The fourth Belgian Smart Energy Cities Network
training/coaching workshop in March 2015 covered the theme of collective
renovation approaches. The workshop included three presentations on the topic.
As always,
the workshop was preceded by a plenary session where an overview was given on
the current status of the opportunities at EU level. In addition to this, a new
project on Financing Local Climate Plans was introduced.
Request2Action
– online renovation tool (Marlies Van Holm – VITO)
Marlies Van Holm (VITO) gave an introduction into the ongoing
development of urban renovation platforms in the Request2Action project (www.building-request.eu). Request2Action is a programme across eight
European countries with a focus on how Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)
can be used to promote home energy efficiency. New approaches to make EPC data
useful for governments, private companies and individuals are being piloted;
and national home energy data hubs are being created.
VITO will develop such test hubs to be tested in several cities. The
objectives of the fully fledged Flemish hub are: for city services to have data
on dwellings; their EPCs and energy consumption at their disposal; for citizens
to get a better insight into the state of their dwelling and renovation
options; to provide for a platform where renovation demand meets renovation
supply; and to develop a neighbourhood and city dynamic once renovation occurs.
This will be made possible from the communication between two platforms: an
open platform embedded in cities’ own virtual environment and a restricted data
platform accessible through individual dwelling identification details. These
platforms can then be developed further with all kinds of applications through things
like remote sensing and GIS. Ultimately this data will become usable information
from where it can be used for enhanced energy renovation. This in turn will
help to reach energy efficiency and renewable energy targets for cities and the
EU.
Link to file:
20150309_STEP UP_Lerend Netwerk_Request2Action_Stedelijke
renovatieplatformen
Short
overview of the state of play and projects in de IWT Living Labs on renovations
(Dieter Cuypers – VITO)
Dieter Cuypers (VITO)
gave an overview of the 10 ongoing Living Labs on collective renovations in
Flanders, funded by IWT.
Link to file:
20150309_STEP UP_Lerend Netwerk_IWT Proeftuin woningrenovatie_Eng
He then gave an overview of the trends in implementation
with such initiatives. While collective renovation initiatives are usually
implemented with economies of scale in mind at a high level, undertaking such
projects as citizens in collaboration can also be successful and this is often where
behavioural psychology plays a key role.
Furthermore, the presentation went deeper into
the many aspects of collective renovations: such as the relationship between
neighbours, potential bottlenecks, dangers, but also the potential benefits.
The main challenges that were noted are the organisation of the collective approach
and finding innovative financing mechanisms. Currently in Flanders the approach
to helping citizens break through financial barriers to energy renovation is a scattered
and dispersed approach where many different actors provide partial solutions
through subsidies, loans, tax exemptions and more. Whilst this offers many partial
solutions, citizens can get lost in the sheer number of options available to
them. The presentation concluded with some financial examples from abroad.
Link to file:
20150309_STEP UP_Lerend Netwerk_collectieve renovaties