Final Report Summary - FASUDIR (Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting)
Executive Summary:
FASUDIR, an acronym for Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting, is a research project funded by the European Commission, running from 2013 to 2016 and involving 12 partners from 5 European countries.
FASUDIR provides an Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) based on a new methodology supported by a software tool that helps decision makers to select the best energy retrofitting strategy to increase the sustainability of the whole district. FASUDIR incorporates key actors and relevant networks at the district scale and ensures that new technologies for energy and resource efficient retrofitting are incorporated, especially those emerging from SMEs. FASUDIR takes advantage of the economies of scales and the variety of stakeholders when scaling up to the district, giving more opportunities for the development of new business and financial models with high impact in the economy.
FASUDIR´s new decision making methodology is designed to select and prioritise energy efficiency retrofitting interventions. It implements existing and new cost-effective solutions, for significant sustainable improvements in the rehabilitation of urban districts. The methodology considers the different European urban typologies and the priorities of the decision makers, and supports retrofitting actions that are deployed as a unique intervention, but also scheduling sequential interventions in the most cost-effective way. This methodology focuses on the initial stage of the retrofitting process at district level, in which the retrofitting framework is established, with the definition of strategies and technological solutions. Ultimately, the FASUDIR´s methodology allows selecting the optimal, off-the-shelf technologies and strategies for each specific energy retrofitting project in terms of sustainability as a whole (environmental, economic and social).
FASUDIR´s software tool enables modelling the district and building with an adequate level of definition, featuring a 3D graphical user interface to facilitate the interaction between the multiple stakeholders involved in the decision making process. The software tool allows end users to identify the most promising sustainable retrofitting strategies and technical solutions at building and district level, by creating a ranked list of optimised variants supported by the FASUDIR´s IDST.
The FASUDIR´s IDST is validated in three different European urban developments that are representative of different district typologies that are common in Europe, and especially in need of energy retrofitting initiatives: Cultural heritage districts (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), Communist era districts (Budapest, Hungary) and Residential districts built up on the 1970’s decade of the XX century (Frankfurt, Germany). With stakeholders´ feedback loops, training, and validation in these three diverse urban areas, the FASUDIR´s IDST ensures robustness and applicability in the entire value chain.
Project Context and Objectives:
About 40% of overall energy consumption in Europe is related to the building sector and over 50% of all materials extracted from earth are transformed into construction materials and products. With more than 70% of the building stock built before the first energy crisis (1970’s), energy retrofitting of buildings is envisaged as the most promising strategy to reach EU’s “20-20-20” targets.
However, the traditional approach to the building energy efficient retrofitting brings poor results in relation to the urban sustainability, resource efficiency and economic return. Although the district retrofitting approach is frequently the most sustainable and cost-effective, the complexity of decision making grows exponentially when the intervention targets larger scale, even more when considering the fragmentation of the construction sector (many stakeholders, most of them SMEs). Furthermore, to support the necessary building-retrofitting market mobilization in Europe to fulfil EU-targets in 2020 and 2050, new business models and financial supporting tools need to be developed.
The FASUDIR project was born to support the necessary building-retrofitting market mobilization in Europe to fulfil EU-targets in 2020 and 2050. The overall objective of FASUDIR was to develop a new methodology supported by a software tool that helps decision makers to select the best energy retrofitting strategy to increase the sustainability of the whole district. The main output of FASUDIR is the Integrated Decision Support Tool.
The project premises were the following:
• Develop an improved, easy to use tool that supports cost-effective decision making through design, planning and implementation of renewal/retrofitting projects
• Focus on the energy performance of buildings, the impact of district space planning and connections with networks and related installations (transport, energy, water, waste)
• Ensure the adoption of the most cost-optimal and affordable solutions for adapting, renewing and retrofitting groups of existing buildings that may include historic structures
• Incorporate the latest innovations and best available technologies that deliver significant energy efficiency improvements while addressing multiple resource challenges and ecosystem-based approaches
• Cover indoor and outdoor issues, as well as social and economic concerns
• Demonstrate the ability of the tools to evaluate in detail the impact potential of the solutions considered along the entire life cycle from design to decommissioning and recycling
• Quantify improvements in resource efficiency, improved health and comfort and lower greenhouse gas emissions is expected, both at the micro (projects) and macro (economy) scale, taking into account the rebound effect
• Economic impacts including cost-benefit analysis and investment amortisation should also be considered, using renovation projects as case studies
• Involve developers and public authorities whilst fostering the integration of the overall value chain involving architects, constructors, operators, financing entities, users, etc.
• The tool to be developed should take advantage of the use of standardised or pre-standardised metrics for sustainable buildings
To achieve the overall objective, the following main goals and outcomes were established:
1. Definition of the framework for the energy efficient retrofitting and renewal of buildings at district scale in the European cities.
• Characterization of the hard and soft aspects of European districts that allow guiding the decision making process according to the specificity of each district
• Identification of already existing methodologies and tools more adequate to the project needs
• Definition of the key performances indicators for the IDST that will allow evaluating the energy efficiency and sustainability conditions.
2. Development of a repository on technologies for a sustainable energy retrofitting of buildings at district scale.
• Identification of existing and replicable technologies and systems in use or near-application for a sustainable energy retrofitting of buildings and districts
• Integration of the solutions and systems in a semantic knowledge repository: digitalization of the repository that will allow automating the decision making process.
3. Development of a methodology for a new approach to buildings´ energy retrofitting from a sustainable district perspective.
• Establish criteria for the assessment of the energy saving measures based on the complementary of retrofitting variants of the buildings at a district scale
• Develop a decision making methodology for prioritization and management of the energy retrofitting interventions at district scale, connecting the building retrofitting variants with the district interventions to enhance the synergies and exploiting economy of scale factor
• Provide with a collection of evaluated energy efficiency technologies, the business and financial models for retrofitting building at district scale that will make easier and more affordable the retrofitting interventions
• Define the conceptual framework for stakeholders’ collaboration developing technological framework for the interoperability of the IDST tool.
4. Development of the software platform that supports the methodology (IDST tool).
• Define a multiscale data model to model the buildings and districts create a unique energy model
• Integrate all the project outcomes in a decision support tool based on a web application;
• Develop a friendly graphical user interface (GUI) that will allow the interaction with the multiple agents involved in the decision making process.
5. Paving the way for the exploitation of the project outcomes.
• Validate the methodological approach and its implementation in the software tool: warranty their accuracy and usability
• Develop the IDST tools as web application: accessible to the end user and enabling different exploitation strategies
• Demonstrate the IDST applicability: through the three case studies
• Undertake a full economic evaluation to promote commercial exploitation of the project outcomes: development of new business models and exploitation plans.
Project Results:
The main exploitable foregrounds of FASUDIR are mainly composed of the FASUDIR IDST and the Methodology. This chapter summarizes the main scientific and technical results also mentioned as main exploitable foregrounds of the FASUDIR project.
In general FASUDIR provides as main scientific and technical result / foreground an Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) based on a new methodology supported by a web-based software tool that helps decision makers to select the most suitable energy retrofitting strategy to increase the sustainability (economic, social and environmental) of a whole urban district.
The Decision Support Methodology developed in FASUDIR guides planners of district retrofitting projects in a structured way through several phases of the project. The Methodology starts with the preparation phase comprised of data collection and data entry. The diagnosis phase demonstrates planners and stakeholders the current state of the district in terms of sustainability and overall energy efficiency. The decision-making phase helps planners to create optimized energy retrofitting variants for the district. It allows considering the district as a global energy system by assessing heat and electricity related synergies and interactions between buildings. Based on the results the planners are able to design heat networks and to plan the inclusion of renewable energy sources taking into account smart grids and energy storages. The created energy variants can be assessed and ranked with regard to their sustainability by a MCDA approach and the use of several simulated Key Performance Indicators (LCA, life cycle cost, cost, ROI, energy, social aspects e.g. gentrification, etc). Moreover the Methodology defines the requirement of different IDST software modules to support planners in the complex planning process of district retrofitting projects.
The defined software modules are used in the process of the methodology for building simulations, 3D-visualization in a virtual Citymodel, e-collaboration platform for stakeholders, KPI evaluation and further functions. The Citymodels and the modules have been developed in the FASUDIR project and incorporated in the Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST).
Actually both of the main mentioned foreground results of FASUDIR are based on several sub-foregrounds which needed to be developed to prepare the way for the IDST and the methodology. Therefore this chapter lists and briefly describes the details of the main achievements which have been developed to create the mentioned main STC results / foregrounds.
The following table shows a summary of the main scientific and technical results of the FASUDIR project which can be described also as main foregrounds:
1) MAIN CATEGORY: The methodological framework of FASUDIR
a) SUB-CATEGORY: The FASUDIR Methodology
(1) The FASUDIR Decision-Support Methodology
(2) Process Map of the Decision Support Methodology
(3) FASUDIR KPIs
(4) New and adopted analysis methods for retrofitting on building and district level
(5) Collection and definition of a constraint repository for European Building and district retrofitting
(6) Intervention Filter Logic
(7) Identification of targets and objectives for energy retrofitting of sustainable urban districts
(8) New Business Models and Financing Schemes
(9) Adaptation and development of new Life Cycle Databases for retrofitting interventions
(10) Default datasets for European Building Stock
(11) Decision-Support-Process
(12) Repository of technologies
(13) New methods for Stakeholder collaboration
(14) Sensitivity Analysis
(15) Mapping of FASUDIR KPIs to existing sustainability rating schemes
2) MAIN CATEGORY: The Integrated Decision Support Tool
a) SUB-CATEGORY: IDST front-end web application (graphical user interface)
(16) Interactive and enriched web-based user interface (front-end application)
(17) Web-based City Information Model Attribute editor
(18) Web-based Analysis Tools for District Retrofitting
(19) E-Collaboration Platform
b) SUB-CATEGORY: IDST Simulation and Calculation Engine (Back-End)
(20) Building and Construction Master Templates in IES VE based on created Default Datasets
(21) Intervention Templates in IES VE based on FASUDIR LCA and LCC Databases and repository of technologies
(22) Cloud based Simulation Server and API
(23) Calculation of FASUDIR KPIs and automatically benchmarking
(24) Detailed user manual for the IDST
c) SUB-CATEGORY: IDST City Information Model
(25) Data Model (Structure of FASUDIR Attributes)
(26) Virtually enriched City Model 3D-Vizualization as front-end webplugin
(27) FASUDIR CityGML Models for three real case study sites in Europe
(1) The FASUDIR Decision-Support Methodology
The FASUDIR Methodology itself is based on an innovative process of different defined phases. In each phase all involved stakeholders in a district retrofitting project are guided in a structured way through the necessary steps that need to be fulfilled in order to create a most effective retrofit design in terms of energy efficiency and global sustainability. The FASUDIR Methodology is composed of several sub-aspects and results which are described in the following text parts. However, the developed Methodology as a whole can be exploited for several application scenarios independently from the FASUDIR IDST. As the Methodology can be seen as stand-alone knowledge base and process definition it can be easily adopted and overtaken for different purposes. Based on the described process in the FASUDIR Methodology cities and urban planners can develop their own sustainable district retrofitting concepts through following the FASUDIR Methodology. Furthermore, the collected knowledge and data for the Methodology can be used for following R&D projects or can be included in practical applications which can reach the market. However, beside the different phases and processes which have been defined, the FASUDIR methodology includes several sub- developments which can be seen as sub-foreground. Each of those developments can be seen as a partial outcome of the methodology which can be exploited as stand-alone results and outcomes of the Project.
(2) Process Map of the Decision Support Methodology
In order to allow the users of the FASUDIR Methodology to follow more easily the different phases and steps of the Methodology, a clearly arranged process map summarizing the different process in a visible way has been developed and can be seen as an valuable annex of the FASUDIR Methodology itself. It helps to understand the global vision of the designed Methodology and therefore facilitates the acceptance and understanding of the Methodology among stakeholders.
(3) FASUDIR KPIs
The FASUDIR project focuses on energy retrofitting of buildings for sustainable urban districts. The main role of key performance indicators developed in the FASUDIR project is to help to take the best energy retrofit decision by providing quantitative or qualitative information about building and district performance. The indicators assess the project along its environmental, social and economic performance, with focus on resource efficiency, low emissions, health, comfort and cost efficiency. The impact of the energy measures on overall sustainability must be clearly assessed and visible in the final evaluation of the district, to provide a clear picture to the decision makers. Hence, the developed FASUDIR KPIs represent a core part of the decision-making method in the FASUDIR Methodology. As objective and hard assessment figures the FASUDIR Key Performance Indicators support the stakeholders in FASUDIR in the diagnosis and decision-making process. The FASUDIR are based on existing standards and regulations and have been adopted from previous research projects. The KPIs have been developed on building and district level and allow a multiscale assessment of building and district sustainability qualities based on the three pillars of sustainability. The defined calculation methods of the KPIs also include benchmarking values which can be contextualized for different European countries. The KPI can be used independently from the FASUDIR IDST and methodology for planners as assessment tool in the district retrofitting planning. Hence, the FASUDIR KPIs can be seen as stand-alone scientific result of the project that can be adopted by later R&D projects as well as used in practical application.
(4) New and adopted analysis methods for retrofitting on building and district level
Beside the FASDUIR KPIs several different analysis and calculations methods have been developed or customized to fit in the FASUDIR concept during the project. To assess the feasibility of heat and cooling networks methods to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of energy networks in urban districts have been developed and adopted for the FASUDIR concept. The detailed calculation formulas of all those methods need summarized in a clear way to be followed by planners.
(5) Collection and definition of a constraint repository for European Building and district retrofitting
As important background information for the optimisation of retrofitting variants in the FASUDIR Methodology a constraint repository for European Building and district retrofitting has been developed under the framework of the Methodology. The constraint repository is composed of different technical, legal, environmental and user-based constraints and restriction which can occur during real district retrofitting projects. The constraint repository therefore includes several pre-defined constraints and their resulting restrictions impacts on the on practicability of different energy retrofitting measures on building and district scale. The constraint repository may be used also as stand-alone information source for planners in practice.
(6) Intervention Filter Logic
As the intention of the FASUDIR Methodology development was to support the planners as much as possible in the decision-making and early retrofit design the constraint repository was further developed in to a technical intervention filter logic. The purpose of the filter logic was to automatically support the planners in connecting the identified constraints and restriction on their buildings and the district with the FASUDIR Repository of retrofitting interventions. Hence, the filter logic connects the FASUDIR data model with the developed constraints repository by mapping the different constraints and restrictions with the FASUDIR data model properties in the City Model. Hence, the intervention filter logic also can be used separately from the FASUDIR IDST in order to filter out no useful interventions based on set building and district constraints.
