Concerted Action EPBD IV

Project Information

CAIV_EPBD

Grant agreement ID: 692447

DOI

10.3030/692447

Project closed

EC signature date 10 November 2015

Start date 1 October 2015

End date 30 September 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 3 054 123,25

EU contribution

€ 3 000 000,00

Coordinated by

ENERGISTYRELSEN
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CAIV_EPBD (Concerted Action EPBD IV)

Reporting period: 2017-04-01 to 2018-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EPBD includes a large number of provisions, which need to be implemented by each Member State (MS), whereby certain elements are up to national interpretation.

Sharing of this experience among national representatives assigned with EPBD implementation is however difficult to accomplish through normal channels. The CA therefore offers a unique support to the successful implementation of the directive.


Overall objectives of the CA EPBD:
• Enhance and structure the sharing of information and experience from national implementation and promote good practice.
• Create favourable conditions for faster convergence of national procedures on EPBD-related matters.
• Develop a direct link with the other two buildings-related CAs that were established: the CA RES, supporting the transposition and implementation of the Renewable Energy Sources Directive 2009/28/EC; and the CA EED, supporting the transposition and implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU.
• Supplement the work of the Article 26 Committee and possible ad-hoc groups on CEN standards and certification exercises.
• Establish a dialogue with CEN in their work and implementation of the 2nd generation standards to support the implementation of the recast EPBD.
• Support for Member States to use National Energy Plans to report progress on the EPBD implementation.

The expected impact of the CA EPBD consists of a more harmonised approach, improved implementation and actual application of the EPBD in Member States, by the transfer of best and successful practices.

All Member States had developed and implemented national adaptations to their first version of energy performance methodologies and calculation procedures. Topics for existing buildings and the technical systems within them, like minimum requirements for the energy performance and regular inspection of heating and air-conditioning systems had already been in place. The same applies to the certification schemes.
In that period, Member States activities have therefor mainly focused on refinement and consolidation, rather than on major changes. The attention was given to lessons learned and reflections on best practices. Discussions were driven towards the process of implementation of the new set of EPB Standards. The major challenges for certification lied in the improvement to existing schemes and the exchange of best practices.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The CAIV EPBD has ensured exchange of experience among national experts from all participating countries at four plenary meetings :
1) Copenhagen - October 2015;
2) Vilnius - June 2016;
3) Valletta - February 2017;
4) Bucharest - October 2017.
Each of these meetings included plenaries as well as 18 parallel sessions focusing on topics deemed relevant by the CA EPBD experts.

The CA EPBD plenaries have been used to share lessons learned, to discuss and to develop common solutions to problems experienced in connection to the implementation of specific elements of the EPBD recast. The discussions were held in confidentiality to allow countries to have free exchange of information. From 125 to 140 experts involved in the national implementation of the EPBD attended each of these plenary meetings.

In-depth workshop was hold in Frankfurt in May 2018 with 12 sessions in 2 parallel streams; one around Renovation Strategies and one on NZEB Hospitals. These sessions were complemented with two site visits; to a deep renovation of social housing and to a NZEB hospital under construction. More than 135 experts participated in this in-depth workshop.
Further, the CA EPBD organised three public stakeholder events: 1) In Vilnius on Renovation Strategies; 2) In Valletta on Smart Buildings for a Greener Europe; 3) In Bucharest on Vocational skills for energy efficient buildings. These public events were held in connection to the plenary meetings allowing CA experts to interact with additional national experts and international stakeholders. Two of these were also live web streamed and the recorded presentations were made available on the CA EPBD website / YouTube. On-site participation during these events were from 65 to 120 experts, and the web streaming was further watched live by 100-150 experts each.
The CA EPBD public website (epbd-ca.eu) contains all public material from the CA EPBD, including public outcomes of the work performed in form of; 7 thematic (CTM) reports, 34 Country Reports on progress in countries, 11 factsheets on best practices, 22 Key Implementation Decisions Reports (KIDs), material from public events, news relevant to the CA EPBD.

A major outcome of the CA EPBD is a database-driven book in pdf, which holds all public reports on the key topics discussed at CA EPBD and reports on the implementation of the EPBD in each country by 2017.

Lessons learned in one country inspired others to overcome challenges through development of new and better solutions for new construction, improvement of existing buildings and use of Energy Performance Certificates. Cross-cutting teams worked with technical elements, policy integration and compliance, as well as interaction with the CA EED, the CA RES and other EU funded projects.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The usefulness of meeting have been evaluated by participating experts at all plenary meetings including statements for each parallel session. The overall evaluation is very positive, with a general score on 4.1 out of 5 for sessions in average. Most participants (88%) indicated that sessions were either of current interest or would be in near future. Further the experts indicated that sessions have inspired new ideas or change in opinion (45%) and have shown direct useful in implementation (41%). For the Frankfurt workshop 64% found sessions and site visits were direct useful for implementation in their own country. This indicates a very high usability of the results.

Preparation material, presentations, posters and session reports were made available through the confidential structure of Glasscubes. There have been a large use of material in the Glasscubes and of the public material from the website. The CAIV EPBD therefore strongly fulfilled its mission to support national implementation of the EPBD

Due to its nature, the CA EPBD is deeply integrated in implementation of the EPBD through the reuse of successful actions and cost-efficient policy development in the participating countries. This leads to the reuse of successful implementation actions and to more cost-efficient policy development in the participating countries through direct use of lessons learned.

Building on previous results, the CAIV EPBD created a strong network of experts in the field of energy performance policies for buildings. Continued participation and exchange between experts has formed a community where the interactions goes far beyond the meetings and the communication platform itself. This has facilitated informal exchange of information and best practices beyond the direct CA EPBD activities.

The website has functioned as a platform to disseminate information and material, creating impact also beyond the participating experts. The website has been visited more than 15,000 times (unique visits). More that 3750 visits has been from policy makers and a similar amount has been from industry / stakeholders. The public material from the Concerted Action has become a reference for many policy makers and researchers around the world.

CA EPBD new