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Newsletter #3 | April 2018
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The reviewed EPBD: upcoming new targets for energy efficiency in buildings
The European Parliament has just approved the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
With the new EPBD the Commission wants the EU to lead the clean energy transition. For this reason the EU has committed to cut CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030 while modernising the EU's economy and delivering on jobs and growth for all European citizens.
The main points of the new EPBD:
- Creates a clear path towards a low and zero-emission building stock in the EU by 2050 underpinned by national roadmaps to decarbonise buildings.
- Encourages the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and smart technologies to ensure buildings operate efficiently for example by introducing automation and control systems.
- Supports the rollout of the infrastructure for e-mobility in all buildings.
- Introduces a "smart readiness indicator" which will measure the buildings' capacity to use new technologies and electronic systems to adapt to the needs of the consumer, optimise its operation and interact with the grid.
- Integrates and substantially strengthens long-term building renovation strategies.
- Mobilises public and private financing and investment.
- Helps combatting energy poverty and reducing the household energy bill by renovating older buildings.
Towards the definition of a Smart Readiness Indicator
One of the most innovative points in the above list is the introduction of a "smart readiness indicator" which will measure the buildings' capacity to use new technologies and electronic systems to adapt to the needs of the consumer, optimise its operation and interact with the grid.
It will be based on the analysis of the smart ready services available on a building. These smart services are focusing on optimization, interaction with occupants, interoperability and interaction with the energy grid. There will be a catalogue reporting all the services, and including all the functionality levels as well the assessment of their impacts on the building operation. Such impacts cover the aspects of energy savings on site, flexibility for the energy grid and storage, self-generation of energy, comfort, convenience, health, maintenance and fault prediction as well as information provided to the occupant.
The methodology is still in a fine-tuning phase and will be tested on a series of relevant case studies.
Check directly the future smart services of buildings!
Look, for example in the interim report at the case study 2 – an office, to get a feeling for what the most advanced features of a smart building can be.
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Getting the feeling in the local conferences
Local conferences are the moment of truth if the argument the project is dealing with finds some resonance on the ground and among the stakeholders. Before the second round of ENERJ local conferences that will finish in October it might be worthwhile to draw some conclusions on how things are going in this first one. The Slovenian partner of ENERJ, GOLEA started the cycle in March of last year and succeeded in bringing together stakeholders that usually talk too little to each other: local administrations, banks, funding institutions, energy experts. Each of these realities functions according to a different logic and joint actions will only have a chance if there are more occasions where a common understanding of the subject – energy efficiency in public buildings – is being developed. The interchange between different groups of stakeholders, each with their specific look on things was also at the focus of the local conference in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, on April 25, with representatives of financial institutes, renewables companies, research centres in a dialogue with representatives and staff members of local authorities of the wider Thessaloniki area.
The challenge is to talk to each other with curiosity and openness, trying to understand. That holds also true for the communication between projects and programmes, which was one element of the local conference in Seville in June of 2017 and again came up prominently in “We are Med” in April of this year in Rome. “Brainstorming between Programmes” and “High-level capitalisation with PANORAMED project” took up the issue of governance with the goal of favouring the dialogue among policy-makers and develop a strategic vision at transnational level. (The speakers’ presentations are online).
To get back to our MED community, Efficient Buildings: the immediate task is to produce know-how and tools to move ahead. Right behind there is the challenge, especially for the ones that have been working in the field for some time, to render the results usable for those stakeholders who do not have the issue of energy efficiency at the centre of their attention, which requires patience and the capacity to put oneself in their shoes. Sergio Zabot, at the local conference of the Metropolitan City of Rome in February did just that. His "advices" (in Italian) on how to make Public Private Partnerships function reflect decades of experience of how to deal with the different stakeholders, parting from their preferences and points which may or may not converge with the interests of public bodies to render their buildings energy efficient. His strong advice, for example was, that public bodies have their energy data assembled by a third party, independently from the ESCO involved. They need to know the real consumption of their buildings, the potential savings and the investments necessary to realize these savings. The database ENERJ will be an important tool to show administrators and staff of local administrations in a systematic way the energy consumption of their buildings and other comparable ones.
Training Joint Actions Coordinators
If you want to do Joint Actions for Energy Efficiency in the public buildings stock you need people who know how to go about it. That may seem obvious but it is not. What needs to come together are Know-how on technical, legal and financial issues and governance structures. With its Training course material for public employees and energy managers ENERJ provides a basis for building capacity among the relevant experts to design and implement Joint actions.
You find the document here.
On the basis of this document each partner will develop its own training course materials according to their needs, specific target and evaluating the local specifications and implement training courses until the end of the year.
