Periodic Reporting for period 4 - CULTURAL-E (Climate and cultural based design and market valuable technology solutions for Plus Energy Houses)
Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-09-30
The Cultural-E project addresses the need to refine and consolidate the concept of Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs), which are critical for decarbonizing the building sector and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy system. The market uptake of PEBs is hindered by the lack of tailored, scalable solutions, methodologies and policies that consider the cultural and climatic diversity across Europe. The Cultural-E project aims to define modular and replicable solutions for PEBs, accounting for climate and cultural differences to create comfortable, efficient, and affordable indoor environments. Cultural-E focuses on: delivering climate and cultural tailored solution sets and technologies for PEBs and demonstrating their feasibility, reliability and replicability; understanding the variables that building users bring to buildings and provide interventions designed to shift energy using practices; valuating the co-benefits (on top of financial benefits) from PEBs and promoting a favourable European “ecosystem of policies” for the realization of new PEBs.
The Cultural-E project applies social practice theory to understand users’ needs, habits, and interactions with home systems, emphasizing practices over individual behaviors. This approach informs strategies to prevent frictions with energy performance and indoor conditions. A major outcome is the European Climate and Cultural Atlas for Plus Energy Building Design, a tool offering insights into climatic and cultural factors influencing PEB technologies and occupants. To further support designers, the project is developing the PEB HUB, a collaborative platform empowering professionals to share experiences, best practices, and lessons learned about user behavior and adopted technology solutions.
Key technologies, including the cloud-based House Management System, Active Window System, smart air movement systems, and decentralized packed heat pumps, were developed and tested under real and laboratory conditions. Such validated key technologies, currently under demonstration, optimize the value/cost ratio of PEBs. The finalized PEB performance evaluation framework, aligned with EC and sister projects, has been detailed in peer-reviewed publications, offering actionable recommendations for policymakers to scale PEB concepts.
Combinations of solution sets tailored to four geo-clusters (mediterranean, oceanic, continental, sub-artic), were applied to two building archetypes (low rise and high rise) and evaluated based on the energy balance, environmental impact, life cycle costs and indoor environment quality. The solution sets are combined with multi-system control strategies to optimize the overall building energy performance, maximize energy self-sufficiency and self-consumption.
Cultural-E also identified co-benefits of PEBs, such as improved user well-being, low cost of operation, and environmental impact. Community-level assessments attributed monetary values to environmental indicators, but high uncertainty in social price assessments and variability across countries were noted. PEBs' main advantage lies in their energy generation capacity.
At the household level, a stated preference survey among German and French homeowners assessed co-benefits like energy security, indoor environmental quality, and adaptability. The study concluded that investment in PEBs can be made more attractive by boasting about the fact that it will raise the value of the property boosting (even virtual) rental value by approximately €210 per month, or €17 per m² per year.
The demonstration phase of the effectiveness of project results on four demo-cases located in Italy, France, Germany and Norway is in progress. Norwegian demo is in the monitoring phase. Italian and German local demo-case are ending the construction phase. French pilot cases are going to start the post occupancy evaluation.
Dissemination activities include national workshops, webinars, and participation in EU events like EU Sustainable Energy Week and COP28. Highlights include releasing a repository of multi-residential PEB building simulation models, the 2CAP-Energy Atlas for designers, and the forthcoming PEB HUB, a platform to showcase exemplary PEB projects and foster collaboration. These initiatives aim to advance PEB adoption, promote sustainable architecture, and engage communities in energy transition. Four demonstration projects in diverse climate zones—Italy, France, Germany, and Norway—are central to our approach. These serve as case studies for applying cultural and climatic-specific solutions in residential buildings.
Key technologies, including the cloud-based House Management System, Active Window System, smart air movement systems, and decentralized packed heat pumps, were developed and tested under real and laboratory conditions. Such validated key technologies, currently under demonstration, optimize the value/cost ratio of PEBs. The finalized PEB performance evaluation framework, aligned with EC and sister projects, has been detailed in peer-reviewed publications, offering actionable recommendations for policymakers to scale PEB concepts.
Combinations of solution sets tailored to four geo-clusters (mediterranean, oceanic, continental, sub-artic), were applied to two building archetypes (low rise and high rise) and evaluated based on the energy balance, environmental impact, life cycle costs and indoor environment quality. The solution sets are combined with multi-system control strategies to optimize the overall building energy performance, maximize energy self-sufficiency and self-consumption.
Cultural-E also identified co-benefits of PEBs, such as improved user well-being, low cost of operation, and environmental impact. Community-level assessments attributed monetary values to environmental indicators, but high uncertainty in social price assessments and variability across countries were noted. PEBs' main advantage lies in their energy generation capacity.