(7) Identification of targets and objectives for energy retrofitting of sustainable urban districts
As a side result of the FASUDIR Methodology development, a broad collection of targets and objectives for energy retrofitting of sustainable urban districts has been created. The collection is based on surveys and interviews carried out in five European countries and reflects a representative opinion of European Stakeholders involved in district retrofitting projects. The collection is supposed to support planners and stakeholders to identify sensible and achievable targets and objectives for their own projects.
(8) New Business Models and Financing Schemes
As the financial aspects are often the main-drivers in district retrofitting projects, the FASUDIR Methodology analysed and developed a set of new and existing financing profiles which can be used by planners in order to get information about different financing schemes, for district retrofitting all over Europe. The profiles contain not only qualitative information about the business models and schemes but also sources for gathering further information in different European countries (e.g. websites of funding bodies, financiers, etc.). Therefore, the developed financing profiles can be very useful for planners and stakeholders to gather financial support for their projects around Europe.
(9) Adaptation and development of new Life Cycle Databases
As part of the Methodology and for preparation of the IDST implementation two main FASUDIR databases for life cycle analysis have been developed based on existing databases. In order to include Life Cycle Assessment calculations within the FASUDIR functions the German open-source LCA-database „ökobau.dat“ as well as the European LCA-database „eLCD“ which both are based on the GaBI-database have been used to create a LCA-database for the FASUDIR IDST. During the processing of the databases for each FASUDIR intervention a LCA-record has been re-calculated and created using the existing databases. Moreover, in order to allow the performance of Life Cycle Cost calculations in FASUDIR a LCC-cost database for each FASUDIR intervention has been developed by collecting cost and useful lifetime data from literature research. Both databases can be seen as stand-alone result of the FASUDIR project a can be used by following R&D projects or in practical applications or softwares. The new databases have been included in the IES VE software tool in order to perform life cycle analysis calculations using the FASUDIR IDST.
(10) Default datasets for European Building Stock
The FASUDIR concept has been created as a tool for high level insights and therefore takes advantage of the Pareto Principle. It states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. If the Pareto Principle is applied to the data collection process for buildings and districts 80% of the accuracy can be reached with 20% of the time and cost effort. If the planners need to have 100% accuracy the time effort for the data collection will be increased by 80%. To execute the Pareto principle within the FASUDIR Methodology a comprehensive default dataset for the European Building Stock has been created within the project. The Default datasets have been created based on previous results from R&D projects like TABULA and Annex51. However, these datasets were not complete and were not in the right format to be directly included in the FASDUIR concept. Therefore, a re-processing of the databases has been carried out and missing data has been added to fulfil all requirements of the FASUDIR Methodology. The outcome was a huge database including thermal, energetic and legal properties for buildings in five European countries. The database has been implemented as database in the FASUDIR IDST back-end in form of several building and constructions master templates. However, the default datasets developed in FASUDIR remain available to the relevant partners for potential inclusión and extensión in their subsequent R&D projects and in practical applications.
(11) Decision-Support-Process
As core aspect for the FASUDIR Methodology, a decisión support process has been developed which is used to create a weighting system for a set of KPIs based on an MCDA approach. The decisión support process has been implemented within the IDST. However, the process can be adapted on different sets of KPIs and for different cases. Therefore the FASUDIR decision support process can be used by subsequent R&D projects or in real applications for decision-making.
(12) Repository of technologies
In order to fulfil all the requirements of the FASUDIR Methodology and the IDST a comprehensive repository of technologies for building and district level retrofitting measures has been developed. The main role of the repository done was to provide a comprehensive analysis and characterization of existing technologies, systems and tools in use or near-application for energy retrofitting from the point of view of buildings and districts. To enable an effective management of this systematization and categorization a repository was set up, and afterwards connected with the Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) facilitating an easy understanding of the solutions and a comparison between performances and characteristic of each technology. The repository contains a collection of all the relevant information related to the available retrofit technologies both at building and district level. Both passive and active technologies have been considered and among others characterised in terms of technical parameters, suitability for different building typologies and climatic conditions, ease of application, specific installation procedures and criteria for applicability. However, the repository of technologies is not only qualitative and descriptive but also quantitative. On the other side, specific attention has been dedicated to layout a user interface in order for the technology Library to be a self-standing tool to be used also separately from the FASUDIR IDST. Hence, the repository can be seen as valuable outcome of the project and can be adopted by following R&D projects or as guidance in real district and building retrofitting projects.
(13) New methods for Stakeholder collaboration
As major part of the FASUDIR Methodology the collaboration and communication processes between all involved stakeholders in district retrofitting projects have been analysed, structured and newly defined in order to allow a most efficient communication between involved stakeholders. In order to be able to categorize the different stakeholder groups according to their role in the FASUDIR Methodology and the IDST user roles have been defined and implemented in the IDST through different access right levels in the front-end web-userinterface. Moreover, to support a proper e-collaboration with the FASUDIR Methodology new and innovative ways of stakeholder involvement through online participation methods in the concept and implementation phase of district retrofitting projects have been developed. Furthermore, detailed functionalities and ideas for an e-collaboration process have been worked out. The e-collaboration methods developed in FASUDIR remain available remain available to the relevant partners for potential inclusion and extension in their subsequent R&D projects and adopted in practical applications.
(14) Sensitivity Analysis
In order to assess the effects of poor data quality on the simulation results and the decisions-making a comprehensive sensitivity analysis has been carried out as part of the FASUDIR Methodology development. The results have shown that the main sources of uncertainties in the FASUDIR Project related to the risk associated with poor data quality and wrong user entries. The quality and accuracy of the results can depend on such issues as the quality of the available and used data and the good scoping, pricing assumption and methods of calculations. For the analysis of KPIs the input of uncertainty parameters and stochastic methods, such as Monte Carlo simulations have been employed. In order to reduce the impacts of uncertainties for the decision-making measures have been be taken into account in the IDST development. The experiences achieved through carrying out the sensitivity analysis in FASUDIR can provide valuable input for following R&D projects and practical applications in the fields of district energy simulations and energy retrofitting.
(15) Mapping of FASUDIR KPIs to existing sustainability rating schemes
Under the framework of the KPI development in the FASUDIR Methodology a detailed analysis of existing certification schemes in the fields of sustainable building and district rating has been conducted. The aim of the analysis was to map the FASUDIR KPIs, corresponding calculation methods and benchmarks to the most famous sustainability certification schemes used in Europe. The results have shown that the FASUDIR KPIs are well in line with existing schemes and reach a high coverage rate. However, a complete mapping or translation of the benchmarks and results was not possible as the different rating schemes are based on different methods which in some cases are not translatable into the FASUDIR methods. Moreover, the analysis provides a very good collection of used KPIs in different existing schemes in Europe. The experiences showed that it is very useful to consider all available standards, regulations and guidelines in the own development. Nevertheless, KPIs always need to fit in the whole methodology of each single R&D project and cannot be for all details in line with existing schemes. The results of the mapping performed in the FASUDIR project can be adopted by following R&D projects in the future which also are going to develop KPIs. Those projects can take advantage of the comparison tables developed within the mapping analysis in the FASUDIR Project.
(16) Interactive and enriched web-based user interface (front-end application)
One main outcome of the FASUDIR project within the IDST is the web-based user interface which has been developed during the project to control the comprehensive functionalities of the IDST and to visualize the results. The user interface is based on an HTML5 code and has been developed under the criteria of interoperability and flexibility to different simulation back-ends and City Information Models. Due to the high interoperability requirements which have been considered during the development phase of the user interface, it can easily be adopted for several different types of applications. For instance, the user interface can be connected to different simulation engines in the future or can visualize several types of City Information Models based different file formats (CityGML, Shape, IFC, Geojsn, etc.). Moreover, the developed visualization methods in the user interface can be overtaken by following R&D projects or in real applications.
(17) Web-based City Information Model Attribute editor
Based on the FASUDIR data model a comprehensive attribute editor for City Information Models has been developed. The attribute editor allows to view and edit different properties of building and district objects in a City Information Model via the web-browser and to store the edited results back in the model. Moreover, to handle a huge number of buildings the attribute editor contains an advanced Building Selection Helper, which allows users to filter out buildings in the district according to user defined criteria like building properties, KPI results or others.
(18) Web-based Analysis Tools for District Retrofitting
After the comprehensive analysis methods for District Retrofitting development in the FASUDIR Methodology, each of the methods has been transformed into a web-based analysis tool. These web-tools allow the user automatically to apply the different defined analysis methods using data from the City Information Model, the simulation engine in the back-end and user-based data entries:
(18.1) Heat Network Tool: The tool allows to automatically calculate the energy density for pre-defined grid areas in a web-based map or a freely chosen selection of buildings from the map. The tool can be used by several stakeholders like ESCOs, Cities or urban planners to evaluate the feasibility of heat networks before and after building renovations in early planning phases.
(18.2) Synergies Tool: The synergy tool is a web-browser based function which allows to automatically display aggregated time-based simulation results (e.g. hourly heat load values, PV production) for a freely chosen selection of buildings. Moreover, the tool enables users to automatically create, view and analyse a duration heat load curve based on time series data. The synergies tool can be used in the future by urban planners to assess the characteristics of existing or planned heat networks or smart grids including electricity from renewable energy sources.
(18.3) Financing Mechanisms Tool: The tool allows planners to automatically calculate the financial parameters like ROI and payback period for different created district retrofitting variants using the output of simulation results from the current state assessment (diagnosis) and the simulation results from user created variants. The tool is based on a method for the calculation of the ROI and payback period which has been developed in the FASUDIR Methodology as an excel tool and defined in the KPI description. The financing mechanisms tool can be used by a broad number of users to evaluate the financial performance of different retrofitting projects on building and district scale.
(18.4) Energetic Weak Points Tool: The tool allows user to display the different energy breakdowns of a building based on the simulation results in order to identify the main areas for actions in terms of retrofitting measures.
(18.5) Solar potentials tool: The tool has been developed by using the guidelines from the FASUDIR Methodology, which defined criteria for the suitability of roof areas to install PV-systems and solar thermal systems. The criteria have been adopted and a web-based tool has been created which allows to simulate and visualize the different potentials for solar energy use for buildings in a district.
(19) E-Collaboration Platform
In order to implement the developed new ways of stakeholder involvement and communication strategies from the FASUDIR Methodology, a comprehensive E-Collaboration Platform has been developed for the IDST. The platform allows users to up- and download files related to single buildings in the district or district objects like streets, parks, etc. Moreover, the platform allows different platform users to communicate among each other by using a messenger function. Furthermore, the platform includes a forum function. The concept and design of E-Collaboration Platform can be used in the future by different following R&D projects or in real applications to support the e-collaboration in district retrofitting projects.
(20) Building and Construction Master Templates in IES VE based on created Default Datasets
Based on the developed default datasets from the FASUDIR Methodology a comprehensive set of building and construction master templates to be used within the IES Software back-end have been developed. The master templates include default values for several building types and construction year classes in five European countries in Europe. The master templates allow to run simulation based on only a few input data like building type, year of construction and thermal mass type. Based on this information a routine was developed which creates within the IES VE software a basic thermal model of the building using the geometries of the City Information Model. The created master templates for buildings and constructions can be used in following R&D projects using the IES VE tool or in real application tools.
(21) Intervention Templates in IES VE based on FASUDIR LCA and LCC Databases and repository of technologies
The FASUDIR LCA and LCC databases which have been developed were combined with the repository of technologies under the framework of the FASUDIR Methodology. Afterwards they have been transformed into a huge set of intervention templates within the IES VE. The intervention templates include all thermal information and properties to run simulations in the IES VE tool using the created design options. The intervention templates also can be incorporated in other simulation tools on the market or used in further R&D projects including IES VE software to create retrofitting variants of buildings and districts based on little input information.
(22) Cloud based Simulation Server and API
Within the FASUDIR IDST development phase a new innovative cloud based server structure to create thermal models in the cloud using the information stored in the FASUDIR City Information Model has been developed. The cloud-based server can be accessed using an API (Advanced programming Interface) which has been developed by IES. The API can be accessed also using other City Information Models and web-interfaces as it has been developed considering all interoperability criteria. Therefore, the IES simulation server and API developed during the FASUDIR project can be used by different external City Information Models or interfaces for running thermal simulations in the cloud. Hence, future R&D projects or real applications using IES VE cloud simulations can capitalize the work developed in the FASUDIR project.
(23) Calculation of FASUDIR KPIs and automatically benchmarking
In the FASUDIR Methodology a set of objective and innovative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been developed and calculation methods as well as benchmarking values have been defined. In order to allow users of the FASUDIR IDST to calculate and evaluate the KPIs in a more efficient automatic way in the FASUDIR IDST all the KPI calculation methods have been developed in form of web-code which is able to perform the calculations of the KPIs in the front-end website on the fly or on the simulation server in the back-end. This supports planners in assessing the current state and created retrofitting variants of district concepts in a fast and effective way using the FASUDIR IDST. The developed code for performing the KPI calculations on the server or via the front-end can be used not only in the IDST but can be linked to further simulation results due to its interoperable design. Hence, later R&D projects or real applications can use the developed calculation engines in FASUDIR to calculate the KPIs automatically.
(24) Detailed user manual for the IDST
After the finalization of the IDST prototype a comprehensive user manual summarizing all the functionalities in a structured way has been developed. The user manual shows all steps that are necessary to use the FASUDIR IDST in an appropriate way. The user manual is based on the functionalities of the IDSST. However, the basic structure of contents and chapters as well as the design of the user manual can be used by following R&D projects or for real applications as exemplary template. The content can be adopted for other prototypes or tools in an easy way.
(25) Data Model (Structure of FASUDIR Attributes)
Within the FASUDIR project a widespread list of building and district properties has been defined during the FASUDIR Methodology development. The properties later have been structured according to the CityGML standard and incorporated in a FASUDIR data model in form of a CityGML Model for the FASUDIR IDST. The FASUDIR data model structure is in line with the CityGML standard and incorporates all necessary building and district properties to run thermal simulations of buildings using a simulation back-engine. Moreover, it contains all properties to calculate and store the FASUDIR KPIs in the model. Moreover, during the project the minimum data requirements for the geometric input files to create a meaningful thermal data model have been defined. Subsequent R&D projects and even practical applications can adopt the FASUDIR data model as it has been developed under the interoperability perspectives using the state of the art
technologies (e.g. CityGML, GIS, etc.). Moreover, later applications can take advantage of the valuable experiences concerning the minimum data requirements and data quality for creating CityGML models for cloud based thermal simulations, which have been generated during the FASUDIR project.
