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© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. European energy policies call for an increased share of renewable energy sources and a more active role of the energy consumer. This is facilitated by, amongst others, buildings becoming energy flexible hubs, supporting smart energy grids with demand response strategies. While there is abundant technical research in this field, the related business and policy development is less well documented. This research scopes existing policy programmes and identifies opportunities and barriers to business devel-opment supporting energy flexible buildings. Using examples from seven European countries, this work reviews influencing niche management factors such as existing policy instruments, business development cases and identified stakeholder concerns, using literature research, narrative analysis and stakeholder research. National policy pathways show many differences but confirm that European buildings might become active players in the energy market, by providing energy storage, demand response and/or shifts in the use of energy sources. Slow sustained business development for energy flexibility services was mainly identified in the retail industry, and for energy service companies and aggregators. The direct involvement of end users in energy flexible buildings is still difficult. Stakeholders call for policy improvement, especially concerning the devel-opment of flexible energy tariffs, supporting incentives, awareness raising and more stakeholder-targeted busi-ness development. This research was done in the framework of the IEA EBC Annex 67 Energy Flexible Buildings. The authors would like to thank the operating agent and members for their engagement. National contributions were supported by national participants who would like to thank their funding agencies. The Dutch participation to the IEA EBC Annex 67 was supported by the Dutch Enterprise Agency (RVO). The Spanish contribution was supported by the GEIDI Project (ref. TIN2016-78473-C3-3-R) financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. Peer Reviewed Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::11 - Ciutats i Comunitats Sostenibles Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No Contaminant

Due to a high share of fluctuating renewables in the energy system and many grid-connected heating systems, Austria is facing a growing problem of peak loads in electric and thermal grids [E-Contro...

The increasing global energy demand, the foreseen reduction of available fossil fuels and the increasing evidence off global warming during the last decades have generated a high interest in renewable energy sources. However, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, have an intrinsic variability that can seriously affect the stability of the energy system if they account for a high percentage of the total generation. The Energy Flexibility of buildings is commonly suggested as part of the solution to alleviate some of the upcoming challenges in the future demand-respond energy systems (electrical, district heating and gas grids). Buildings can supply flexibility services in different ways, e.g. utilization of thermal mass, adjustability of HVAC system use (e.g. heating/cooling/ventilation), charging of electric vehicles, and shifting of plug-loads. However, there is currently no overview or insight into how much Energy Flexibility different building may be able to offer to the future energy systems in the sense of avoiding excess energy production, increase the stability of the energy networks, minimize congestion problems, enhance the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the future energy networks. Therefore, there is a need for increasing knowledge on and demonstration of the Energy Flexibility buildings can provide to energy networks. At the same time, there is a need for identifying critical aspects and possible solutions to manage this Energy Flexibility, while maintaining the comfort of the occupants and minimizing the use of non-renewable energy. In this context, the IEA (International Energy Agency) EBC (Energy in Buildings and Communities program) Annex 67: “Energy Flexible Buildings” was started in 2015. The article presents the background and the work plan of IEA EBC Annex 67 as well as already obtained results. Annex 67 is a corporation between participants from 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and UK. ispartof: Energy and Buildings vol:155 pages:25-34 status: published

The high-performance renovation of the thermal envelope with prefabricated facade modules and with prefabricated modules for the building services represents a sustainable alternative to the established composite heat insulation system. In the frame of an Austrian research project(e80^3-Buildings – renovation concepts towards plus-energy building standard with prefabricated active roof and facade elements, integrated building services and grid integration; funded by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology in the frame of the ‘building of tomorrow plus’ program; retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://www.hausderzukunft.at/results.html/id7005), the boundary conditions and the energy concept for a plus-energy building were developed. Furthermore, prototypes of prefabricated insulated facade modules and modules for the building services were planned, constructed and tested and afterwards implemented in an Austrian demonstration project. A comprehensive monitoring of the residential buildi...