Advanced data-driven monitoring of building stock energy performance
HORIZON Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D4-01-03
- Programme
- Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- June 24, 2021
- Deadline
- October 19, 2021
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €10,000,000
- Keywords
- Energy efficient buildingsEnergy efficiency - generalEnergy, fuels and petroleum engineeringDigital AgendaEOSC and FAIR dataArtificial Intelligencedatabuildingsperformanceenergy efficiency
Description
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- More robust, improved and consistent monitoring of performance (energy and other relevant aspects, such as indoor environment quality and life cycle) of buildings across the European sectors and through the whole value chain.
- Better informed planning of building infrastructure (e.g. renovation roadmaps, heating & cooling systems, district heating networks, mobility infrastructures (EV charging, parking facilities, communication networks, strategies for whole life carbon reduction etc.) and better informed investment decision-making for designing future buildings and building processes.
- Successfully tested smart energy services on the basis of advanced, high-quality building stock performance data.
- Significant and measurable increase in the use of open, real-time and reliable building data from multiple sources.
- Development of accurate methods that facilitate collection of data from the building stock (e.g. to support policy making and policy impact assessment or to substantiate performance guarantee schemes and contribute to de-risking investments in a climate neutral building stock over the full life cycle).
- Better availability of big data and big data analysis facilities for real-life scale research, simulation and policy-making.
- More effective implementation of EU policies that drive the transition to a green, digital and sustainable economy, and contribute to enhance the quality of the building stock across the board (e.g. quality of life and working, inclusiveness and accessibility, etc.).
The proposal should:
- Enhance the collection and quality of energy and related (e.g. life cycle) data for buildings (including heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, indoor environment quality, all technical equipment, lighting and other appliances) through various sources such as manufacturers’ data, BIM and digital twin models, surveys, digital logbooks, sensors, meters, interfaces (statistical, structured and big data) and Level(s).
- Explore approaches to integrate dynamic data from buildings (e.g. coming from sensors) with metering static data (e.g. data spaces, energy performance certificates databases), statistical data, and other types of data (e.g. qualitative feedback from building users).
- Ensure the proposed approaches build on interoperability and cloud-based solutions that and allow for seamless collection and use of data from the buildings, systems and subsystems.
- Develop new or enhance existing open source data analytics dashboards and prediction tools.
- Develop improved tools for digital simulation and digital twinning.
- Develop, enhance and integrate existing open data sharing platforms, including where relevant by refining and integrating building data reference architectures and making links with relevant data spaces.
- Contribute to the development of open access and standardised European buildings data repositories, also supporting the development of related EU initiatives (e.g. the EU Building Stock Observatory, JRC E3P Roadmap for whole life cycle carbon emissions reduction).
- Promote fair data management practices to ensure findability, accessibility, interoperability and re-usability of data.
- Seek to ensure from the design phase that the project is developed with a view to integrate its results/deliverables under a digital building logbook.
- Demonstrate digital data exchange platforms for building. The solutions should be interoperable and able to interact with grid management platforms.
- Demonstrate real use cases with business potential (e.g. smart energy services) valorising high quality building performance data, e.g. to accurately monitor energy consumption and production across different fuels (for instance integrated heating and cooling and hybrid systems) as well as other relevant performance criteria.
- Demonstrate that the proposed solutions allow to significantly improve the monitoring of the building stock performance, taking into consideration all relevant aspects (e.g. environmental, economic, and social ones).
Clustering and cooperation with other relevant projects is strongly encouraged; in particular, liaison and synergies with the Horizon Europe Partnerships on ‘People-centric sustainable built environment’ and ‘Driving Urban Transitions’.
Specific Topic Conditions:Activities are expected to achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
Cross-cutting Priorities:Destination & Scope
This Destination addresses activities targeting the energy demand side, notably a more efficient use of energy as regards buildings and industry.
Demand side solutions and improved energy efficiency are among the most cost effective ways to support the transition to climate neutrality, reduce pollution and raw materials use, to create inclusive growth and employment in Europe, to bring down costs for consumers, to reduce our import dependency and redirect investments towards smart and sustainable infrastructure. The transition to a decentralised and climate neutral energy system will greatly benefit from the use of digital technologies which will enable buildings and industrial facilities to become inter-active elements in the energy system by optimising energy consumption, distributed generation and storage and vis-à-vis the energy system. They will also trigger new business opportunities and revenue streams for up-graded, innovative energy services which valorise energy savings and flexible consumption.
