The Social, Educational, and Market Scenario for nZEB in Europe
Evangelia Topriska,
Maria Kolokotroni,
Daniela Melandri,
Simon McGuiness,
Andrei Ceclan,
Georgios C. Christoforidis,
Vittoria Fazio,
Maria Hadjipanayi,
Patrick Hendrick,
Marija Kacarska,
Elisa Peñalvo López,
Kaj Leonhart Petersen,
Jutta Steinbrecher
Affiliations
Evangelia Topriska
School of Energy, Science, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot Watt University Dubai Campus, International Academic City, 294345 Dubai, UAE
Maria Kolokotroni
Institute of Energy Futures, Brunel University London, UB8 3PH Uxbridge, UK
Daniela Melandri
Future Cities Catapult, EC1R 0BE London, UK
Simon McGuiness
School of Architecture, Dublin Institute of Technology, Linenhall Campus, Bolton Street, D07 Y4C0 Dublin, Ireland
Andrei Ceclan
Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Georgios C. Christoforidis
Department of Electrical Engineering, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, 501 00 Kozani, Greece
Vittoria Fazio
EnerGia-Da.S.r.L, Rome, Italy
Maria Hadjipanayi
FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy, Photovoltaic Technology Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
Patrick Hendrick
Aero-Thermo-Mechanics Department, Université libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Marija Kacarska
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia
Elisa Peñalvo López
Institute for Energy Engineering (IIE), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 València, Spain
Kaj Leonhart Petersen
Energy Consulting Network, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
Jutta Steinbrecher
Department of Architecture, University of Kassel, 34125 Kassel, Germany
Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) are a significant part of the energy efficiency strategy of the European Union. As buildings represent approximately 40% of the final energy use in Europe, the reduction of their energy demand is key for a sustainable future. This paper takes a qualitative approach and presents data about professional and market barriers, as well as the educational market in relation to the implementation of nZEB policies for new and retrofit buildings in 11 European countries. Different levels of policy enactments and market penetration are reported and are generally found to be more advanced in western and central European countries. Furthermore, gender equality is examined in the building sector in relation to nZEB and presents significant gaps, with a more balanced situation reported in southern Europe. The accreditation and targeted education of nZEB experts is still almost non-existent in the examined countries, and the need for training of building professionals is highlighted as a critical missing component of current policy. This research aims to be the first step towards the creation of educational material and programmes as a mean to accelerate the transition to nZEB.
