The EUSEW 2013 was the perfect occasion for CECODHAS Housing Europe (which participated in several of the EUSEW events) to contribute to the discussion on 2030 energy and climate policy framework for the EU. The European Commission indeed intends to propose new political objectives at the horizon of 2030 on the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, the increase of use of renewable energies and the increase of energy efficiency.

CECODHAS Housing Europe supports the development of a policy framework that will help reduction of the EU global carbon and energy footprint in a way that will not put disproportionate burden on low-income families. For that we need first the recognition of the trade-offs between the different policy objectives (efficiency and equity of the energy transition), in particular the fact that energy efficiency has a cost that is always born in one way or another by the end user – in our case the low-income families- and that energy policy mechanism are most probably not sufficient to compensate this cost). Secondly we need a series of instruments related to the ressources to put in place to scale up the energy efficiency efforts (rather than further energy requirements), for instance:

1) The first instrument could be called an aggregation hub of low-carbon finance for affordable housing that out together the many funding opportunities for energy efficiency in the social housing sector potentially available;

2) The second instrument is an increased use of technical assistance (TA) and project development assistance (PDA);

3) The third instrument is continuation of applied research to develop low-cost technologies for the improvement of energy efficiency and renewable energies in the affordable housing sector.

We will continue to develop our position and proposals and the POWER HOUSE nearly-Zero Energy Challenge project will greatly help in providing sound knowledge about the obstacles and solutions to trigger a fair energy transition.

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The Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) and CECODHAS Housing Europe published a progress report entitled 'Fair Energy Transition towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings', which reviews the progress to date towards nZEB in the ten Member States participating in the POWER HOUSE nearly Zero Energy Challenge project.

Based on the findings of a survey carried out at the first stage of the project, the report highlights key barriers that Public, Cooperative and Social Housing providers have to face in delivering new constructions and in retrofitting the existing stock to nZEB standards.

A series of recommendations for EU and National Governments to address these issues and ease the transition to nearly-Zero Energy homes have been also provided along with a variety of best policy and practice examples emerging throughout Europe that are dealing with different aspects of delivering a fair energy transition.

The report was presented at the nearly Zero Energy Buildings conference organised in the framework of the World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) in Wels, Austria on 1st March 2013.

Click HERE to download the report 'Fair Energy Transition towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings'.

A workshop on Financing Energy Efficiency with a focus on housing in divided ownership or multifamily buildings was held on 11-12th June 2013 in Milan, Italy. The event was organised by Legacoop Abitanti with the contribution of other key partners of the TaskForce on Divided/Cooperative Ownership within the POWER HOUSE nearly Zero Energy project.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Cooperative and Social Housing sector and experts who have a responsibility in the drafting and management of programs to incentivise and finance energy efficiency.

Topics discussed include how to gather the initial capital for the investments and how to support the adoption of innovative technologies; successful experiences from different European Countries were presented, focusing on the limits and priorities for the application in multifamily buildings.

Incentives and Financial schemes currently available in Italy were also discussed, and a technical study visit to two different low energy cooperative developments in Milan and Brescia, run respectively by Coop Degradi Milano and  Coop Casa Brescia, was also organised.

Click HERE to download the presentations made during the event. Please also note that a full report highlighting the workshop discussions as well as a short video on the study visits will be published soon.

Both industry and policy makers aim to unlock the market for large-scale energy-efficient refurbishment in the social housing sector. The Public, Cooperative and Social Housing sector, with 12% share of a total European housing stock – and over 30% in northern European countries – offers the potential for institutionalised, large-scale energy efficient refurbishment programmes. However, refurbishment rate at 1.2%  indicates a substantially low market turnaround.

In the European FP7 project “BEEM-UP” (Building Energy Efficiency for Massive market Uptake) building owners, construction companies and technology providers collaborate to demonstrate successful approaches to deep retrofit with the potential for large-scale replication.

