U-CERT & X-tendo final conference: enhanced and future-proof EPCs

2022 can be easily perceived as the game-changer year, to date, for the buildings sector. The EU policy framework has been deeply (re)shaped recently by global and regional happenings, such as climate change disruptions, a pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. In this framework, buildings are among the priority issues to address, especially considering the Green Deal, Renovation Wave, EU Taxonomy, and REPowerEU: all these policy instruments have a long-term vision to reach a digitally transformed and smart European building stock by 2050, implying healthy, safe, efficient, flexible and sustainable (zero-emission) buildings for the people and businesses alike.

This event, powered by BPIE & REHVA, will be in English and will be held physically in Brussels and livestreamed via the BuildUp Portal. 

There has been a buzz at Member State level around Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), and the underlying Energy Performance Assessment and Certification processes for roughly 10 years. But they have now received a pivotal role in the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) proposal submitted in December 2021 and implementation cornerstone for buildings to drastically and timely improve the performance of the European built environment. It is thus now time to act and implement to actually reach enhanced and future-proof energy performance certificates.   

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, X-tendo and U-CERT are closing three years of commitments and achievements in the field of next-generation building performance assessment and certification. Part of the Next Gen EPCs cluster, with other 9 projects (D^2EPC, E-DYCE, ePANACEA, EPC-RECAST, crossCert, EUBSuperHub, iBRoad2EPC, TIMEPAC), and together with QualDeEPC, they were the first to start in 2019 on this topic.  

The two teams, their guest speakers and colleagues from the Next Gen EPCs cluster, are coming together on the 6th of July for what will be THE 2022 event on Energy Performance Certificates. The programme will tell the story of these H2020 research and innovation projects, highlighting the main results and preparing the ground for the exploitation of the outputs, both at the EU and national levels.

Programme

Session 1: Current status of EPCs and overview of the projects’ results 

10:30 Welcome coffee 

11:00 Welcome and introduction from the moderator

• Sonja van Renssen (Energy Monitor) TBC

11:05 Welcome and introduction on X-tendo and U-CERT by the project coordinators

• Lukas Kranzl (TU Wien)
• Peter op ‘t Veld (Huygen)

11:25 Energy performance certificates in the current EU policy framework 

• MEP Claudia Gamon (European Parliament) TBC

11:35 Energy performance certificates in the current EU policy framework 

• Ulrike Nuscheler, X-tendo Project Officer (CINEA) TBC
• Nathalie Cliquot, U-CERT Project Officer (CINEA) TBC

11:45 Energy performance certificates in the current EU policy framework  

• Pau Garcia Audi (DG ENER)

11:55 Panel discussion “Enhancing EPC schemes on both EU and national levels” (including 5 min Q&A from the audience) 

• Nathalie Cliquot, U-CERT Project Officer (CINEA) TBC
• Rui Fragoso (ADENE)
• MEP Claudia Gamon (European Parliament) TBC
• Pau Garcia Audi (DG ENER)
• Jaap Hogeling (EPB Center)
• Adrian Joyce (EuroACE) TBC
• Ulrike Nuscheler, X-tendo Project Offcer (CINEA) TBC

12:55 Lunch 

Session 2: Next-generation Energy Performance Certificates: how to get there? 

13:55 Poster sessions 

• Comfort and Indoor Environmental Quality, including impact of outdoor – 1 representative X-tendo & 1 representative U-CERT
• Real energy consumption: asset rating, measured and operational rating – 1 representative X-tendo & 1 representative U-CERT
• Data handling – 1 representative X-tendo
• Ethnographic research – 1 representative U-CERT

14:55 Introduction to the sister projects of the Next Gen EPCs cluster 

• Andrei Vladimir Litiu (REHVA) 

15:00 Panel discussion with representatives of Next Gen EPCs cluster: opportunities, necessities and restrictions for extending EPC indicators 

• Stefan Thomas (Wuppertal Institute) 5 min opening pitch QualDeEPC
• Sheikh Zuhaib (BPIE) 5 min opening pitch X-tendo
• Andrei Vladimir Litiu (REHVA) 5 min opening pitch U-CERT
• Q&A/discussion with the Next Gen EPCs cluster and the audience
  • Stavros Koltsios (CERTH) representing D^2EPC
  • Michal Zbigniew Pomianowski (AAU) representing E-DYCE
  • Jan Verheyen (Vito) representing ePANACEA
  • Olivier Greslou (CSTB) representing EPC-RECAST

16:25 Conclusions 

• Lukas Kranzl (TU Wien) 
• Peter op ‘t Veld (Huygen)

16:30 Networking cocktail