Challenges in the building sector and serial renovation

Editorial

Dear readers, Dear EnR colleagues,

Our second issue of the EnR newsletter on LinkedIn has a strong focus on the challenges in the building sector and serial renovation as a best practice to overcome numerous barriers. The European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is currently in the crunch time of the trilogue negotiations ─ one of the most contentious issues is certainly which regulatory measures, especially for the worst performing buildings ─ will find their way into the amendment via the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS).??

Already before the summer break, we took a closer look at how the renovation wave in Europe can be accelerated? and how serial refurbishment as a best practice can be a key to speed up the required refurbishment activities throughout Europe.?Against this background, the second workshop of the dena presidency focused on this topic. Following the question "MEPS and serial renovation ─ a turbo for the renovation wave in Europe?" we took a closer look at the experiences, strategic approaches and challenges at the ADEME in Paris on 7 July 2023.??

In addition to further articles and news, you can read about the central positions and experiences discussed at the event in this newsletter issue:?Uwe Bigalke and Paula Baptista analyse how the building retrofits can be revolutionized. Paula Rey Garcia considers the introduction of minimum energy performance standards as an essential policy tool to promote renovations, while Louise Sunderland 's contribution looks at minimum energy performance standards in practice. Joost Hartlief gives an overview of the Dutch experience with a Label C obligation for offices (2023).

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of the newsletter!?

Best regards from Berlin!?

Revolutionizing Building Retrofits: Accelerating Europe's Renovation Movement

Existing buildings play a major role in Europe's carbon footprint, contributing around 30 ─ 40% to CO2 emissions. They consume up to five times more energy than is technically necessary, mostly from fossil fuels. In order to meet climate change targets and ensure that buildings can be used for the long term at affordable energy costs, a large proportion of them need to be renovated quickly and effectively.

To tackle this challenge, a drive for quicker and more effective building retrofits is gaining momentum. While the term "retrofitting" might conjure thoughts of complexity and gradual progress, its benefits are profound: reduced energy consumption, and improved health for occupants. As climate goals become more ambitious, the urgency for innovative and efficient retrofitting approaches grows.

Public sentiment strongly supports speeding up retrofitting efforts. Despite its significance, the current retrofitting approach lacks speed and scalability. To meet climate goals, retrofitting must triple its pace, catching up with the pace set by other industries. The pivotal question is how to reshape the retrofitting process to align with our climate targets. The tried and tested answer is through collaborative action, shared insights, and thinking outside the box.

Two groundbreaking initiatives are leading the charge in revolutionizing building retrofits: Energiesprong Global Alliance and INDU-ZERO . Both are reshaping the retrofit landscape, offering a promising pathway to a sustainable future.

Originating in the Netherlands, the Energiesprong principle heralds a new era of serial renovation. By harnessing digital planning, prefabrication, and standardized processes, Energiesprong aims to swiftly and affordably elevate existing buildings to the climate-neutral NetZero standard. This principle revolves around both product and process innovation, paving the way for efficient and effective retrofitting. At the heart of the Indu-Zero project lies a visionary concept: the creation of a high-tech building factory. This innovative approach aims to achieve total renovation readiness for a terraced house within three days, ensuring minimal disruption for tenants.

Both the Indu-Zero project and the Energiesprong principle address a critical challenge ─ the chicken and egg problem. They tackle obstacles hindering building owners and tenants from embracing retrofits, as well as the low demand faced by the construction industry and suppliers. National Market Development Teams (MDTs) serve as catalysts for collaboration, policy advocacy, communication, product development, and demand creation, overcoming this challenge. Digital tools also play a vital role. Platforms enable swift building surveys and the creation of prefabricated components like roofs and HVAC systems, streamlining project development and implementation.

Envisioning a climate-neutral future, the synergy between Energiesprong and Indu-Zero becomes evident: creating appealing, affordable, and sustainable living spaces. This transformation not only aligns with climate goals but also capitalizes on economies of scale to reduce costs.

Introducing Minimum Energy Performance Standards as essential policy tool to boost renovations

With the adoption of the European Green Deal as compass for the EU’s agenda, buildings and their renovation became a priority. There was a recognition that buildings are renovated very slowly, and this exposes citizens to spikes in energy prices and volatility, and to energy poverty.

If we put together the very slow renovation rates with the fact that most buildings standing today have poor energy performance and will still be in place in 2050, the need for EU action is clear. Buildings account for 40% of our energy use, 53 % of our total natural gas consumption and one third of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.

The Revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) that the Commission adopted in December 2021 as part of the Fit for 55 package, and that is currently in inter-institutional negotiation, precisely addresses this. A key novelty is the introduction of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) to trigger the renovation of existing buildings.

The revision also strengthens provisions on financing. In the current multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), EU funding for building renovation has increased by approximately a factor of four as compared to the previous MFF (2014 ─ 2020). It is estimated that over €110 billion from the EU budget will be dedicated to building renovation over 2021 ─ 2027.?This is without counting the core of the necessary financial support, which will come from private investments and national co-funding, leveraging available EU funds. Under the EPBD proposal, Member States are also required to give higher support to vulnerable homeowners, people living in social housing and SMEs. This is part of the enabling framework accompanying the introduction of MEPS.

By triggering building renovation, the revision of the EPBD delivers on the Green Deal and on the Renovation Wave action plan. The poor performance of EU’s building stock and its reliance on fossil fuels, often imported, notably for heating, means that households waste several thousands of euros per year that otherwise could be invested in better and more comfortable homes.

The proposed requirements on MEPS are to be seen as an investment in the resilience of Europe’s energy system and a fundamental contribution to the 2030 climate and energy targets.

Minimum Energy Performance Standards in practice

A number of Member States, a swiftly increasing number of U.S. states and cities ,, and areas of Australia and New Zealand already use Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS ). Examples illustrate the relevance to all stock sectors and offer a range of design innovations from which EU implementers can learn. All address the worst buildings first. The latest innovations in these standards also support buildings to switch from fossil fuel to clean heating .

Examples in Europe usually draw on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) framework. In the Netherlands, office buildings must reach a "C" standard on the A-to-G energy label this year. Standards in England and Wales require privately rented homes to be EPC "E" by 2020 and rented non-domestic buildings to reach the same standard by this year and EPC "B" by 2030. France has also focussed on rented homes, with a progressively tightening standard of EPC "F" by 2025, "E" by 2028 and "D" by 2034.

Importantly at this crucial moment, negotiators and national implementers can benefit from the experiences of jurisdictions where standards have recently reached compliance dates. Evidence from both the Netherlands and England and Wales shows that the target stock has improved in the years prior to the compliance date, illustrating the positive signalling effect of a standard. Impacts on the wider value chain include better internalisation of energy performance in the valuation and financing of commercial buildings.

Neither jurisdiction, however, has reached full compliance. The lesson? Although compliance dates are very important, renovation efforts do not stop at that point, but efforts to support renovation increase. Although legislation allows for penalties and other compliance actions to be taken from these dates, both jurisdictions prefer support over penalties. Local authorities are raising awareness of the requirements, accessing data sets to identify non-compliant buildings, using new fora to communicate with building owners and offering support.

These experiences and resources from both Europe and the U.S. , provide important evidence to enable negotiators and implementers to design an ambitious and effective MEPS framework.

Dutch lessons learned from Energy Label A and C obligations

In 2018, the Dutch energy label C obligation for offices was introduced in order to reduce CO2 emissions by 2030. Five years later, the Dutch offices had to be at least Label-C, with room for exceptions. This gave owners of office buildings time to provide financing and to integrate the measures into natural maintenance moments as much as possible. A legal obligation was considered necessary to achieve the necessary energy savings. For the vast majority of offices, Label C was easily achievable with simple measures. As of July 1st 2023, it is estimated that 59% of the offices have an energy label C or better, 10% an energy label D or worse and 31% no energy label yet. Older, smaller and multifunctional buildings are most likely not to comply.

Reasons for non-compliance:

1. Building owners anticipate that there will be no strict enforcement.
2. In certain situations it can be difficult for building owners to determine whether or not their office must comply.
3. It is important to focus heavily on supervision and enforcement and to support supervisors.
4. Building owners wait until it is clear what the concrete goal for 2050 will be.

Important lessons learned:

1. It is important for the government to lead by example.
2. Providing correct figures and data based on sources is difficult.
3. It is important to have realistic goals: is 100% compliance realistic?
4. A ban on use of a building is a very strict formulation, although it does help with the imaging.
5. Natural renovation moments were often used, also to go beyond label C.
6. The least energy efficient offices were phased out earlier.

The Label-C obligation for offices can be considered a success. There has been an accelerated improvement in the energy performance of offices, faster than other building types. The impact of the law on the market is considerable: office buildings with an energy label lower than C have become almost twenty percent less valuable. We also see that the financial sector has given compliance a boost. Failure to comply with a legal obligation is a financing risk for them and they therefore manage accordingly.

