Project

About the project

Worldwide about half of the energy is being used for constructing, using and refurbishing houses. In Europe, the main part of energy used in this sector is spent for heating rooms, followed by providing domestic hot water. Domestic fuel and domestic gas are the most frequent energy sources. Constructing und refurbishing provide thus large potentials to reduce energy consumption.

According to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive of the European Union (EPBD), all new constructions and existing buildings undergoing major renovation will have to meet Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) standards by 2018. For many municipalities the transition to NZEB is a major challenge. Especially communities in mountain areas often lack know-how, experience and funding. Some face additional challenges such as extreme climate, low accessibility, small entities, low population density and brain drain.

The project «MountEE – Energy-efficient and sustainable building in municipalities in European mountain regions » supports communities in Sweden, the Alps and the Pyrenees in order to help them achieve their objectives and transform them into front runners. In six regions will be built or renovated 25 to 30 public buildings – sustainably and energy-efficiently.

The project involves relevant players in the regional actions: politicians, technical and administrative staff at local and regional level, decision makers in funding institutions and key actors in the building chain. MountEE will use existing knowledge to develop regional strategies, financial tools and to support building projects. The service package “sustainable building” for municipalities, which has been successfully implemented in the Alpine region of Vorarlberg (Austria), will be adapted to the needs of the mountain regions Rhône-Alpes and Pyrenees (FR), Friuli (IT), Dalarna and Norrbotten (SE). Within the MountEE project, a new “facility management” tool will be elaborated in Vorarlberg, a model region in the field of energy-efficient building, and transferred and adapted for the needs of the other partner regions.

MountEE is being supported by the European Union within the program «Intelligent Energy Europe» for three years.