Implement – The EPBD in Action
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), as part of Europeans Policy to stimulate energy efficiency in housing, offers vast energy saving potential. Awareness amongst actors in the housing sector about the opportunities for homes, particularly from the certificates, is low. Most home owners – private persons, owner associations and housing associations – don’t have the knowledge or tools to utilise energy certificates effectively, so the potential impact of the EPBD is at risk.
IMPLEMENT aims to avoid this problem via information and sales campaigns in seven EU Member States, where home owners and professionals are informed about home energy certificates. Information on appropriate financing mechanisms and implementation of energy saving measures will be offered by networks of professionals. Shining examples of how the EPBD can be turned into energy savings and provide experience on how home owners can be informed and stimulated towards energy efficient retrofitting will be set.
Objectives
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), as part of European policy to stimulate energy efficiency in housing, offers vast energy saving potential. However, presently the awareness amongst actors in the housing sector, in particular regarding of the EPBD and energy certificates for housing, is low. More specifically, house owners - private persons, owner associations or housing associations – don’t have knowledge or tools to use the energy certificates and thus that the potential effect of the EPBD is at risk.
The objective of IMPLEMENT is to avoid this problem through information and sales campaigns in seven Member States across Europe, through which owners are informed of the possibilities of the energy certificate for improving their houses and where information on appropriate financing and the implementation of energy saving measures are offered by networks or professionals. IMPLEMENT translates the global goals of the EPBD to solutions that address everyday issues like health, comfort and energy bills.
Description of the work
The core of the action is a set of campaigns that will be executed in seven countries: The Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Italy and Denmark. The preparation of these campaigns is centralised and will include mutual feedback sessions and evaluations, so that the best available practice will be multiplied and applied in this new market.
Although the campaigns will be held in very different conditions and are targeted at different market segments, they will all provide an appropriate to the challenge of "making the EPBD live", by using the effects of energy saving (better comfort, better indoor climate, lower energy costs, increased property value, improvement of the neighbourhood, etc.) as sales arguments to the owners. All campaigns will be innovative whilst fully complementing national activities and certification procedures.
Expected results
The direct outcomes of the project are:
• a set of marketing campaigns in European countries, in which the EPBD certification will be promoted in housing market
• information on energy performance improvement to owners of houses
• networks of local market actors, experienced with marketing energy saving measures
• marketing strategies, financing schemes and tools, customized per country
• replication and further improvement of these campaigns leading to other initiatives and thus to a multiplying effect in the whole European Union
• energy saving, higher quality and increased value of the retrofitted houses
• increasing awareness of all target groups
Through the concerted campaigns in seven well-spread countries throughout the EU, IMPLEMENT will set shining examples of how the EPBD can be turned into energy savings, and provide useful experience about the way house owners should be informed and stimulated towards energy efficient retrofitting.
Targeted groups and key actors
The proposed action wills directly address the following essential target groups:
Primary target group:
• The principal target group are the owners of existing houses (one/two-family houses as well as multi-family houses or apartments), with focus on buildings with high energy consumptions
• Individual private house-owners are addressed as well as occupants of rented houses, associations of house-owners and housing associations.
Secondary target groups:
• The participants of IMPLEMENT as forerunners in the further spreading and replication.
• Market actors that will be directly involved in the realisation of the campaigns (marketing and communication, energy companies, energy companies, banks, building companies, property developers, architects, installers). In some countries the participating market actors are already known, in other countries the executive consortia still have to be formed.
• Local authorities (municipalities, provinces), as far as they play an active role in IMPLEMENT. The specific and directly addressed target groups are find of the specific sites of each partners.
Other target groups to be addressed:
• All other (market) actors in the various countries, involved in the campaigns, depending on the campaigns this can include house brokers, builders, installers
• Actors involved in the actual implementation: regional energy utilities, state and district authorities and organizations of local craftsmen (builders and installers).
Project Partners
Province Groningen (Project Coordinator) The Netherlands www.provinciegroningen.nl
Ecofys Netherlands BV The Netherlands www.ecofys.com
Energimidt Denmark www.energimidt.dk
Enviros, s.r.o. Czech Republic www.enviros.com
Berliner Energieagentur GmbH Germany www.berliner-e-agentur.de
Energy Club Environmental Association Hungary www.energieclub.hu
Housing Initiative for Eastern Europe (IWO e.V.) Germany http://www.iwoev.org
Etna Ambiente s.r.l. Italy www.etnambiente.com
SA KredEx Estonia www.kredex.ee
More detailed information on the project available on the website: www.epbdinaction.eu
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