The European projects MAKING CITY, ATELIER and MATCHUP, all of them with CARTIF among their members, will participate in a Sustainable Places workshop that will aim to present and discuss different tools and approaches on how to improve collaboration between different people, companies and organizations in a smart city and community by implementing innovative energy concepts such as Positive Energy Districts.

Given that approximately 75% of the European population lives in cities, urban areas are the main consumers of energy and emitters of greenhouse gases in the EU, having a great impact on climate change. A smart city is a place where traditional networks and services become more efficient with the use of digital technologies and telecommunications for the benefit of its inhabitants and their companies. A smart city goes beyond the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to obtain a better use of resources and achieve fewer emissions, it means the development of smarter urban transport networks, improving water supply facilities and waste disposal and achieve more efficient ways of lighting and heating buildings, among other aspects.

After 4 years of intense research, development and innovation efforts, the LowUP project holds its final conference. This international initiative, with the participation of CARTIF, has managed to develop and demonstrate cutting-edge solutions to obtain zero net energy buildings.

Buildings account for approximately 40% of total energy use and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. They are the largest energy consumer in Europe and almost 75% of the building stock in the European Union is today energy inefficient. To deal with this challenge, the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires all new buildings from 2021 (public buildings from 2019) to be nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB), that is, buildings that have very high energy efficiency. Furthermore, that small amount of energy required must be covered to a very significant extent from renewable sources.

LowUP is a project of the European Union that brings together 13 partners (large companies, research and technology organizations and SMEs) from 7 European countries (Spain, Italy, Finland, Austria, France, Switzerland) and has developed and tested three solutions of heating and cooling for buildings, as well as exploring barriers and opportunities for market acceptance. Some of the new solutions obtained have already led to commercial successes.

Conference agenda:

• Presentation of the LowUP project and its results.
• Presentation of the three LowUp solutions.
• Discussions on the current state and prospects of energy efficient buildings in Europe.
• Questions and answers.

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