Putting citizens at the heart of urban energy transition
Retrofitting buildings is an essential element of the transition towards climate neutrality. While solutions such as insulation materials and renewable energy systems are available, installing these can be a costly and inconvenient exercise for residents and the public at large. “This is why engaging citizens in retrofitting, and creating reasonable financial models, is so important,” explains mySMARTLife project coordinator Rubén García Pajares, from CARTIF in Spain. “These discussions can be arduous,” he says. “They involve convincing people of their needs and persuading them about future benefits, but with high financial upfront expenses and disruption to daily operations.”
Smart people, smart economy
The mySMARTLife project sought to help cities implement transformative schemes by proposing and trialling an advanced urban planning strategy. “A key pillar of this strategy was called ‘Smart People’,” adds García Pajares. “Here, we included all activities related to working with citizens, including vulnerable groups, in city decisions.” These activities included public debates on the energy transition, as well as workshops on issues such as digitalisation of the grid. A second pillar, called ‘Smart Economy’, was about strengthening local innovation ecosystems, and tapping into local skills and expertise. This combined approach was then pursued in implementing 150 actions in the fields of energy and mobility in the three target cities of Nantes, Hamburg and Helsinki, in France, Germany and Finland respectively.
Combined retrofitting strategies in action
A good example of this combined approached is the ‘Mon Projet Renov’ online platform developed by the city of Nantes to offer citizens free information on retrofitting projects and link to local companies offering related services. Another Nantes-based initiative sought to support homeowners in their renovation projects by offering energy audits. Recommended actions were then proposed, such as insulation, boiler replacement and solar panelling. In Helsinki, smart controls for managing heat demand were installed in 12 residential condominium buildings, providing 167 apartments with energy savings of 10-25 %. In the same city, an office building was retrofitted with 572 square metres of solar panels and four wind turbines, supplying enough energy to cover 20 % of the building’s electricity demand. Renewable cooling was supplied through a borehole water system.
Successful integrated urban planning approaches
Following project completion in 2022, García Pajares notes that a total of 147 054 square metres of building space has either been retrofitted, or built to high performance standards, across the three target cities. “In addition, 29 % of the remaining final net energy used by these buildings is now covered by renewable energy sources,” he notes. Some activities launched by project members have continued. These include the city coordinators group, the peer-to-peer learning programme and various task groups, whose activities still continue on a voluntary basis. Three ‘follower cities’ and 16 ‘observer/interested’ cities with high replication potential were also involved in the project. Overall, García Pajares sees the mySMARTLife project as an example of how integrated approaches to urban planning can lead to outstanding results, and notes that more and more cities are embracing new and more ambitious climate neutrality targets.
Keywords
mySMARTLife, citizens, carbon neutrality, cities, retrofitting, renovation energy
