Europe emphasises on transition to almost zero-energy buildings

The REZBUILD project, in which ZABALA coordinates and leads dissemination, communication, social innovation and exploitation of results, has participated in the European Sustainable Energy Week, held from 17 to 21 June in Brussels.  Organised by the European Commission since 2006, the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is the most important European forum on renewable energies, and this year it focused its programming on 12 general themes on shaping Europe’s energy future.

ZABALA participated in the round table “Scaling up Deep Energy Retrofit Markets Towards 2030 Targets” with the REZBUILD project, together with representatives of other H2020 projects such as RenoZEB, HEART, RECO2ST, BRESAER, BuildHEAT and P2ENDURE. They all shared the initiatives they are working with and how the results of the projects can be useful for stakeholders and end users in order to build a better energy paradigm in Europe. They also discussed how technology can be useful for building a renewable and efficient energy model, how a holistic European approach can facilitate energy transition and what are the main challenges for building renovation in Europe.

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New business models created by advanced technologies were also discussed, as well as promoting investment in building renovation. The meeting also stressed that reducing household energy consumption is a social and political challenge, but that it can make a difference if the technologies implemented are easy to use, efficient, cost-effective and offer clear benefits. Paula Rey (DG ENERGY, European Commission), Emmanuelle Causse (International Union of Property Owners – UIPI) and Veronika Schröpfer (Architects’ Council of Europe – ACE) participated in this event.

REZBUILD, among ZABALA’s outstanding projects in Energy and Cities

For the REZBUILD consortium, the EU Sustainable Energy Week was the perfect place to meet new stakeholders, learn about successful policies, and exchange ideas for meeting the EU’s energy and climate goals. In addition, it was a meeting point to get to know other projects from the same call, European associations and the Commission itself.

ZABALA Innovation Consulting has extensive experience in projects related to Smart Cities such as Stardust or REPLICATE, projects that seek an energy model for high energy efficiency in cities. Likewise, ZABALA has been participating in projects whose objective is energy rehabilitation as a primary objective, since the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), predecessor of the H2020.

The EUSEW, key in the European strategy for energy transition

La EUSEW 2019 se celebró en un contexto necesario para dar forma a un nuevo marco energético europeo. La tasa de renovación necesaria es de alrededor del 3% anual, pero la tasa real en la actualidad no es

EUSEW 2019 was held in a necessary context to shape a new European energy framework. The required renewal rate is around 3% per year, but the actual rate is currently no more than 1%. In addition, experts believe that there is an urgent need to raise awareness of household energy consumption, as all citizens have precise knowledge of how much fuel costs, and how many litres their cars consume; but they are rarely able to produce such figures when it comes to household energy.

Many authorities, energy agencies, industry associations, civil society organisations and media representatives participated in the event, which brought together a wide range of speakers and participants from municipalities, European institutions, private companies, research organisations, citizens’ groups and NGOs.

In its 14th year, EUSEW scheduled more than 90 policy sessions and hosted more than 4,000 registered participants, 380 speakers and unique networking experiences.