Mark Douglas Wessel In principle, the idea of retrofitting homes to net zero sounds appealing enough. But the cost of implementing deep energy upgrades that might cost 45-60,000 Euro per home has long been a non-starter whether you’re an individual homeowner at one end of the scale… or manage thousands of rental units at the other. At either end of the spectrum, the potential long-term energy savings are often trumped by the up-front costs. Historically, the home renovation industry has taken somewhat of piecemeal, reactive approach to home renovations, tackling everything from small jobs like replacing a door or window to larger projects like putting on a new roof, based on the short-term needs (e.g., you can’t close the window; the roof is leaky). But Energiesprong’s Sanne De Wit (who bears the creative title ‘head of ideas’), says that particularly with housing developments, this ‘squeaky wheel gets the grease’ approach has been made worse by awarding jobs to the lowest bidder, especially if it means using substandard products. Furthermore, this process has done little to incentivize product innovation within the housing sector.  Going from One-offs to Whole House Retrofits In response to these challenges, Energiesprong has created a long-term whole house retrofit program, that gets homes to net zero and includes an unprecedented 30-year warranty for the work that’s done. All of this is paid for by an innovative financial model that’s made more unique by the fact that no subsidies are involved. One way of going about this as De Wit explains, is that “instead of the tenant paying the utility company, you set it up so that they make their payments to their housing corporation. And if they do that for 30 years… then you might have the equivalent of 30-40,000 Euros to invest toward getting that unit to net zero. And then if you add in the maintenance budget which you have to spend anyway to keep a house liveable (whether it’s a renovation when you buy a house, or a replacement of roofs and windows every 30-40 years housing organisations do), that gets you to 60k per house, suddenly you have a business case to go to market with.” From there, by providing a 30-year warranty on the work to be done, it provides the housing organization with the ability to procure the necessary up-front financing. Photo by Bureau Door Piloting the Way to Net Zero Putting words into action, Energiesprong in partnership with site owner Arsago Group and the City of Hameln are responsible for Germany’s first multi-family retrofit to net zero, using prefabricated roof and façade elements, insulation, solar photovoltaic systems and heat pumps. And at another site in Utrecht, Netherlands, Energiesprong in partnership with the Housing Organisation Mitros, initially transformed eight homes to net zero, which paved the way for similar retrofits to an additional 252 apartments and 15 homes. Beyond the energy upgrades, which for the Utrecht homes translated into a drop in energy usage from 225 kWh/m2 down to 50 kWh/m2 per year, quality of living renovations included new kitchens, bathrooms and new interior paintwork. The rationale behind these ‘extras’ as De Wit explains is “we’re not approaching the projects from just a technical/climate point of view. It’s much more than that. This is an opportunity to really rethink how people live and creating homes residents can be proud of.” Energiesprong’s Sébastien Delpont says the social aspect of these retrofits is just as important as the energy savings, particularly for public housing projects.  Upon completion “they don’t look like social housing anymore,” he observes. “So it changes how people are perceived in the community.” And ultimately, the mark of a good social housing retrofit, is “one where you cannot tell that it’s social housing… you just see quality that helps to (positively) change the face of the neighbourhood.” Putting People in the Process Yet another key consideration in the retrofit process is to rethink how the work is done to minimize the inconvenience that residents ultimately bear the brunt of. “It’s not good enough to just say ‘hey we have something great for you’, without recognizing from the start that it’s going to be pretty disruptive for these people,” observes De Wit. “It’s also critical that we listen to their concerns, such as addressing such fundamental quality of living challenges as cold, leaky buildings, excessive moisture and noise due to lack of proper insulation. Getting the resident’s perspective is something we never really did in the past – especially with social housing refurbishments.” Putting themselves in the shoes of these residents, the approach of Energiesprong and its builder and supplier partners, is to fast-track the retrofit process as much as possible, from prefabricating exterior roofs and facades offsite that can be installed more quickly than onsite construction, to embracing best practices to streamline the retrofit process. For example, worker bodycams are sometimes used to monitor and analyze how to speed up the process and these findings are then deployed for future projects. If there is a common thread to all of this, it’s that from one project to the next Energiesprong is doing its part to create more livable, more energy efficient homes and neighbourhoods, while serving as a catalyst for change in the building sector. To get there, Delpont says the industry needs to continue to attract innovators who are willing to work together to develop new applications and breakthroughs in technology. But he wonders aloud “can we make retrofits attractive and challenging enough that engineers see that the future of technology is in creating more sustainable homes versus building the next racing car?” And at the same time “can we convince members of the public to want to have a more efficient home versus wanting to buy a bigger car?” Ultimately, Delpont says whether it’s attracting industry innovators or creating a groundswell of end user demand, “in many ways it comes down to a battle of the battle for people’s hearts and minds.”

