1st International QUALICHeCK Conference in Brussel on 30 September 2014

We would be pleased to welcome you to the 1st International QUALICHeCK Conference taking place in Brussels on 30 September 2014.

The challenges to implement Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB) and achieving minimum shares of Renewable Energy are tremendous. There are various indications raising concerns regarding the reliability of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) declarations and the quality of the works. Achieving a significant improvement requires strong commitment from authorities and other major players, as well as sufficiently broad societal support.

QUALICHeCK responds to these challenges by:

• identifying issues in respect to existing procedures;
• highlighting best practices for easy access to reliable EPC input data, delivery of improved quality of the works, as well as more effective compliance frameworks (“lead people to do what they declare”);
• raising awareness and engaging relevant stakeholders.

The focus will be mainly (but not limited) on:

• 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Romania, Spain and Sweden
• 4 technology areas:
  • Transmission characteristics: this includes opaque components (walls, roofs, …) windows and doors, as well as the handling of e.g. thermal bridges.
  • Ventilation and airtightness: this includes performance of ventilation systems, as well as envelope and ductwork airtightness.
  • Sustainable summer comfort technologies: this includes a wide range of technologies and concepts, e.g. solar control, thermal mass, ventilative cooling strategies, cool roofs, …
  • Renewables in multi-energy systems: this also includes a wide range of energy systems, whereby the common feature is the presence of renewables (heat pumps, solar collectors, biomass, PV, …)

• innovation
• the residential sector

The conference will address quality and compliance issues for various technology areas, of which the following ones are of direct relevance to ventilation and infiltration in buildings:

• A presentation by EVIA (European Ventilation Industry Association) on the quality and compliance issues of ventilation systems: what is the present status? How can we improve the performance of ventilation systems in practice? How to come to more reliable component and system performances in energy performance declarations?
• A presentation by TightVent Europe on quality and compliance issues of building and ductwork airtightness
• A presentation by the venticool platform regarding quality and compliance issues in relation to ventilative cooling strategies

Moreover , the conference will give you a good overview of activities at the European scene with several presentations by EU officials. Also, the views for other technologies will be presented by representatives of leading associations.

Thanks to several presentations and interactive voting sessions, it will be a major opportunity to discuss and share views on approaches to improve the reliability of input data used in calculation procedures and the quality of the works in a regulatory compliance context. Specific attention will be paid to barriers to innovation which may appear when trying to resolve those issues. It will build upon existing experience and increasing quality and compliance concerns on ventilation, infiltration and summer comfort in nearly zero-energy buildings.

Registration to the Conference is still open at http://qualicheck-platform.eu/forms/form-conference-2014/

For more information visit http://qualicheck-platform.eu/2014/08/international-conference-2014/
or download the Conference flyer including updated programme from here.