Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ENERFUND (An ENErgy Retrofit FUNDing rating tool)

Teaser

ENERFUND addresses the challenges that have been identified with regard to low renovation rates. The main goal of ENERFUND was to build and promote the ENERFUND tool to be used by stakeholders to make intelligent decisions with regard to renovation strategies and the financing...

Summary

ENERFUND addresses the challenges that have been identified with regard to low renovation rates. The main goal of ENERFUND was to build and promote the ENERFUND tool to be used by stakeholders to make intelligent decisions with regard to renovation strategies and the financing of deep renovation of buildings. The ENERFUND tool is available online with all relevant information through https://app.enerfund.eu/.

Its importance to society is linked to its contribution in increasing energy renovation activity. ENERFUND tool has already been used by local authorities, financial institutions and ESCOs, as an evaluation tool before examining in more depth the feasibility or usefulness of deep energy renovation of commercial and other buildings.

Various social benefits result when an inefficient building is converted to a green and efficient building, such as improvements in thermal and humidity conditions, improved aesthetics, reduction in energy demand on the national electricity grid (producing reduction in the cost of electricity) and less environmental pollution. Moreover, job creation and unemployment reduction are other social benefits arising from energy renovation market growth.

The overall objective is to become a source of reliable EPC data, and to assist stakeholders to make intelligent decisions with regards to energy building retrofitting.

Work performed

WP1 - Coordination
The Project Management Board (PMB), the Technical Committee and an external Advisory Board were formed, the Project Charter has been prepared, all necessary project meetings took place. Delays in submitting some of the deliverables have been documented, primarily due to the complexity of the work that had to be carried out and as such a 3 month extention was required.

WP2 - Market analysis and defined approach
The analysis of EPC systems in participating countries and of the usefulness of EPC data to facilitate the financing for deep renovation was performed. A survey was also prepared for the analysis of activities and past initiatives relevant to Energy Efficiency, Energy Renovations and Energy Performance Certificates in EU. Three questionnaires were also developed targeting (1) building owners, (2) ESCOs and (3) banks/financial institutions, and more than 500 questionnaires completed, analysed and summarized. Finally short surveys to regarding the building owners as final users of the ENERFUND tool (using pollfish) was carried out with a total of 1000 replies received and analysed.

WP3 - Concept, methodology and features
Based on the results of WP2, but taking into consideration the lack of available data, the ENERFUND tool and the methodology behind the score were developed. Overall, approximately eight million unique EPCs were collected and are displayed, with more than 80 million data sets used in the ENERFUND tool), while the score takes into account other parameters, such average cost of construction. In Figure 1, the variability in the type of data used to populate the ENERFUND tool per country is shown

WP4 - Development of the ENERFUND Tool.
The ENERFUND tool was developed (with proper documentation) in such a way that (a) it is user friendly and (b) in a harmonised way so that all data could be exported and used for the needs of the relevant stakeholders (or other EU projects). The main interface is based on an interactive map of Europe where the user can visualize the energy ratings of buildings and narrow them down by applying filters. The application interface consists of multiple layers which use a range of different mapping technologies. Within the 6 screenshots of Figure2, is is shown how the ENERFUND tool can be used with an example of a user selecting “Halls of Residence” and other similar buildings that have an F and G current EPC rating in Denmark and that can be renovated to an A or B rating.

WP5 - Tool population and promotion
Within WP5, all relevant data was collected, with training activities taking place in all participating countries, and the tool was promoted both through various events and through social media. Scientifically, a total of 70 articles have been published in 10 participating countries and additionally, 6 papers have been prepared and sent in scientific Journals and International and national scientific conferences.

WP6 - Follow up and monitoring
Based on the methodology/surveys/questionnaires/templates developed, the following major impacts were achieved:
• more than 1,000,000 people informed about ENERFUND
• 715 stakeholders using ENERFUND tool
• 74 buildings in 5 countries planned to be renovated due to the usage of the ENERFUND tool
• 24 initiatives supported by ENERFUND in 9 countries
• 33.8 GWh/yr energy savings triggered by the project

WP7 - Dissemination
The following dissemination activities took place:
• A project’s website attracted 10,401 unique users
• A Facebook page, with a reach of 1,715,682 users, generating 5.1 million impressions
• A Twitter account, with 429 followers
• 6 newsletters and 5 press releases were produced, with over 70 articles in magazines, newspapers, web news portals, etc.
• The tool was promoted in 86 events,
• Over 40 cross-linking activities were accounted for.

Final results

ENERFUND is probably the biggest attempt to map EPC data at an EU level (https://app.enerfund.eu/) with multiple benefits:

The major expected result before the end of the project is the development of a European tool for energy renovation activities in buildings, where any user can use the tool (in the form of a map) to select a specific geographical area and then a building of interest using several filtering options. Furthermore, the user can use the ENERFUND Score to automatically categorize buildings based on the developed methodology.

The ENERFUND tool has already been used in the following ways, and we expect that stakeholders will continue using it:
• to enable policy change towards a more open-data Europe
• to increase awareness to the public
• to prepare the ground for investment, by identifying sound retrofit opportunities
• to become the baseline (or source of information) for future research projects

the main project recommendations are as follows:
• Energy related databases and registries should be constantly updated by the competent authorities. For example, data regarding funding schemes and incentives (that could be coupled with EPC data) was in most cases outdated and there was no way to validate if the information was still valid.
• It should become compulsory for all databases/registries/etc regarding energy information (for example certified installers of insulation, availability of funds for retrofits, geothermal potential, etc) that emerge either from European funded projects or initiatives to be properly geocoded and openly available by all interested parties/stakeholders.
• There is a need to harmonize all energy related data, in alignment with the INSPIRE directive.
• Due to the fact that individuals at the various competent authorities regarding EPC registries are unaware whether or not they are allowed to share EPC data with other parties, the EU Commission should issue a set of Guidelines on how the Environmental Information, the INSPIRE the PSI and the GDPR Directives affect sharing of energy data for the common good.

In conclusion, the availability of transparent, harmonized and up-to-date open-data is urgently needed in our struggle to achieve the climate policy targets set by the EU.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.enerfund.eu.