Deploying a four-dimensional approach of static (building envelop improvement), active (ICT systems), social (tenants involvement) and financial (innovative financing instruments) measures, the consortium aims to identify cost-effective ´solution packages´ that go beyond 75% energy demand reduction. The consortium is in the process of refurbishing over 340 dwellings located in Sweden, France and the Netherlands. While refurbishment is underway, preliminary results of the BEEM-UP project show the potential for energy demand reduction within current investment capacities for social housing corporations. The multi-stakeholder approach results in solution packages that are radically different from those currently applied in the sector.

Indicative results show that compared to standard renovations, optimised solutions would enable a significantly higher energy demand reduction at no additional costs.   Beyond that, application of novel financing models could draw in investment of other stakeholders, such as third parties or even tenants. This potentially allows reducing the building owners’ contribution to investment and consequently can lead to increase in the energy efficiency refurbishment rate within organisations.

The BEEM-UP project shows that retrofit is possible even at current market conditions, but that current organisational approaches need to be adapted. Success factors for unlocking that potential are setting the organisational strategies and the capacity to organise complex multi-dimensional decision-making process.

Contact details:
Project Coordinator - Juan Ramon de las Cuevas Jimenez - juanramon.cuevas.jimenez@acciona.com
Project Office - Piotr Zietara - p.zietara@baxwillems.eu

Click HERE to find out more about the BEEM-UP Project.

With the support of the European Regional Development Fund under the MED programme, the IRH-Med project has launched a common framework for residential buildings sustainability assessment in the Mediterranean, which is underlined in the IRH-MED Guidelines.

The Guidelines are the result of two years of an intensive collaboration, led by Government of Catalonia, amongst (France Association Bâtiments Durables Méditerranéens, PRIDES BDM, and Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Marseille-Provence), Italy (Provincia de Ravenna, Consorzio Nazionale Casaqualità, amd Regione Sicilia), Greece (Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving ; Municipality of Rhodes) and Croatia (Energy Institute Hrvoje-Pozar).

The IRH-MED Guidelines, which are addressed to public and private stakeholders to evaluate the sustainability of their current investment, housing developments and policies, are expected to: facilitate positive and measurable results for the environment, occupant health-comfort and financial return; prevent “green washing” (false or exaggerated claims) and use of inadequate assessment tools for MED identity; promote whole-building, integrated design processes and affordable housing.

The preparation of the Guidelines further capitalises on-going discussions with other European Projects, which resume in the CESBA initiative - Towards a Common European framework for Sustainable Building Assessment (CESBA).

Click HERE to find out more about the IRH-MED Project.

27 country reports assessing national energy efficiency policies in every EU Member State have now been published within the Energy-Efficiency-Watch project. The reports are based on the screening of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs) as well as an expert survey, involving about 750 experts, on the implementation of those policies since the first NEEAPs were published in 2007. The Country Reports provide a unique overview of policy packages and the current implementation status of energy efficiency policies in each Member State.

To download the 27 Country Reports, click HERE to visit the Energy-Efficiency-Watch website.

In order to provide safe and healthy shelter, homes need to be kept at a steady and comfortable temperature.People in fuel poverty are unable to afford what it would cost them to attain this. As a consequence, many of them live in homes that fail to meet WHO criteria for decent living standards. These are people who experience fuel poverty.

“Whilst the concept of fuel poverty first came to public attention with Boardman’s 1991 book, the experience of fuel poverty has a long history. The UK Fuel Poverty Strategy was the first policy document to offer a formal definition of fuel poverty, based on Boardman’s 1991 book. Since then, the term itself has undergone rigorous scrutiny and critique, and is more contested today than ever before”.

This short extract is from a brochure published by The University of York together with the University of Ulster celebrating 21 years of fuel poverty research.

Click HERE to download the report 'Fuel Poverty 1991-2012: Commemorating 21 years of action, policy and research'.

The sole responsibility for the content of this Newsletter lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

For further information, please visit www.powerhouseeurope.eu