Let us take you back to this net zero energy renovation concept for stacked construction by Dura Vermeer that has won the Sustainable Building Award. Commissioned by housing organisation Lefier, Dura Vermeer in Groningen has renovated two blocks of terraced houses from the 1960s to net zero energy: 24 homes on the Voermanstraat and 24 homes on the Pleiadenlaan. They are the first apartment buildings houses in the Netherlands that have been improved in this way. A unique project! More comfortable living conditions for the same money The tenants now live in a sustainable, comfortable, well-insulated house. A big advantage is that the housing costs do not increase with constant use. From now on, the amount that the tenant normally spends on energy consumption will be paid partly to the housing association and partly to his energy supplier. Partly because of this, Lefier can pay for such a major renovation on the house. Home interventions A large number of measures have been taken to make the homes energy neutral. The most drastic thing is that the house is completely "wrapped up". This means that a completely new front and rear facade has been placed in front of the existing facade. These new facade elements are fully equipped with wooden frames and brick slips. There is triple glazing in the frames. To bear the weight of the extra facade, new foundation beams have been installed around the entire complex. The balcony at the rear of the house has been closed to create an interior balcony. New, insulated roof plates, fitted with solar panels, have been installed on the roof. A new entrance patio with mailbox and awning has also been installed. Since the renovation, the houses no longer have a gas connection. Solar panels provide the energy. Most important elements: Frames with triple glazing 40 year performance guarantee Insulating roof plates containing solar panels A solar water heater New entrance patio with mailbox and awning Balconies are closed with sliding windows so that the balconies can also be 'closed' for extra insulation. 24 solar panels per household, with an annual yield of approximately 6,800 kWh The air capacity of this heat recovery unit is 210 m³ per hour at 200 Pa the RC value is on average 7 Residents could enjoy a renovated home within 10 working days Cooperation: Dura Vermeer Lefier Click here for the complete photoalbum

Mark Douglas Wessel By Retrofitting the Way We Think About Renovating Homes Looking back on 2020, despite COVID-19 there were some positive storylines… among them, the fact that the European Union declared the ambitious goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. And as a steppingstone in that direction, the EU also announced that it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2030. Having drawn a proverbial line in the sand, the unavoidable question facing the EU now is: how do you make the jump from setting lofty goals to actually achieving them? Making Waves To some extent, the European Commission has already begun to answer that question with its Renovation Wave Strategy of doubling renovation rates over the next decade. The motivation for ramping up building retrofits has been driven by numbers that are impossible to ignore: buildings in the EU account for 40 percent of energy consumption and 26 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions. So even if Europe were to put a big push on converting its coal fired plants to wind turbines and other alternative energy sources… without taking bold steps to make buildings significantly more energy efficient, the continent would still fall well short of its GHG reduction goals. As stated on the New Europe website , the benefits to be realised by transforming existing housing stock into energy efficient homes are far reaching… starting with a significant reduction in greenhouse gases. But also, improved quality of living for residents – many of whom are living in housing that has undergone minimal upgrades in the post-war era. And the cumulative effect of doubling the current renovation pace could translate into as many as 35 million buildings being renovated and an additional 165,000 green jobs created in the housing sector in 10 years’ time. But as with any goal that sounds good on paper: what are the actual steps needed to get there? Transitioning from Why to How “The need to retrofit buildings to make them more energy efficient and comfortable to live in is something that everybody gets. But people never talk about how you’re going to do (these retrofits), they think it’s naturally going to happen,” observes Sébastien Delpont, Director of Energiesprong France. So the overarching question he says “is not so much about why, but