News

In order to present and promote innovative heating grids, HAWK University has developed a web-based serious game.  The game is about the heating sector and its transformation in a fictional town. Players take one of the roles (district heating company, district manager, government) and follow their goals to win in the game while interacting with each other and performing different actions. It allows to discover a simulation of transformation of existing fossil fuel-based heating systems to sustainable systems, but also increases knowledge and raises awareness.

Innovative techniques and technologies are more and more present in the construction sector globally. Hence, there is a need to upskill and train workforce, and at the same time to solve the issue of innovation and change resistance which is still affecting the construction industry. How should companies overcome these issues?

St Vincent college in Gosport has invested £600,000 in expanding its construction teaching centre to help plug a skills gap in the area’s building trade. The department teaches level 1 in skills for construction – which includes carpentry, plastering, maintenance and painting – levels 2 and 3 in carpentry and level 1 in plastering, with level 2 to be added next year.

The STEP project´s key aim was to advise consumers on energy savings and implement energy efficiency solutions based on the country. The project also organised specific online and on-site training for frontline workers who were responsible to directly raise awareness in households.

The EU wants to deliver more than 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030. Giulia Ulpiani, Project Officer for the European Commission Joint Research Centre Directorate C - Energy, Transport explains how the EU wants to achieve this difficult mission.

This interview questions the importance of renovating existing buildings to improve operational cost but also considering embodied carbon. The project suggests that Europe should find a way to mainstream sustainable buildings in order to achieve the decarbonisation targets.

Near the banks of the Marne, this project provides for the construction of 67 intermediate and collective housing units and 8 individual houses. The "Global Quality" approach of the Groupement des Industriels de la Prescription (GIP) was followed for the design of this project, in particular through the choice of quality and durable equipment and numerous innovations in terms of energy.

On November 24th, 2022, the Franco-German Office for the Energy Transition, in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the French Ministry for the Energy Transition (MTE) and the German Federal Foreign Office, will host the fifth edition of the Franco-German Energy Forum.

The SmartBuilt4EU project has published its 4th newsletter with the latest news about the project. The project will support other projects related to smart buildings to facilitate exchange of information and it will coordinate contributions of the European smart buildings innovation community to accelerate the uptake of pioneering solutions in the smart buildings sector.

Heat pumps will play a significant role in reducing Europe´s dependency on Russian natural gas and EU policies and initiatives have been trying to boost their installation. However, there is a general lack of skilled workers who are available and capable of installing heat pumps.