Events

4. December 2013 -  5. December 2013

"POWER HOUSE Cold/Continental TaskForce Workshop & Study visit", 4-5 December 2013, Wiesbaden, Germany

On 4th & 5th December 2013, the members of the nearly-Zero Energy Challenge Cold/Continental Climates TaskForce met in Wiesbaden (Germany) to discuss mainly the feasibility of calculating cost-optimal levels of energy efficiency investments, which means basically the appropriate ratio between energy savings and investment costs.

A key challenge is indeed to be able to compare the actual energy consumptions of various buildings typologies against actual investment costs in order to guide the decisions of project promoters about what kind of measures they have to undertake, but also to influence the future national energy standards that will have to be put in place as a requirement of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). 

At a time when the European Commission is discussing its future Climate and Energy goals (including potentially binding energy efficiency European and national targets), it is crucial to have robust information on what is the most efficient way to use housing providers’ and public authorities’ financial resources.

The meeting was accompanied by a study visit on a project site for new construction of on the one hand nearly-Zero Energy Buildings and on the other hand Passive House standard buildings.  The comparison of 4 strictly identical buildings, 2 built under the German national energy performance standard (EnEV) and 2 built at the passive house standard came to the conclusion that even in including the extra energy savings made by the passive house standards, the cost of passive house is around 10% higher that nearly zero energy buildings. This extra cost needs to be compensated by either the increase of the rent (not always possible for regulatory reasons) or increase of the invested capital. According to this project of the Wiesbaden Housing Company GWW, the most cost efficient way to use financial resources would be to design low energy buildings, but not zero energy buildings, and to strike the carbon balance with on-site production of energy.

Those results confirm the relevance of CECODHAS Housing Europe position regarding the 2030 Energy and Climate Policies which emphasises the key role of finance and decentralised energy production.



Please download here the presentations made during the Workshop:



I Topic: Methodology for Calculation of Cost Optimality


Calculation of Cost Optimality - the Austrian Example
Ms Eva Bauer - GbV, Austria

Retrofitting for the energy revolution: the EnerPHit Project (IEE)
Mr Berthold Kaufmann - Passivhaus Institut, Germany



II Topic: Policy Packages to deliver nZEB


Policies to enforce the transition to nZEB in EU Member States: the ENTRANZE Project (IEE)
Mr Clemens Rohde - Fraunhofer/ISI, Germany

Overview on nearly-Zero Energy Buildings in Sweden
Therese Rydstedt - SABO

Overview on narly-Zero Energy Buildings in France
Ms Pauline Gravoille - USH/HTC



III Topic: Clarification of the work to be done concerning test/demonstration sites


Presentation of the Consumption data on-line Tracker HIVE
Mr Sergio Rossi - Delsus



Introducing the Study Visit:


Passive Housing vs Low Energy Housing: the German experience
Mr Thomas Keller and Alexander Harff - GWW, Germany

Please note that a short video clip of the study visit is now available on the CECODHAS Housing Europe YouTube Chanel!


Latest user comments

There are no comments yet.

Click here to post a comment!

Source: http://www.powerhouseeurope.eu/nc/news_events/events/detail/arcticle/power-house-warmmediterranean-taskforce-workshop-study-visit-20-21-february-2014-barcelona-sp/