Project description
Facilitating EU transition to sustainable buildings
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive promotes energy savings in buildings by considering local climatic conditions in different parts of the EU as well as the temperature, ventilation, and humidity within buildings. It has introduced energy-performance certificates that inform building tenants and owners about the building energy-performance ratings and recommendations for cost-effective improvements. The EU-funded U-CERT project aims to make the new certification schemes more practical and reliable via a holistic and user-centred approach. It also aims to make the new set of energy-performance standards easily accessible to a wide range of users by leveraging the diverse services offered by the EPB centre. The new approaches facilitate the shift towards a decarbonised EU building stock.
Objective
The main aim of U-CERT is to introduce a next generation of user centred certification schemes to value buildings in a holistic and cost-effective manner. This aims to:
- facilitate convergence of quality and reliability, using the under the M480 mandate developed national annexes standards, enabling a technology neutral approach that is transparently presented;
- encourage the development and application of holistic user-centered innovative solutions, including the smart readiness of buildings;
- encourage and support end-users in decision making (e.g. on deep renovation);
U-CERT has a focus on strengthening actual implementation of the EPBD by providing insights from an user perspective and creating a leveled playing field for sharing implementation experience, (Mandate M/480 and product related) to all involved stakeholders, facilitated by the EPB-center.
U-CERT has the following five measurable objectives:
1: Facilitating the implementation of the new generation of Certification Schemes with a wide based support
2: Making the new certification schemes more practical, reliable and ‘desirable’ by a holistic and user centered approach
3: Making the new certification schemes easy accessible for a wide range of users and stakeholders by the services of the EPB center
This objective has a twofold approach: 1) by accelerating the implementation by the development of a set digital supporting tools and 2) by incubating new certification concepts and business models, empowered by the U-CERT results. The EPB center has a central role in achieving this objective by offering services to all relevant stakeholders in order to promote and foster a harmonized and comparable implementation of the EPBD.
4: Providing evidence of the usefulness and meaningfulness of developed means by testing the U-CERT approach in selected cases by the EPB center.
5: To foster a EU-wide uptake by motivating and activating EU interest groups and certifying bodies (not involved in U-CERT)
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator
6200AM Maastricht
Netherlands
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.