At the household level, a stated preference survey among German and French homeowners assessed co-benefits like energy security, indoor environmental quality, and adaptability. The study concluded that investment in PEBs can be made more attractive by boasting about the fact that it will raise the value of the property boosting (even virtual) rental value by approximately €210 per month, or €17 per m² per year.
The demonstration phase of the effectiveness of project results on four demo-cases located in Italy, France, Germany and Norway is in progress. Norwegian demo is in the monitoring phase. Italian and German local demo-case are ending the construction phase. French pilot cases are going to start the post occupancy evaluation.
Dissemination activities include national workshops, webinars, and participation in EU events like EU Sustainable Energy Week and COP28. Highlights include releasing a repository of multi-residential PEB building simulation models, the 2CAP-Energy Atlas for designers, and the forthcoming PEB HUB, a platform to showcase exemplary PEB projects and foster collaboration. These initiatives aim to advance PEB adoption, promote sustainable architecture, and engage communities in energy transition. Four demonstration projects in diverse climate zones—Italy, France, Germany, and Norway—are central to our approach. These serve as case studies for applying cultural and climatic-specific solutions in residential buildings.
While nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs) are now widely established, Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs) remain pioneering due to their higher upfront costs in both design and construction. The Cultural-E project seeks to overcome these barriers and accelerate the market uptake of PEBs by providing comprehensive solutions, including design tools, advanced technologies, methodologies, and policy recommendations. Key results include the 2CAP-Energy Atlas and PEB HUB (R1), a cloud-based house management system (R2), active window system (R3), smart air movement (R4), a decentralized packed heat pump system (R5), ready-to-use co-benefits estimation and economic evaluation methods (R6), factsheets reporting solution set description and metrics for each climate-cultural geo-cluster including energy consumption, indoor environment quality, life cycle costs, and environmental impact, supported by policy recommendations for fostering PEB development (R7).
Cultural-E demonstrates substantial innovation potential through its focus on cost reduction via smart technologies and enhanced user acceptance by aligning building design with context-based cultural and climate-specific practices. The project highlights that the additional costs of PEBs compared to nZEBs can be offset over the life cycle through savings and revenue from renewable energy, particularly photovoltaic electricity. Demonstrations reveal a lifecycle Global Warming Potential (GWP) of less than 5 kgCO2eq/m²/year, with operational emissions significantly reduced, including cases achieving net-negative GWP, emphasizing renewable integration for environmental payback before 2050 in most climates.
A user-centered design approach has enhanced indoor environmental quality, ensuring comfortable and healthy living conditions with solutions like demand-controlled ventilation, smart shading, and personalized controls. This focus boosts user satisfaction while raising awareness of the impact of daily practices on building energy performance. Furthermore, the project identifies the economic value of PEBs’ co-benefits, such as improved air quality, energy security, and adaptability, which increase rental values by €210 per month.
Cultural-E advocates for supportive regulations and policies to achieve a 10% market share for PEBs by 2030, demonstrating that their primary advantage lies in energy generation, alongside their environmental and social benefits.
Through its innovations, Cultural-E paves the way for PEBs to become a cornerstone of sustainable, energy-efficient living.
Cultural-E demonstrates substantial innovation potential through its focus on cost reduction via smart technologies and enhanced user acceptance by aligning building design with context-based cultural and climate-specific practices. The project highlights that the additional costs of PEBs compared to nZEBs can be offset over the life cycle through savings and revenue from renewable energy, particularly photovoltaic electricity. Demonstrations reveal a lifecycle Global Warming Potential (GWP) of less than 5 kgCO2eq/m²/year, with operational emissions significantly reduced, including cases achieving net-negative GWP, emphasizing renewable integration for environmental payback before 2050 in most climates.
A user-centered design approach has enhanced indoor environmental quality, ensuring comfortable and healthy living conditions with solutions like demand-controlled ventilation, smart shading, and personalized controls. This focus boosts user satisfaction while raising awareness of the impact of daily practices on building energy performance. Furthermore, the project identifies the economic value of PEBs’ co-benefits, such as improved air quality, energy security, and adaptability, which increase rental values by €210 per month.
Cultural-E advocates for supportive regulations and policies to achieve a 10% market share for PEBs by 2030, demonstrating that their primary advantage lies in energy generation, alongside their environmental and social benefits.
Through its innovations, Cultural-E paves the way for PEBs to become a cornerstone of sustainable, energy-efficient living.