Sustainable Places 2016, the 4th edition of SP (SP2016) was hosted by NOBATEK in the historic Basque Country. Special thanks goes to UPPA as well, and the city of Anglet for their gracious hospitality. The event stimulated networking linkages in the form of new business and inter-project collaboration opportunities. It was also a deliberate push to bridge the EeB and smart grid sectors, as we know that you can’t have one without the other in the connected cities we all seek to co-create.

SP2016, an EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) official energy day, consisted of 10 thematic sessions, 13 workshops, 6 scientific posters displayed, 2 special sessions, networking opportunities, and visits of local pilot sites for demonstrating innovative technologies being implemented. About 150 delegates, coming from Europe and other parts of the world attended the event. Specifically, SP2016 included the below presentations available for download.

7 Keynotes

The opening ceremony of SP2016 included welcoming remarks from: Jac Tortos, CEO, Nobatek / Claude Olive, Mayor of Anglet, FR / Christian LaBorderie, UPPA – and seven keynote addresses delivered by:

Germain Adell, the Research Director of Nobatek – Germain Adell is the Head of EU funded R&D Programmes and Innovation at NOBATEK-INEF4, a French RTO specialised in sustaina-ble construction, architecture and urban planning. In re-cent years under his lead, NOBATEK has consistently gained momentum as innovative research performer and open innovation forerunner in the construction sec-tor in France and in the European Energy efficient Buildings Public-Private Partnership.He is technical and innovation advisor on several regional, national and international collaborative initiatives and coordinates BUILT2SPEC and INNOQUA Horizon 2020 projects. He has recently been elected Member of the Steering Committee of the European Construction Tech-nology Platform (ECTP).

Etienne Wurtz, the Scientific Director of CEA INES France – Prof. Etienne Wurtz is Scientific Director at CEA INES and the leader of the Build-ing Energy research program at CEA Tech, the 4500-staff department for Technology Research in CEA, a leading Re-search and Technology Organisation in Europe. Etienne began his career as lec-turer at the university of La Rochelle, with a research focus on building energy simu-lation tools. He then moved to CNRS (French National research centre) where he became research director and the leader of a department about Near Zero-Energy Buildings, before joining CEA. Etienne has a passion for and an exten-sive research record in passive solar technologies, innovative industrial con-struction products, thermal inertia innova-tive strategies, storage systems and, inte-grated building concept.

Nashwan Dawood, Dir. Technology Futures Institute, Teesside University – Nashwan Dawood is currently the Director of Technology Futures Institute with the responsibility of strategically developing and promoting research and enterprise at the School of Science Engineering. Nashwan has more than 200 papers publications and has generated more than 6 million UK pounds to funding. Nashwan’s research topics research include engineering sustainability, Building Information Modeling, Information Technologies and Systems (4D,VR,Integrated databases), planning and management of off-site production, risk management, intelligent decision support systems, cost forecasting and control and business processes.

Michael Steifman, CEO, Utilisave – In 1992, Michael Steifman founded UtiliSave seeking to educate clients on their energy use, uncover billing errors, and develop trustworthy relationships to identify cost sav-ing opportunities. In the 25 years since, Uti-liSave has grown to an industry leader, driv-en towards assisting clients who seek to rec-tify utility billing issues, recover and optimize their utility costs. With a staff of experienced professionals, Michael has developed propri-etary technology used to capture, parse, scrub, and analyze massive amounts of utili-ty billing data into meaningful information, imperative for a successful audit. Collecting, making meaningful use of, measuring, and monitoring this data has allowed Michael and his team to further expand UtiliSave’s business into a wide range of products and services related to energy efficiency, pro-curement, benchmarking, and consumption optimization.

Marijn DeKoning, USEF – Marijn de Koning works as a Product De-veloper for Powerhouse, an RWE-Essent subsidiary. The Powerhouse platform ena-bles businesses to valorize their flexibility in supply and demand by providing access to the energy markets. Previously he has held a variety of functions within Essent, the Dutch supplier that has been playing a leading role in the exploration of effective aggregation roles. With a thorough tech-nical understanding as well as experience in both the regulatory and commercial do-main, Marijn has also become a renowned member of the USEF design team, repre-senting USEF foundation at key industrial events and task forces. This was the role Marijn played at SP’16, shining light on the relationships between smart grids & EeB.

