Towards the next generation of Energy Performance Certificates thanks to a modular, innovative and user-friendly toolbox.
The European Green Deal highlights the need to increase renovation efforts by engaging a ‘renovation wave’ in Europe and lifting barriers that inhibit it. One example is the uneven implementation of energy performance certificates (EPCs) which varies significantly across Member States in terms of scope and available information, resulting in some cases in limited reliability, compliance, market penetration or acceptance by the users. The new Horizon 2020 project X-tendo responds to this challenge by developing and testing 10 features of the next-generation of EPCs and supporting public authorities in 9 European countries, covering 40% of the EU building stock, in the recasting of their existing EPC schemes.
The H2020 project X-tendo, standing for ‘eXTENDing the energy performance assessment and certification schemes via a mOdular approach’, will support public authorities and implementing agencies in the transition towards improved compliance, reliability, usability and convergence of next-generation energy performance assessment and certification.
How will X-tendo reach this objective?
By designing a modular web-based toolbox, containing 10 potential features of the next-generation EPC. These are: smart readiness indicator, comfort, outdoor air pollution, real energy consumption, district heating, EPC databases, building logbook, tailored recommendations, financing options and one stop shops. The features will be developed and tested in 9 countries around Europe (Austria, UK, Italy, Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, Portugal, Poland and Greece). The “harmonized” implementation of the next-generation EPC features will contribute to a gradual convergence of EPC schemes across Europe and eventually act as a catalyst for energy renovations in Europe.
X-tendo promotes systems to create better, more advanced, more useful and more engaging EPCs. As such, the X-tendo toolbox will increase the trust in the energy performance assessment and certification, that will likely result in more EPCs issues, on both voluntary and mandatory basis. The increased trust in the certificate and the more useful information it contains will lead to an increased renovation rate, ensuring extra jobs in the construction sector and a boost for economy.
Before developing the X-tendo toolbox, the project will assess current practices within European EPC systems and develop a methodology and an approach to embedding each feature in the existing EPC framework. The methodologies and implementation approaches of the features will then be tested, making sure they are user-friendly, economically viable, and that they comply with ISO/EU standards, while ensuring the overall quality and reliability of EPCs. By using innovative indicators and data handling approaches, X-tendo demonstrates innovative features, which can be gradually implemented by energy agencies and policy makers.
X-tendo brings together a highly experienced consortium of four specialist institutions in technical and communication activities (forming the technical board and communication board) and organisations involved in implementing EPC schemes in nine countries (thus called
implementing partners).
Consortium: 13 Project Partners from 9 countries: TU Wien (AT), the Energy Saving Trust (UK), Enea (IT), EASt (AT), Danish Energy Agency (DK), TREA (EE), VITO (BE), AAECR (RO), e-think (AT), BPIE (BE), ADENE (PT), NAPE (PL), CRES (GR).
The implementing countries represent 43% of the EU population and 40% of the EU building stock. With the additional public bodies from Germany, France and Belgium, participating at the advisory board and contributing to the project, respectively 75% and 74% of the EU population and building stock is being represented under the X-tendo project.
BPIE is a non-profit policy research institute, located in Brussels, with additional offices in Berlin, Bucharest and Warsaw, dedicated to improving the energy performance of buildings across Europe. We focus on knowledge creation and dissemination for evidence-based policy making and implementation at national level.
– BYinnovation is Media Partner of BPIE