how” the EU is going to achieve its potentially world leading renovation targets. It’s a challenge Energiesprong , an international movement (with projects now in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, the U.S. and Canada) has been grappling with since its inception eight years ago. The group has come up with the ambitious goal of transforming neighbourhoods around the world into more energy efficient, more liveable communities, factoring in everything from e-mobility to energy infrastructure to social innovation. One of their more forward-thinking innovations has been to use modern digital and manufacturing technologies to produce energy efficient building façades and roofs in a factory setting. The pre-construction process involves using drones equipped with cameras and 3D modelling software to digitally measure existing building stock, producing new exteriors that cover the old ones to within a millimetre of accuracy. Thanks to the degree of precision involved, the façades and roofs can then be quickly and seamlessly installed in participating residential projects. Thus far, Energiesprong’s approach has dramatically transformed thousands of homes in Europe, however the group’s challenge mirrors that of the EU’s Renovation Wave Strategy itself: how do you go from thousands to potentially millions of retrofits, and do so as quickly and efficiently as possible? On closer inspection there are multiple barriers to achieving this goal; however, none of them appear to be insurmountable. Top of mind with Delpont is “we need to be more industrial and more efficient” with respect to home energy retrofits. And based on current projects “we’re not yet to the level where we are operating like a factory. In an ideal world, we need to get to 2,000 energy retrofits a day to achieve (the EU’s) climate goal. We’re heading in the right direction, but not fast enough.” By ‘right direction’ Delpont is referencing the fact that such previously mentioned innovations as prefabricated façades lend themselves well to offsite, mass production in factories in each participating market, not unlike the automotive industry. That said, in contrast to the auto industry and most other sectors, from his own experience in countries like France “the housing industry is one part of the economy that hasn’t realised any significant jumps in efficiency since the 90’s… so there’s a lot of room for improvement.” Incentivising Change So how then does the building sector miraculously transform its current model of localised onsite construction to a more ambitious, factory oriented one, not unlike the way Ford Motor company transformed the automotive industry over 100 years ago with the introduction of assembly lines? To help make this happen, Ron van Erck, Head of Energiesprong’s international market development is convinced the EU must match its ambitious targets with equally aggressive financial incentives. “I think it’s clear there needs to be an agreement where (EU) member states understand that the building sector is a huge part of the problem and that they need to bring forward a roadmap together with some form of stimulus package,” he observed. “And for retrofits, higher standards need to be achieved, because it’s much better to incentivise one net zero retrofit than three that only reduce fossil fuel consumption by 20 or 30 percent with the same total support budget.” Based on multiple precedents, van Erck says there remains a very real challenge of member states getting into a potential tug of war over which energy standards to adopt and incentivise… and one way to avoid getting bogged down, is to take the same approach as the EU with respect to reducing greenhouse gas emissions: establish clearly defined goals and timelines.  “I think member states should think in terms of the carbon savings they want to realise from building stock over the next 30 years… as an end goal… and then the milestones or steps needed to get them there. So maybe it works out to be a 20 percent reduction by 2030, 40 percent by 2040 and maybe even as high as 90 percent by 2050.” Through that sort of staged approach member states can come to terms with which standards, practices and innovations are needed to help get them there. What you want to avoid van Erck says, is falling into the trap of starting off with lower standards and then five or 10 years down the road, “realising that you should have done it differently… that you should have had more ambitious targets. Because once you’ve reached that point there’s no turning back and you can’t just stack more measures onto that building to get to a higher performance. So you’ve wasted a lot of money, without achieving your end goal in the process.”