(26) Enriched City Model 3D-Vizualization in the front-end
As described in the FASUDIR Methodology the FASUDIR IDST allows users to display the district and buildings included in the City Information Model on a web-based 3D-vizualization. The developed 3D-visualization allows to display CityGML models using a web-plugin. The web-plugin has been adopted to the FASUDIR needs and enables users to display results and building and district properties in various graphical ways (e.g. colouring buildings according to the KPI results). The new and innovative type of application of the virtual 3D-Vizualization of CityGML models via the web used in the context of building and district retrofitting remains available to the relevant partners for potential inclusión and extensión in their subsequent R&D projects and in real applications.
(27) FASUDIR CityGML Models for three real case study sites in Europe
To demonstrate the successful application of the FASUDIR Methodology and the IDST prototype in practical situation three demo test sites have been selected in, Santiago de Compostela, Budapest and Frankfurt:
· Cultural heritage districts: historic city quarter of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), found-ed on the XIII century
· Communist era district from the XX century: Residential district with public buildings in Budapest (Hungary)
· Residential districts built up on the 1970’s decade of the 20th century (Germany): Hein-richt-Lübke-Siedlung (Frankfurt)
For all of the three case study test sites a real CityGML Model was created and all necessary properties to run thermal simulations and KPI calculations for FASUDIR have been added. Moreover, all functionalities of the IDST have been enabled for the three case studies and their proper function have been proven.
The real application on case studies of the IDST allowed the consortium to start a refinement phase needed to finalize the tool. The results showed that the accuracy of the IDST is sufficiently precise for the purpose of decision-making on district level. Indeed, the simulated global energy demand of the case study districts remained close to the respective real measured values. For few single buildings significant deviations to the real values were identified caused by poor input data availability. In the case studies also a balancing effect for the results was identified, which averaged out deviations to the real measured values through the high number of buildings. The three created CityGML as well as the results of the KPIs and simulations can be used after the end of the FASUDIR project in various ways. The representants of the participating case study sites can use the models for urban planning purposes and further planning purposes in the future. The results can be used to facilitate the district retrofitting projects in these sites. Moreover, the created CityGML models can be used in the future to demonstrate the power of the FASUDIR approach to real customers and applicants in terms of best practice applications. Furthermore, subsequent R&D projects can take advantage of the created CityGML models and adopt, complement or further develop the models for their own purposes.
Potential Impact:
POTENTIAL IMPACT
In this section the economic, environmental and social potential impacts of FASUDIR System are presented.
(a) Economic impact
The economic impact of FASUDIR system could be addressed thorough the following considerations: energy use in buildings accounts for 40% of total energy consumption, which translates into 36% of the EU’s CO2 emissions. Providing that an increasing 73% of these buildings are placed in European urban districts and that over 24% of these buildings are pre 1945, buildings with high energy retrofitting needs in urban districts consume 7.0% of the overall energy and are responsible for the 6.3% of the global CO2 consumption. Indeed, in some recent reports, the International Energy Agency indicated the priorities for a transition to sustainable buildings: the study shows that advanced envelope design, also applicable to building retrofitting, is required in US, Russia, and EU. According to these figures and considerations, the strategies, technologies and retrofitting techniques that FASUIR IDST system (methodology and software tool) will help in identifying and recommend (depending on each particular case study), could certainly contribute to reach the targets of energy savings foreseen for the deep retrofitting of EU building stocks, 33%. More in details, assuming that FASUDIR outputs are implemented in 20% of the existing EU districts and 15% of the buildings, an estimated reduction of 0.07% of overall energy consumption and 0.06% of global carbon emission is foreseen for the building sector.
Taking into consideration the application of FASUDIR IDST system for the retrofitting plan of a single district, according to results obtained within the validation process of the tool, it can be assumed that the expected energy reduction achieved thanks to the energy strategies evaluated with FASUDIR system support, even if depending on many variables, will be, in the worst case, 10%. According to these figures, FASUDIR IDST system could bring significant savings on household energy bills and thus have a direct impact on everyday life of all European citizens: in residential buildings the energy consumption sharing depends heavily from the location of the dwelling but an average sharing in a residential building with conventional technologies can be estimated as in the following: heat (~200 kWh/m2/yr), electricity (~30 kWh/m2/yr), and air conditioning (~50 kWh/m2/yr). Considering the cost of electricity for EU-28 is 0.211 €/kWh and the gas for heating 0.071€/kWh , the cost of the energy for end users in a conventional building is estimated in 31.080 €/m2/yr. Providing a surface of 500 m2/building, an energy saving of 10%, considering 28 million buildings in urban district with high energy retrofitting needs and estimating that FASUDIR could be applied in 3% of buildings in Europe, the overall potential economic saving in energy would be 1307 million€/year .
Also economic growth due to a new activity could be achieved thanks FASUDIR system. According to Euroconstruct , residential refurbishment building market represents 387.6 billion€/yr. Considering that the increase of activity due to energy refurbishment and associated services (engineering, certification, installation, etc.) could represent about 5% of the whole volume, and estimating that 3% of the buildings will apply FASUDIR methodology, the economic impact associated to this issue is estimated in 581 million€/year . Besides, if we estimate that 5% of the European incomes could be exported outside Europe in 5 years, the economic growth raises to 610 million€/year.
(b) Environmental impact
The environmental impact of the FASUDIR IDST is linked to several issues: first of all FASUDIR system, thanks to the proposed approach, could lead to energy savings up to 30% of the district buildings energy consumption. The expected energy reduction in existing districts will depend on many variables, however, FASUDIR system, according to validation process results , in the worst case, is estimated to reach energy savings in the global conventional energy consumption of 10%. Furthermore, as above mentioned, the implementation of FASUDIR results in European districts could contribute to a reduction of 0.07% of overall European energy consumption and of 0.06% of the global carbon emissions.
Another aspect that is important to take into consideration is the contribution that the tool could give in the diffusion of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) within retrofitted districts. The production of energy derived from the application of RES for energy efficiency interventions in existing district buildings, after completing the design and implementation process assisted by IDST tool, will depend on several factors (e.g. the age of the network of buildings to address or their location), however, it is estimated that this value (% of RES contribution) will range from 5% to 20% of the final district energy consumption (12.5% average value).
Finally, also the reduction of construction waste could be associated to the use of FASUDIR system: processing and manufacturing building products accounts for 70% of all energy used in constructing buildings. It has been estimated that up to 75% of the building materials used in Europe are potentially recyclable. Currently only 5% is in fact recycled. FASUDIR IDST can assess also the life cycle of the materials used for the retrofitting interventions by means of the introduction, among the set of Key Performance Indicators calculated to assess the sustainability of the districts, of Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis and Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) Indicators. These assessments allow to minimise the overall environmental impact due to district’s retrofitting and to improve the recycling process thus the reduction of 15% construction waste will boost the accomplishment of targets for non-hazardous construction and demolition waste set for 2020 by the Waste Framework Directive by reducing the general waste generated in the retrofitting process thanks to FASUDIR’s Life Cycle approach.
(c) Social impact
The societal implications of the project are mostly addressed to the following aspects: according to FIEC , the building construction sector covers 30.9% of the industrial employment in Europe, and employs about 14.1 million people in EU, furthermore it is estimated that 42.3 million workers in the European Union depend in one way or another, on the construction sector. According to above estimations, about 10.5% of these jobs are related to buildings refurbishments with high energy retrofitting needs, thus representing about 1.480.000 direct jobs in the E.U. The creation of a new field of activity related to energy refurbishment could increase it in 5%, thus representing an increase of about 74.000 direct jobs.
Creation of indirect jobs mostly linked to cultural tourism can also be taken into consideration: FASUDIR aims at promoting sustainability improvement of historic urban areas. Providing that 50% of the buildings with high energy retrofitting needs in EU districts are of historical value, and considering that every direct job in cultural heritage activities induces 10 indirect jobs , indirect job creation generated by FASUDIR could be estimated in 370.000 jobs .
Finally, more than 68%, of the total European urban population (367 million) live in urban areas where air pollution presently causes premature death. Estimates of the health impacts attributable to exposure to air pollution indicate that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in 2011 were responsible for about 430.000 in the EU-28, originating from long-term exposure. The estimated impact of exposure to O3 concentrations in 2011 on the European population was about 16.160 in the EU-28, originating from short-term exposure. The use of FASUDIR´s new approaches to reach the present comfort and indoor climate occupant requirements will highly contribute to improve their quality of life and to make cities a more attractive place to work, make business and invest, therefore improving the employment and contributing to the European competitiveness. As above mentioned, providing the application of FASUDIR outputs in 15% of the overall 20% of EU urban districts buildings, this will improve quality of life of nearly 11million people living in EU districts .
IMPACT CONCEPT FASUDIR POTENTIAL IMPACT
Economic Economic energy saving 4356 million€/year
Economic direct growth 1017 million€/year
Environmental Reduction of the energy consumption of Districts 10%
Reduction of global energy consumption 0.07%
Reduction of overall CO2 consumption 0.06%
Promotion of renewable sources 12.5%
Reduction of construction waste 15%
Social Creation of direct jobs 74.000
Creation of indirect jobs 370.000
Improvement of citizens quality of life 11 M people
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES
As the FASUDIR project was born with a clear practical orientation, and both methodologies and software tools developed are meant to find their way into the market in a relatively short period of time, dissemination activities had high priority as a way to attract the attention of relevant stakeholders.
The dissemination strategy was based on four types of activities: the use of online dissemination channels (newsletters, website, social networks); the development of dissemination materials (factsheets, booklets, poster, videos, publications, media communications); the participation to and organisation of events (Local Project Committees, workshops, conferences); and finally, clustering and networking activities.
The main outcomes of the abovementioned activities are detailed below by type:
(a) Online dissemination
The key purpose of the newsletter dissemination was to deliver informative reports on project activity via e-mail to interested parties. All partners were involved in collecting contacts of interested parties to feed the FASUDIR mailing list, while the website included a sign-up form for easy registration. The average audience for FASUDIR newsletter was over 250 readers. The initial activities at the beginning of the project included the set up of newsletter management and the creation of a standard layout format. Periodic communications have been sent based on topics of interest (total of 10 messages).
The www.fasudir.eu website was developed as an interactive environment to access latest information, content produced by the project, and get in touch. Website content was updated based on summaries of public deliverables, publishing all public material developed within the project and reporting on events. Additionally, the website holds a private repository for confidential material exchange. The area is accessible only with a valid website login. The website had a growing performance over the life of the project, with increasing tendencies for both the overall number of visitors and the % of new visitors.
Online accounts for the dissemination and resharing of content and events via a network of partners’ contacts and interested third parties have been created. Content has been shared periodically via all major social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn). Accounts were also established on key content distribution websites, such as YouTube for video distribution and issuu for booklet publishing.
(b) Dissemination materials
A set of six A4 page factsheets, focused on key FASUDIR topics, have been created for distribution both in print at events and via the website (http://fasudir.eu/documents/) on the following topics:
1. FASUDIR presentation
2. Key Performance Indicators
3. IDST baseline and scope
4. Local Project Committees
5. Case Studies
6. Final results
A set of publications have been produced to describe all main FASUDIR results in further depth. The booklets are loosely tied to the main WPs, and have been developed with the support of WP and task leaders. The final library of FASUDIR booklets is:
1. IDST Baseline (WP2);
2. Technology repository (WP3);
3. Decision making methodology (WP4);
4. Integrated decision support tool (WP5);
5. Case studies (WP6);
6. LPCs and policy recommendations (WP7);
7. Final results.
The booklets are available for download on the project website (http://fasudir.eu/documents/) and can be read online via the issuu platform (https://issuu.com/fasudir). In particular, the IDST booklet contains an extract of the IDST manual to support training on the use of the IDST for future applications in the three FASUDIR cities.
A roll-up poster with key FASUDIR facts was developed for fairs and exhibitions, so that partners could exhibit it at their booth.
Two public videos have been produced for broad dissemination at events and via the FASUDIR project’s YouTube channel:
• An introductory video presenting the purpose of the project, developed at the beginning of the project;
• An IDST overview for policy makers and the general public, showcasing key features of the tool, created at the end of the IDST development activity.
Additionally, private videos have been realised as walkthroughs and webinars for Case Study Leaders and LPCs to support demos and training on the use of the IDST.
FASUDIR partners have published the results in scientific literature, dedicated journals and magazines in the field of energy efficient buildings, and conference proceedings; furthermore, several press releases and articles were published in technical and popular press, and interviews given to local networks and relevant portals (e.g. CORDIS).
A selection of publicly available papers is listed below:
• Romero, A; Egusquiza A; Izkara, J.L. Integrated decision support tool in energy retrofitting projects for sustainable urban districts, WSB 2014 Conference proceedings, Volume 3, Pages 273-279, ISBN 978-84-697-1815-5, http://www.wsb14barcelona.org/papers.html
• Paul Mittermeier; Natalie Eßig; Ander Romero Amorrortu, Evaluation and Development of Indicators for Sustainability Assessments of Urban Neighbourhood Renovation Projects, WSB 2014 Conference proceedings, Volume 3, Pages 680-686, ISBN 978-84-697-1815-5, http://www.wsb14barcelona.org/papers.html
• Barbano G, Bunn D, Camiruaga I, Essig N, Ferrando V, Kiss I, Mittermeier P, Moro A, Zukowska EA, Is it possible to achieve a friendly and affordable urban district retrofitting?, WSB 2014 Conference special session, http://fasudir.eu/documents/WSB14_sessionpaper.pdf
• Iñaki Prieto, Jose Luis Izkara, Aitziber Egusquiza, Rubén Béjar, Sustainable refurbishment in urban districts through a web-based tool based on 3D city model, Sustainable Places 2015 Proceedings, http://sustainable-places.eu/past-events/sp2015/
• Egusquiza Ortega, Aitziber, PhD thesis, Multiscale information management for historic districts' energy retrofitting: a framework, a methodology, a model, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Tecnologia de l'Arquitectura, Date of defense: 2015-12-11, http://hdl.handle.net/10803/334399
• Giulia Barbano, Aitziber Egusquiza, Interconnection between Scales for Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting, Energy Procedia, Volume 78, 2015, Pages 1853-1858, ISSN 1876-6102, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.11.332
• Paul Mittermeier, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Ahmed Khoja, Ander Romero Amorrortu, A holistic Methodology for District Retrofitting projects management through an Integrated Decision Support Tool, Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2016 in Hamburg: Strategies, Stakeholders, Success factors, 7th - 11th March 2016; Conference Proceedings, Pages 62-70, http://dx.doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000051699
• G. Barbano, A. Moro, Engaging Stakeholders through Local Project Committees, Expanding Boundaries Systems Thinking in the Built Environment Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) Regional Conference Zurich 2016, Pages 484-488, http://dx.doi.org/10.3218/3774-6_79
• Paul Mittermeier, Ahmed Khoja, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Sustainable Neighborhood Regeneration: Holistic Decision Support Methodology Supported by a Software Tool, newDist SBE16 Towards Post-Carbon Cities - February 18-19 2016, July 2016, Pages 319-329, ISSN: 2283-8791, http://sbe16torino.org/proceedings/
• Ahmed Khoja, Paul Mittermeier, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Applying FASUDIR indicators to assess the sustainability performance of a residential neighbourhood in Wolfrathausen, Bavaria, newDist -SBE16 Towards Post-Carbon Cities - February 18-19 2016, July 2016, Pages 122-129, ISSN: 2283-8791, http://sbe16torino.org/proceedings/
(c) Events
5 national Local Project Committees (LPCs) have been established in order to create feedback cycles with local stakeholders to review the project activity and results. Involving 76 participants of highly relevant expertise, four LPC meetings have been held in the FASUDIR countries as follows:
1. Collect expectations on the tool
2. Methodology draft
3. Beta version of the IDST
4. Achievements and real applications of the tool
Project partners with LPCs have organized one workshop targeted at policy makers and administration officials and report on the outcome, in order to obtain feedback from policy makers and public authorities on the implementation of FASUDIR results within policies. The outcomes of the Policy Workshops have been detailed in the dedicated public deliverable D7.8 Policy Recommendations. Other ad-hoc workshops have been organised with different stakeholder types, such as funding bodies and district inhabitants.
