Energy Efficiency and Building Technology Accelerator
A joint initiative of the Climate-KIC Building Technology Accelerator program, led by Chalmers University and WBCSD
Buildings are key in tackling climate change
Buildings are one of the largest end users of energy, consuming 40% of final energy and creating more than a third of CO2 emissions in the European Union. Population growth, urbanization and household wealth are all rising. This means energy use in buildings may double and possibly triple by 2050. To reduce energy use in buildings is a climate change imperative.
The challenge
To reach climate goals in the building sector means to double the market for energy efficiency solutions from USD 100bn (2014) to USD 200bn (2020). There are existing building practices, technology solutions for design, construction and operation that use less energy to heat, cool, ventilate, light and control buildings in conjunction with using better performing envelope designs and materials. However, achieving widespread uptake of these solutions requires the right market conditions. What hampers progress is a multitude of local, non-technical market barriers amplified by the highly fragmented building value chain.
Boost business opportunities
Climate-KIC and WBCSD have joined forces to set the right market conditions that will boost demand for low-carbon building products and solutions. Simultaneously we want to materialize the multiple benefits of energy efficiency in buildings at market level: lower operating costs and delivering higher property values for building owners and occupants; more jobs in the real estate sector through increased retrofit activity; reduced capacity constraints for utilities etc. Together we aim to increase knowledge, coordination and collaboration in local building markets in Europe and beyond.
How?
The Energy Efficiency and Building Technology Accelerator is a joint initiative from Climate-KIC and WBCSD aligning their complementary programmes respectively on Building Technology Accelerator (BTA) and Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB). It will facilitate local business-to-business and business-to-customer networks. It also provides a neutral setting for dialogue, enables to increase investments in energy efficiency and stimulates business at local level in a three-step approach:
- In-depth market study of the building sector via Building Market Briefs
Building Market Briefs (BMB), a Climate-KIC initiative within the Building Technology Accelerator (BTA) programme aims at collecting and generating insights on the building and real estate sector to foster low-carbon investments and scaling. BMB contains:
- Summary of key national framing conditions and major trends – carbon targets, legal frameworks, financial support instruments, investment rates, etc.
- Market size and building stock morphology – building typology characterization and building sector stakeholders breakdown
- Potential market size generated through by transformation of the building sector according to national carbon targets to 2050
- Insight into key market stakeholder groups’ perceived barriers towards action, decision criteria and needs, based on survey results
- Local market experts’ comments on the content, targeted recommendations, and identified business opportunities
- A quantitative Indicator Factsheet and a qualitative Executive Market Summary is also provided, offering a synthesis of indicators, key findings and targeted recommendation extracted from the brief
- Action plan and new business models via EEB lab
WBCSD’s Energy Efficiency in Buildings Amplify (EEB Amplify) project takes the BMB insights (the scientific basis) to local markets – through workshops called Energy Efficiency in Buildings Laboratory (EEB lab). The EEB Lab is a 2 to 3-day workshop which gathers at city level the local building market stakeholders to identify and confirm market needs, to discuss the conditions for the large-scale roll-out of existing technology and to propose an action plan accordingly. The action plan includes business models that fit the innovation opportunities as described in the BMB. E.g. new ways of forming refurbishment consortia; alternative finance models; capacity building programs; good practices in terms of procurement process and investment decisions etc. It also identifies what needs to be done to achieve market transformation in terms of awareness raising, workforce capacity, financing and policy.
- Doing business via an interactive marketplace
Building on the momentum created by the EEB lab and the publication of the BMB, Climate-KIC and WBCSD will support the setup of a local network of stakeholders to continue the collaboration on a platform acting as an interactive market place. This platform will provide support to access funding opportunities and support to project preparation including options for enabling demonstration & scaling of renovation technologies.
Consortium
How to get involved
In 2017, these initiatives will be launched in Switzerland, France, Germany and the UK. All European countries will be covered over the next years at a pace of approximately six markets per year.
Please contact project manager Clara Camarasa if you would like to be involved or like to receive more information. E-mail: [email protected], Phone: +46 (0) 70 840 47 87, Address: Chalmers University SE- 412 96, Gothenburg Sweden