No label A obligation in 2030.

At the time, the Dutch government also had the intention to make label A mandatory for offices by 2030. The voluntary Renovation Standard for non-residential buildings has replaced the intended label A obligation in order to provide clarity towards 2050. This reduces the risk of taking measures that prove insufficient in the long term. The Dutch ambition is to make this Renovation Standard mandatory by 2050, in accordance with the Zero Emission buildings (ZEB) norm of the future EPBD IV.

Survey on Monitoring and Evaluation of Behavioural Change

The Behavioural Change Working Group implemented carried out a survey on monitoring and evaluation of behavioural change measures with two main objectives:

1. Monitoring of behavioural emergency measures introduced to alleviate the energy crisis caused by the Russian’s war in Ukraine.
2. Identifying new approaches for monitoring and evaluation of behavioural change measures.

Sixteen countries provided insights, some on multiple campaigns. The report contains the survey results as well as some recommendations for further steps.

? Read the report now:

Faces of EnR

Our new EnR Social Media outreach: Faces of EnR. How are EnR members facing the #EnergyTransition in Europe: How are they accelerating the global challenge? Here are some insights from Poland.

Karolina Junak, Engineer & Expert in the Department of International Cooperation The Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) , summarizes the current development in her country.

?? #Poland has been making progress in improving the #energyefficiency of buildings. This effort is crucial, as #buildings are significant contributors to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Despite the progress, Poland faces challenges in achieving higher energy efficiency. Some hurdles include the slow pace of #renovating existing buildings due to financial constraints, the lack of awareness and understanding of energy-saving measures, and the dominance of fossil fuels in the energy mix. To help the #transformation , the Polish government has prepared regulatory Framework and renovation Programs.

The Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) supports the #energytransformation of buildings through participation in projects and expertise on energy efficiency (introduction of Building Renovation Passports [BRPs], energy classes, recommendations in Energy Performance Certificates [EPCs], building renovation plans).

All these activities lead to increasing public awareness about the importance of energy efficiency and its benefits is critical in encouraging individuals and organizations to adopt energy-saving practices.

However, more efforts are needed to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, renovate existing buildings, and transition to a greener built environment. Continued support from the government, private sector, and increased public awareness will play a vital role in achieving these goals and contributing to a more #sustainablefuture .

Elina Moisio appointed as new Managing Director of Motiva Ltd.

The new Managing Director Elina Moisio of Motiva started her post on May 2nd in 2023. She worked earlier as Managing Director of Miltton Networks Ltd. She has a wide experience of consulting concerning stakeholder groups of companies and organizations as well as environmental and climate policies.

New managing director at dena, Germany

dena's shareholders and Supervisory Board have appointed Corinna Enders as the new Chair of dena's Executive Board with effect from October 23, 2023. She will manage dena's business together with Kristina Haverkamp , whose contract was already extended in spring 2023.

The EnR Network warmly welcomes Corinna Enders.

ADENE launches the eCIRCULAR system, a performance rating system in for Circular Economy

Last July, ADENE - Agência para a Energia launched the eCIRCULAR initiative, a new classification and rating system that allows the evaluation of the performance and the improvement of management practices in the circular economy of organizations.

The eCIRCULAR is a voluntary system for organizations to stimulate actions and obtain practical and evolutionary results at the level of the circular economy. It is a comprehensive model, applicable to multiple sectors of society. It allows an evaluation of the performance of the circularity of companies and other entities, by auditors, with the issuance of a certificate. This certificate includes the classification obtained – from A+ (the best) to F (the worst) – and the indication of possible improvements.

ADENE signs a Memoradum of Understanding with the Korean Energy Agency

On September 1st, in Lisbon, ADENE - Agência para a Energia and KEA, the Korea Energy Agency signed a Memoradum of Understanding in a ceremony that counted with the presence of H.E. Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Portugal, Cho Yeongmoo, and the Portuguese Secretary of State for Energy and Climate, Ana Fontoura Gouveia .

The MoU sets the basis for the cooperation between the two agencies, which will cover the sharing of knowledge in common areas of expertise and interests, and the technical collaboration in training and awareness raising campaigns and on the implementation of energy efficiency, renewables, and climate change policies and measures.

EIHP launches nZEB training programme

Energy Institute Hrvoje Po?ar (EIHP) started the renovation process of the EIHP office building to achieve nearly zero-emission standard. Starting on September 18, the renovation is part of a larger project – “Establishment of the National Training Center for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB)”, financed from the Programme “Energy and Climate Change” as part of the EEA Financial Mechanism for 2014 – 2021, in the amount of EUR 1.6 million. This financial mechanism represents the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.