One of the key FASUDIR dissemination activities was the presentation of results in several international policy conferences of relevance, with all partners participating to events, seminars, conferences and workshops of different sizes – from the small scale of ad-hoc workshops (30 attendees) to medium scale events (2000 attendees, e.g. WSB2014) to large fairs (44k+ in Ecobuild). With presentations in over 20 locations in all the project countries and beyond, FASUDIR has been presented to a wide and varied audience both European and international.
In particular the SBE (Sustainable Built Environment, formerly SB - Sustainable Building) series of conferences at world and regional level, hosted by CIB, UNEP, iiSBE and FIDIC, has been one of the major channels of dissemination. FASUDIR organised a special session at the World Sustainable Building Conference 2014 in Barcelona, and was presented through oral presentations and papers in the 2016 series of Sustainable Built Environment conferences such as SBE16 Hamburg and SBE16 Zurich. Most notably, FASUDIR promoted and supported the organization of the Sustainable Built Environment 2016 Torino conference, Towards post-carbon cities, leveraging the event to act as transnational midterm conference (disseminating the event to LPCs, stakeholders, public authorities and other EU projects, and defining conference topics in line with FASUDIR objectives).
The final results event was organised within the context of the Sustainable Places 2016 conference, with a dedicated 3-hour workshop held on 30/6/2016 in Anglet, France.
Other attended events include:
• Presented project during ECTP-E2BA Conference 2014: Construction and Built Environment Future Horizons
• Presented the multiscale information management for sustainable districts rehabilitation concept during 10th European Conference on Product & Process Modelling – ECPPM 2014
• Organized special session and presented three papers during World Sustainable Building Conference 2014, Barcelona
• Presented paper Interconnection between scales for friendly and affordable sustainable urban districts retrofitting (Giulia Barbano, Aitziber Egusquiza) during 6th International Building Physics Conference – IBPC 2015
• Networking activities during the EUSEW 2015, Brussels
• Presented paper Sustainable refurbishment in urban districts through a web-based tool based on 3D city model (Iñaki Prieto, Jose Luis Izkara, Aitziber Egusquiza, Rubén Béjar) during Sustainable Places 2015, September 16th-18th
• Presented paper A holistic Methodology for District Retrofitting projects management through an Integrated Decision Support Tool (Paul Mittermeier, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Ahmed Khoja, Ander Romero Amorrortu) during SBE16 Hamburg, March 7th-11th
• Presented paper Engaging Stakeholders through Local Project Committees (Giulia Barbano, Andrea Moro) during SBE16 Zurich, June 13th-17th
• Networking activities at CESB16, Prague
• Paper Multiscale building modelling and energy simulation approaches for urban sustainability (Ander Romero, Jose Luis Izkara, Asier Mediavilla) accepted for presentation at ECPPM 2016, September 7th-9th
(d) Clustering and networking
Throughout the life of the project, FASUDIR has networked with similar organizations to strategize use of results and further research activities, in particular by connecting with other FP7 & H2020 European related projects, such as European and National Technology Platforms (e.q. ECTP) and related associations, and with organizations involved in standard development. Such clustering and networking activities include:
• Participated to the “From Research to Action: Resource Efficient Innovation for SMEs” Workshop, November 2013, Brussels, DG Research and Innovation;
• In July 2014, the FASUDIR project joined the CESBA initiative, a collective initiative for a new culture of the built environment in Europe, focused on the harmonization of building and districts assessment in Europe. CESBA is supported by EU funded projects and focuses on “public” assessment: policies, urban plans, building codes, GPP;
• FASUDIR was invited to be part of the Stakeholders Advisory Board of the sister FP7 project ECODISTR-ICT, participated to the SAB in Valencia on December 2014, and attended remotely to the SAB in Stockholm on December 2015;
• In October 2015, the FASUDIR IDST was presented to a DCAA (Deutsch-Chinesische Gesellschaft für Austausch und Ausbildung) delegation of experts from Shanghai;
• In November 2015, FASUDIR was presented in the SUSTAIN EU ASEAN_MunuS Workshop, clustering EU-funded projects on climate action, resource efficiency and raw material issues relevant for the AESAN region;
• In January 2016, FASUDIR was presented at the EEBERS project workshop in Munich featuring a cluster of 82 research projects;
• In February 2016, in the FASUDIR-promoted mid-term conference SBE16 Torino, FASUDIR organised a special networking session entitled “Assessment and Decision Making at Urban Scale: Opportunities for Synergies at European Level”, with the participation of 11 EU-funded projects (FASUDIR, ECODISTR-ICT, NewTREND, CLUE, CABEE, CESBA Alps, Odysseus, Pocacito, Dimmer, Politoward, Optimus)
Finally, throughout the project life, FASUDIR was an active participant to the yearly Impact of the Energy-efficient Buildings PPP Workshop in Brussels, with presentations in April 2014, 2015 and 2016.
In conclusion, extensive dissemination activities have been carried out by all FASUDIR partners, with constant communication towards external stakeholders throughout the life of the project. This has ensured continuous attention towards the FASUDIR activities and results and a significant impact, with hundreds of people informed across the whole value chain and links established with several related research projects and initiatives.
The varied approach across channels and the leverage of existing networks and events, together with the strong dissemination commitment from all partners, has been instrumental in ensuring a successful dissemination activity that has established recognition for the FASUDIR project and its outcomes.
EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS
Within dedicated exploitation workshops, along the R&D activities development, the Consortium identified the following four project outcomes, as the four main Exploitable Results (ERs):
• FASUDIR methodology
• IDST Software Tool
• Solutions repository
• 3D District data model
The software may be considered as the main exploitable result, and therefore will likely be the main focus of the Exploitation actions for the consortium. Nevertheless, as already anticipated, the methodology that represents the backbone behind the software tool as well as the innovative tools that compose the IDST (e.g. solutions repository, the 3D district data models CityGML etc), have been considered as fundamental part of it and strictly linked to the empowerment of the software tools functionalities.
The consortium identified also FASUDIR methodology together with the know-how that was created to enable the development of the IDST itself (e.g. the innovative way to elaborate CityGMLs), as fundamental means to enrich the services (detailed below) that can be offered thanks to FASUDIR IDST.
Herein in the following, FASUDIR project results have been characterised as products and related services as well:
(a) FASUDIR results as a product
The following sections synthetically describe the exploitation potentials of the main FASUDIR project results as a product
(a1) IDST Tool and related Methodology
The Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) supports the retrofitting of urban districts by the use of selected KPIs, with high-tech thermal models and thanks to automatized energy simulations and visualisation of results. The tool is built on an innovative methodology that enables the decision makers to define the retrofitting project through the selection of the best solutions to increase the sustainability of a whole district. The methodology supports the stakeholders in the selection of realistic interventions based on specific input data, selected criteria and a dedicated weighting system: the decision making methodology, indeed, takes into account the user preferences and may be adapted to different stakeholders groups. The selection of the proper retrofitting intervention can be achieved by the stakeholders following all the steps that the methodology proposes as a vademecum. Each step can provide information on the status of the district that could be useful even for other reasons different from retrofitting (e.g. census, social statistics, environmental monitoring etc.). The analysis of the energetic and sustainability weaknesses and strengths of the districts is sustained within the tool also by a 3D model of the area. The three Case Studies (Budapest, Frankfurt and Santiago de Compostela) benefit from the creation of a building/district energy models. Indeed, the three municipalities benefit from the construction of a detailed CityGML Model which contains information such as climatic conditions, district geography, building geometries and use patterns, existing service networks and so on. The tool offers also a solutions repository that contains a huge set of possible interventions both at building level and district level: existing technologies and system were characterised and described, estimating also the possible cost and return of investment. Furthermore, the tool includes also an online e-collaboration platform for enabling the citizens and stakeholders active participation.
(a1.1) Synthetic description of IDST exploitation potentials
· Innovation content of result: The IDST Tool will provide a concrete support to enable a district retrofitting program, taking into account environmental, social and economic aspects and focusing on the entire process and on the related stakeholders. The tool works on a semantic knowledge repository which includes technical and non-technical indicators for each key parameter associated with different types of energy measures at envelope, systems and equipment as well as RES integration scale. Existing district information such as climatic conditions, district geography, building geometries and use patterns, existing service networks, legal background are imported into a CityGML model, which enables the 3D visualization of a district. The CityGML model is currently available for specific districts of the city of Santiago de Compostela, Frankfurt and Budapest.
· Potential customers: ESCOs, Real Estate companies, Municipality (tech. offices), Engineering consultancy companies
· Potential benefit to customers: The IDST tool will be a comprehensive and easy-to-use software which can support the customer in the entire process: the Social, Environmental and Economic KPI will provide a benchmark to the customer and the potential gain
· Expected time to market: it will depend on:
- Localization in local languages
- Marketing & promotion activities
- Licensing mode of the tool (SaaS, Single licence, etc)
· Approximate price range of this result / price of licences: Approximately €1.000 for a single stand-alone license
· How this result will rank against competing products in terms of price / performance: FASUDIR tool is based on an innovative methodology that allows the retrofitting process of urban districts in a holistic way. Indeed the tool permits the identification of possible synergies among district buildings that, according other modelling tool, are usually regarded as individual energy consumers or producers. Furthermore, the tool gives the opportunity to simulate retrofitting interventions on a whole district. In conclusion the district level of analysis is the strength of FASUDIR tool.
(a1.2) Synthetic description of the methodology exploitation potentials
· Innovation content of result: FASUDIR methodology, together with the IDST, will enable the decision makers at defining the retrofitting project through the selection of the best solutions to increase the sustainability of a whole district and not only of a single building. Furthermore, the innovation behind the decision making methodology relies on the fact that the users’ requirements are taken into account and can be also tailored according to different stakeholders groups.
· Potential customers: Architects, Engineers, Municipalities technical offices, Persons in charge for the maintenance of the city, Consultancy societies.
· Potential benefits to customers: The methodology will support the stakeholders in the selection of realistic interventions based on entry data through the definition of a criteria and a weighting system set up by the user
· Expected time to market: The time to market of the methodology is strictly linked to the IDST one. It has to be considered also the time needed to create the physical support of the methodology and the time needed to translate the contents in diverse languages.
· Approximate price range of this result / price of licences: If included in the IDST package, the methodology would be part of the total licence cost. If the methodology is exploited as a separate result, the cost of the booklet should be comparable to the cost of existing documents on retrofitting (from 25$ to 195$). Considering that on the web there is a great amount of material that is available for free but considering also that the methodology offers the advantage of a district scale focus, the cost of the methodology booklet could approximately be 100€ (or 110$).
· How this result will rank against competing products in terms of price / performance: The methodology offers an innovative perspective on retrofitting issue. The market offers solutions for the retrofitting of buildings that try to contextualize the interventions in the area of the dwellings but there is no reference to the retrofitting of a whole district. So the methodology and the tool to which it is associated are quite new and could be attractive for the market
(b) FASUDIR results as a service
Thanks to FASUDIR IDST and associated methodology different kind of services can be offered by the consortium partners or possible FASUDIR tool end users. These are described herein in the following:
(b1) Retrofitting Service
The FASUDIR IDST can be used by municipalities to apply the best retrofitting strategies to their public buildings. The methodology, supported by the IDST tool and vice versa, can be exploited by public or private bodies (e.g. municipalities, SMEs, consultancy societies) to enlarge their service offering in the field of energy management and sustainability. With a greater service offering, they could exploit the IDSTs (methodology and software) creating new business opportunities. Furthermore, thanks to the methodology and IDST characteristic focus at district level (supported by innovative instruments such as the CityGML), the retrofitting service that can be offered could be complete and well integrated in the energetic, social and cultural context of the area that has to be renovated. The cost of this service is extremely related to the type of retrofitting intervention
(b2) Consultancy services
Specific project partners can exploit the results by providing consultancy service to private customers (Property manager, Real Estate advisor) and public municipalities in order to improve the energy performances of their buildings. Using the methodology and the tool, they could propose themselves as experts in the very new figure of district project manager and find new business opportunities increasing their visibility on the energy efficiency and energy management markets. The consultancy offered exploiting FASUDIR methodology and software could be a competitive service since it is not limited to the analysis of single buildings but it is able also to extend the retrofitting to a whole district area. The consultancy provided could benefit also of innovative instruments (e.g. CityGML) that enable an effective contextualisation of the retrofitting interventions. The cost of this service is extremely related to the extent of consultancy service for the retrofitting intervention.
(b3) Informative and training service for the municipality
Local planners of the municipalities can be informed and trained by the project partners (or the legal entity) about the possibility to improve public properties and public buildings retrofitting processes thanks to FASUDIR IDST. New job positioning or carriers can be created in municipalities’ staff exploiting the training service offered by the project partners. This service could be regarded as a training course that the municipalities offer to their professionals. Thus the costs of this service should be comparable to the market costs of continuing education courses (approximately 50/60€ per hour per person + the costs of the software).
List of Websites:
Project website:
www.fasudir.eu
Relevant contact details:
Project Coordinator: Ander Romero Amorrortu (ander.romero@tecnalia.com)
TECNALIA Research & Innovation, Spain - www.tecnalia.com
Scientific and Technical Coordinator: Prof. Natalie Essig (natalie.essig@hm.edu)
Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany - www.hm.edu
Dissemination and Exploitation Coordinator: Arch. Andrea Moro (andrea.moro@iisbeitalia.org)
iiSBE Italia R&D, Italy - www.iisbeitalia.org
FASUDIR, an acronym for Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting, is a research project funded by the European Commission, running from 2013 to 2016 and involving 12 partners from 5 European countries.
