Ing.Damien Gatt and Eur.Ing.Dr Charles Yousif

TITLE: Interreg-Europe ZEROCO2 Project: Proposing Policy Drivers Towards Near-Zero Carbon Dioxide Building Project Title: ‘‘PROMOTION OF NEAR ZERO CO2 EMISSION BUILDINGS DUE TO ENERGY USE‘‘ ZEROCO2 addresses regional energy policies for public buildings in the field to support actions as well as investments to increase levels of energy efficiency and to approach a near zero carbon emissions status. This project will help to meet the EU target to reduce emissions by 20 % by 2020. Consortium of 8 partners (Region from Slovenia – lead partner, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Finland, Malta). University of Malta is the Maltese partner. INTERREG EUROPE Programme Sharing solutions for better regional policies Programme part financed by the European Union European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Co-financing rate: 85%/75% EU Funds; 15%/25% National Funds Investing in your future

ZEROCO2 project specific aims To define the idea of Zero CO2 emission building due to energy use. To work on combination of different technologies and renewable resources to enable this transition. To devise an action plan with : Policy recommendations which will aim at promoting ZEROCO2, Market need report – available financial tools, Good Practice Guide. The approach taken is an interregional one by: Linking policy makers from different EU regions, Linking stakeholders from different EU regions, Different regions face different economical and ecological challenges Exchange of experiences – for understanding of regional diversity and learning different policy approaches Interregional seminars Sharing good practices Site visits INTERREG EUROPE Programme Sharing solutions for better regional policies Programme part financed by the European Union European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Co-financing rate: 85%/75% EU Funds; 15%/25% National Funds Investing in your future

Project Deliverables

Malta case studies- ZeroCO2 Buildings – How Low Can We Go: A Case Study of a Small Hotel in Gozo This study has shown that a new typical hotel building in Malta can reduce its CO2 emissions by more than 75 % over a chosen reference scenario with a relatively reasonable payback period of approximately 8 years. Such a reduction in CO2 emissions is possible by tackling the major energy use for hotels i.e. energy consumption for hot water. Various Energy efficiency and renewable energy combination of measures were considered in this study, however air to water heat pumps combined with roof and facade mounted photovoltaic's produced the lowest CO2 emissions. Policy to achieve near zero energy/CO2 emissions hotels should therefore focus on implementing sustainable solutions for generating hot water and facilitating the transition of integrating renewable energy with the facade. Refer to YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtV-QUtoVxc

Malta zero energy pilot project - the Siggiewi Primary school

Primary school case studies renovation from other regions – Crete and Slovenia Both use biomass as a source of energy for transformation to NZCO2EB unlike Malta. Slovenia- focus on renovation/high insulation levels of building envelope – windows, facade, attic due to larger temperature differences between inside and outside. Both make use of Photovoltaics for the transformation to NZCO2EB.

Meetings with regional stakeholders

Interesting policies from partner regions as identified in the regional policy report In Crete, there is a much higher percentage contribution of renewable energy from solar thermal than for photovoltaics given that there is a legal requirement in Crete for new buildings to install solar water heaters. This is opposite to Malta (despite having a similar climate to Crete) as the trend is hugely shifting towards photovoltaics instead of solar thermal given that there is the FIT being granted by the Government. France offer financial and technical support for thermal solar equipment installation for social housing. In Finland, subsidies are used to develop sustainable, high-quality and reasonably priced . The Energy aid in Finland – which promotes the introduction and market launch of new energy technology is an interesting policy. Based on the assessment of each specific project in question. Multi-apartment Buildings Renovation (Modernization) Programme (national) in Lithuania which offered financial support for low performing buildings. In order to implement modernization project it is sufficient that 50% +1 of apartment owners vote in favour. In Malta, the communal solar PV farm scheme gives the opportunity for residential households with no access to rooftops to benefit from PVs

University of Malta – what we are proud of ! INCREASED AWARENESS : Some architects and engineers responsible of designing new public authority buildings were not aware of the EPBD near-zero energy target requirements that have to be reached for new and renovated public authority buildings by 31st December 2018. EASY TO USE GUIDE: An easy to use guide based on the Maltese climate context (to our knowledge the first of its kind for Malta), identifying a simple yet effective hierarchal approach of which technology measures should be prioritised from both a technical and economic point of view. The policymakers have understood and made aware of the drivers, barriers and policies to be considered and given priority to reach NZCO2EB thanks to : The seminars and workshops carried out have been instrumental to identify state of the art guidelines on policies, as well as finding common ground that fits the needs of all stakeholders, The questionnaires that were disseminated. We have taken a pro-active measure of involving stakeholders not only during the seminars but also afterwards. In doing so, we ensured that all stakeholders had the opportunity of voicing their opinion both in public and in private The case studies that we presented have shown that it is possible to reach near zero CO2 status at reasonable cost. From the PESTEL analysis that was carried out on current policies we could identify bottlenecks and opportunities that can be further analysed to come up with a doable policy plan.

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Ing. Damien Gatt & Eur. Ing. Dr Charles Yousif damien.gatt@um.edu.mt; charles.yousif@um.edu.mt