Building renovation is often discussed through policies, technologies and funding schemes. But in the EBENTO Talks, the conversation comes closer to the people and projects working with these questions in practice. The online talk series, organised by the EBENTO project, looks at energy efficiency in buildings from different angles, including financing, social aspects and digital tools for renovation.
REHOUSE was invited to contribute to two of the talks and shared experiences from its work on building renovation across Europe.
In the second EBENTO Talk with the main topic Renovate with Impact: People, Neighborhoods, and the Social Challenge of Energy Efficiency, Paraskevi Dimitriadou, Civil Engineer & Research Associate at Democritus University of Thrace, and Charlotte Schlicke from Steinbeis Europa Zentrum spoke on behalf of the REHOUSE project. The talk focused on the social side of energy renovation, including community engagement, trust, affordability, energy poverty and the question of how renovation can work better for the people living in the buildings.
The REHOUSE contribution brought in experience from the Greek demonstration site in Kimmeria, where one building of the student residence at the Democritus University of Thrace campus is part of the project work.The demo site includes renovation measures linked to the building envelope, electromechanical equipment, a multi-source heat pump, an adaptable and dynamic building envelope and a SmartWall solution.
In the next EBENTO Talk 3 the webinar focused on Building the Future: Innovation and Digitalisation for Energy Efficiency, where Dimitris Vamvakas, Research Associate at CERTH, represented REHOUSE. The discussion looked at how digital tools, data, BIM, monitoring approaches and energy performance platforms can support better decisions in renovation processes.
The talk also addressed a challenge that many European projects face. New tools are being developed, but they do not always reach building owners, professionals or public authorities in a form that is easy to use. The EBENTO project published an article on the talk series pointing to this gap between development and real use, and presents the series as a way to discuss what still needs to be connected better.
Both talks are worth watching for anyone interested in the real conditions behind energy-efficient renovation. They do not only ask what can be renovated, but also who needs to be involved, what makes people trust renovation measures, and how digital solutions can support decisions without making the process more complicated.
Background of the project
The EBENTO project works on improving energy efficiency in buildings by developing a one-stop-shop platform that helps coordinate Energy Performance Contracting and brings together building owners, ESCOs, public authorities and other actors involved in renovation. As a network partner of REHOUSE, EBENTO contributes to the wider exchange between European building renovation projects, sharing knowledge on practical, social and digital aspects of energy-efficient renovation.
The recordings are available on the EBENTO project YouTube channel. Watch EBENTO Talk 2 and EBENTO Talk 3, visit the EBENTO project website and follow them on LinkedIn for further updates from the project. Further REHOUSE videos and related contributions are collected in the REHOUSE YouTube playlist.
Video credits: EBENTO project
Author: Steinbeis Europa Zentrum