FASUDIR provides an Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) based on a new methodology supported by a software tool that helps decision makers to select the best energy retrofitting strategy to increase the sustainability of the whole district. FASUDIR incorporates key actors and relevant networks at the district scale and ensures that new technologies for energy and resource efficient retrofitting are incorporated, especially those emerging from SMEs. FASUDIR takes advantage of the economies of scales and the variety of stakeholders when scaling up to the district, giving more opportunities for the development of new business and financial models with high impact in the economy.
FASUDIR´s new decision making methodology is designed to select and prioritise energy efficiency retrofitting interventions. It implements existing and new cost-effective solutions, for significant sustainable improvements in the rehabilitation of urban districts. The methodology considers the different European urban typologies and the priorities of the decision makers, and supports retrofitting actions that are deployed as a unique intervention, but also scheduling sequential interventions in the most cost-effective way. This methodology focuses on the initial stage of the retrofitting process at district level, in which the retrofitting framework is established, with the definition of strategies and technological solutions. Ultimately, the FASUDIR´s methodology allows selecting the optimal, off-the-shelf technologies and strategies for each specific energy retrofitting project in terms of sustainability as a whole (environmental, economic and social).
FASUDIR´s software tool enables modelling the district and building with an adequate level of definition, featuring a 3D graphical user interface to facilitate the interaction between the multiple stakeholders involved in the decision making process. The software tool allows end users to identify the most promising sustainable retrofitting strategies and technical solutions at building and district level, by creating a ranked list of optimised variants supported by the FASUDIR´s IDST.
The FASUDIR´s IDST is validated in three different European urban developments that are representative of different district typologies that are common in Europe, and especially in need of energy retrofitting initiatives: Cultural heritage districts (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), Communist era districts (Budapest, Hungary) and Residential districts built up on the 1970’s decade of the XX century (Frankfurt, Germany). With stakeholders´ feedback loops, training, and validation in these three diverse urban areas, the FASUDIR´s IDST ensures robustness and applicability in the entire value chain.
Project Context and Objectives:
About 40% of overall energy consumption in Europe is related to the building sector and over 50% of all materials extracted from earth are transformed into construction materials and products. With more than 70% of the building stock built before the first energy crisis (1970’s), energy retrofitting of buildings is envisaged as the most promising strategy to reach EU’s “20-20-20” targets.
However, the traditional approach to the building energy efficient retrofitting brings poor results in relation to the urban sustainability, resource efficiency and economic return. Although the district retrofitting approach is frequently the most sustainable and cost-effective, the complexity of decision making grows exponentially when the intervention targets larger scale, even more when considering the fragmentation of the construction sector (many stakeholders, most of them SMEs). Furthermore, to support the necessary building-retrofitting market mobilization in Europe to fulfil EU-targets in 2020 and 2050, new business models and financial supporting tools need to be developed.
The FASUDIR project was born to support the necessary building-retrofitting market mobilization in Europe to fulfil EU-targets in 2020 and 2050. The overall objective of FASUDIR was to develop a new methodology supported by a software tool that helps decision makers to select the best energy retrofitting strategy to increase the sustainability of the whole district. The main output of FASUDIR is the Integrated Decision Support Tool.
The project premises were the following:
• Develop an improved, easy to use tool that supports cost-effective decision making through design, planning and implementation of renewal/retrofitting projects
• Focus on the energy performance of buildings, the impact of district space planning and connections with networks and related installations (transport, energy, water, waste)
• Ensure the adoption of the most cost-optimal and affordable solutions for adapting, renewing and retrofitting groups of existing buildings that may include historic structures
• Incorporate the latest innovations and best available technologies that deliver significant energy efficiency improvements while addressing multiple resource challenges and ecosystem-based approaches
• Cover indoor and outdoor issues, as well as social and economic concerns
• Demonstrate the ability of the tools to evaluate in detail the impact potential of the solutions considered along the entire life cycle from design to decommissioning and recycling
• Quantify improvements in resource efficiency, improved health and comfort and lower greenhouse gas emissions is expected, both at the micro (projects) and macro (economy) scale, taking into account the rebound effect
• Economic impacts including cost-benefit analysis and investment amortisation should also be considered, using renovation projects as case studies
• Involve developers and public authorities whilst fostering the integration of the overall value chain involving architects, constructors, operators, financing entities, users, etc.
• The tool to be developed should take advantage of the use of standardised or pre-standardised metrics for sustainable buildings
To achieve the overall objective, the following main goals and outcomes were established:
1. Definition of the framework for the energy efficient retrofitting and renewal of buildings at district scale in the European cities.
• Characterization of the hard and soft aspects of European districts that allow guiding the decision making process according to the specificity of each district
• Identification of already existing methodologies and tools more adequate to the project needs
• Definition of the key performances indicators for the IDST that will allow evaluating the energy efficiency and sustainability conditions.
2. Development of a repository on technologies for a sustainable energy retrofitting of buildings at district scale.
• Identification of existing and replicable technologies and systems in use or near-application for a sustainable energy retrofitting of buildings and districts
• Integration of the solutions and systems in a semantic knowledge repository: digitalization of the repository that will allow automating the decision making process.
3. Development of a methodology for a new approach to buildings´ energy retrofitting from a sustainable district perspective.
• Establish criteria for the assessment of the energy saving measures based on the complementary of retrofitting variants of the buildings at a district scale
• Develop a decision making methodology for prioritization and management of the energy retrofitting interventions at district scale, connecting the building retrofitting variants with the district interventions to enhance the synergies and exploiting economy of scale factor
• Provide with a collection of evaluated energy efficiency technologies, the business and financial models for retrofitting building at district scale that will make easier and more affordable the retrofitting interventions
• Define the conceptual framework for stakeholders’ collaboration developing technological framework for the interoperability of the IDST tool.
4. Development of the software platform that supports the methodology (IDST tool).
• Define a multiscale data model to model the buildings and districts create a unique energy model
• Integrate all the project outcomes in a decision support tool based on a web application;
• Develop a friendly graphical user interface (GUI) that will allow the interaction with the multiple agents involved in the decision making process.
5. Paving the way for the exploitation of the project outcomes.
• Validate the methodological approach and its implementation in the software tool: warranty their accuracy and usability
• Develop the IDST tools as web application: accessible to the end user and enabling different exploitation strategies
• Demonstrate the IDST applicability: through the three case studies
• Undertake a full economic evaluation to promote commercial exploitation of the project outcomes: development of new business models and exploitation plans.
Project Results:
The main exploitable foregrounds of FASUDIR are mainly composed of the FASUDIR IDST and the Methodology. This chapter summarizes the main scientific and technical results also mentioned as main exploitable foregrounds of the FASUDIR project.
In general FASUDIR provides as main scientific and technical result / foreground an Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) based on a new methodology supported by a web-based software tool that helps decision makers to select the most suitable energy retrofitting strategy to increase the sustainability (economic, social and environmental) of a whole urban district.
The Decision Support Methodology developed in FASUDIR guides planners of district retrofitting projects in a structured way through several phases of the project. The Methodology starts with the preparation phase comprised of data collection and data entry. The diagnosis phase demonstrates planners and stakeholders the current state of the district in terms of sustainability and overall energy efficiency. The decision-making phase helps planners to create optimized energy retrofitting variants for the district. It allows considering the district as a global energy system by assessing heat and electricity related synergies and interactions between buildings. Based on the results the planners are able to design heat networks and to plan the inclusion of renewable energy sources taking into account smart grids and energy storages. The created energy variants can be assessed and ranked with regard to their sustainability by a MCDA approach and the use of several simulated Key Performance Indicators (LCA, life cycle cost, cost, ROI, energy, social aspects e.g. gentrification, etc). Moreover the Methodology defines the requirement of different IDST software modules to support planners in the complex planning process of district retrofitting projects.
The defined software modules are used in the process of the methodology for building simulations, 3D-visualization in a virtual Citymodel, e-collaboration platform for stakeholders, KPI evaluation and further functions. The Citymodels and the modules have been developed in the FASUDIR project and incorporated in the Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST).
Actually both of the main mentioned foreground results of FASUDIR are based on several sub-foregrounds which needed to be developed to prepare the way for the IDST and the methodology. Therefore this chapter lists and briefly describes the details of the main achievements which have been developed to create the mentioned main STC results / foregrounds.
The following table shows a summary of the main scientific and technical results of the FASUDIR project which can be described also as main foregrounds:
1) MAIN CATEGORY: The methodological framework of FASUDIR
a) SUB-CATEGORY: The FASUDIR Methodology
(1) The FASUDIR Decision-Support Methodology
(2) Process Map of the Decision Support Methodology
(3) FASUDIR KPIs
(4) New and adopted analysis methods for retrofitting on building and district level
(5) Collection and definition of a constraint repository for European Building and district retrofitting
(6) Intervention Filter Logic
(7) Identification of targets and objectives for energy retrofitting of sustainable urban districts
(8) New Business Models and Financing Schemes
(9) Adaptation and development of new Life Cycle Databases for retrofitting interventions
(10) Default datasets for European Building Stock
(11) Decision-Support-Process
(12) Repository of technologies
(13) New methods for Stakeholder collaboration
(14) Sensitivity Analysis
(15) Mapping of FASUDIR KPIs to existing sustainability rating schemes
2) MAIN CATEGORY: The Integrated Decision Support Tool
a) SUB-CATEGORY: IDST front-end web application (graphical user interface)
(16) Interactive and enriched web-based user interface (front-end application)
(17) Web-based City Information Model Attribute editor
(18) Web-based Analysis Tools for District Retrofitting
(19) E-Collaboration Platform
b) SUB-CATEGORY: IDST Simulation and Calculation Engine (Back-End)
(20) Building and Construction Master Templates in IES VE based on created Default Datasets
(21) Intervention Templates in IES VE based on FASUDIR LCA and LCC Databases and repository of technologies
(22) Cloud based Simulation Server and API
(23) Calculation of FASUDIR KPIs and automatically benchmarking
(24) Detailed user manual for the IDST
c) SUB-CATEGORY: IDST City Information Model
(25) Data Model (Structure of FASUDIR Attributes)
(26) Virtually enriched City Model 3D-Vizualization as front-end webplugin
(27) FASUDIR CityGML Models for three real case study sites in Europe
(1) The FASUDIR Decision-Support Methodology
The FASUDIR Methodology itself is based on an innovative process of different defined phases. In each phase all involved stakeholders in a district retrofitting project are guided in a structured way through the necessary steps that need to be fulfilled in order to create a most effective retrofit design in terms of energy efficiency and global sustainability. The FASUDIR Methodology is composed of several sub-aspects and results which are described in the following text parts. However, the developed Methodology as a whole can be exploited for several application scenarios independently from the FASUDIR IDST. As the Methodology can be seen as stand-alone knowledge base and process definition it can be easily adopted and overtaken for different purposes. Based on the described process in the FASUDIR Methodology cities and urban planners can develop their own sustainable district retrofitting concepts through following the FASUDIR Methodology. Furthermore, the collected knowledge and data for the Methodology can be used for following R&D projects or can be included in practical applications which can reach the market. However, beside the different phases and processes which have been defined, the FASUDIR methodology includes several sub- developments which can be seen as sub-foreground. Each of those developments can be seen as a partial outcome of the methodology which can be exploited as stand-alone results and outcomes of the Project.
(2) Process Map of the Decision Support Methodology
In order to allow the users of the FASUDIR Methodology to follow more easily the different phases and steps of the Methodology, a clearly arranged process map summarizing the different process in a visible way has been developed and can be seen as an valuable annex of the FASUDIR Methodology itself. It helps to understand the global vision of the designed Methodology and therefore facilitates the acceptance and understanding of the Methodology among stakeholders.
(3) FASUDIR KPIs
The FASUDIR project focuses on energy retrofitting of buildings for sustainable urban districts. The main role of key performance indicators developed in the FASUDIR project is to help to take the best energy retrofit decision by providing quantitative or qualitative information about building and district performance. The indicators assess the project along its environmental, social and economic performance, with focus on resource efficiency, low emissions, health, comfort and cost efficiency. The impact of the energy measures on overall sustainability must be clearly assessed and visible in the final evaluation of the district, to provide a clear picture to the decision makers. Hence, the developed FASUDIR KPIs represent a core part of the decision-making method in the FASUDIR Methodology. As objective and hard assessment figures the FASUDIR Key Performance Indicators support the stakeholders in FASUDIR in the diagnosis and decision-making process. The FASUDIR are based on existing standards and regulations and have been adopted from previous research projects. The KPIs have been developed on building and district level and allow a multiscale assessment of building and district sustainability qualities based on the three pillars of sustainability. The defined calculation methods of the KPIs also include benchmarking values which can be contextualized for different European countries. The KPI can be used independently from the FASUDIR IDST and methodology for planners as assessment tool in the district retrofitting planning. Hence, the FASUDIR KPIs can be seen as stand-alone scientific result of the project that can be adopted by later R&D projects as well as used in practical application.
(4) New and adopted analysis methods for retrofitting on building and district level
Beside the FASDUIR KPIs several different analysis and calculations methods have been developed or customized to fit in the FASUDIR concept during the project. To assess the feasibility of heat and cooling networks methods to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of energy networks in urban districts have been developed and adopted for the FASUDIR concept. The detailed calculation formulas of all those methods need summarized in a clear way to be followed by planners.
(5) Collection and definition of a constraint repository for European Building and district retrofitting
As important background information for the optimisation of retrofitting variants in the FASUDIR Methodology a constraint repository for European Building and district retrofitting has been developed under the framework of the Methodology. The constraint repository is composed of different technical, legal, environmental and user-based constraints and restriction which can occur during real district retrofitting projects. The constraint repository therefore includes several pre-defined constraints and their resulting restrictions impacts on the on practicability of different energy retrofitting measures on building and district scale. The constraint repository may be used also as stand-alone information source for planners in practice.
(6) Intervention Filter Logic
As the intention of the FASUDIR Methodology development was to support the planners as much as possible in the decision-making and early retrofit design the constraint repository was further developed in to a technical intervention filter logic. The purpose of the filter logic was to automatically support the planners in connecting the identified constraints and restriction on their buildings and the district with the FASUDIR Repository of retrofitting interventions. Hence, the filter logic connects the FASUDIR data model with the developed constraints repository by mapping the different constraints and restrictions with the FASUDIR data model properties in the City Model. Hence, the intervention filter logic also can be used separately from the FASUDIR IDST in order to filter out no useful interventions based on set building and district constraints.