After a successful first season in 2020, on 11 March 2021 the Energiesprong France team are launching the second season of their Innovation Competition, co-financed by the CEE Energiesprong France project. The objective: to support the development of innovative solutions, which are cheaper in terms of overall costs, in order to democratise access to guaranteed net zero energy retrofits. Energiesprong: an approach which aims to scale-up guaranteed net zero energy retrofits.   Energiesprong has been implemented in France for just over 5 years by GreenFlex. The Energiesprong approach aims to speed up the development of guaranteed net zero energy retrofits using pre-fabricated and industrialised elements.  Energiesprong France implemented three successful pilot projects in regions across France in 2018-2019 and plans to extend the programme further with the retrofitting of 4,000 dwellings owned by social housing providers using the Energiesprong approach (from the planning phase right up to the construction phase). Several other projects are currently under consideration and Energiesprong renovation projects involving educational buildings are currently being developed. A competition open to all   Energiesprong’s Season 1 Innovation Competition aimed to develop innovative solutions in the 3 broad categories of solutions which were essential to industrialising and accelerating guaranteed net zero energy renovation (individual houses AND multi-unit apartment buildings):   Integrated energy modules Insulated roofs with energy production Prefabricated insulated façades Season 2 aims to support the development of other types of solutions , but still with a view to accelerating the scaling-up of guaranteed net zero renovations:  Improve the integration of solutions in individual houses,  through the development of complete renovation solutions which enable implementation in record time and at a reasonable cost  Optimise the ability of residents in apartment buildings to develop new energy consumption habits : energy management, flexibility, self-consumption, etc. Develop solutions for high-performance, integrated, insulated façades  at a reasonable price so that educational buildings can become more energy efficient whilst still maintaining the best conditions for students to learn. We are confident that multi-disciplinary teams, which integrate a variety of complementary skills, will be able to develop the solutions needed.  Note: If you missed, or simply want to review or share, the results of the Season 1 Innovation Competition and (re)discover the different winners announced at the Innovation Forum in September 2020, please click HERE . Launch programme and how to participate    Join us on  Thursday 11 March, 9:00-12:00,  for the launch of the 2 nd Innovation Competition (webinar format). To participate, you need to register using the following link:   REGISTRATION LINK .  (After registering, you will receive an automatic reply by email with the webinar link. Please note that places are limited). The launch programme:  A word of introduction:  a recap of Energiesprong’s aims and ambitions and the objective of the 2 nd round of the Energiesprong Innovation Competition Report on the results of the Season 1 Innovation Competition with different winners from the first round sharing their experiences and giving their feedback on the programme Presentation on the arrangements for Season 2 of the Innovation Competition : outline of the competition categories, application process for groups, agenda and key stages Question and Answer session  to answer all your questions! For those who cannot attend or who are too late to register, the practical arrangements will be published on Energiesprong.fr the day after the event.

Homes in Hameln modernised following the Energiesprong approach In Hameln (Lower Saxony), the first building in Germany was serially retrofitted following the Energiesprong approach. Energiesprong is a new method for net zero energy renovation: using prefabricated roof and façade elements, as well as prefabricated building technology, buildings can be modernised quickly and in a climate-friendly manner. The innovative construction process brought the Hameln building up to the climate-friendly NetZero standard. The German Energy Agency (dena) is responsible for launching serial renovations in Germany on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and supports companies in planning and implementing pilot projects. The 1930s Hameln apartment block, consisting of three building sections with two floors each, was previously in great need of renovation. Almost all of the twelve apartments in the apartment building are now rented. Since the renovation, the building has achieved the climate-neutral NetZero standard: a photovoltaic system on the roof generates as much energy over the year as is required for heating, hot water and electricity. Over 500 sensors installed in the house evaluate the consumption data and help to optimally-control the heating supply and ventilation of the building. A heat pump and a heat recovery ventilation system complete the innovative building technology. Now the serially-renovated building can prove itself in operation and show that the Net-Zero standard works. Ecoworks GmbH, provider of CO2-neutral and serial renovation in Germany, coordinated the implementation as a total solution provider. A prefabricated construction company from Brandenburg prefabricated the façade elements. Windows, ventilation, power cables, fiberglass insulation and coatings were already integrated into the elements. They were installed on site as a new shell on the house. The house is owned by the Arsago Group. Thomas Bareiß, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics said: “Around 35% of Germany’s total final energy is currently consumed in buildings, especially for heating and hot water. A lot of energy can be saved by renovating the energy efficiency of buildings. The Federal Ministry of Economics already supports renovation measures for buildings with a large number of funding measures. In 2020, we made 8.5 billion Euros available, triggering an estimated investment of 83 billion Euros through KfW’s support measures alone. Serial renovation is a new component in this package. It enables buildings to be quickly renovated using prefabricated elements. This is attractive for the real estate industry, for owners and also for tenants”. Andreas Kuhlmann, Chairman of dena management said: “The pilot in Hameln is a milestone in the market development of serial renovation solutions. A house in great need of renovation has become an affordable, climate-friendly and high-quality home. The pilot makes it clear that innovation in the construction sector pays off. The experience gained here can be used to gradually improve technologies and processes. Scaling and innovation will keep costs down. This is how we get step-by-step from the pilot phase to serial production. A future-oriented and profitable market is currently emerging for companies in the construction industry. After the upheavals in mobility and renewable energies, the construction industry must now deliver the next major climate protection innovation”. Florian Schrage from Arsago said: “As owners, we are very satisfied that we have actually succeeded in implementing the first project of this kind in Germany. I am also particularly pleased that we were able to set an example for energy transition here in Kuckuck, Hameln with its eventful history. This pilot project was the much-cited "great challenge" as anticipated, but in my opinion we have achieved a convincing result both technically and creatively, which I hope will be followed by many people”. Emanuel Heisenberg from Ecoworks said: “We are proud to have implemented the first serial renovation in Germany and to have renovated three comfortable, CO2-neutral buildings for the owner and the tenant. Now it is time for us to use the experience and data to further develop the serial solution”. About Energiesprong In Germany, Energiesprong is coordinated by the Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena). In close cooperation with the construction and housing industry, dena develops the redevelopment concept for the German market, brings companies together and advocates optimal framework conditions. The project is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and supported by the GdW Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies. Implementation of the first pilot projects is funded by the EU INTERREG NWE programme as part of the “MUSTBE0” project. This also includes the project in Hameln. Dena estimates the potential number of small to medium-sized apartment buildings from the 1950s to 1970s in Germany to be around 300,000 buildings. Further pilot projects will be implemented in 2021.

