News

EUROPA Midterm Conference: 2022 Retro Talks

26/10/2022

With the 2022 Retro Talks, the EUROPA Mid-term Conference presented project results and discussed current one-stop-shop challenges. This three-part series of online and offline events invited residential renovation stakeholders from across Europe to discuss how the sector can make retrofits accessible for all. A key focus was on the EUROPA One-Stop-Shops, the developed Energy Efficiency Subscription and success stories from the first half of the EU-funded EUROPA project. 

PART 1: Quality and impact in deep energy retrofits
15 September from 10:30 to 12:30 (online)

The 2022 Retro Talks started with a workshop on the quality and impact of deep energy retrofits. This first session was hosted in partnership with the outPHit project, which focuses on making deep energy retrofits faster, cheaper and more reliable. On the basis of debatable statements, a lively exchange took place, discussing the possibilities and obstacles of integrating quality standards into a One-Stop-Shop.

PART 2: Mobilising private households for carry out deep renovations
30 September from 11:00 to 12:30 (in presence)

What can municipalities do to motivate home-owners when it comes to deep renovations? This question formed the main focus of this workshop. From one-stop-shop solutions to the role of local multipliers and the Energy Caravan campaign on energy consultations, participants got to know various approaches and provided feedback regarding their own experiences in the field.

Some key outcomes:

– It is often more the way of communicating with the home-owners than available financial solutions that should be improved to convince more home-owners to start the renovation process.

– Creative concepts are needed to directly reach home-owners. It could be a One-Stop-Shop where people can get advice along their renovation journey or a campaign which brings energy consultations directly to a certain neighbourhood.

-The focus on the neighbourhood scale support is an effective approach for the implementation. In addition, it allows us to think bigger and implement structures at municipal level in order to address the future proofing of the neighbourhoods, e.g. topics related to energy efficiency but also to solar energy provision as well as to adaptation measures.

-Quote from Brice Mertz, fesa e.V.: “The structure of buildings, the building age, the financial situation of homeowners, these are elements you cannot influence. But you can set an effective communication campaign and make links between the different actors (homeowners, energy consultant, subsidies). OSS and EC are complementary offers: first you need a One-Stop-Shop, and then you can implement a communication campaign.”

PART 3: Upscaling the Integrated Home Renovation Services in the EU through Mentoring Process: the case of Europa Project

04 October from 10:30 to 12:30 (online)

This last 2022 Retro Talk was also the final event of the EUROPA Mentoring Programme, which started last March and saw the participation of 25 European institutions. The key focus of the workshop was on reflecting on the benefits of the mentoring process for upscaling Integrated Home Renovation Services, showcasing some best practices, and presenting the web platform developed by EUROPA as a useful on boarding and project management tool for One-Stop-Shops.

The mentoring programme finished for all four peer groups. The evaluation is ongoing, we will publish the results of the mentoring and the assessment of the mentees soon here. 

-Presentation of the results achieved in EUROPA by AREANATejo (PT) 

-Information about the EUROPA web platform

-OSS activities and mentoring experiences  of three mentees:  Hungarian Energy Efficiency Institute (HU), Padova (IT), ADENE (PT)