(7) Identification of targets and objectives for energy retrofitting of sustainable urban districts
As a side result of the FASUDIR Methodology development, a broad collection of targets and objectives for energy retrofitting of sustainable urban districts has been created. The collection is based on surveys and interviews carried out in five European countries and reflects a representative opinion of European Stakeholders involved in district retrofitting projects. The collection is supposed to support planners and stakeholders to identify sensible and achievable targets and objectives for their own projects.
(8) New Business Models and Financing Schemes
As the financial aspects are often the main-drivers in district retrofitting projects, the FASUDIR Methodology analysed and developed a set of new and existing financing profiles which can be used by planners in order to get information about different financing schemes, for district retrofitting all over Europe. The profiles contain not only qualitative information about the business models and schemes but also sources for gathering further information in different European countries (e.g. websites of funding bodies, financiers, etc.). Therefore, the developed financing profiles can be very useful for planners and stakeholders to gather financial support for their projects around Europe.
(9) Adaptation and development of new Life Cycle Databases
As part of the Methodology and for preparation of the IDST implementation two main FASUDIR databases for life cycle analysis have been developed based on existing databases. In order to include Life Cycle Assessment calculations within the FASUDIR functions the German open-source LCA-database „ökobau.dat“ as well as the European LCA-database „eLCD“ which both are based on the GaBI-database have been used to create a LCA-database for the FASUDIR IDST. During the processing of the databases for each FASUDIR intervention a LCA-record has been re-calculated and created using the existing databases. Moreover, in order to allow the performance of Life Cycle Cost calculations in FASUDIR a LCC-cost database for each FASUDIR intervention has been developed by collecting cost and useful lifetime data from literature research. Both databases can be seen as stand-alone result of the FASUDIR project a can be used by following R&D projects or in practical applications or softwares. The new databases have been included in the IES VE software tool in order to perform life cycle analysis calculations using the FASUDIR IDST.
(10) Default datasets for European Building Stock
The FASUDIR concept has been created as a tool for high level insights and therefore takes advantage of the Pareto Principle. It states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. If the Pareto Principle is applied to the data collection process for buildings and districts 80% of the accuracy can be reached with 20% of the time and cost effort. If the planners need to have 100% accuracy the time effort for the data collection will be increased by 80%. To execute the Pareto principle within the FASUDIR Methodology a comprehensive default dataset for the European Building Stock has been created within the project. The Default datasets have been created based on previous results from R&D projects like TABULA and Annex51. However, these datasets were not complete and were not in the right format to be directly included in the FASDUIR concept. Therefore, a re-processing of the databases has been carried out and missing data has been added to fulfil all requirements of the FASUDIR Methodology. The outcome was a huge database including thermal, energetic and legal properties for buildings in five European countries. The database has been implemented as database in the FASUDIR IDST back-end in form of several building and constructions master templates. However, the default datasets developed in FASUDIR remain available to the relevant partners for potential inclusión and extensión in their subsequent R&D projects and in practical applications.
(11) Decision-Support-Process
As core aspect for the FASUDIR Methodology, a decisión support process has been developed which is used to create a weighting system for a set of KPIs based on an MCDA approach. The decisión support process has been implemented within the IDST. However, the process can be adapted on different sets of KPIs and for different cases. Therefore the FASUDIR decision support process can be used by subsequent R&D projects or in real applications for decision-making.
(12) Repository of technologies
In order to fulfil all the requirements of the FASUDIR Methodology and the IDST a comprehensive repository of technologies for building and district level retrofitting measures has been developed. The main role of the repository done was to provide a comprehensive analysis and characterization of existing technologies, systems and tools in use or near-application for energy retrofitting from the point of view of buildings and districts. To enable an effective management of this systematization and categorization a repository was set up, and afterwards connected with the Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) facilitating an easy understanding of the solutions and a comparison between performances and characteristic of each technology. The repository contains a collection of all the relevant information related to the available retrofit technologies both at building and district level. Both passive and active technologies have been considered and among others characterised in terms of technical parameters, suitability for different building typologies and climatic conditions, ease of application, specific installation procedures and criteria for applicability. However, the repository of technologies is not only qualitative and descriptive but also quantitative. On the other side, specific attention has been dedicated to layout a user interface in order for the technology Library to be a self-standing tool to be used also separately from the FASUDIR IDST. Hence, the repository can be seen as valuable outcome of the project and can be adopted by following R&D projects or as guidance in real district and building retrofitting projects.
(13) New methods for Stakeholder collaboration
As major part of the FASUDIR Methodology the collaboration and communication processes between all involved stakeholders in district retrofitting projects have been analysed, structured and newly defined in order to allow a most efficient communication between involved stakeholders. In order to be able to categorize the different stakeholder groups according to their role in the FASUDIR Methodology and the IDST user roles have been defined and implemented in the IDST through different access right levels in the front-end web-userinterface. Moreover, to support a proper e-collaboration with the FASUDIR Methodology new and innovative ways of stakeholder involvement through online participation methods in the concept and implementation phase of district retrofitting projects have been developed. Furthermore, detailed functionalities and ideas for an e-collaboration process have been worked out. The e-collaboration methods developed in FASUDIR remain available remain available to the relevant partners for potential inclusion and extension in their subsequent R&D projects and adopted in practical applications.
(14) Sensitivity Analysis
In order to assess the effects of poor data quality on the simulation results and the decisions-making a comprehensive sensitivity analysis has been carried out as part of the FASUDIR Methodology development. The results have shown that the main sources of uncertainties in the FASUDIR Project related to the risk associated with poor data quality and wrong user entries. The quality and accuracy of the results can depend on such issues as the quality of the available and used data and the good scoping, pricing assumption and methods of calculations. For the analysis of KPIs the input of uncertainty parameters and stochastic methods, such as Monte Carlo simulations have been employed. In order to reduce the impacts of uncertainties for the decision-making measures have been be taken into account in the IDST development. The experiences achieved through carrying out the sensitivity analysis in FASUDIR can provide valuable input for following R&D projects and practical applications in the fields of district energy simulations and energy retrofitting.
(15) Mapping of FASUDIR KPIs to existing sustainability rating schemes
Under the framework of the KPI development in the FASUDIR Methodology a detailed analysis of existing certification schemes in the fields of sustainable building and district rating has been conducted. The aim of the analysis was to map the FASUDIR KPIs, corresponding calculation methods and benchmarks to the most famous sustainability certification schemes used in Europe. The results have shown that the FASUDIR KPIs are well in line with existing schemes and reach a high coverage rate. However, a complete mapping or translation of the benchmarks and results was not possible as the different rating schemes are based on different methods which in some cases are not translatable into the FASUDIR methods. Moreover, the analysis provides a very good collection of used KPIs in different existing schemes in Europe. The experiences showed that it is very useful to consider all available standards, regulations and guidelines in the own development. Nevertheless, KPIs always need to fit in the whole methodology of each single R&D project and cannot be for all details in line with existing schemes. The results of the mapping performed in the FASUDIR project can be adopted by following R&D projects in the future which also are going to develop KPIs. Those projects can take advantage of the comparison tables developed within the mapping analysis in the FASUDIR Project.
(16) Interactive and enriched web-based user interface (front-end application)
One main outcome of the FASUDIR project within the IDST is the web-based user interface which has been developed during the project to control the comprehensive functionalities of the IDST and to visualize the results. The user interface is based on an HTML5 code and has been developed under the criteria of interoperability and flexibility to different simulation back-ends and City Information Models. Due to the high interoperability requirements which have been considered during the development phase of the user interface, it can easily be adopted for several different types of applications. For instance, the user interface can be connected to different simulation engines in the future or can visualize several types of City Information Models based different file formats (CityGML, Shape, IFC, Geojsn, etc.). Moreover, the developed visualization methods in the user interface can be overtaken by following R&D projects or in real applications.
(17) Web-based City Information Model Attribute editor
Based on the FASUDIR data model a comprehensive attribute editor for City Information Models has been developed. The attribute editor allows to view and edit different properties of building and district objects in a City Information Model via the web-browser and to store the edited results back in the model. Moreover, to handle a huge number of buildings the attribute editor contains an advanced Building Selection Helper, which allows users to filter out buildings in the district according to user defined criteria like building properties, KPI results or others.
(18) Web-based Analysis Tools for District Retrofitting
After the comprehensive analysis methods for District Retrofitting development in the FASUDIR Methodology, each of the methods has been transformed into a web-based analysis tool. These web-tools allow the user automatically to apply the different defined analysis methods using data from the City Information Model, the simulation engine in the back-end and user-based data entries:
(18.1) Heat Network Tool: The tool allows to automatically calculate the energy density for pre-defined grid areas in a web-based map or a freely chosen selection of buildings from the map. The tool can be used by several stakeholders like ESCOs, Cities or urban planners to evaluate the feasibility of heat networks before and after building renovations in early planning phases.
(18.2) Synergies Tool: The synergy tool is a web-browser based function which allows to automatically display aggregated time-based simulation results (e.g. hourly heat load values, PV production) for a freely chosen selection of buildings. Moreover, the tool enables users to automatically create, view and analyse a duration heat load curve based on time series data. The synergies tool can be used in the future by urban planners to assess the characteristics of existing or planned heat networks or smart grids including electricity from renewable energy sources.
(18.3) Financing Mechanisms Tool: The tool allows planners to automatically calculate the financial parameters like ROI and payback period for different created district retrofitting variants using the output of simulation results from the current state assessment (diagnosis) and the simulation results from user created variants. The tool is based on a method for the calculation of the ROI and payback period which has been developed in the FASUDIR Methodology as an excel tool and defined in the KPI description. The financing mechanisms tool can be used by a broad number of users to evaluate the financial performance of different retrofitting projects on building and district scale.
(18.4) Energetic Weak Points Tool: The tool allows user to display the different energy breakdowns of a building based on the simulation results in order to identify the main areas for actions in terms of retrofitting measures.
(18.5) Solar potentials tool: The tool has been developed by using the guidelines from the FASUDIR Methodology, which defined criteria for the suitability of roof areas to install PV-systems and solar thermal systems. The criteria have been adopted and a web-based tool has been created which allows to simulate and visualize the different potentials for solar energy use for buildings in a district.
(19) E-Collaboration Platform
In order to implement the developed new ways of stakeholder involvement and communication strategies from the FASUDIR Methodology, a comprehensive E-Collaboration Platform has been developed for the IDST. The platform allows users to up- and download files related to single buildings in the district or district objects like streets, parks, etc. Moreover, the platform allows different platform users to communicate among each other by using a messenger function. Furthermore, the platform includes a forum function. The concept and design of E-Collaboration Platform can be used in the future by different following R&D projects or in real applications to support the e-collaboration in district retrofitting projects.
(20) Building and Construction Master Templates in IES VE based on created Default Datasets
Based on the developed default datasets from the FASUDIR Methodology a comprehensive set of building and construction master templates to be used within the IES Software back-end have been developed. The master templates include default values for several building types and construction year classes in five European countries in Europe. The master templates allow to run simulation based on only a few input data like building type, year of construction and thermal mass type. Based on this information a routine was developed which creates within the IES VE software a basic thermal model of the building using the geometries of the City Information Model. The created master templates for buildings and constructions can be used in following R&D projects using the IES VE tool or in real application tools.
(21) Intervention Templates in IES VE based on FASUDIR LCA and LCC Databases and repository of technologies
The FASUDIR LCA and LCC databases which have been developed were combined with the repository of technologies under the framework of the FASUDIR Methodology. Afterwards they have been transformed into a huge set of intervention templates within the IES VE. The intervention templates include all thermal information and properties to run simulations in the IES VE tool using the created design options. The intervention templates also can be incorporated in other simulation tools on the market or used in further R&D projects including IES VE software to create retrofitting variants of buildings and districts based on little input information.
(22) Cloud based Simulation Server and API
Within the FASUDIR IDST development phase a new innovative cloud based server structure to create thermal models in the cloud using the information stored in the FASUDIR City Information Model has been developed. The cloud-based server can be accessed using an API (Advanced programming Interface) which has been developed by IES. The API can be accessed also using other City Information Models and web-interfaces as it has been developed considering all interoperability criteria. Therefore, the IES simulation server and API developed during the FASUDIR project can be used by different external City Information Models or interfaces for running thermal simulations in the cloud. Hence, future R&D projects or real applications using IES VE cloud simulations can capitalize the work developed in the FASUDIR project.
(23) Calculation of FASUDIR KPIs and automatically benchmarking
In the FASUDIR Methodology a set of objective and innovative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been developed and calculation methods as well as benchmarking values have been defined. In order to allow users of the FASUDIR IDST to calculate and evaluate the KPIs in a more efficient automatic way in the FASUDIR IDST all the KPI calculation methods have been developed in form of web-code which is able to perform the calculations of the KPIs in the front-end website on the fly or on the simulation server in the back-end. This supports planners in assessing the current state and created retrofitting variants of district concepts in a fast and effective way using the FASUDIR IDST. The developed code for performing the KPI calculations on the server or via the front-end can be used not only in the IDST but can be linked to further simulation results due to its interoperable design. Hence, later R&D projects or real applications can use the developed calculation engines in FASUDIR to calculate the KPIs automatically.
(24) Detailed user manual for the IDST
After the finalization of the IDST prototype a comprehensive user manual summarizing all the functionalities in a structured way has been developed. The user manual shows all steps that are necessary to use the FASUDIR IDST in an appropriate way. The user manual is based on the functionalities of the IDSST. However, the basic structure of contents and chapters as well as the design of the user manual can be used by following R&D projects or for real applications as exemplary template. The content can be adopted for other prototypes or tools in an easy way.
(25) Data Model (Structure of FASUDIR Attributes)
Within the FASUDIR project a widespread list of building and district properties has been defined during the FASUDIR Methodology development. The properties later have been structured according to the CityGML standard and incorporated in a FASUDIR data model in form of a CityGML Model for the FASUDIR IDST. The FASUDIR data model structure is in line with the CityGML standard and incorporates all necessary building and district properties to run thermal simulations of buildings using a simulation back-engine. Moreover, it contains all properties to calculate and store the FASUDIR KPIs in the model. Moreover, during the project the minimum data requirements for the geometric input files to create a meaningful thermal data model have been defined. Subsequent R&D projects and even practical applications can adopt the FASUDIR data model as it has been developed under the interoperability perspectives using the state of the art
technologies (e.g. CityGML, GIS, etc.). Moreover, later applications can take advantage of the valuable experiences concerning the minimum data requirements and data quality for creating CityGML models for cloud based thermal simulations, which have been generated during the FASUDIR project.
