Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EPC RECAST (Energy Performance Certificate Recast)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-03-01 al 2023-02-28
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) represent a relevant instrument supposed to be strongly structuring for the assessment of buildings energy performance, decision support for energy retrofit projects, articulation of financing instruments, benchmark of building assets and market value recognition. However, their potential remains largely underexploited because of several challenges:
• Improving their reliability – results variance depending on the assessor, input data and calculation tools, lack of understanding between predicted and actual energy performance – represents a crucial issue to unlock confidence, decision support and financing.
• To engage end-users towards deep renovation, the certification is to structure clear, user-friendly information about the building asset and tangible pathways to ambitious targets with respect to building overall quality and energy performance improvement.
• The design for the overall process and certification outputs must be more owner and occupant centric and allow European benchmark and public policies analysis.
• All EU countries have established independent EP certification systems with independent mechanisms of control. At EU scale, many different EPC schemes co-exist. They are based on very different principles and assessment methodologies, rendering harmonization and comparability complex.
The Digital Transformation (tools, advanced calculation capacities, IoT, BIM, smart metering, large databases) and the emergence of International and European standards (ex. ISO/CEN Standards developed under Commission mandate M/480), open the door for the consolidation of EP assessment methodologies and tools.
To tackle these challenges, EPC RECAST will set a structured process and toolbox supporting the implementation and validation of a new generation of EP Assessment and Certification for residential buildings, for which retrofit is a challenging and pressing issue. By enhancing EPCs usability, reliability and comparability, and by linking them to renovation roadmaps and digital logbooks, EPC RECAST will achieve unprecedented user-friendliness and user awareness of building efficiency.
• Improving their reliability – results variance depending on the assessor, input data and calculation tools, lack of understanding between predicted and actual energy performance – represents a crucial issue to unlock confidence, decision support and financing.
• To engage end-users towards deep renovation, the certification is to structure clear, user-friendly information about the building asset and tangible pathways to ambitious targets with respect to building overall quality and energy performance improvement.
• The design for the overall process and certification outputs must be more owner and occupant centric and allow European benchmark and public policies analysis.
• All EU countries have established independent EP certification systems with independent mechanisms of control. At EU scale, many different EPC schemes co-exist. They are based on very different principles and assessment methodologies, rendering harmonization and comparability complex.
The Digital Transformation (tools, advanced calculation capacities, IoT, BIM, smart metering, large databases) and the emergence of International and European standards (ex. ISO/CEN Standards developed under Commission mandate M/480), open the door for the consolidation of EP assessment methodologies and tools.
To tackle these challenges, EPC RECAST will set a structured process and toolbox supporting the implementation and validation of a new generation of EP Assessment and Certification for residential buildings, for which retrofit is a challenging and pressing issue. By enhancing EPCs usability, reliability and comparability, and by linking them to renovation roadmaps and digital logbooks, EPC RECAST will achieve unprecedented user-friendliness and user awareness of building efficiency.
EPC RECAST assessment and certification protocol has been finalised:
• The new certificate template of the EPC has been enriched. New performance indicators have been integrated (thermal comfort score, SRI, metered energy, costs reporting considering the owner-tenant dilemma).
• The overall EPC RECAST methodology is finalised. Input/output data interfaces in the EPC RECAST toolbox, strategies to connect the data model to the EPC certificate were defined. Implementation is in progress.
• A harmonized data model for EPCs has been finalised. It is being implemented in XML format as the core/foundation of EPC RECAST’s digital toolbox, it includes ‘conversion and algorithm methods and some ‘standard values’ to assume compliance with major ISO/CEN standards.
• The ARToBUILD application for on-site data collection has been further improved. Scanning functionalities to evaluate the whole building geometry are now fully operational. User-friendly questionnaires that facilitate the building inspection have also been integrated into ARtoBUILD.
• Major progress has been made in implementing the EPC RECAST simulation chain connecting on-site data collection to dynamic simulation. It allows to run dynamic energy simulations with the COMETH computing core compatible with ISO/CEN standards (M/480).
• Development of an online visualization interface to visualize input/output data for the EP simulations and facilitate the use of the digital toolbox by the EPC assessor.
• Development of the EPC RECAST renovation roadmap (equivalent to a renovation passport) has continued. A detailed mock-up interface has been defined.
EPC RECAST has started to organize its pilot phase, to test the protocol and toolbox on 150 dwellings in 6 countries:
• All pilot sites have been recruited, except 3
• The data collection and data mining from the installed sensors have been started and a preliminary data analysis from Italian pilots has been done to assess the reliability of monitored data.
• The equipment for long-term monitoring has been shipped, delivered and installed in France, Italy, Slovakia and Spain.