The training center is a program for educating construction experts (certified engineers and design associates) and will be established in the fully renovated EIHP office building. The program will be held online during the renovation, with the first lectures starting on September 22, 2023. The education is divided into eight one-day modules led by experts from EIHP and project partner, the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb. The main modules are related to concepts, strategies and preparation of nZEB projects, energy modelling and energy supply systems in nZEB buildings, improving the resistance and vulnerability to earthquakes and nZEN energy self-sufficient neighbourhood.

The goal of EIHP is to become a central place for the education of experts and their training to solve renovation challenges. EIHP also aims to increase awareness of the importance of building renovation by applying innovative technical solutions to achieve nZEB standards.

Popular regional energy advice at Motiva Ltd. will continue

Free of charge energy advice financed by the Finnish Energy Authority (Motiva ) will continue in regions of the mainland Finland. Since 2019 citizens, municipalities as well as small and medium enterprises have received complimentary help for energy questions. This system contributes significantly to reaching the national targets concerning energy efficiency and renewable energy. The most common questions cover the change of heating mode, use of solar power and heat pumps. During the last winter also questions about electricity contracts were very common.

Energy Saving Trust: Leading the retrofit way in West Yorkshire

The Energy Saving Trust has won a support services contract that will significantly progress the West Yorkshire Combined Authority ’s net zero ambitions to deliver on targets that require 45,000 whole house decarbonisation retrofits a year by 2038.

Building upon earlier success, where digital tools for housing stock modelling for West Yorkshire were introduced, this project will help the region to deliver a ‘one stop shop’ for domestic decarbonisation. The project will establish services and platforms that provide a reliable customer journey from advice to planning, to financing and finally, for implementing home retrofit projects through access to installers and technologies.

The Energy Saving Trust will be developing a 10-year retrofit programme for social housing stock, supporting the development of the retrofit supply chain. In this first phase of delivery Energy Saving Trust ─ in partnership with Accelar (green finance expertise) and Warmworks (supply chain expertise) ─ will be working to deliver options appraisals, consultations, market intelligence gathering and wide engagement building a business case and plan for how retrofit can be accelerated for the next decade.

Energy Saving Trust: Climate policy that cuts costs: International policy comparison

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) commissioned Energy Saving Trust and Green Alliance to carry out research and analysis on policies introduced in other countries in response to the energy crisis that aim to both cut costs and reduce emissions. This report draws on these international examples to produce key lessons for UK policymaking, highlighting areas where policy has the potential to reduce emissions, cut household or business costs and improve energy security at home.

? More information and the report can be found here https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/climate-policy-that-cuts-costs-international-policy-comparison-energy-saving-trust-green-alliance/

dena studies

Roadmap for Buildings and Construction in Chinas Greater Bay Area

To help the Greater Bay Area transition to a low-carbon and resource-efficient building and construction sector, dena has committed to developing a regional roadmap for the sector. The study builds on the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) structural framework and is supported by the Chinese Academy of Building Research (CABR) and the ICLEI East Asia Secretariat.

It includes recommendations for eight key areas of action, as well as overarching recommendations to promote collaboration and synergy among key stakeholders.

? Read the study: https://www.dena.de/newsroom/publikationsdetailansicht/pub/studie-regional-roadmap-for-buildings-and-construction-in-chinas-greater-bay-area/

Renewable Building Materials in Vietnam

Together with a consortium led by the Universit?t Stuttgart , dena has conducted a study on the topic of renewable building materials. On the one hand, the study deals with a contemporary historical classification of building culture, and on the other hand with concrete (renewable) materials that can be used as building materials. In the appendix of the study, detailed fact sheets show the properties and values of the materials.

? Find out more: https://www.dena.de/newsroom/publikationsdetailansicht/pub/studie-renewable-building-materials-in-vietnam/

“It’s time to decarbonise” | 12 September ─ 13th February | ?? online webinar

‘It’s time to decarbonise" is a series of online events, where the Energy Saving Trust will be sharing net zero advice from their energy experts, explaining how you can use data and communications to take your net zero actions to the next level.

? More information: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/its-time-to-decarbonise/

CARES conference | 19 September | ?? Glasgow

Join Local Energy Scotland this September for the annual CARES Conference to look at how even more communities can take action on renewable energy. The Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) supports communities to engage, participate and benefit in the energy transition to net zero. This event will look at how even more communities can take action on renewable energy, from decarbonising community buildings through to taking shared ownership in windfarms.

