Effective Financing Tools for Implementing Energy Efficiency in Buildings Newsletter#2 Technologies

International Newsletter for building managers #2 Technologies  February 2019

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Table of Contents Building managers met companies with the smartest solutions for energy efficiency - 1 Greentech companies - 1 Estonian company launched a brand new digital platform - 2 Energy use and monitoring - 2 ENERGY AUDIT – is it worth it? - 3 The county Council of Dalarna saves the most energy in Sweden - 3 Status of financial tools and instruments development - 4 European Regional Development Fund for energy efficiency in SME -5 Program for energy efficiency investment in small and midsize companies - 5 EPC pilot project provide valuable input to tool development - 6 Green leasing contract in schools - 6 Meeting with Hedmark Dalarna SamarbeteGränskommitté -7 EFFECT4buildings involved in several events in Finland - 7 Partner meeting in Vidzeme - 8 EFFECT4buildings flyer - 8

Building managers met companies with the smartest solutions for energy efficiency "What to do when the smartness stops? This aspect is important when it comes to smart buildings", said Jurgo Preden, CEO of Thinnect.

Future for buildings was the focus of the first GreenEST Summit. More than 200 energy efficiency experts, building managers, architects and 18 greentech solutions providers gathered together on October 30 in Tallinn Creative Hub to improve energy efficiency in buildings.

The aim of the GreenEST Summit was to bring together and enhance the dialogue between technology solution providers and buyers – building managers from the whole Baltic Sea Region and other EU countries.

A total of 15 experts with inspirational presentations and in panel discussions talked about topics like indoor climate, nearly zero energy buildings, energy performance contracting, smart technologies etc. Rene Tammist, Estonian Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, introduced with the current situation in Estonia, telling that Estonian buildings use about 10% more energy than elsewhere in Europe. Read more here.

GreenEST Summit: 18 greentech companies from 6 Baltic Sea Region countries

At the GreenEST Summit 18 technology solution companies from Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Latvia presented their engineering solutions with a detailed explanation and demonstration of the basic principles of their operation.

The greentech company's solutions were very diverse, starting with water mixers with reduced warm water use, eco wall boards for thermal insulation, apps for the energy monitoring, solar panels and ending with a whole construction of passive building.

EFFECT4buildings project team had chance to make 15 interviews with representatives of companies. We prepared some brief introduction about each solution/product with the aim to help building managers know more about various solutions for improving energy efficiency in buildings.

Marit Ragnarsson, County board of Dalarna, Lead partner in EFFECT4buildings project

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To show so many profitable solutions at one event gives building managers a lot of inspiration and new ideas on what can be done. At the same time, GreenEST Summit was a great opportunity for the solution provider to meet new customers.

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Estonian company Fututec launched a brand new digital platform intended for shopping centers

Author: Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol

Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol is supporting Estonian greentech companies to grow more quickly and make it to global markets. One of the companies in the portfolio is Fututec, who develops information system for real estate management, which improves the collection, storing and analysis of data, and the efficiency of real estate management. They launched a brand new digital platform, which gives customers access to tools that will take shopping centers management to a whole new level.

Furthermore, data concerning the sales performance of particular tenants can clearly indicate the suitability of their current rented facilities (and the particular shopping center itself) to their purposes, and highlight any potential need for renegotiation.

There's no doubt that the use of such management systems gives the shopping center a competitive advantage in the eyes of both present and future tenants. Read more here.

Data points that are vital for making marketing decisions on both the owner and the tenant's end (such as overall revenue, visitor numbers, average purchase revenue and each turnover per square meter) are now available to both parties in real time. The scope of the data (day, month, week, year or day of the week) can be adjusted according to the user's wishes.

This functionality gives the tenant a good overview of the purchasing habits of their customers, allowing them to tailor their marketing strategy accordingly. The property owner, on the other hand, can use these analytics to make informed decisions about day-to-day operations and their own marketing strategy. .

Energy use and monitoring – will it help keep energy costs under control?

Author: Mikk Maivel, State Real Estate Ltd

EFFECT4buildings project partner State Real Estate company will carry out 1.5-year energy monitoring test from hourly based energy use data from five test buildings. Energy monitoring main aim is to answer the question: can detailed energy monitoring decrease buildings energy cost or not and does the systems own cost exceed the revenue achieved?

