Integrated Services to Boost Energy Renovation in Hungarian Homes

Project Information

RenoHUb

Grant agreement ID: 845652

DOI

10.3030/845652

Project closed

EC signature date 20 November 2019

Start date 15 November 2019

End date 14 May 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 558 298,75

EU contribution

€ 1 558 298,75

Coordinated by

ENERGIAKLUB SZAKPOLITIKAI INTEZET ES MODSZERTANI KOZPONT EGYESULET
Hungary

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RenoHUb (Integrated Services to Boost Energy Renovation in Hungarian Homes)

Reporting period: 2021-05-15 to 2023-05-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The global challenge the project intends to address is that Hungary with the current pace of energy efficiency refurbishment will not be able to achieve its commitments under the EU climate and energy framework for 2020. In 2015 the total of 4.4 million households present in Hungary was the biggest energy consumer in Hungary, representing 34% of the total final energy consumption. The residential sector had a higher share in the final consumption than the EU average. Two-thirds of the present residential building stock is energetically outdated. The complex energy refurbishment of the building stock offers at least 40-50% global reduction in the energy use. Whilst some notable progress can be recorded with regards to the energy efficiency renovation of multi-family buildings, especially those of the panel buildings, the energy refurbishment of the single-family buildings is substantially lagging behind, albeit the ratio of single-family buildings is above 95% of the residential building stock which is in European comparison very high.

Based on our understanding the key barriers hindering the penetration of the energy efficiency investments in the residential sector identified include in particular:
● lack of awareness and personal motivation to undertake to a complex (technical, financial and legal) process;
● lack of trust/miscommunication between homeowners and installers;
● in many respects single and multi-family homes face the different challenges and require specific support measures;
● lack of information sources and independent advisory services providing the homeowners with guidance in the decision-making and implementation process;
● lack of easily accessible financing; and
● uncertanties in the future availability of policy instruments coupled with the likely phase out of high-intensity grant contribution.

The overall aim of RenoHUb project is to trigger an upscale of the energy retrofits of the Hungarian homes through the development of an integrated business model (RenoHUb) that is capable to substantially expand within and beyond the project lifecycle in an economically viable manner without involving additional public grant co-financing.
The purpose of RenoHUb structure that initially includes an on-line platform and two offices (“RenoHUb information hotspots”) is to promote energy efficiency refurbishment and building integrated renewables in the residential sector, both in single and multi-family buildings, with increasing leveraging of private funds, and where relevant, gradual phase-out of public grant finance.
Generally, the project targets all homeowners in Hungary. However, according to recent nation-wide surveys, approximately 24% of the Hungarian household share considering to implement full or staged energy saving refurbishments in their homes within the next 3-5 years. The project will specifically focus of these homes in multi-apartment or single-family houses to facilitate to turn their plans into completed investments.

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

WP3: most important was the launch of the RenoHUb Online Platform (MS2) and the RenoPont Information Hotspot in Budapest (MS3). The launch of the RenoHUb Online Platform was one of the most complex tasks we had during the project because every project partner had to make a significant contribution to the content and structure of the platform. For the task, with the leadership of MEHI, we have involved external experts as well, an IT company (skape.io) designed and structured the website, while there was another company who designed the RenoPont brand with all the colors, fonts etc. Regarding the hotspot in Budapest, we were able to conduct successful negotiations with Budapest Capital City and Budapest 8th District and as a result, we were able to open even two offices in Budapest, both in December 2021.
WP4: In June 2021, we contracted with a company to develop RenoPont’s communication and marketing strategy and action plan. The strategy was completed in September 2021. After the completion of the strategy, we have trusted another company with the implementation of the communication strategy starting in November 2021, until the end of the project. In sum, our core communication campaign lasted from January 2022 until May 2023. During the campaign, we set up RenoPont’s Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channel, launched the RenoPont bi-weekly newsletter, and started ad-hoc communication actions with influencers, and PR events on the TV, radio, and newspaper.
We started the preparatory works of D4.2 Training of RenoHUb hotspot operators, which we held from mid-September until mid-October. As a result of the training, we have trained 25 people from those we selected 2 to be the operators of the two Budapest-based RenoPont offices.
The first clients came into the offices in January 2022. Since then, we started to test our customer journey and the functioning of the RenoPont offices. In parallel, we organized our first roadshow event in January 2022. In sum, we had 31 different roadshow events countrywide between January 2022 and November 2022. In 2022 we continued to open new RenoPont offices, and until December 2022 we managed to open 8 RenoPont offices in sum. Alongside the horizontal expansion of the RenoPont network, we also took significant actions in the development of the customer journey and the RenoPont services.
WP5: IMRO managed to renovate 3 multi-apartment buildings through its office in Nagykanizsa, while MCSTE managed to renovate 10 single-family houses through its RenoPont office in Budapest 3rd district. In the meanwhile, we were continuously asking for feedback from the users of the website (D5.1) and the clients receiving consultancy at the offices, as well as from the operators running the offices (D5.2).
WP6: After the covid pandemic has subsided, we were again able to start negotiations with financial institutions, although with less success, because of the turbulent economic and political environment. Though we were not able to sign a long-term partnership agreement with financial institutions yet, we had several meetings and presentations at banks and at the banking association.
WP7: RenoHUb we were able to disseminate our results at several national and international online or in-person conferences and workshops, for example at the C4E Forum in Brasov, Romania, or at the KLENEN conference in Siófok, Hungary. In the final months of the project, we published the Final video (D7.5) and the Final Publishable Report (D7.6) of the RenoHUb project. We organized the Final conference (D7.3) on the 4th of May 2023.

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)

EXI1: Uptake of home energy renovation at local level and corresponding primary energy savings triggered.
EXI2: Studies incorporating the results of the baseline research on social, behavioural, communication and capacity building aspects.
EXI3: Implementation of an economically viable integrated service model.
EXI4: Indirect effect on national energy efficiency policy.
EXI5: Strong and trustworthy partnerships with local actors and quality of the proposed services recognized by market actors.
EXI6: Data evidence made available to market actors. Replication of the model to ensure upscale of home energy retrofits.
EXI7: Availability of adequate financing offer for integrated renovation services.
EXI8: Development of large, locally-developed investment pipelines for home renovation, connecting the supply of finance with demand for it.

RenoHUb logo