and that the renovation rate ranges from just 0.4 to 1.2 % depending on the country. The Horizon 2020 HEART project aims to equip the social housing sector to lead with mass-scale retrofit.

The AZEB method organises the sometimes overwhelming amount of existing solutions for affordable nZEBs and intends to assist both decision makers and experts with their projects. Each of the method’s 27 steps represents a set of important and unique activities and/or decisions, which help to create affordable nZEBs. They are organized within four main project phases: initiative, design, construction and use, and maintenance.

One of the objectives of BIMplement is to create a new generation of professionals and craftsmen qualified to deliver high quality nZEB projects by using technical, cross-trade and BIM skills and competencies. To this end, training sessions will be carried out at 50 construction sites in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and Lithuania.

An ambitious implementation of circular economy principles in the building and construction sectors requires the involvement and collaboration of all stakeholders, from the construction materials and building components manufacturers to procurers, builders, users, building managers, recycling enterprises, etc. Architects can play a key role, as many decisions made during the design phase have long-lasting consequences on the environmental performance of a building throughout its life cycle.

A JRC (Joint Research Centre) report presents an analysis of the current situation based on an extensive review of relevant articles from 1992 to 2018 dealing with zero energy/zero carbon communities, sustainable communities, urban/local energy governance, citizen engagement, local energy planning, local energy production and local energy transition.

The Horizon 2020 STUNNING renovation hub project presents several case studies, including an apartment block in Spain’s Torrelago district built between 1977 and1981. The district includes some 31 private multi-property residential buildings (1 488 dwellings) with more than 140 000 m2 and 4 000 residents. Former conditions were very low in terms of efficiency and comfort, making refurbishment a necessity.

Scenia (phase II) is a newly built residential complex with 26 exclusive homes that spans 13 576 m2 and is located in one of the best areas of Zaragoza, Spain. Featuring a common garden area, pool and paddle court, its architectural design is adapted to the local climate and emphasises energy efficiency.

Society still has work to do when it comes to providing equal opportunities for women. The construction industry has traditionally been a male sector – a fact justified, among other issues, by the harsh nature of the required work. However, the evolution of the sector towards greater mechanisation now makes it possible for both men and women to carry out the same tasks with equal rights and the same access to career opportunities.

As examples of this month's BUILD UP topic "New skills for energy efficiency in buildings", check out the presentations and key findings from the C4E Forum 2018 panel session “Training of skills for 21st century”. C4E Forums are biannual events on energy efficiency with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe.

The overall goal of the Horizon 2020 THERMOS project is to develop methods, data and tools to rapidly and cheaply enable more sophisticated thermal energy system planning. It aims to accelerate the development of new low-carbon heating and cooling systems across Europe, and enable faster upgrades, refurbishments, and expansions of existing systems.

EUREM is a standardised European energy manager training programme comprising courses, self-learning and practical work combined with access to a European alumni network for continued knowledge exchange. The EUREMnext project aims to make this programme available more widely.

The ExcEED project answers the need for transparency and comparability of building energy performance calculations and has developed a collaborative platform that requires data. During the webinar, the ExcEED team presents the latest project results and demonstrates how such data can be uploaded.

The mobile inspection tool to be developed by the P2ENDURE project is an enhanced and extended version of the existing building inspection and maintenance software tool developed by DEMO Consultants. This upgraded tool will address specific requirements for deep renovation.

A free, open-source software has been developed by the THERMOS project that offers local authorities address-level data for the optimised expansion of an existing heating or cooling system, the planning of an entirely new system, or assessing the performance of specific networks or non-networked solutions via direct comparison.

REHAB 2019 – The 4th International Conference on Preservation, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings and Structures aims to proceed with the discussion on built heritage and legacy preservation established in previous editions of the event.

The conference aims to encourage the participation and commitment of students and experts who proactively research issues related to sustainable building that are critically relevant to the mitigation of – and adaptation to –climate change.

ICEEE2019 focuses on energy, the environment and the economics of energy systems and their applications. Conference will provide a forum for both researchers and academics from around the world to present original research papers.

Focused on energy efficiency and the use of renewables in the built environment, CISBAT offers a dynamic international platform for scientific exchange in fields ranging from nanostructured materials for renewable energy applications to urban energy systems.