This Destination contributes to the following Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations (KSO):
- C: Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems;
- A: Promoting an open strategic autonomy[[‘Open strategic autonomy’ refers to the term ‘strategic autonomy while preserving an open economy’, as reflected in the conclusions of the European Council 1 – 2 October 2020.]] by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains to accelerate and steer the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations.
It covers the following impact areas:
- Industrial leadership in key and emerging technologies that work for people;
- Affordable and clean energy;
- Circular and clean economy.
The expected impact, in line with the Strategic Plan, is to contribute to the “Efficient and sustainable use of energy, accessible for all is ensured through a clean energy system and a just transition”, notably through
- Technological and socio-economic breakthroughs for achieving climate neutrality and the transition to zero pollution of the building stock by 2050, based on inclusive and people-centric R&I (more detailed information below).
- Increased energy efficiency in industry and reducing industry’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions through recovery, upgrade and/or conversion of industrial excess (waste) heat and through electrification of heat generation (more information below).
Other Horizon Europe Clusters include topics and activities that can be relevant to this Destination, e.g. in order to seek synergies. These include (but are not limited to) the following:
Cluster 2:
- Destination 2 – Innovative Research on the European Cultural Heritage and the Cultural and Creative Industries. That Destination is most relevant for the topics which scope addresses heritage buildings.
- Destination 3 - Innovative Research on Social and Economic Transformations. That Destination is most relevant for the social innovation items included in some of the topics.
Cluster 3:
- Destination 4 – Increased Cybersecurity. This potential link is most relevant for the topics that address smart buildings and digitalisation of buildings.
- Destination 5 – A Disaster-Resilient Society for Europe. This potential link can be relevant for the topics that address the resilience of the building stock.
Cluster 4: the whole cluster is relevant, in particular Destination 1 – Climate Neutral, circular and digitised production, which is highly relevant for all topics on buildings (e.g. for the digitalisation of construction / renovation workflows).
Cluster 6:
- Destination 3 – Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors and Destination 4 – Clean environment and zero pollution. This potential link is relevant for all topics, in particular those that address sustainable renovation of buildings.
Beyond Horizon Europe, other programmes include some components with which synergies and complementarities can be found. For instance, the Clean Energy Transition and Circular Economy sub-programmes under LIFE can contribute to the market uptake of the innovation delivered under this Destination. The Digital Europe programme includes actions that can be relevant to consider in relation to the topics that entail the development or use of (big) data approaches.
Highly energy-efficient and climate neutral European building stock
Topics under this Destination targeting highly energy-efficient and climate-neutral European building stock focus on both, the energy challenge in buildings and, more broadly, the transformation of the built environment towards more sustainable living.
In line with the new European Bauhaus aiming to “bring the European Green Deal to life in an attractive, and innovative and human-centred way”, the sustainable built environment should go beyond merely improving the energy and resource efficiency of buildings and also include a qualitative, aesthetic and human dimension. At the intersection of science, technology and the arts, new creative design and architectural solutions should be developed to ensure the sustainable renovation of the existing European building stock for the well-being of its users. In particular the renovation or adaptive reuse of historical and heritage buildings and sites needs to embrace quality principles to safeguard the cultural values of Europe’s historical environment and local architectural identity.
Topics targeting energy efficiency in buildings under this Destination seek to achieve the following impacts:
- More energy efficient building stocks supported by an accurate understanding of buildings performance in Europe and of related evolutions.
- Building stocks that effectively combine energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and digital and smart technologies to support the transformation of the energy system towards climate neutrality.
Addressing the broader transformation of the built environment, though, requires a larger involvement of all players across the built environment value chain and throughout building life cycle. To this end, a co-programmed European Partnership on a people-centric, sustainable built environment has been set up (Built4People) to develop holistic R&I for an effective transition to sustainability. All Horizon Europe R&I actions addressing the challenges related to the buildings and construction sector will contribute to achieving the Built4People Partnership goals and will benefit from the coordinated approach within the community of its partners and stakeholders. Topics contributing to the implementation of the Built4People European Partnership seek to achieve the following impacts:
- Higher buildings’ performance with lower environmental impacts through increased rates of holistic renovations.
- Higher quality, more affordable built environment preserving climate and environment, and safeguarding cultural heritage and ensuring better living conditions.
Industrial facilities in the energy transition
Topics on industrial facilities in the energy transition supported under this Destination focus on thermal energy management in industry. The bulk of R&I activities related to industry is however supported under Cluster 4 “Digital, Industry and Space”.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
The page limit of the application is 70 pages.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
Partner Search Services help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.
Latest Updates
No updates available.