Although we live in the information age, we still find real estate managers who store their monthly energy data to handwritten books. It is not rare that accountants have the best overview of the energy performance and consumption of the building through making energy related payments. It was not long ago when property managers, owners and tenants of the building had no overview of the energy use and large energy fluctuations were visible by reference to consumption costs only.

Today’s situation has fortunately been greatly improved and building managers have better tools to do energy consumption analysis. Most of the experienced facility owners use specific facility management IT-systems to store monthly readings where overconsumption is discovered by property managers while inserting previous months data. Read more here.

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ENERGY AUDIT – is it worth it?

Author: Dr inż. Michał Kaczmarczyk, RESponsibility Polska

Is energy audit unavoidable before thermomodernization work? No, it is not, because the companies taking care of heating the buildings will execute their tasks anyway, receiving accurate reward from the investor. However, will they do their job properly?

Thermal management of the building, identified with the feeling of comfort of its use, has always caused and probably still will cause a headache to proprietors of family hauses. Of course, this is about beeing economical, or – to be more precise - simply survive till the end of the heating season, during which the costs of fuel used for central heating consume a significant part of the family budget.

On the one hand we have the exploitation costs, on the other hand – there are posibilities to minimalize it, but simultaneously increese investment cost to thermomodernization of a building. But how much time will it take to regain invested money? How much money can be saved from reducing the need for heating? The precise answer for those questions provides us the energy audit.

In most cases presumably – yes, perhaps all of the thermal bridges will be destroyed, styrofoam will be glued peripherally and the drilled holes in the wall will have been cleaned before studding. All of the above will prove possible provided the company we hired is solid and dependable. Yet the main concern is still left unanswered – taking action without the energy audit remains an unsure task.

WHAT IS AN ENERGY AUDIT? LOCAL PROSPECT EVALUATION OF THE BUILDING AND PROPOSITIONS OF CHANGES Read more here.

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Screenshot from Audyt Energetyczny, RESponsibility Polska

The county Council of Dalarna saves the most energy in Sweden In this sense the energy economizing culture permeates Author: Karin Wennermark No effort spared – but loads of energy. The county council of Dalarna is the best in Sweden when it comes to saving energy. In 2016 only 152 kWh per square meter was used in their buildings, this includes also electricity used for the maintenance.

As a comparison; in other counties the amount used is on average 200 kWh. This energy efficiency model is now a role model for others. And persistence is a key factor.

"Everybody has energy on their minds. It has been incorporated in our culture", says Jesper Mårtensson, energy manager at The county council of Dalarna.

everything: newbuilds, remodeling, management, purchase and everyday life. Nobody uses the lift if it isn't necessary, nobody carries out a refurbishment without assuring that the energy used will be cut in half. Or, at least, they try. Read more here.

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Status of financial tools and instruments development EFFECT4buildings tool leaders are still working with the development of financial tools and instruments. An important Toolkit for Environment and Sustainability. Click here.

Multi Service Contract Multi-service-contracting is a holistic approach to energy efficient renovations. The idea behind the tool is to evaluate on the traditional approach to energy efficient renovations within a municipality and come up with a new approach which captures other relevant aspects. It could be indoor climate, operation and maintenance or another criteria, which are important for the municipality to improve.

Financial calculation tools The first version of financial calculation tool has been prepared and launched for project partners for testing purposes. The case plan has been created and it contains several practical test cases, which will help to gather fresh ideas how to further develop the tool.

Funding

Currently all project partners are working on the „funding tool”. We are collecting and evaluating information about funding possibilities for energy efficiency projects in the countries. Based on that, we will prepare guidelines for public building managers on where and how to apply for funding for their investments. The results of our work will be available at the beginning of 2019.

Green Leasing Contract

In order to succeed with a new approach the municipality will have to look into existing municipal strategies, organization structures and cooperation between departments as well as current criteria for renovation projects. What are the biggest obstacles today and can we hinder these by setting new / improving old criteria? The idea is then to test the criteria, evaluate and recommend criteria which can be contracted with great success.

