The current level of energy efficiency investments in the rental housing sector is in danger of missing EU policy targets. RentalCal aims to develop models and tools for assessing the commercial viability of energy efficiency retrofitting in the rental housing stock. This will reduce split incentive barriers, price in green added value and show a clear road map towards a sustainable housing stock. In particular, RentalCal seeks to make the following key contributions: 1. Develop the first commercial viability assessment framework for energy efficiency refurbishments specifically for rental housing Although rental housing represents the majority of Europe’s multifamily housing stock, current viability calculation methods for energy efficiency retrofits are geared towards owner occupiers and ignore some inherent characteristics of the specific national rental market such as split incentives, rental regulations, tax regimes etc. RentalCal will develop an innovative standardised methodology for assessing retrofits in the private rental housing sector. 2. Increase the transparency of investment conditions in the EU housing industry RentalCal will provide transparent information on the viability of energy efficiency investments based on legal, technical and financial conditions in eight participating member states. The standardised framework will allow for a transparent comparison of investment conditions in the EU, help to remove investment barriers in national housing markets and stimulate cross-border investment activity. 3. Disseminate key insights into the 'Green Value' proposition to specific target groups RentalCal will provide rental property investors with target group specific information regarding the viability of a proposed retrofit investment. This includes the valuation benefits of energy-efficient buildings as well as other indirect financial benefits. All information will be available on RentalCal’s web based calculation and information platform.

EVELIXIA brings together 36 high profile organizations from 12 EU countries envisioning to realize Buildings as Active Utility Nodes (BAUNs), rendering the EU Building stock as: a) energy efficient; b) connected, by facilitating a two-way communication between the grid and the occupants, capitalizing on flexible technologies; c) smart, by utilizing analytics supported by sensors and controls to co-optimize efficiency, flexibility, and occupant preferences; and d) flexible, reducing, shifting, or modulating energy use according to occupant needs, while considering utility signals. EVELIXIA structures the advancement of its solutions along five Innovation Pathways: IP1: Building-to-Grid (B2G) Services; IP2: Grid-to-Building (G2B) Services; IP3: Human-to-Building Interfaces & Interactivity; IP 4: Systems Interoperability; and IP5: Innovative HW as Flexibility Enablers, which will be integrated, deployed, and validated at 7 large-scale, real-life pilots (GR, RO, FR, FI, ES, AT, DK). During the EVELIXIA platform deployment and validation, different actors (i.e., DSOs, DNOs, ESCOs, aggregators) from various sectors (electricity, heating/cooling, mobility) will exchange data for providing B2G and G2B services and they will participate in the development of Business Models showcasing the economic viability of the solutions proposed. EVELIXIA puts a large focus on social engagement empowering citizens as not only adopters of solutions, but also, as their co-creators applying methodologies for citizen and consumer engagement and advanced human to building interfaces. Key expected outcomes include: 14 scalable B2G/G2B services demonstrated including DSF (implicit, explicit, shifting, etc.), P2P energy trading, portfolio management (day ahead/intra-day), TSO/DSO/DHO, and system planning services; GHG emissions reduced by 17%, increase of flexibility by up to 25%, increase of self-consumption up to 100%, reduce energy consumption by 13.5%, and increase RE generation by 11%.

CHRONICLE will deliver a holistic, life-cycle performance assessment framework and tool-suite for different building variants, supporting sustainable design, construction and/or efficient renovation and investment decision making. It will be methodologically integrate ongoing initiatives, like EPCs, Level(s), SRI, under the umbrella of the Digital Building Logbook concept. Performance will be assessed by means of well-defined KPIs, based on both static (by design) as well as dynamic information (sensor measurements) appropriately tailored to different types of use and building life-cycle phases (new or existing buildings under refurbishment). Continuous monitoring and analysis of the actual building performance over its lifetime, will be based on a powerful digital twin framework. The proposed data availability and accessibility within CHRONICLE will extend the limits of the EU energy related policies while the aggregated EPC advanced information will facilitate efficient energy planning. To this end, CHRONICLE will allow all stakeholders to realize in quantified terms the short- and long-term impact of the project activities, from policy to practice, and across the whole building life cycle. It will therefore promote evidence-based impact assessment practices to support policy coherence, design of smart penalties and reward schemes towards motivating energy consciousness, while also paying attention to the voice of market stakeholders (AECs, ESCOs, FMs) but also building owners and tenants/occupants, who are directly impacted by future regulatory decisions. CHRONICLE’s building performance assessment framework and tool-set will be demonstrated and validated in five pilot sites spanning the geographic diversity of Europe, namely in Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Greece and Switzerland.

An important component of a more socially and economically inclusive urban transition is the ability of the cities to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy (RES) projects and initiatives, especially in the housing sector. Despite the progress already made, the large-scale impact that was expected towards promoting energy efficiency is still far off from being fully achieved. The SUPER-i project will provide a significant contribution to generating investments and collecting data on energy efficiency in the social housing sector. Energy efficiency (EE) renovations of social housing can generate a significant social impact by reducing energy poverty. The objectives and impacts of the SUPER-i project will assist and support the European Commission to implement the European Green Deal. The general objective of SUPER-i is to support the funding of EE refurbishment of social housing stocks across Europe while increasing the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption through the following specific eight objectives: 1) Tailored ePPPs (EE Public Private Partnerships) and roadmaps; 2) Capacity building among financial investors; 3) Data gathering and processing; 4) Integration of EE investments within portfolio management strategies; 5) SUPER-i KPIs; 6) Awareness and Replicability; 7) SUPER-i investment pipelines; 8) SUPER-i Roadmap and Platform. The SUPER-i project will contribute to generate substantial investments in energy efficiency within the social housing sector in two folds: 1) by establishing a direct dialogue, at local government level, between financial institutions, other private investors and social housing managers while also involving ESCOs (Energy Service Companies); 2) by collecting relevant data on EE investments, helping to develop efficient financial schemes. The direct dialogue and data collection will be pivotal to effectively boost the development of energy efficiency PPPs.

With its “Clean Energy for all Europeans” package (CEP), the European Commission formally recognised and instrumentally brought forward community energy projects, including definitions for “Renewable Energy Communities” (RECs) and for “Citizen Energy Communities” (CECs). The new concepts introduced in the CEP set the course for a more active role of EU citizens in the energy markets. To fully concretize the benefits envisioned by the CEP, a myriad of barriers needs to be overcome and progress needs to be done to clarify and streamline the concepts of REC and CEC, enabling its uptake by all interested citizens. Motivated by that challenge, COMMUNITAS will promote energy citizenship, enabling citizens to take control of their own path towards sustainability by becoming an active element of the energy markets. The project will deliver a Knowledge Base that will provide users with technical, administrative, and legal information on ECs, streamlining the creation and expansion of this concept. COMMUNITAS will also deliver an innovative set of tools - capitalizing on technologies such as IoT, Blockchain and Cloud Computing - to unlock citizens’ active participation in energy markets and communities (all integrated into an open, digital “one-stop-shop” COMMUNITAS Core Platform (CCP)), allowing EC members to have an aggregated position in the energy markets or explore ancillary services using different energy assets or load profiles of the community. As a project that aims to position citizens in the centre of energy markets, COMMUNITAS has citizens at the centre of its own approach: citizens will be involved in Social and Policy Labs throughout the whole project, in order to frequently factor in their feedback, wishes, needs into the core developments of the project.