Primož Praper

Nominated by: Domen Bančič, Institute for Innovation and Development of University of Ljubljana

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVE ROLE TOWARDS ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN EUROPE

Through concrete action and strong personal dedication to the fields of sustainable construction, building renovation, and sustainable energy transition, Mr. Praper has contributed greatly to the field of energy efficiency in Slovenia. In the last two decades, Mr. Praper has worked extensively with public educational institutions, municipalities and a section of the private sector in Slovenia, offering state-of-the-art advice, guidance and leadership in the area of sustainable construction, retrofitting and deep energy renovation of existing buildings, digitalization of the built environment, sustainable energy generation, construction of wooden public buildings, and other types of investment projects. Since 2008 he is a project manager in company EUTRIP, d.o.o. – he is also the majority owner of the EUTRIP and since 2016 the CEO. He presented results of his work through articles represented at different domestic and international conferences.

In the spirit of the Roger Léron Award, his hands-on engagement in the developement, advocacy and realisation of key principles and ambitions, which today are core to the notion of Climate Neutrality, certainly make him a shining example of what it means to be a climate leader – not only in the segment of his business or at the national levels, but at the European level just as much.

CREATIVITY AND STRATEGIC VISION

Mr. Praper has been co-creating cutting-edge theory in the area of sustainable built environment and energy production from the early 2000’s, and perhaps more importantly, helped transfer the theory into practice through numerous projects and activities. His contribution to the use of information technology in construction projects were ahead of time and truly visionary. Even before the notion “digital transformation” became trendy, Mr. Praper was promoting IT technology as an organisational tool for building renovation and management, and the use of integrated monitoring as a tool for efficient and economical energy management in public buildings. In 2015, he co-authored a patent for Digital Operational Monitoring for buildings (Digitalni obratovalni monitoring : 24691; Bohanec, Laznik and Praper, 2015) – a system solution that integrates monitoring of enegy use and Indoor Environmental Quality in the building in real time, which enables efficient building management for optimized energy use and comfort. He also authored and co-produced a number of articles and resources for the promotion of renewable energy resources for investors, often in collaboration with key national stakeholders, such as Borzen – a leading Slovenian company in the field for electricity productions, distribution and consumption.

IMPACT

1. Produced well over 100 investment-grade energy audits which yielded up to 1 MIO m2 of renovated public buildings in the past 15 years;
2. Equipped up to 150 large public buildings with advanced systems for digital monitoring of energy use and Indoor Environmental Quality in the past 10 years;
3. Supported sustainable investment into 10 to 15 % of all building stock used for secondary education, owned and managed by the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, in the course of the past 15 years.

Building on his vision of sustainable construction, building renovation, and digitalized energy management, Mr. Praper influenced different segments of the construction and renovation markets all across Slovenia. By teaming with big public institutions, such as the Municipality of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Mr. Praper supported construction and renovation of hundreds of public buildings, many of which to this day set an example of well managed, energy efficient buildings with enhanced Indoor Environmental Quality and significant savings of energy and costs. In this context, he prepared PHPP calculations for over 20 buildings that received more than 10 MIO EUR non-refundable grants in total, and numerous Life-Cycle Cost Analysis for large investment projects and projects worth 10 to 50 MIO EUR. Through his consultancy practice and protagonistic attitude, Mr. Praper continues to create ground for the unfolding transition towards energy efficient, safe, and healthy indoor environment.

LEADERSHIP

Mr. Praper was and remains a key figure in the Slovenian energy efficiency landscape. With his knowledge and experience, he contributed to the realisation of several exceptional projects that earned architectural awards, such as the renovation of the lnstitute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ljubljana that earned a Plečnik Medal for architectural excellency in the category “Current realization” in 2021; the Pedenjcarstvo Kindergarten in Ljubljana that earned a Golden Pencil (the highest award given in Slovenia by the architectural profession) in 2018, or The Punkl Youth Hotel that earned a recognition for energy efficient business (tourist) facility in 2012. These awards indicate that Mr. Praper’s competences reach well beyond plain technical and economic excellence into the sphere of visionary leadership. The listed rewarded projects are predominantly newbuilds, and were rewarded first and foremost for architecture. Primož contributed to their realisation as a consultant and expert for sustainable construction or the project lead, but the reward was given either to the team of architects or the projects as such, not (exclusively) to Primož or EUTRIP.

In addition to the above-mentioned achievements, Mr. Praper is also a vocal and active supporter of high ethical standards and social responsibility. His quest for promoting innovative, efficient and planet-friendly solutions is substantiated with creating job opportunities through a social enterprise called EUDOM which runs a second-hand store and a bookshop. The business today employs 9 people, some of which with obsolete professional backgrounds.

Curious to find out if Primož will be the winner of the Roger Léron Award 2022?