Energy Performance Contract One of the methods used to further develop the EPC model is to gather experience and information from previous EPC projects. The EPC project, which has recently been initiated by the County Council of Hedmark, will be used as a pilot project in EFFECT4buildings.

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. in One case is up and running at a school Avesta, Sweden. The municipality and the school have signed a green leasing contract with incentive for both parties. More contracts are on their way with some different approaches on incentives. We are working on educational presentations to help the tenants understand how to fulfill the contract. In Latvia green leasing contract is also tested in schools.

Prosumerism Prosumerism tool aims at provide guidelines with incorporated calculation tools and information on solar technologies in order to encourage municipalities and building managers to use PV technologies. Prosumerism tool aims to provide analysis of existing tools supporting selfconsumption of electricity and to define the range of existing financing models that could be used by building managers implementing the projects.

Bundling

Bundling tool is mainly based on the idea of Total Concept Method, which easily describes how bundling of several smaller investments as one bigger package will help to implement the investment .

Convincing decisions makers This tool aims to collect experiences and ideas from project stakeholders on how to convince decision makers that it is worth to invest in energy efficiency projects. The case plan includes various meetings, workshops and preparation of smart guides on how to lobby for energy efficiency projects.

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Effective use of European Regional Development Fund for energy efficiency in SME For the current program period EU has dedicated a significant part of the European Regional Development Fund to achieve a low carbon economy. The County Administrative board of Dalarna in Sweden has, as a Pilot region for green growth, actively worked with energy efficiency during the last ten years.

Several energy projects with finance from European Regional Development Fund has been implemented. When the program period has reached half-time an evaluation was made to build upon gained experiences.

The evaluation is presented in the following report together with policy recommendations how funding resources can be used more effectively.

Some key findings: Speed up energy auditing and increase the quality of energy audits Increase requirements on companies State aid for investments Read more here.

Framework program for energy efficiency investment in small and midsize companies. Best practice from Dalarna, Sweden The County Administrative Board of Dalarna has developed and implemented a framework program for investments in small and medium enterprises with a 4 million euro budget, partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund, called ENCOM – Energy investments for competitive companies 2020. It is the first of its kind and. it has inspired other Swedish counties to launch similar programs.

Allocation of the funds is governed by EU Commission regulation No 651/2014 about state aid.

ENCOM grant aid to energy efficiency measures if the investment also enables new or increased production, since the regional priorities for the program is also to promote new jobs.

The aid granted is divided into two investment categories: Investments in increased and more energy efficient own production Investments in new products and services leading to energy efficiency on the market The program has been developed with a “bonus level” and a “super bonus level” making even more use of the funding to reach higher level of energy efficiency: “Bonus” level: Increased energy requirements “Super bonus” level: Bundling as a tool for Public Private Partnership

Read more here.

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EPC pilot project provide valuable input . to tool development Author: Kjell Vaagen, Hedmark County Council

Collection of experience with EPC from other partners has been started. We will also collaborate with one or two Hedmark County Council is the Norwegian partner in municipalities that will assess EPC as a model for energy the EFFECT4buildings project, aiming to contribute to saving in their municipality. the implementation of energy saving measures in public buildings. The wish is to achieve this quickly, In addition to this, we will have an ongoing project in our profitable and with little risk for the building owners. own county. The EPC project, which has recently been Hedmark County Council has the main responsibility initiated by the County Council of Hedmark, will be used improving the self-financing contract of guaranteed as a pilot project in EFFECT4buildings.

Read more here. energy savings, also known as the EPC (Energy Performance Contracting).

One of the methods used to further develop the EPC model is to gather experience and information from previous EPC projects. Here you will find experiences about success criteria and challenges from municipalities in Hedmark county, as well as previously completed projects from some of the other partners in EFFECT4buildings. As of today, interviews have been conducted with 5 case municipalities in Hedmark.

21 school in Vidzeme region (Latvia) will test how the green leasing contract works in schools Author: Baiba Norberte, Vidzeme Planning Region On January 10, Vidzeme Planning Region (Latvia) met with teachers to launch the School program “Effective energy consumption in the schools”.

The main target of the program is to decrease energy consumption in schools comparing with the baseline (electricity + heat).