Nearly 70 percent of the city’s total carbon emissions come from buildings. A project to retrofit nine buildings with green technology is pioneering a new solution. Casa Pasiva was the brainchild of the architect Chris Benedict, a longtime partner on passive house projects with RiseBoro. She drew inspiration from  Energiesprong , a Dutch process that uses standardized, premade building panels with built-in heating and cooling systems to upgrade older buildings. In the United States, and New York in particular, the wide variety of housing types, as well as differing climates, makes the standardized Dutch approach unfeasible. Read the whole article here >>

An ambitious project: The complete renovation of an outdated Intervam flat on the Camera Obscuradreef in Utrecht, the Netherlands.   After a successful pilot with 8 homes that were made net zero in 10 weeks, construction company VIOS refurbished a total of 252 apartments and 15 new homes in the same neighbourhood to net zero energy homes. This was just the starting point for the Housing Organisation Mitros. Goals: Extend lifespan by 50 years High energy measures Design, completion, management and maintenance on the one hand, and agreement on the other Multi-year maintenance plans € 1,350 including VAT per home per year Resident satisfaction > 8 In addition, all homes also included a new kitchen, bathroom and toilet. New stucco, interior paintwork, interior doors, H&S work, switchgear, and new interior installations throughout. Asbestos must be remediated and we completed 15 new homes. The successful project has received a lot of media attention and, at the end of 2019, it received an award at the prestigious  Green Solutions Awards  in the Sustainable Renovation category. Technical specifications: Performance guarantee: 10 years Energy use  before  the renovation: 225 kWh/m2 per year Energy use  after  the renovation: 50 kWh/m2 per year Divided over energy use: Heating: 10,9 kWh/m2 (including ventilation) Warm Water: 14,2 kWh/m2 Cooling: 0 kWh/m2 Household consumption: 24,8 kWh/m2 Energy  savings : 175 kWh/m2 per year Production of energy through solar panels to achieve net zero energy: around 50 kWh/m2 per year Most important elements: Ventilation by means of balanced ventilation with a Heat Recovery Unit CO2 controlled (system D) Air-water heat pump PV (solar panel) Insulation Entire shell thermally insulated:roof: Rc= 6closed façade: Rc = 4,5open façade, triple glas: U-value = 0,5ground floor: Rc = 4,5cold bridges removed by local insulation and thermal breaks Cooperation: Design, Build & Maintain with Mitros Woningcorporatie Chain cooperation with chain partners VIOS Bouw  Click  here  for the complete photoalbum

Energiesprong UK has announced that its deep retrofit innovation partnership is live and open to bids.This ground breaking approach to procuring and developing Energiesprong deep retrofit solutions aims to unlock up to £10bn of market potential and kickstart large-scale, whole-house retrofit for homes across the country.  The innovation partnership brings together housing providers and suppliers to help transform the approach to retrofitting the UK’s aging, inefficient housing, creating desirable, warm, affordable homes at scale.