Andrea Moro, iiSBE ITALIA – Andrea Moro is an architect and researcher in the field of sustainable building at national and internation-al level since 1996. He’s the scientific referent of ITACA (Federal Association of Italian Regions) for the development and management of the national assessment system Protocollo ITACA (UNI PdR13). He’s Past president (2007-2011) of the no prof-it organization iiSBE (international initiative for a Sus-tainable Built Environment) and since 2005 he’s the President of the national Chapter iiSBE Italia. He carries out research activities for public organizations (regions and cities) in the field of sustainability assessment of buildings and neighborhoods. He’s Vice-President of the CESBA international association (Common European Sustainable Built Environment Assessment).

Olivier Cottet, Schneider Electric – Olivier Cottet is the marketing manager for the market of the building at Schneider France, Olivier Cottet, 45 years old, has been appointed president of the Europtibat association. Former student of the Institute of electricians from Grenoble, Olivier Cottet has comencé career in the sector of automa-tion of the building within the Merlin-Gerin company in 1981. In 1995, he joined the strategic Division France of the Schneider group marketing department, supports offer low voltage, before being appointed in 1998, marketing manager of the building for Schneider France market. Appointed presi-dent of the association for three years, Olivier Cottet wish “strengthen the dynamic fort current Association by expanding its audience in the professional circles and by promoting the development of the service offerings of exploitation maintenance around its product repository.

13 Workshops

The 13 workshops listed below strengthened the results from SP2016, and represent a critical dissemination activity necessary for valorizing innovative technologies & methodologies.

1) Workshop on “HISTORIC CITIES IN TRANSITION: To-wards a Sustainable and Resilient Environment” FASUDIR: Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting [fasudir.eu]; EFFESUS: Energy Efficiency for EU Historic Districts Sustainability [effesus.eu]

2) Workshop on “BIM-BASED DESIGN: ICT tools for building design simulation and assessment of high performance buildings” HOLISTEEC: Holistic and Optimised Life-cycle Integrated Support for Energy-Efficient building design and Construc-tion [holisteecproject.eu]; STREAMER: European Research on Energy-Efficient Healthcare Dis-tricts [streamer-project.eu]; Design4Energy: Building life-cycle evolutionary Design methodology able to create Energy-efficient Buildings flexibly connected with the neighbourhood energy system [www.design4energy.eu]; eeEmbedded: Collaborative Holistic Design Laboratory and Methodolo-gy for Energy-Efficient Embedded Buildings [eeembedded.eu]

3) Workshop on “SMART GRID BUSINESS CONVERGENCE: New Cost-efficient Business Models for Flexible and Cyber-Secure Smart Grids” MAS2TERING: Multi-Agent Systems and Secured coupling of Telecom and Energy gRIds for Next Generation smart grid services [mas2tering.eu]; USEF: Universal Smart Energy Framework [usef.info]; BLANAU GWENT COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL: [blaenau-gwent.gov.uk]; EASY SMART GRID: [easysg.de]

4) Workshop on “DISTRICT RENEWAL: Innovative Tools and Systems for Increased Participation in District Retrofit & Renovation” OptEEmAL: Optimised Energy-Efficient Design Platform for Refurbishment at District Level [opteemal-project.eu]; NewTREND: New integrated methodology and Tools for Retrofit design to-wards a next generation of ENergy efficient and sustainable buildings and Districts [newtrend-project.eu]; Ecodistr-ICT:Integrated decision support tool for retrofit and renewal to-wards sustainable districts [ecodistr-ict.eu]

5) Workshop on “Quantifying the BUSINESS VALUE OF DEMAND RESPONSE: Initiatives for Energy Suppliers & DSOs” DR-BOB: Demand Response in Block of Buildings [dr-bob.eu]; CITYOPT:Holistic simulation and optimisation of energy systems in Smart Cities [cityopt.eu]; E2-DISTRICT: Energy Efficient District Heating and Cooling [e2district.eu]; SIM4BLOCKS: Simulation Supported Real Time Energy Management in Building Blocks [project website TBD]; STORY:Added value of STORage in distribution sYstems [horizon2020-story.eu]