Guidelines for Joint Actions for Energy Efficiency
ENERJ proposes particularly to small and medium municipalities who have a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) in place to group together for the actions they foresee in their buildings. The advantages are obvious in terms of compensating lack of technical know how in small authorities, benefits from economy of scale and a better point of departure for financial strategies. The barriers and obstacles are less obvious, but they are there.
The Guidelines for Joint Actions for Energy Efficiency provide indications on administrative reorganization, preliminary analysis activities, stakeholder involvement and indications of Funding, tendering and contracting.
You find the document here.
ENERJ Database
A central tool for our project is a database collecting, on the one hand, energy-related specifications from public buildings and, on the other, the description of the SEAP actions concerning energy efficiency of public buildings. The database is mainly directed towards two target groups, local administrations and ESCOs. For the former to see the energy data of their own buildings in a systematic fashion will hopefully sensitize them for becoming active and start energy efficiency measures. For the latter the database should be a useful tool to construct possible joint actions with the objective to form “packages” which represent a critical mass and promise a return that renders them worthwhile for investment. The database will go public in the next few weeks, and will subsequently be geo-localized. We will keep you informed on our website.
EduFootprint platform
In EduFootprin the Province of Treviso has developed the EduFootprint platform for the exchange of best practices. It is a web based platform that is going to contain materials documenting the activities that schools have carried out to reduce their carbon footprint, so that they could provide inspiration to other schools and, hopefully, be replicated elsewhere.
The platform is structured into five thematic fields, it is in English, public, open also to the contributions of subjects outside the partnership and accessible to all users. The best practices uploaded in the platform will be in English or in national languages to facilitate exchanges at local level; however, every best practice will be accompanied by a short summary form in English, containing the most important information and contact details.
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Next events
May 21 – 25, 2018 Brussels (Belgium) - EU Green Week
The next edition of EU Green Week will explore ways in which the EU is helping cities to become better places to live and work. 2018 theme will be 'Green Cities for a Greener Future, covering three themes in particular:
- Quality of life: nature/biodiversity, green infrastructure, air quality, mobility, noise, water (in particular drinking water), and links to health etc.
- Circular economy: waste, recycling, energy solutions, construction, business opportunities/SMEs, investments, and access to EU funds etc.
- Governance: community engagement and participatory approaches to urban planning, exchanges of best practices, as well as measuring and monitoring progress.
May 24, 2018 Ponte de Sor (Portugal) - “Local Cooperation for Energy Efficiency”
AREANATejo and CIMAA organize the first 1st ENERJ Local Conference in Portugal as Energy Day during the EU Sustainable Energy Week.
June 4 – 8, 2018 Brussels (Belgium) – EU Sustainable Energy Week
The European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is a yearly key event during which the European Commission organises a series of sessions and networking events to discuss new policy developments, best practices and sustainable energy ideas. This year, the EUSEW has the theme “Lead the clean energy transition”. Registrations will open soon.
The partner GOLEA - Goriška Local Energy Agency will host the fourth project meeting in Slovenia. During this meeting a cooperation with the Interreg Med project SISMA will be established and the SISMA tool for supporting public authorities in energy retrofitting of public buildings will be presented and evaluated for the work of ENERJ.
Climate Alliance is the network of 1700 European cities and towns committed to climate protection on a local level. ENERJ will join the annual meeting.
Further information here
Three days of workshops and exchange to network and learn about the latest challenges in the built environment, policy implementation and participation, usage and adaptation of tools and indicators, pooling resources in joint actions. ENERJ will actively participate. Find a preliminary programme here
The next UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) is an important milestone in the international debate. It was defined in the Paris Agreement as the occasion to take stock of the collective efforts towards the agreement’s long term goals 3 years after its adoption. This will also offer the occasion to demonstrate how regional and local authorities can contribute to the global efforts, while helping to increase national ambition.
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Partners consortium
ENERJ is supported by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Interreg MED Programme.
ENERJ (Joint Actions for Energy Efficiency) supports cities and towns in the implementation of energy efficiency actions in their own buildings as part of their local energy and climate policy.
It fosters the collaboration among local governments for Joint Actions. An ENERJ Platform facilitates designing Joint Actions and hosts a database on Local Energy Action Plans and Energy Efficiency measures.
ENERJ project is runnuing from November 2016 until April 2019 with a total budget of Euro 2.26 million. EU Funds Euro 1.92 million.
Lead partner: ANATOLIKI S.A. - Development Agency of Eastern Thessaloniki' Local Authorities
email: reacm@anatoliki.gr / tel. +30 231 0463930
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