BUILD UP

The Renovate Europe Campaign celebrated its annual REDay beacon event on 8 October 2019 at the European Parliament. Researchers, policy experts and practitioners joined the moderated debate on the topic of financing renovation and provided feedback from Projects in Action.

The building sector is the single largest energy consumer in the EU. It has been observed that 75 % of the EU’s buildings are energy inefficient. A modernised and refurbished building stock therefore has a key role to play in the transition to a smarter, renewable-intensive and decarbonised energy system, and in the longer term to a climate neutral economy.

Every month, BUILD UP highlights publications covering a specific topic. January’s Topic of the Month is: ‘Digitalisation of the building and construction sectors’. The website is already available for contributions and BUILD UP’s editorial board is eager to receive your discussion papers, news and articles.

The project examined 15-20 buildings per pilot country in cooperation with certified local energy auditors. In order to evaluate the field test results, detailed questionnaires for the participating homeowners and energy auditors were created, collected and analysed. A total of 98 questionnaires were collect and evaluated.

Buildings – including household boilers and heaters – are responsible for 40 % of the EU’s total energy consumption, making them one of the biggest contributors to global warming emissions in Europe. Cost is the biggest factor for most consumers in choosing a new heating system.

Across the EU, people spend approximately 90 % of their time indoors. Temperature, lighting, humidity, draughts and noise play important roles in physical and mental well-being. More efficient buildings improve thermal comfort for lower volumes of energy consumption, reducing emissions and leading to better air quality indoors and outdoors.

This report, written by BPIE and published for the Horizon 2020 project Build Upon2 analyses some of the most important changes that will influence building renovation policy in the coming decades, more specifically four core components: the EPBD (Energy Performance of Building Directive), the EED (Energy Efficiency Directive), the RED (Renewable Energy Directive) and the GOV (Governance Regulation).

Building F3, Model House is a multi-apartment building, located in the new “Zeleni Gaj” residential development in Ljubljana's Brdo district. As a nearly zero-energy building it is also part of a special project researching living comfort in a multi-apartment building, which consists of a minimum three-year period of implementation, research and monitoring.

Downie's Cottage is an exceptionally rare and important survivor of the open-hearth tradition of vernacular building in the north-east of Scotland. This simple 3-bay cottage is remarkable for its largely intact interior. Its traditional plan arrangement consists of rooms in the east and west sections and a central core comprising box-beds and a stair to the roof space.

Villa Castelli is a listed building from the 19th Century located at the riverside of Lake Como (Italy). The owners set the ambitious goal of renovating the Villa, which has belonged to the family for about 140 years, to the lowest possible energy demand while maintaining the original use of the rooms and the external appearance.

The project aims to develop a truly innovative façade solution based on the smart integration of highly energy-efficient components, including super-insulated elements, solar energy harvesting and active-energy storage features, all-in-one single combined active/passive management system especially addressed for modern non-residential lightweight curtain wall and double skin frame (DSF) retrofitting solutions.

BUILD UPON2 proposes to address one of the main barriers to proper public management, and consequent upscaling of deep energy efficiency renovation: the lack of an adequate, widely shared ‘Impact Framework’. The project proposes to work with local, national and European stakeholders to create a multi-level renovation impact framework that contains a suite of milestones and measurable progress indicators for building renovation strategies.

The main goal of GEO4CIVHIC is to develop and demonstrate easier to install and more efficient GSHEs, using innovative compact drilling machines tailored for the built environment & developing or adapting HPs and other hybrid solutions in combination with RES for retrofits through a holistic engineering and controls approach improving the return of investments.

The actions included in Padova’s SEAP (Sustainable Energy Action Plan) led to the formal approval of a plan to apply for EU co-financing through PadovaFit! This is an ambitious project whose ultimate goal is to support the energy refurbishment of the city’s privately owned, multi-property, residential building stock.

In case you did not know about the role of waste heat in DHs, would you like to upskill your knowledge about its benefits? What is the role of waste heat coming from industries in the EU strategy on heating and cooling and Horizon 2020 objectives?

For the past two years, the BIMplement team has been developing a BIM-based training for white- and blue-collar workers on topics such as ventilation and airtightness Watch this webinar and learn more about the project and the experiences we faced in this exciting time of the digitalisation of the construction industry.

The SISMA tool provides guidance to local public authorities to help them better plan investments relating to the deep renovation of public buildings, without the need for extensive technical expertise and without the submission of huge amounts of data.

EEQuest is developed as part of the PF4EE Pilot, with support from the European Commission. The tool aims to support financial intermediaries in marketing dedicated energy efficiency finance, raise awareness and facilitate on-lending for energy efficiency.

The conference will include plenary sessions with high-level representatives from the Covenant of Mayors initiative, the investment community, and the European Commission. It will also include a showcase of successful projects.

The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and energy efficiency experts, buildings energy and environmental managers, buildings engineers and architects, with the aim to promote and diffuse the concept of energy efficiency in new and existing non-residential buildings and enlarge the market for energy neutral and sustainable non-residential buildings.

Greenbuild Europe offers a forum for the green building community to unite, change lives, revolutionize business and address pressing issues. Attend Greenbuild Europe to hear from leaders on their vision about the future of green building in Europe, learn about current research and best practices, connect with sustainability experts, and see innovative technologies.

The main theme of the 14th International HVAC&R Technology Symposium of TTMD, which is being held biannually, will be ‘Resilient HVAC Solutions to Achieve More Sustainable Future’. The symposium will cover all aspects of new-generation HVAC technology and focus on the design, construction and maintenance of efficient systems.