The German housing company LEG has commissioned three construction companies to develop serial retrofitting processes that can be used in parallel, based on the Energiesprong approach, and to modernise residential buildings to the net zero standard. The goal is scalable and more cost-effective. “The process technologies to be tested only hold promise in terms of generating the necessary cost advantages if they are scalable, which is why we, together with Dena, have made the findings transparent (similar to the open source concept in software development), in order to be able to scale up more quickly"Dr. Volker Wiegel, COO of LEG The housing company LEG based in Düsseldorf is launching a real-life laboratory in Mönchengladbach for serial renovation based on the Energiesprong approach. Three construction companies were commissioned to develop a serial usable renovation process based on the Energiesprong approach for a third of the buildings each, and to modernise these buildings to Net-Zero standard. The buildings, built in 1956, each have two floors, four to six apartments and a high energy consumption level, with an H energy performance certificate. LEG would like to make climate-neutral living possible in these buildings without the rents having to increase significantly. The three companies commissioned: B&O from Bad Aibling, Fischbach from Essen and Renolution from Haaksbergen in the Netherlands are all members of the  NetZeroNow network . Energiesprong supports companies in this network to plan and implement initial serial retrofitting projects. Each company will use different technologies and approaches to modernise the buildings. The aim is to test how the renovation concepts can be applied and improved under real conditions. LEG aims to deliberately encourage the exchange of information and ideas between the project participants. According to LEG, the aim of the real-world laboratory is: "to develop renovation concepts that are scalable, which thus become more cost-effective and help to accelerate the energy transition". “This project is very demanding and exciting from a purely technical point of view. The buildings are captured using 3D scans and the façades and solar roof elements are prefabricated with millimetre precision. This includes the windows, the insulation and the external cladding. The finished elements are then installed on the building. An energy module is also preassembled, which contains all the technology for the entire building, e.g. a heat pump that replaces the old heating system, a hot water storage tank, a ventilation system with heat recovery and the electronics for the photovoltaic system and the monitoring system. The complete module is delivered to the construction site and then only has to be connected on site”, says Uwe Bigalke, Team Leader for energy-efficient buildings at Dena.

The aim of the MustBe0 Design Competition,  launched last November  by Energiesprong UK, was to develop new approaches for high-performance, scalable and cost-effective net zero retrofit solutions focused on apartment blocks. The Design Competition has been a fruitful process and shows fantastic progress, resulting in 6 winning teams who presented their concept designs at  Futurebuild in London , March 2020.  During this event, our partner IET (who were keen to document the whole process through video) interviewed presenters to learn more about the aims of the competition, the purpose, challenges and intentions. They also had the opportunity to speak with 5 of the 6 consortia winners. Click  here  to meet the winners and hear about their inspiring ideas! The concept designs and solutions you’ll hear about in the videos are divided into the 3 categories which the Design Competition focussed on: Build Up, which includes adding a layer of new dwellings on top of existing flats while ensuring whole building net zero energy, Net zero energy for low rise apartments (< 4 stories) and billing, metering and monitoring. The Design Competition doesn’t stop there. Energiesprong UK continues to support the winners in developing the market in a way which allows their great ideas to become reality. IET will continue to film the whole process so keep an eye out for the more in-depth documentary! Emily Braham from Energiesprong UK says “It was fantastic to see these top players develop themselves and their ideas in this competition. They all had to deal with specific challenges, and I’m really excited by the innovative ideas they have come up with. I have confidence that we will see some of the designs put into practice.” The Design Competition is supported by the European project NWE834 MustBe0, Multi Storey Building Energy = 0, funded by the Interreg NWE Programme through the European Regional Development Fund.

RetrofitNY has made a Pledge. The purpose of this pledge is to mobilise the market to enable building owners to retrofit their buildings to net-zero energy (NZE) performance in a cost-effective way, significantly improving their building’s value and reducing its construction period and operating expenses, while improving residents’ quality of life. NYCHA, which has a total of 169,820 dwelling units in its portfolio, signed the RetrofitNY Pledge and has therefore committed to drastically reduce its GHG emissions by implementing deep energy and net zero retrofits. To date 15 additional social housing owners have signed on, totalling over 280,000 units aggregated under the RetrofitNY Pledge.  Climate Mobilization Act As New York City has now passed the Climate Mobilization Act (CMA), in a few short years, the business landscape is going to be very different for building owners compared to what it is today, and owners need to be prepared for these changes now. The Climate Mobilization Act (CMA) includes legislation requiring owners of buildings over 25,000 square feet to substantially reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over time enabling the City to meet its targets of 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. The CMA would affect 50,000 buildings in the City. This law also requires the study of a citywide emissions trading scheme for carbon credits which, if enacted, may lead to an increase in value and revenue potential for NZE buildings whose performance would meet or exceed the mandated levels. Similar high-performance standards are pending or being implemented in Massachusetts, California, Vancouver and in many other municipalities. The Pledge New retrofit solutions must be made available in order to give building owners a viable way to comply with new laws, prepare for imminent changes in the market and reduce risk in their building portfolios, while enhancing the performance and value of their building assets. The RetrofitNY Pledge will allow building owners to use their collective buying power to compel manufacturers to introduce new retrofit solutions into the market at no risk to themselves. As proven by the success of similar programmes throughout Europe, Energiesprong for example, building owners’ signatures on this pledge will help to dramatically increase the availability of affordable high performance retrofit solutions from which they and the entire market will directly benefit. Additional RetrofitNY programme information and resources are available at https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/RetrofitNY .