• First measurements are observable remotely via a visualization platform (JEEDOM)
On the dissemination side (WP4 to WP6):
• The list of ERs (identified in RP1) and the specific results have been further detailed and investigated with each partner in the process to select the key exploitable results.
• EPC RECAST has studied the EPC context for 6 countries involved. They have been analysed according to several dimensions (PESTLE analysis) and indicators with regards to market potential and readiness for new EPC enabling tools.
• EPC RECAST has set up a Policy Advisory Board (PAB) with experts from key decision-making public and local authorities involved in EPC legislation. Bilateral meetings and a second plenary workshop have been held.
• A Stakeholders Mirror Group (SMG) has been set up with national industrial stakeholders or from European associations, whose work is related to the data acquisition, issuing of EPCs and their use in real estate markets. A second plenary workshop and bilateral meetings have been organized.
• Dissemination and communication activities have been organized continuously, including participations & organisations to/of events and project-related updates on social media.
• EPC RECAST has proactively managed activities in the network of EPC sister projects to strengthen their outreach towards EU stakeholders and public authorities, identify synergies and redundancies.
• The new certificate template of the EPC has been enriched. New performance indicators have been integrated (thermal comfort score, SRI, metered energy, costs reporting considering the owner-tenant dilemma).
• The overall EPC RECAST methodology is finalised. Input/output data interfaces in the EPC RECAST toolbox, strategies to connect the data model to the EPC certificate were defined. Implementation is in progress.
• A harmonized data model for EPCs has been finalised. It is being implemented in XML format as the core/foundation of EPC RECAST’s digital toolbox, it includes ‘conversion and algorithm methods and some ‘standard values’ to assume compliance with major ISO/CEN standards.
• The ARToBUILD application for on-site data collection has been further improved. Scanning functionalities to evaluate the whole building geometry are now fully operational. User-friendly questionnaires that facilitate the building inspection have also been integrated into ARtoBUILD.
• Major progress has been made in implementing the EPC RECAST simulation chain connecting on-site data collection to dynamic simulation. It allows to run dynamic energy simulations with the COMETH computing core compatible with ISO/CEN standards (M/480).
• Development of an online visualization interface to visualize input/output data for the EP simulations and facilitate the use of the digital toolbox by the EPC assessor.
• Development of the EPC RECAST renovation roadmap (equivalent to a renovation passport) has continued. A detailed mock-up interface has been defined.
EPC RECAST has started to organize its pilot phase, to test the protocol and toolbox on 150 dwellings in 6 countries:
• All pilot sites have been recruited, except 3
• The data collection and data mining from the installed sensors have been started and a preliminary data analysis from Italian pilots has been done to assess the reliability of monitored data.
• The equipment for long-term monitoring has been shipped, delivered and installed in France, Italy, Slovakia and Spain.
• First measurements are observable remotely via a visualization platform (JEEDOM)
On the dissemination side (WP4 to WP6):
• The list of ERs (identified in RP1) and the specific results have been further detailed and investigated with each partner in the process to select the key exploitable results.
• EPC RECAST has studied the EPC context for 6 countries involved. They have been analysed according to several dimensions (PESTLE analysis) and indicators with regards to market potential and readiness for new EPC enabling tools.
• EPC RECAST has set up a Policy Advisory Board (PAB) with experts from key decision-making public and local authorities involved in EPC legislation. Bilateral meetings and a second plenary workshop have been held.
• A Stakeholders Mirror Group (SMG) has been set up with national industrial stakeholders or from European associations, whose work is related to the data acquisition, issuing of EPCs and their use in real estate markets. A second plenary workshop and bilateral meetings have been organized.
• Dissemination and communication activities have been organized continuously, including participations & organisations to/of events and project-related updates on social media.
• EPC RECAST has proactively managed activities in the network of EPC sister projects to strengthen their outreach towards EU stakeholders and public authorities, identify synergies and redundancies.
EPC RECAST is setting up an integrated assessment and certification procedure for EPCs: it is highly modular, with a set of digital tools interfaced with a centralized data model of the building. EPC RECAST is implementing and experimenting potential future changes in tools and work practices driven by the revised EPBD, preceding evolutions in national regulations and supporting the use of CEN standards (M/480) for EP assessment. The project will allow to test on the field the practicality and reliability, in the context of EPCs, of detailed dynamic energy modelling based on data collected on-site and from databases. It will reinforce the connection between EPCs, Building Passports and Digital Logbooks in terms of renovation recommandations and management of information about the building performance and quality.
In the next phase, the Consortium will optimize the usability of its digital toolbox, adjusting functionalities and interfaces with feedback from end-users. The toolbox will then be tested in the six pilot countries.
In the next phase, the Consortium will optimize the usability of its digital toolbox, adjusting functionalities and interfaces with feedback from end-users. The toolbox will then be tested in the six pilot countries.