6) Workshop on “New Tools to Reduce the ENERGY PERFORMANCE GAP“ HIT2GAP: Highly Innovative building control Tools Tackling the energy per-formance gap [hit2gap.eu]; TOPAs: Tools for Continuous Building Performance Auditing [topas-eeb.eu]; QUANTUM:Quality management for building performance [quantum-project.eu]; MOEEBIUS: Modelling Optimisation of Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Urban Sustainability [moeebius.eu]

7) Workshop on “ADAPTABLE INDUSTRIALISED ENVELOPES: Modules Integrating Systems for the Renovation of Existing Buildings” E2VENT: Energy Efficient Ventilated Facades for Optimal Adaptability and Heat Exchange enabling novel NZEB architectural concepts for the refurbishment of existing buildings [e2vent.eu]; BRESAER:BREakthrough solutions for adaptable envelopes for building re-furbishment [bresaer.eu]; BERTIM:Building Energy Renovation Through Timber Prefabricat-ed [bertim.eu]; SymBIO2 Biofacades: Microalgae production in symbiosis with the building

8) “FASUDIR RESULTS workshop: towards Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban District Retrofitting” FASUDIR: Friendly and Affordable Sustainable Urban Districts Retrofitting [fasudir.eu]

9) “ENERGISE workshop: COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE – Strategies for Smart Grid Applications” ENERGISE: ICT-based ENERgy Grid Implementation – Smart and Efficient [project-energise.eu]

10) “How to get energy and cost savings during BUILDING OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE workshop“ Energy IN TIME: Simulation-based control for Energy Efficiency building operation and maintenance [energyintime.eu]

11) “BUILT AS DESIGNED workshop: New Technologies for Self-Inspection and Quality Checks on the Construction Site” ACCEPT: Assistant for quality check during construction execution processes for energy-efficient buildings [accept-project.com]; Built2Spec: Built 2 Specifications [built2spec-project.eu]; INSITER: Intuitive self-inspection techniques using augmented reality for energy-efficient buildings made of prefabricated components [insiter-project.eu]

12) Workshop on “Challenges of PUBLIC BUILDING RETROFITTING with Innovative Technologies – An exchange of experience” BRICKER: Energy Reduction in Public Building Stock [bricker-project.com]; A2PBEER:Affordable and Adaptable Public Buildings Through Energy Efficient Retrofitting [a2pbeer.eu]; RESSEEPE: REtrofitting Solutions and Services for the enhancement of Energy Efficiency in Public Edification [resseepe-project.eu]

13) “TRIBUTE workshop: Improvement of the predictive capability of a state-of-the-art commercial BEPS” TRIBUTE: Take the energy bill back to the promised building perfor-mance [tribute-fp7.eu]

Journal Special Issue

ESI journal scope includes as well a particular focus on the business development side of smart electricity grids regarding financial or innovative technological aspects surrounding: renewable production, energy storage and management, construction materials, retrofitting, urban planning, and the trading of actors within emerging markets affected by energy supply and demand trade-off.

The SP2016 & ESI journal partnership was an effective channel to disseminate the achievements of SP2016 participants. Special thank you goes to Carole & Sylvain of CEA for facilitating the special journal edition, and especially to the Executive Editor Prof. Manuela Tvaronavičienė, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania for her deeply appreciated support. Sustainable Places 2016 (SP2016) partnered with the ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES (ESI)ISSN 2345-0282 (online) journal to publish 12 accepted articles.

ESI is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, serving as a platform to foster multi/interdisciplinary innovations that bring together the research communities and the end-users being affected. It is where theory meets practice, evident in the authors being experts across the industrial value chain – including business visionaries, regulatory and standards bodies, and especially pan-European networking through public and private sector partnerships (PPPs).