The Reframed Initiative is calling on European industry partners to participate in a six-month exploratory design process to develop next-generation refurbishment concepts with the mission to transform existing housing into high energy efficiency buildings. ( click here to subscribe) Taking inspiration from the Energiesprong approach to retrofitting residential buildings in Europe, the Reframed Initiative in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada is working with designers, builders, owners, financiers, and policymakers to scale up deep retrofits. The initiative is a partnership between the Pembina Institute, a non-profit think-tank that advocates for strong, effective policies to support Canada’s clean energy transition, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, and the City of Vancouver. Their goal is to work together to address the climate emergency in Canada by preserving and upgrading existing residential buildings that provide affordable housing in a market with high rents and low vacancy rates. Deep retrofit designs wanted Encouraged by Energiesprong’s success in implementing its revolutionary, whole house refurbishment approach in Europe, the Reframed Initiative is teaming up with BC Housing, a crown corporation accountable to the provincial government that develops, manages and administers housing in the province, to commission deep retrofit designs for up to five multi-unit residential buildings. The target archetype is typical to B.C., low-rise (less than four storeys), wood-frame building with 11-50 residential units.  This programme aims to demonstrate advanced innovation in building retrofits that make buildings more energy-efficient, less polluting, and more resilient to earthquakes and extreme weather. Looking for integrated technologies Reframed is particularly interested in retrofit solutions that integrate technologies such as pre-fabricated exterior wall and roof panels, high-efficiency and low-carbon mechanical systems, roofing solutions that integrate on-site renewable electricity, storage and/or thermal generation, seismic upgrades and climate adaptation measures. To facilitate early integration of innovative solutions, design teams will be multi-disciplinary and include practitioners such as architects, contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, modellers, performance monitoring specialists, among others. Energiesprong’s European partners and solution providers would be welcome to partner on a design team! Next generation solutions in six-months Selected teams will participate in an exciting new exploration lab, called the Reframed Lab , which will bring them together in a six-month exploratory design process where they will share retrofit ideas and learn from experts on technical innovations, resilience, embodied carbon, and health. The aim of this collaborative design process is to demonstrate next-generation solutions that integrate health, seismic and fire safety and climate adaptation measures with envelope and mechanical upgrades to improve the energy efficiency of old buildings and cut carbon pollution while minimizing tenant disruption. Each design team will design a retrofit specific to one building and consider how the solution could be applied to the other buildings. Design teams will determine the appropriate combination of interventions to balance the needs of the building, owner and occupants with respect to costs, performance targets, and health and safety requirements. Being near a fault line, seismic safety is a priority in British Columbia. Each building will be assigned a project technologist by BC Housing to work with the team of experts. The teams will then come together to share their expertise and provide feedback on the different retrofit designs for each building. The designs will be evaluated by a jury of experts and Reframed partners who will recommend a preferred design for the design and construction phase of the projects. Sanne de Wit, Head of Ideas at Energiesprong Foundation, said, “We are really happy to see that the Canadians are moving forward in terms of reducing the energy needs of old buildings. We love the idea of the Reframed Lab, launched by our Canadian counterparts. Pembina and the other partner organisations involved in the initiative really are frontrunners when it comes to energy transition. I can’t wait to see the outcomes of their design process. I can imagine that many of our European contacts and partners will be interested in joining this initiative.” To find out more about the Reframed Initiative and to register your interest, visit: reframedinitiative.org/lab The primary consultant leading the design team must be an engineering professional licensed to practice in B.C.