(26) Enriched City Model 3D-Vizualization in the front-end
As described in the FASUDIR Methodology the FASUDIR IDST allows users to display the district and buildings included in the City Information Model on a web-based 3D-vizualization. The developed 3D-visualization allows to display CityGML models using a web-plugin. The web-plugin has been adopted to the FASUDIR needs and enables users to display results and building and district properties in various graphical ways (e.g. colouring buildings according to the KPI results). The new and innovative type of application of the virtual 3D-Vizualization of CityGML models via the web used in the context of building and district retrofitting remains available to the relevant partners for potential inclusión and extensión in their subsequent R&D projects and in real applications.
(27) FASUDIR CityGML Models for three real case study sites in Europe
To demonstrate the successful application of the FASUDIR Methodology and the IDST prototype in practical situation three demo test sites have been selected in, Santiago de Compostela, Budapest and Frankfurt:
· Cultural heritage districts: historic city quarter of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), found-ed on the XIII century
· Communist era district from the XX century: Residential district with public buildings in Budapest (Hungary)
· Residential districts built up on the 1970’s decade of the 20th century (Germany): Hein-richt-Lübke-Siedlung (Frankfurt)
For all of the three case study test sites a real CityGML Model was created and all necessary properties to run thermal simulations and KPI calculations for FASUDIR have been added. Moreover, all functionalities of the IDST have been enabled for the three case studies and their proper function have been proven.
The real application on case studies of the IDST allowed the consortium to start a refinement phase needed to finalize the tool. The results showed that the accuracy of the IDST is sufficiently precise for the purpose of decision-making on district level. Indeed, the simulated global energy demand of the case study districts remained close to the respective real measured values. For few single buildings significant deviations to the real values were identified caused by poor input data availability. In the case studies also a balancing effect for the results was identified, which averaged out deviations to the real measured values through the high number of buildings. The three created CityGML as well as the results of the KPIs and simulations can be used after the end of the FASUDIR project in various ways. The representants of the participating case study sites can use the models for urban planning purposes and further planning purposes in the future. The results can be used to facilitate the district retrofitting projects in these sites. Moreover, the created CityGML models can be used in the future to demonstrate the power of the FASUDIR approach to real customers and applicants in terms of best practice applications. Furthermore, subsequent R&D projects can take advantage of the created CityGML models and adopt, complement or further develop the models for their own purposes.
Potential Impact:
POTENTIAL IMPACT
In this section the economic, environmental and social potential impacts of FASUDIR System are presented.
(a) Economic impact
The economic impact of FASUDIR system could be addressed thorough the following considerations: energy use in buildings accounts for 40% of total energy consumption, which translates into 36% of the EU’s CO2 emissions. Providing that an increasing 73% of these buildings are placed in European urban districts and that over 24% of these buildings are pre 1945, buildings with high energy retrofitting needs in urban districts consume 7.0% of the overall energy and are responsible for the 6.3% of the global CO2 consumption. Indeed, in some recent reports, the International Energy Agency indicated the priorities for a transition to sustainable buildings: the study shows that advanced envelope design, also applicable to building retrofitting, is required in US, Russia, and EU. According to these figures and considerations, the strategies, technologies and retrofitting techniques that FASUIR IDST system (methodology and software tool) will help in identifying and recommend (depending on each particular case study), could certainly contribute to reach the targets of energy savings foreseen for the deep retrofitting of EU building stocks, 33%. More in details, assuming that FASUDIR outputs are implemented in 20% of the existing EU districts and 15% of the buildings, an estimated reduction of 0.07% of overall energy consumption and 0.06% of global carbon emission is foreseen for the building sector.
Taking into consideration the application of FASUDIR IDST system for the retrofitting plan of a single district, according to results obtained within the validation process of the tool, it can be assumed that the expected energy reduction achieved thanks to the energy strategies evaluated with FASUDIR system support, even if depending on many variables, will be, in the worst case, 10%. According to these figures, FASUDIR IDST system could bring significant savings on household energy bills and thus have a direct impact on everyday life of all European citizens: in residential buildings the energy consumption sharing depends heavily from the location of the dwelling but an average sharing in a residential building with conventional technologies can be estimated as in the following: heat (~200 kWh/m2/yr), electricity (~30 kWh/m2/yr), and air conditioning (~50 kWh/m2/yr). Considering the cost of electricity for EU-28 is 0.211 €/kWh and the gas for heating 0.071€/kWh , the cost of the energy for end users in a conventional building is estimated in 31.080 €/m2/yr. Providing a surface of 500 m2/building, an energy saving of 10%, considering 28 million buildings in urban district with high energy retrofitting needs and estimating that FASUDIR could be applied in 3% of buildings in Europe, the overall potential economic saving in energy would be 1307 million€/year .
Also economic growth due to a new activity could be achieved thanks FASUDIR system. According to Euroconstruct , residential refurbishment building market represents 387.6 billion€/yr. Considering that the increase of activity due to energy refurbishment and associated services (engineering, certification, installation, etc.) could represent about 5% of the whole volume, and estimating that 3% of the buildings will apply FASUDIR methodology, the economic impact associated to this issue is estimated in 581 million€/year . Besides, if we estimate that 5% of the European incomes could be exported outside Europe in 5 years, the economic growth raises to 610 million€/year.
(b) Environmental impact
The environmental impact of the FASUDIR IDST is linked to several issues: first of all FASUDIR system, thanks to the proposed approach, could lead to energy savings up to 30% of the district buildings energy consumption. The expected energy reduction in existing districts will depend on many variables, however, FASUDIR system, according to validation process results , in the worst case, is estimated to reach energy savings in the global conventional energy consumption of 10%. Furthermore, as above mentioned, the implementation of FASUDIR results in European districts could contribute to a reduction of 0.07% of overall European energy consumption and of 0.06% of the global carbon emissions.
Another aspect that is important to take into consideration is the contribution that the tool could give in the diffusion of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) within retrofitted districts. The production of energy derived from the application of RES for energy efficiency interventions in existing district buildings, after completing the design and implementation process assisted by IDST tool, will depend on several factors (e.g. the age of the network of buildings to address or their location), however, it is estimated that this value (% of RES contribution) will range from 5% to 20% of the final district energy consumption (12.5% average value).
Finally, also the reduction of construction waste could be associated to the use of FASUDIR system: processing and manufacturing building products accounts for 70% of all energy used in constructing buildings. It has been estimated that up to 75% of the building materials used in Europe are potentially recyclable. Currently only 5% is in fact recycled. FASUDIR IDST can assess also the life cycle of the materials used for the retrofitting interventions by means of the introduction, among the set of Key Performance Indicators calculated to assess the sustainability of the districts, of Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis and Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) Indicators. These assessments allow to minimise the overall environmental impact due to district’s retrofitting and to improve the recycling process thus the reduction of 15% construction waste will boost the accomplishment of targets for non-hazardous construction and demolition waste set for 2020 by the Waste Framework Directive by reducing the general waste generated in the retrofitting process thanks to FASUDIR’s Life Cycle approach.
(c) Social impact
The societal implications of the project are mostly addressed to the following aspects: according to FIEC , the building construction sector covers 30.9% of the industrial employment in Europe, and employs about 14.1 million people in EU, furthermore it is estimated that 42.3 million workers in the European Union depend in one way or another, on the construction sector. According to above estimations, about 10.5% of these jobs are related to buildings refurbishments with high energy retrofitting needs, thus representing about 1.480.000 direct jobs in the E.U. The creation of a new field of activity related to energy refurbishment could increase it in 5%, thus representing an increase of about 74.000 direct jobs.
Creation of indirect jobs mostly linked to cultural tourism can also be taken into consideration: FASUDIR aims at promoting sustainability improvement of historic urban areas. Providing that 50% of the buildings with high energy retrofitting needs in EU districts are of historical value, and considering that every direct job in cultural heritage activities induces 10 indirect jobs , indirect job creation generated by FASUDIR could be estimated in 370.000 jobs .
Finally, more than 68%, of the total European urban population (367 million) live in urban areas where air pollution presently causes premature death. Estimates of the health impacts attributable to exposure to air pollution indicate that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in 2011 were responsible for about 430.000 in the EU-28, originating from long-term exposure. The estimated impact of exposure to O3 concentrations in 2011 on the European population was about 16.160 in the EU-28, originating from short-term exposure. The use of FASUDIR´s new approaches to reach the present comfort and indoor climate occupant requirements will highly contribute to improve their quality of life and to make cities a more attractive place to work, make business and invest, therefore improving the employment and contributing to the European competitiveness. As above mentioned, providing the application of FASUDIR outputs in 15% of the overall 20% of EU urban districts buildings, this will improve quality of life of nearly 11million people living in EU districts .
IMPACT CONCEPT FASUDIR POTENTIAL IMPACT
Economic Economic energy saving 4356 million€/year
Economic direct growth 1017 million€/year
Environmental Reduction of the energy consumption of Districts 10%
Reduction of global energy consumption 0.07%
Reduction of overall CO2 consumption 0.06%
Promotion of renewable sources 12.5%
Reduction of construction waste 15%
Social Creation of direct jobs 74.000
Creation of indirect jobs 370.000
Improvement of citizens quality of life 11 M people
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES
As the FASUDIR project was born with a clear practical orientation, and both methodologies and software tools developed are meant to find their way into the market in a relatively short period of time, dissemination activities had high priority as a way to attract the attention of relevant stakeholders.
The dissemination strategy was based on four types of activities: the use of online dissemination channels (newsletters, website, social networks); the development of dissemination materials (factsheets, booklets, poster, videos, publications, media communications); the participation to and organisation of events (Local Project Committees, workshops, conferences); and finally, clustering and networking activities.
The main outcomes of the abovementioned activities are detailed below by type:
(a) Online dissemination
The key purpose of the newsletter dissemination was to deliver informative reports on project activity via e-mail to interested parties. All partners were involved in collecting contacts of interested parties to feed the FASUDIR mailing list, while the website included a sign-up form for easy registration. The average audience for FASUDIR newsletter was over 250 readers. The initial activities at the beginning of the project included the set up of newsletter management and the creation of a standard layout format. Periodic communications have been sent based on topics of interest (total of 10 messages).
The www.fasudir.eu website was developed as an interactive environment to access latest information, content produced by the project, and get in touch. Website content was updated based on summaries of public deliverables, publishing all public material developed within the project and reporting on events. Additionally, the website holds a private repository for confidential material exchange. The area is accessible only with a valid website login. The website had a growing performance over the life of the project, with increasing tendencies for both the overall number of visitors and the % of new visitors.
Online accounts for the dissemination and resharing of content and events via a network of partners’ contacts and interested third parties have been created. Content has been shared periodically via all major social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn). Accounts were also established on key content distribution websites, such as YouTube for video distribution and issuu for booklet publishing.
(b) Dissemination materials
A set of six A4 page factsheets, focused on key FASUDIR topics, have been created for distribution both in print at events and via the website (http://fasudir.eu/documents/) on the following topics:
1. FASUDIR presentation
2. Key Performance Indicators
3. IDST baseline and scope
4. Local Project Committees
5. Case Studies
6. Final results
A set of publications have been produced to describe all main FASUDIR results in further depth. The booklets are loosely tied to the main WPs, and have been developed with the support of WP and task leaders. The final library of FASUDIR booklets is:
1. IDST Baseline (WP2);
2. Technology repository (WP3);
3. Decision making methodology (WP4);
4. Integrated decision support tool (WP5);
5. Case studies (WP6);
6. LPCs and policy recommendations (WP7);
7. Final results.
The booklets are available for download on the project website (http://fasudir.eu/documents/) and can be read online via the issuu platform (https://issuu.com/fasudir). In particular, the IDST booklet contains an extract of the IDST manual to support training on the use of the IDST for future applications in the three FASUDIR cities.
A roll-up poster with key FASUDIR facts was developed for fairs and exhibitions, so that partners could exhibit it at their booth.
Two public videos have been produced for broad dissemination at events and via the FASUDIR project’s YouTube channel:
• An introductory video presenting the purpose of the project, developed at the beginning of the project;
• An IDST overview for policy makers and the general public, showcasing key features of the tool, created at the end of the IDST development activity.
Additionally, private videos have been realised as walkthroughs and webinars for Case Study Leaders and LPCs to support demos and training on the use of the IDST.
FASUDIR partners have published the results in scientific literature, dedicated journals and magazines in the field of energy efficient buildings, and conference proceedings; furthermore, several press releases and articles were published in technical and popular press, and interviews given to local networks and relevant portals (e.g. CORDIS).
A selection of publicly available papers is listed below:
• Romero, A; Egusquiza A; Izkara, J.L. Integrated decision support tool in energy retrofitting projects for sustainable urban districts, WSB 2014 Conference proceedings, Volume 3, Pages 273-279, ISBN 978-84-697-1815-5, http://www.wsb14barcelona.org/papers.html
• Paul Mittermeier; Natalie Eßig; Ander Romero Amorrortu, Evaluation and Development of Indicators for Sustainability Assessments of Urban Neighbourhood Renovation Projects, WSB 2014 Conference proceedings, Volume 3, Pages 680-686, ISBN 978-84-697-1815-5, http://www.wsb14barcelona.org/papers.html
• Barbano G, Bunn D, Camiruaga I, Essig N, Ferrando V, Kiss I, Mittermeier P, Moro A, Zukowska EA, Is it possible to achieve a friendly and affordable urban district retrofitting?, WSB 2014 Conference special session, http://fasudir.eu/documents/WSB14_sessionpaper.pdf
• Iñaki Prieto, Jose Luis Izkara, Aitziber Egusquiza, Rubén Béjar, Sustainable refurbishment in urban districts through a web-based tool based on 3D city model, Sustainable Places 2015 Proceedings, http://sustainable-places.eu/past-events/sp2015/
• Egusquiza Ortega, Aitziber, PhD thesis, Multiscale information management for historic districts' energy retrofitting: a framework, a methodology, a model, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Tecnologia de l'Arquitectura, Date of defense: 2015-12-11, http://hdl.handle.net/10803/334399
• Giulia Barbano, Aitziber Egusquiza, Interconnection between Scales for Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting, Energy Procedia, Volume 78, 2015, Pages 1853-1858, ISSN 1876-6102, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.11.332
• Paul Mittermeier, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Ahmed Khoja, Ander Romero Amorrortu, A holistic Methodology for District Retrofitting projects management through an Integrated Decision Support Tool, Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2016 in Hamburg: Strategies, Stakeholders, Success factors, 7th - 11th March 2016; Conference Proceedings, Pages 62-70, http://dx.doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000051699
• G. Barbano, A. Moro, Engaging Stakeholders through Local Project Committees, Expanding Boundaries Systems Thinking in the Built Environment Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) Regional Conference Zurich 2016, Pages 484-488, http://dx.doi.org/10.3218/3774-6_79
• Paul Mittermeier, Ahmed Khoja, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Sustainable Neighborhood Regeneration: Holistic Decision Support Methodology Supported by a Software Tool, newDist SBE16 Towards Post-Carbon Cities - February 18-19 2016, July 2016, Pages 319-329, ISSN: 2283-8791, http://sbe16torino.org/proceedings/
• Ahmed Khoja, Paul Mittermeier, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Applying FASUDIR indicators to assess the sustainability performance of a residential neighbourhood in Wolfrathausen, Bavaria, newDist -SBE16 Towards Post-Carbon Cities - February 18-19 2016, July 2016, Pages 122-129, ISSN: 2283-8791, http://sbe16torino.org/proceedings/
(c) Events
5 national Local Project Committees (LPCs) have been established in order to create feedback cycles with local stakeholders to review the project activity and results. Involving 76 participants of highly relevant expertise, four LPC meetings have been held in the FASUDIR countries as follows:
1. Collect expectations on the tool
2. Methodology draft
3. Beta version of the IDST
4. Achievements and real applications of the tool
Project partners with LPCs have organized one workshop targeted at policy makers and administration officials and report on the outcome, in order to obtain feedback from policy makers and public authorities on the implementation of FASUDIR results within policies. The outcomes of the Policy Workshops have been detailed in the dedicated public deliverable D7.8 Policy Recommendations. Other ad-hoc workshops have been organised with different stakeholder types, such as funding bodies and district inhabitants.