? More information: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/event/cares-conference-2023/

EnR Thinking Group Meeting 2023 | 23 October | ?? Athens & Zoom

We cordially invite you to this year's Thinking Group Meeting in cooperation with the LIFE project REDI4Heat regarding the topic "Stricter RED targets and expanding heat planning all over Europe – finally the key to accelerate the European heat transition?". This is at the same time also our third event of the EnR Presidency 2023 Workshop Series. In order to achieve the European Union's energy and climate goals, the EU has currently revised its Fit for 55 policy framework and with that tightened requirements for the heat transition in the Member States. As part of the Fit for 55 package, the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) play a crucial role as they set ambitious targets in the long neglected heat sector. New targets and corresponding instruments are now to be integrated into the updated National Energy and Climate Action Plans (NECPs) by each Member State.

? You can already register here for this event. We look forward to welcoming you in person or via Zoom.

National Energy Conference 2023 | 25 October | ?? St Paul’s Bay, Malta

The Energy and Water Agency (EWA) together with the Institute for Sustainable Energy - University of Malta (ISE), will once again be organizing the National Energy Conference on 25 October 2023.

The first edition, held last year, centred around three main themes – Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Battery Storage, and hosted some very notable speakers for each of the three sessions. This year, the focus will be on industry with discussions centring around the following themes "Financing decarbonisation of local industry" and "Decarbonization solutions for industry".

The EWA and ISE will also present ongoing research work in the field of energy. Panellists will include representatives from major local banks, a representative from ENEA as well as other experts in the field. The conference is open to 200 participants and registration will open on the 3rd week of September.

? Find out more at www.energywateragency.gov.mt

The European Youth Energy Forum 2023 | 30 October ? 3 November | ?? Berlin

The European Youth Energy Forum (EYEF) is the flagship event of the European Youth Energy Network - EYEN . The forum's mission is to create the space for youth to voice its opinion and collaborate with energy stakeholders towards a better youth engagement in the European energy transition. People from the ages of 18 to 35 from across Europe are eligible to apply to the Forum.

In 2023, the European Youth Energy Network (EYEN), is organising the second edition of the European Youth Energy Forum (EYEF), in partnership with the EnR Network, presided by dena.

Last year’s team has published a position paper on "The role of youth in the future of the European energy transition". Its 12 proposals aim to improve youth engagement in the European Energy transition. This year the EYEF will gather 50 young Europeans to work on the improvement and implementation of these proposals.

#denakongress 2023 | 13 & 14 November | ?? Berlin

For the 14th time in a row, the German Energy Agency is proud to present the Energy Transition Congress 2023. It is one of the most important cross-sector events for the integrated energy transition and climate protection in Germany. This year's motto "Implementing consistently ─ together" unites the energy transition community in Berlin. Everyone from politics and industry, science and research, stakeholders and entrepreneurs will meet.

?? 500+ companies, foundations & associations ?? 1,400+ participants ?? 170+ speakers ?? 13+ partners & media

? Secure your ticket now!

Pre-Registration for BEHAVE 2023 will open soon | 28 & 29 November | ?? Maastricht

The 7th European Conference on Behaviour Change and Energy Efficiency will take place on 28th and 29th November 2023 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. This edition of the biannual EnR event focuses on the application of behavioural insights in energy efficiency and climate mitigation.

Rebecca van Leeuwen of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has the overall lead in organising the conference in her role as Chair of the Behaviour Change Working Group of the European Energy Network (EnR).

"It is all very well developing great new technologies, but if you don’t get the people involved in changing their behaviour in adopting these technologies and involving them in creating a sustainable society then you can forget it. Behavioural insights are extremely important and cannot be ignored. It is now the time, more than ever before, to put these research efforts into practice and to start making a real difference”.

During this 1 ? day event the two different worlds – the academics/ social scientists on the one hand, and policymakers and industry on the other, will come together, engage in discussion and learn from each other. The conference is open to all those who have an interest/ a passion for behaviour change in the energy transition. The programme, which will be in the English language, will be based on the overwhelming number of abstract submissions received (close to 200) from Europe and beyond.

It will be a fantastic opportunity to network with the leading experts in the field and to broaden your knowledge on this important topic.

The theme of this edition of the conference is "Scaling-up behaviour change in the light of the energy and climate crises".

? Pre-register for #behave23 now! Admission is free of charge!

Thanks to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) for co-organizing!