Search

In the EU’s revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a smart readiness indicator (SRI) was introduced as an energy efficiency activity to promote smart ready technologies (SRT) in the building sector. The proposed methodology is based on the evaluation of building services and how they contribute on SRT. The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the SRI to cold climate countries in Northern Europe. The Northern European countries are an interesting test environment for the indicator because of their advanced information and communication technology and high building energy consumption profiles. The findings imply that regardless of the SRI’s conceptualization as a system oriented (smart grid) approach, in its current form, it was not able to recognize the specific features of cold climate buildings, specifically those employing advanced district heating (DH) systems. Another, more practical, implication of the study was that due to the subjective nature of the proposed process for selecting SRI relevant building services, the applicability of SRI as a fair rating system across the EU member states is problematic.

Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) are a significant part of the energy efficiency strategy of the European Union. As buildings represent approximately 40% of the final energy use in Europe, the reduction of their energy demand is key for a sustainable future. This paper takes a qualitative approach and presents data about professional and market barriers, as well as the educational market in relation to the implementation of nZEB policies for new and retrofit buildings in 11 European countries. Different levels of policy enactments and market penetration are reported and are generally found to be more advanced in western and central European countries. Furthermore, gender equality is examined in the building sector in relation to nZEB and presents significant gaps, with a more balanced situation reported in southern Europe. The accreditation and targeted education of nZEB experts is still almost non-existent in the examined countries, and the need for training of building professionals is highlighted as a critical missing component of current policy. This research aims to be the first step towards the creation of educational material and programmes as a mean to accelerate the transition to nZEB.

At the end of November 2016, the European Commission tabled the Clean Energy for All Europeans package, which represents a large set of proposals for several key directives related to energy. The package included proposed revisions to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which seek to update and streamline the Directive in several areas, including provisions to ensure buildings operate efficiently by encouraging the uptake of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and smart technologies. Although it can be argued that there is at present no commonly accepted definition of a “smart building”, the Commission’s proposed revision refers to three key features of a possible indicator of “smartness” in buildings: the technological readiness of a building to (1) interact with its occupants; (2) to interact with the grid; and (3) to manage itself efficiently. Using these three pillars of “smartness” as a methodological starting point, this paper identifies and analyses recent and ongoing Horizon 2020 research, innovation and market uptake projects which are investigating “smart buildings”. The research maps and examines the tasks, scope and innovations in areas that include building automation and control systems, demand response, energy management, ICT and user interfaces for energy efficiency.