One of the key FASUDIR dissemination activities was the presentation of results in several international policy conferences of relevance, with all partners participating to events, seminars, conferences and workshops of different sizes – from the small scale of ad-hoc workshops (30 attendees) to medium scale events (2000 attendees, e.g. WSB2014) to large fairs (44k+ in Ecobuild). With presentations in over 20 locations in all the project countries and beyond, FASUDIR has been presented to a wide and varied audience both European and international.
In particular the SBE (Sustainable Built Environment, formerly SB - Sustainable Building) series of conferences at world and regional level, hosted by CIB, UNEP, iiSBE and FIDIC, has been one of the major channels of dissemination. FASUDIR organised a special session at the World Sustainable Building Conference 2014 in Barcelona, and was presented through oral presentations and papers in the 2016 series of Sustainable Built Environment conferences such as SBE16 Hamburg and SBE16 Zurich. Most notably, FASUDIR promoted and supported the organization of the Sustainable Built Environment 2016 Torino conference, Towards post-carbon cities, leveraging the event to act as transnational midterm conference (disseminating the event to LPCs, stakeholders, public authorities and other EU projects, and defining conference topics in line with FASUDIR objectives).
The final results event was organised within the context of the Sustainable Places 2016 conference, with a dedicated 3-hour workshop held on 30/6/2016 in Anglet, France.
Other attended events include:
• Presented project during ECTP-E2BA Conference 2014: Construction and Built Environment Future Horizons
• Presented the multiscale information management for sustainable districts rehabilitation concept during 10th European Conference on Product & Process Modelling – ECPPM 2014
• Organized special session and presented three papers during World Sustainable Building Conference 2014, Barcelona
• Presented paper Interconnection between scales for friendly and affordable sustainable urban districts retrofitting (Giulia Barbano, Aitziber Egusquiza) during 6th International Building Physics Conference – IBPC 2015
• Networking activities during the EUSEW 2015, Brussels
• Presented paper Sustainable refurbishment in urban districts through a web-based tool based on 3D city model (Iñaki Prieto, Jose Luis Izkara, Aitziber Egusquiza, Rubén Béjar) during Sustainable Places 2015, September 16th-18th
• Presented paper A holistic Methodology for District Retrofitting projects management through an Integrated Decision Support Tool (Paul Mittermeier, Prof. Dr. Natalie Eßig, Ahmed Khoja, Ander Romero Amorrortu) during SBE16 Hamburg, March 7th-11th
• Presented paper Engaging Stakeholders through Local Project Committees (Giulia Barbano, Andrea Moro) during SBE16 Zurich, June 13th-17th
• Networking activities at CESB16, Prague
• Paper Multiscale building modelling and energy simulation approaches for urban sustainability (Ander Romero, Jose Luis Izkara, Asier Mediavilla) accepted for presentation at ECPPM 2016, September 7th-9th
(d) Clustering and networking
Throughout the life of the project, FASUDIR has networked with similar organizations to strategize use of results and further research activities, in particular by connecting with other FP7 & H2020 European related projects, such as European and National Technology Platforms (e.q. ECTP) and related associations, and with organizations involved in standard development. Such clustering and networking activities include:
• Participated to the “From Research to Action: Resource Efficient Innovation for SMEs” Workshop, November 2013, Brussels, DG Research and Innovation;
• In July 2014, the FASUDIR project joined the CESBA initiative, a collective initiative for a new culture of the built environment in Europe, focused on the harmonization of building and districts assessment in Europe. CESBA is supported by EU funded projects and focuses on “public” assessment: policies, urban plans, building codes, GPP;
• FASUDIR was invited to be part of the Stakeholders Advisory Board of the sister FP7 project ECODISTR-ICT, participated to the SAB in Valencia on December 2014, and attended remotely to the SAB in Stockholm on December 2015;
• In October 2015, the FASUDIR IDST was presented to a DCAA (Deutsch-Chinesische Gesellschaft für Austausch und Ausbildung) delegation of experts from Shanghai;
• In November 2015, FASUDIR was presented in the SUSTAIN EU ASEAN_MunuS Workshop, clustering EU-funded projects on climate action, resource efficiency and raw material issues relevant for the AESAN region;
• In January 2016, FASUDIR was presented at the EEBERS project workshop in Munich featuring a cluster of 82 research projects;
• In February 2016, in the FASUDIR-promoted mid-term conference SBE16 Torino, FASUDIR organised a special networking session entitled “Assessment and Decision Making at Urban Scale: Opportunities for Synergies at European Level”, with the participation of 11 EU-funded projects (FASUDIR, ECODISTR-ICT, NewTREND, CLUE, CABEE, CESBA Alps, Odysseus, Pocacito, Dimmer, Politoward, Optimus)
Finally, throughout the project life, FASUDIR was an active participant to the yearly Impact of the Energy-efficient Buildings PPP Workshop in Brussels, with presentations in April 2014, 2015 and 2016.
In conclusion, extensive dissemination activities have been carried out by all FASUDIR partners, with constant communication towards external stakeholders throughout the life of the project. This has ensured continuous attention towards the FASUDIR activities and results and a significant impact, with hundreds of people informed across the whole value chain and links established with several related research projects and initiatives.
The varied approach across channels and the leverage of existing networks and events, together with the strong dissemination commitment from all partners, has been instrumental in ensuring a successful dissemination activity that has established recognition for the FASUDIR project and its outcomes.
EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS
Within dedicated exploitation workshops, along the R&D activities development, the Consortium identified the following four project outcomes, as the four main Exploitable Results (ERs):
• FASUDIR methodology
• IDST Software Tool
• Solutions repository
• 3D District data model
The software may be considered as the main exploitable result, and therefore will likely be the main focus of the Exploitation actions for the consortium. Nevertheless, as already anticipated, the methodology that represents the backbone behind the software tool as well as the innovative tools that compose the IDST (e.g. solutions repository, the 3D district data models CityGML etc), have been considered as fundamental part of it and strictly linked to the empowerment of the software tools functionalities.
The consortium identified also FASUDIR methodology together with the know-how that was created to enable the development of the IDST itself (e.g. the innovative way to elaborate CityGMLs), as fundamental means to enrich the services (detailed below) that can be offered thanks to FASUDIR IDST.
Herein in the following, FASUDIR project results have been characterised as products and related services as well:
(a) FASUDIR results as a product
The following sections synthetically describe the exploitation potentials of the main FASUDIR project results as a product
(a1) IDST Tool and related Methodology
The Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) supports the retrofitting of urban districts by the use of selected KPIs, with high-tech thermal models and thanks to automatized energy simulations and visualisation of results. The tool is built on an innovative methodology that enables the decision makers to define the retrofitting project through the selection of the best solutions to increase the sustainability of a whole district. The methodology supports the stakeholders in the selection of realistic interventions based on specific input data, selected criteria and a dedicated weighting system: the decision making methodology, indeed, takes into account the user preferences and may be adapted to different stakeholders groups. The selection of the proper retrofitting intervention can be achieved by the stakeholders following all the steps that the methodology proposes as a vademecum. Each step can provide information on the status of the district that could be useful even for other reasons different from retrofitting (e.g. census, social statistics, environmental monitoring etc.). The analysis of the energetic and sustainability weaknesses and strengths of the districts is sustained within the tool also by a 3D model of the area. The three Case Studies (Budapest, Frankfurt and Santiago de Compostela) benefit from the creation of a building/district energy models. Indeed, the three municipalities benefit from the construction of a detailed CityGML Model which contains information such as climatic conditions, district geography, building geometries and use patterns, existing service networks and so on. The tool offers also a solutions repository that contains a huge set of possible interventions both at building level and district level: existing technologies and system were characterised and described, estimating also the possible cost and return of investment. Furthermore, the tool includes also an online e-collaboration platform for enabling the citizens and stakeholders active participation.
(a1.1) Synthetic description of IDST exploitation potentials
· Innovation content of result: The IDST Tool will provide a concrete support to enable a district retrofitting program, taking into account environmental, social and economic aspects and focusing on the entire process and on the related stakeholders. The tool works on a semantic knowledge repository which includes technical and non-technical indicators for each key parameter associated with different types of energy measures at envelope, systems and equipment as well as RES integration scale. Existing district information such as climatic conditions, district geography, building geometries and use patterns, existing service networks, legal background are imported into a CityGML model, which enables the 3D visualization of a district. The CityGML model is currently available for specific districts of the city of Santiago de Compostela, Frankfurt and Budapest.
· Potential customers: ESCOs, Real Estate companies, Municipality (tech. offices), Engineering consultancy companies
· Potential benefit to customers: The IDST tool will be a comprehensive and easy-to-use software which can support the customer in the entire process: the Social, Environmental and Economic KPI will provide a benchmark to the customer and the potential gain
· Expected time to market: it will depend on:
- Localization in local languages
- Marketing & promotion activities
- Licensing mode of the tool (SaaS, Single licence, etc)
· Approximate price range of this result / price of licences: Approximately €1.000 for a single stand-alone license
· How this result will rank against competing products in terms of price / performance: FASUDIR tool is based on an innovative methodology that allows the retrofitting process of urban districts in a holistic way. Indeed the tool permits the identification of possible synergies among district buildings that, according other modelling tool, are usually regarded as individual energy consumers or producers. Furthermore, the tool gives the opportunity to simulate retrofitting interventions on a whole district. In conclusion the district level of analysis is the strength of FASUDIR tool.
(a1.2) Synthetic description of the methodology exploitation potentials
· Innovation content of result: FASUDIR methodology, together with the IDST, will enable the decision makers at defining the retrofitting project through the selection of the best solutions to increase the sustainability of a whole district and not only of a single building. Furthermore, the innovation behind the decision making methodology relies on the fact that the users’ requirements are taken into account and can be also tailored according to different stakeholders groups.
· Potential customers: Architects, Engineers, Municipalities technical offices, Persons in charge for the maintenance of the city, Consultancy societies.
· Potential benefits to customers: The methodology will support the stakeholders in the selection of realistic interventions based on entry data through the definition of a criteria and a weighting system set up by the user
· Expected time to market: The time to market of the methodology is strictly linked to the IDST one. It has to be considered also the time needed to create the physical support of the methodology and the time needed to translate the contents in diverse languages.
· Approximate price range of this result / price of licences: If included in the IDST package, the methodology would be part of the total licence cost. If the methodology is exploited as a separate result, the cost of the booklet should be comparable to the cost of existing documents on retrofitting (from 25$ to 195$). Considering that on the web there is a great amount of material that is available for free but considering also that the methodology offers the advantage of a district scale focus, the cost of the methodology booklet could approximately be 100€ (or 110$).
· How this result will rank against competing products in terms of price / performance: The methodology offers an innovative perspective on retrofitting issue. The market offers solutions for the retrofitting of buildings that try to contextualize the interventions in the area of the dwellings but there is no reference to the retrofitting of a whole district. So the methodology and the tool to which it is associated are quite new and could be attractive for the market
(b) FASUDIR results as a service
Thanks to FASUDIR IDST and associated methodology different kind of services can be offered by the consortium partners or possible FASUDIR tool end users. These are described herein in the following:
(b1) Retrofitting Service
The FASUDIR IDST can be used by municipalities to apply the best retrofitting strategies to their public buildings. The methodology, supported by the IDST tool and vice versa, can be exploited by public or private bodies (e.g. municipalities, SMEs, consultancy societies) to enlarge their service offering in the field of energy management and sustainability. With a greater service offering, they could exploit the IDSTs (methodology and software) creating new business opportunities. Furthermore, thanks to the methodology and IDST characteristic focus at district level (supported by innovative instruments such as the CityGML), the retrofitting service that can be offered could be complete and well integrated in the energetic, social and cultural context of the area that has to be renovated. The cost of this service is extremely related to the type of retrofitting intervention
(b2) Consultancy services
Specific project partners can exploit the results by providing consultancy service to private customers (Property manager, Real Estate advisor) and public municipalities in order to improve the energy performances of their buildings. Using the methodology and the tool, they could propose themselves as experts in the very new figure of district project manager and find new business opportunities increasing their visibility on the energy efficiency and energy management markets. The consultancy offered exploiting FASUDIR methodology and software could be a competitive service since it is not limited to the analysis of single buildings but it is able also to extend the retrofitting to a whole district area. The consultancy provided could benefit also of innovative instruments (e.g. CityGML) that enable an effective contextualisation of the retrofitting interventions. The cost of this service is extremely related to the extent of consultancy service for the retrofitting intervention.
(b3) Informative and training service for the municipality
Local planners of the municipalities can be informed and trained by the project partners (or the legal entity) about the possibility to improve public properties and public buildings retrofitting processes thanks to FASUDIR IDST. New job positioning or carriers can be created in municipalities’ staff exploiting the training service offered by the project partners. This service could be regarded as a training course that the municipalities offer to their professionals. Thus the costs of this service should be comparable to the market costs of continuing education courses (approximately 50/60€ per hour per person + the costs of the software).
List of Websites:
Project website:
www.fasudir.eu
Relevant contact details:
Project Coordinator: Ander Romero Amorrortu (ander.romero@tecnalia.com)
TECNALIA Research & Innovation, Spain - www.tecnalia.com
Scientific and Technical Coordinator: Prof. Natalie Essig (natalie.essig@hm.edu)
Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany - www.hm.edu
Dissemination and Exploitation Coordinator: Arch. Andrea Moro (andrea.moro@iisbeitalia.org)
iiSBE Italia R&D, Italy - www.iisbeitalia.org