The SP2016 journal publication was of 12 selected articles to be in a SI (special issue) – Vol 4 Ed 3 of the ESI Journal is available at this link: http://jssidoi.org/jesi/uploads/journals/Entrepreneurship_and_Sustainability_Issues_Vol4_No3_print.pdf

12 Briefings

The following twelve briefings were delivered at SP2016:

“New application of BIM and factors determining business model for the innovative IT tool” (Przemysław Dana, ASM, on behalf of the HISER and BERTIM projects) Przemysław Dana, ASM-Market Research and Analysis Centre, Poland.
“Interdisciplinary approach for energy management in office buildings: Energy Optimization Model” (Maciej Czajka, Trend Control Systems Ltd., and Bartłomiej Dessoulav-Śliwiński, University of Warsaw)”
“Minimizing the gap between computed and measured energy performances using real-time calibration” (Emannuel Onillon, CSEM, on behalf of the TRIBUTE project)
“Services and tools to enhance the impact of EeB PPP Projects” (Regis Decorme, CSTB, on behalf of the EeB-CA2 CSA project)
“Energy performance simulation” (Peter Riederer, CSTB, on behalf of the EFFICACITY project)
“Smart Micro Grids and Cellular Grids” (Thomas Walter, Easy Smart Grid)
“The On-demand Room” (Michele Dominici, FONDATION RENNES1 & IRISA)”
“Energy positive neighbourhoods: part of the solution to integrating distributed electricity generation into current electricity networks” (Tracey Crosbie and Michael Short, Teesside University)
“Capacity Building on Energy Performance Contracting in European Markets in Transition” (Matija Vajdic, EIHP, on behalf of the EnPC-INTRANS project)
“Use Cases and Business Opportunities of Multi- Agent System (MAS) ICT Solutions for LV Flexibility Management” (Juan Manuel Espeche, R2M, on behalf of the MAS2TERING project)
“Thermoeconomic and Experimental Analysis of the Seaspoon Wave Energy Converter coupled to an Energy District” (Stefano Barberis, UNIGE,on behalf of the RESILIENT project)
“Low-carbon heating & cooling for non-domestic buildings in UK: drivers, challenges, and energy policies” (Divya Deepankar, BSRIA, Ltd.)

6 Posters

VIP PHOTOVOLTAIC VENTILATED FACADE: DESIGN, SIMULATION, PRODUCTION AND INSTALLATION (RESSEEPE) Irene Rafols. Arch., Fundació Eurecat, Spain—Master of Architecture (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya)
BUILDING THERMAL MODEL AT AN URBAN SCALE FOR DEFECTS INTEGRATION – IRSTV / CRENAU/ CEREMA Rodler Auline, Guernouti Sihem, Musy Marjorie, Bouyer Julien IRSTV / CRENAU/ CEREMA, France
STRATEGIES THAT INFLUENCE PER-FORMANCE OF MIXED-MODE NZE BUILDINGS IN HAWAII (HNEI / ERDL)
PERFORMANCE GAP AND HOW BUILT2SPEC PROJECT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO ADDRESS IT (EURECAT) Irene Rafols, Fundació Eurecat, Spain
IMPROVE THE SKILLS OF WORKERS TO MAKE SUSTAINABLE AND ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING (FORMAR) Christophe Cantau, NOBATEK – Centre de Ressources Technologiques (France)
FOSTERING PUBLIC CAPACITY TO PLAN, FINANCE AND MANAGE INTE-GRATED URBAN REGENERATION FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY UPTAKE (FOSTERREG) Przemysław Dana , ASM-Market Research and Analysis Centre, Poland

4 Pilot Site Visits

Welcome and demo of tool IMMERSITE® at Nobatek – SP2016 attendees were offered a live demonstration of the NOBATEK HQ ventilated façade efficiency for achieving both energy and comfort performance. Afterwards they were able to interact with the cutting-edge mobile Immersite tool installed in a refurbished container for supporting co-design processes of urban development projects.
Guided tour of « Office 64 » headquarters. SP2016 attendees were offered a live demonstration of a ventilated façade for achieving both energy efficiency and comfort performance. Nobatek was contracted to renovate the building, and performed the guided tour on 30th June 2016.
Guided tour of « BILTA GARBI » headquarters SP2016 attendees were offered a live demonstration of principles of circular economy as applied to building design and construction (material reuse / design for disassembly).
Guided tour of Eco district of « ZAC de Séqué »“ZAC de Se que eco-district” in the North of Bayonne: integration/social mix/sustainable buildings/services + First participative housing project in New Aquitaine