The overall vision of FORTESIE is to design, demonstrate, validate and replicate innovative renovation packages in the building industry with Smart Performance-Based guarantees and financing, aiming at Efficient, Sustainable and Inclusive Energy (ESIE) use to accelerate the Renovation Wave in Europe. The renovation packages will combine state-of-the-art construction materials and technologies components (prefabricated facades, BIPV, heat pumps, etc.), innovative digital technologies for measurement and verification, and attractive financing (e.g. contractual frameworks for smart performance guarantees, financing mechanisms, engagement techniques, green-euros, etc.), to raise the overall EPC value proposition. The renovation packages will be tailored to specific target groups needs and optimised to improve the ESIE performance considering energy, CO2 and comfort. Each package will be demonstrated and validated in real life use cases and customised for replication in all other partner countries for immediate market take-up. Methodologies from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) will be adopted for: a. the creation of collaborative business models that boost the Renovation Wave by considering all stakeholders’ value and revenue streams, b. novel incentivisation and behavioural change models that aim to stimulate long term engagement with focused interactions to adopt green behaviour c. the incorporation of a digital currency, green-euro, (€G) for financing, rewarding and creating an inclusive /collective narrative in the fight against climate change d. the collection of feedback for recommendations to policy and business stakeholders, e. Mapping and understanding the complex interplay between the different stakeholders to deliver an engagement strategy across the value chain.These demonstrations will potentially constitute the green-euro as a retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), hence revolutionising the financing of renovation approaches. An online marketplace, will be offering first level advice, directing consumers through the value chain of stakeholders and facilitating access to these “packaged” renovation services.

The GELCLAD project aims at creating a novel cost-effective, durable, industrialised and easy to install composite insulation cladding system, based on a single multi-meso-structured panel with excellent insulation properties, made from functional bio-polymer composite (ecoWPC) as skin coupling with unique advanced foamable extrudable aerogel (FEA) as insulation core/layer. The GELCLAD is produced using a single co-extrusion procedure in which both ecoWPC framing skin and FEA core are simultaneously formed such that no discontinuity is formed between them. Using a multilayer effective continuous extrusion allows the benefits of high quality multi-meso-structured systems and productive production to be obtained without the traditional drawbacks of existing bonding lamination of extremely high embodied energy insulation materials, and high labouring and skilled installation of multi material layers. By combining also this biopolymer based ecoWPC/aerogel with passive pre-programed materials responding dynamically to ambient stimuli and control the air flow, GELCLAD wants to target the market as a novel environmentally friendly multi-functional smart cladding solution, to be used as an ecological alternative to the current cladding and ventilated façade systems. The foreseen impacts of the novel GELCLAD will be 20% lower embodied energy and carbon than traditional oil based panels, attain more than 40% reduction of energy savings due to GELCLAD refurbishment, reduce costs of 40% over traditional façade thanks to single panel systems, less installation and maintenance expenses, while providing functional building envelope solutions for a life span over 50 years. Full scale demonstration of the application of the novel cladding generation will be performed in demo and public building in Spain and Slovenia for ready uptake and spreading of new technologies, and many other building systems will follow after the success of GELCLAD.

The main objective of GLocalFlex is to mobilise demand-response solutions & services in replicated manner for prompt horizontal scaling of flexible local energy systems (LES) by means of easy access and low barrier energy flexibility markets to increase the participation of the consumers across all energy-sectors. The GLocalFlex approach promotes viable interoperable solutions and products at all levels of the grid (consumers, producers, retailers, aggregators & market) by selecting modular standards and tools during development. It allows the overall system of systems to be 1) flexible by means of energy use to provide quality services to grid and 2) flexible by means of its own evolution (to change, upgrade or integrate several appliances, consumers and microgrids to create complex but viable cross-sectoral energy ecosystems). The GLocalFlex concept will allow any Local Energy System (LES), Positive Energy District(PED), community, or appliance to evolve in a consistent way and offer flexibility using suitable hardware add-ons in a cost-effective and systematic manner to expose their full flexible potential. GLocalFlex concept can adopt to any LES size, availability of local resources and regulations. This project will demonstrate near real time, large scale, flexibility trading in six different field locations in Europe. It has consumer and system centric pilots that develop flexibility services and replicate them within the pilot group. The GLocalFlex aims to have completely automated, machine-to-machine flexibility trading and flexibility order execution in LES by means of open, interoperable energy flexibility market and open standard based IT-tools that allows more flexibility consumers to join the market. Therefore, GLocalFlex will push forward the overall integration of disruptive renewable technologies and enhancing the stability of the grid at the same time.