From January to December 2019, more than 20 schools from the 8 Vidzeme Planning Region municipalities have committed themselves to reduce their school energy consumption by changing their habits and introducing regular energy saving measures.

In order to motivate students to become knowledgeable and responsible energy users, as well as to support teachers and other school staff, the Vidzeme Planning Region expert team develops training material on nine topics - Energy Consumption in Buildings; Heating; Electricity; Types of energy; Climate change; Lighting; Ventilation; Water; Energy efficiency in building constructions and systems.

During the Program period Vidzeme Planning Region will analyse the progress and discuss with municipalities and schools how to improve the green leasing contract conditions and cooperation between building owner and tenant for successful implementation of energy measures.

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Meeting with Hedmark Dalarna Samarbete- Gränskommitté Author: Kjell Vaagen, Hedmark County Council In January 2019 Hedmark County Council had a meeting in the Board of the Cross Border Committee of HedmarkDalarna. As a part of this meeting participants had a site visit to the company Moelven Limtre AS, which is the supplier of laminated wood to the Mjøstårnet, still the highest wood building in the world.

Next visit was to Mjøstårnet, which will open 1 March 2019.

The board of the Cross Border Committee consist of the County Governors and the political leaders in both counties.

One of the main messages was that use of wood is more sustainable than use of concrete or steel in buildings, bridges etc. During the meeting in the board Hedmark County Council informed about the status in EFFECT4buildings. Follow on Facebook Hedmark Dalarna Samarbete- Gränskommitté

EFFECT4buildings involved in several events in Finland

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Author: Matti Pylkkö, Environmental office of Lappeenranta region

EFFECT4buildings project has been involved recently in different events at Lappeenranta area.

Project was presented as the part of Horisontti seminar on 7th November. The main purpose of seminar was to present green master plan of Lappeenranta for the all inhabitants of the city. The seminar took place at the Nuijamies cultural arena and the agenda included several themes around the green environment as the part of future planning.

EFFECT4buildings project was presented also in Helsinki FinnBuild exhibition (10th October).

On the 20th November EFFECT4buildings was participating in the meeting of Greenreality Network in the city hall of Lappeenranta. Greenreality Network is a business-oriented network of energy and environmental actors. It operates in South Karelia, Finland and creates growth and new business opportunities for its members and the region. The network was established by local businesses in the energy and environmental industry, the city of Lappeenranta and Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT). The coordinator of the Greenreality Network is Wirma Lappeenranta.

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In the end of February EFFECT4buildings partners will meet in Vidzeme On February 25-27. EFFECT4buildings project partners, steering committee and project stakeholders - buildings managers will meet in Vidzeme (Latvia). There will be several workshops on topics - Energy auditing and presentation of results; Convincing decisions makers; Mapping of indoor climate in schools; Status of indoor climate in Baltic Sea Region schools; Values of a good indoor climate; Planning for investments and maintenance; Prosumerism.

To learn more about Latvia's experience in building renovation, Vidzeme Planning Region will organize several site visits for EFFECT4buildings partners.

Site visits will be organized in the framework of the Vidzeme Innovation Week.

For more information about Vidzeme Innovation Week: http://innovation.vidzeme.lv/en/

EFFECT4buildings flyer .

EFFECT4buildings project team invites you to become acquainted with the basic information of .

EFFECT4buildings, which is summarized in the project flyer. Download the flyer here.

International Newsletter for building managers #2 Technologies February 2019 EFFECT4buildings project is implemented with the support from the EU funding Programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region (European Regional Development Fund) and Norwegian national funding. The aim of the project is to improve the capacity of public building managers in the Baltic Sea Region by providing them a comprehensive decision-making support toolbox with a set of financial instruments to unlock the investments and lower the risks of implementing energy efficiency measures in buildings owned by public stakeholders.

EFFECT4buildings newsletter is made by Vidzeme Planning Region. Photo source for newsletter cover www.canva.com.

Other photos are used with permission from EFFECT4buildings project partners. If you would like to be kept informed about project news, events and be able to take part in the project activities, subscribe to EFFECT4buildings newsletter by sending us an e-mail with request to baiba.norberte@vidzeme.lv Follow us on Twitter: EFFECT4building