Management and 
Trading 

monitoring and commissioning tools; self-learning 
systems for optimised management; optimisation 
tools for energy management based on “dynamic 
energy profiles” of buildings and other network nodes; 
forecasting algorithms). 

Actions to provide scale 

5 

“The Green 
Network” 

(See potential 
actions) 

Establish ‘The Green Network’ as a means to mobilise 
relevant stakeholders to deliver large scale smart 
refurbishment of city districts to maximise energy 
efficiency achievements. 

#3 Upgrade existing 
stock. 

Business models; 
Integrated planning; 
knowledge sharing, 

6 

Smart Materials 
& Solutions 

Develop and deploy smart materials and solutions for 
lighting, heating, cooling and electricity systems as 
well as infrastructure for electric vehicles in public 
(streets, open spaces, buildings) and private spaces. 

#2 Building blocks 
for common 
challenges. 

7 

New zero energy 
developments 

(See potential 
actions) 

Develop and deploy innovative solutions at large scale 
for zero-energy new districts and zero-energy new 
buildings. 

#2 Building blocks 
for common 
challenges. 

Business models; 
integrated planning; 
Integrated 
infrastructure 



 


2.2.1 Potential Action 1: Integration of a scalable design and multi-criteria toolkits for existing and 
new near to zero buildings and districts 

Context 

Integration of scalable design and multi-criteria is one of the key actions needed in creating future 
low carbon cities. Co-creation platforms including specified sub-platforms, decision tools (simulation, 
visualization/virtualization, open data/information platforms) and living labs in order to increase the 
level of awareness, increase inhabitants’ involvement in planning and implementation process, 
activate social communities, increase production of energy within the district (by prosumers), and 
increase provision of information intensive energy services. 

This integrated toolkit should enable multi-stakeholder analyses of different spatial and domain 
perspectives as integrated ecosystems (addressing integration of renewable energy sources, global 
performance and life-cycle assessments, sustainability assessment, and visualization of impacts). 
Interoperability with operational systems actually in use is essential for take-up. 

Integration/Creation of digital platforms for integrated multidisciplinary collaborative design and 
planning (co-simulation and optimization of complex interactions in different domains, virtual 
environments for viewing and commenting designs, e-learning applications, user-oriented cognitive 
data visualisations). 

 

Goals 

The goal is to develop a toolkit for existing and new close to zero energy buildings and districts that 
integrates and connects different assessment, solutions and design tools and, in addition creates 
different “views” for results and visualizes them. The platform also enables multi stakeholder 
analyses of cities as integrated ecosystems. The purpose of the toolkit is to give a more holistic view 
and solution of the different perspectives of city/district design. 

 

Deliverables 

i. A Toolkit: Different existing/near-to-market tools, highlighting their main functions and 
target group/users 
ii. Additional tools and data collected, developed and integrated into the toolkit 
iii. Interfaces between different tools and possibilities to connect / integrate tools have been 
reviewed, adapted and implemented 
iv. Proof of value, through use of the integrated toolkit in existing and new districts, to support 
co-creation, multidisciplinary design, and assessment of multiple solutions and materials, or 
operation of a district/city. 


Preconditions 

Such initiatives require input from a number of actors. The principal ones being: 

. City Authorities: active engagement on providing data and platform 
. Private firms and public utilities: engagement in the process 
. standardisation: CEN CENELEC, integration and data interfaces 
. Research Organisations: initial tool screening, development and co-creation with all 
stakeholders, dissemination activities 


Methods and details of implementation 

An outline of work could include: 

. Phase 1: Review of existing tools 



o Review and select the most commonly used tools 
o Analyse the existing tool (user target groups, main input and output values) 
o Check the gaps and develop/collect ‘missing’ data (e.g. materials, technologies) 
o Review of the interfaces of different tools and possibilities to connect/integrate tools 


. Phase 2: Integration of tools 
o Selection of the most promising sets of tools to integrate 
o Starting the integration cases 
o Testing the integration in “labs” 


. Phase 3: Pilot cases 
o Selection of pilot cases 
o Support for pilot cases 
o Monitoring of the process 
o Feedback and possible fine-tuning 


. Phase 4: Dissemination and progress reports 
o Making results available on a national and European level 


. Phase 5: Wide scale implementation in member states 
o Development of national frameworks for continuous work to implement integrated tools 
for district and city planning and operation 




Monitoring 

The relevant information should be publicly available to help the wide spread of information and 
benefits of integrated tools. Progress should be monitored and published to help the wide 
dissemination and adaptation. Early adopters can in such way serve as example to other cities facing 
similar challenges and conditions. 

 


2.2.2 Potential Action 2: Develop auditing tools/systems and development of framework on 
measured variables for existing as well as new buildings and districts. 

Context 

To evaluate the decisions made in the city strategy it is essential to assess and measure the 
performance of cities and districts. The main purpose is to give cities feedback and to help them to 
increase energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions without compromising citizen's well-being. 

Goal: 

Develop an integrated holistic auditing tool by collecting and fine-tuning existing auditing 
tools/systems and decide on what to measure that can be used for evaluation in cities. Define 
certification criteria for data and information on CO2, energy use, gas use, water use, etc. using as 
much as possible existing criteria. The criteria should include also risk and economic factors. 

All developed tools should be scalable in such way that both big and small cities can use them easily. 
Tools need reliable data (see section open data). 

Deliverables 

i. Definition of the measured data (data and data transfer standards) 
ii. Definition of the criteria for the data (accuracy and availability) 
iii. Methods to audit 
iv. Framework for the auditing tools and integration of existing tools 


Preconditions 

The principal stakeholders are: 

. Cities: Cities have wide data, it is crucial that data is available for auditing without 
compromising privacy 
. Energy utilities and other data owners: data availability is important 
. Key stakeholders (public, private, civil) collaborate and commit to follow common principles/ 
goals and data availability without compromising privacy or companies business models 
. standardisation: CEN CENELEC 
. Stakeholder engagement 
. Research Organisations 


Methods and details of implementation 

An outline phasing of work could include: 

Phase 1: Data definition 

. Definition of the key data needed for monitoring and auditing based on existing 
tools/integration of existing tools and data availability 
. Criteria for the data accuracy and availability, taking into account privacy issues 
. Check the gaps and define the extra needed data. For example data on technologies, 
materials and other solutions. 


Phase 2: Define the way to audit and integrate methods 

Phase 3: Set-up monitoring and pilot 

Phase 4: Evaluation, dissemination of lessons learned 

. Evaluation of audited/measured districts and cities. Documenting lessons learned and 
feedback and further development of auditing/monitoring 


Phase 5: Roll out 

Monitoring 

As a first indicator, the number and size of audited districts/cities should increase. Ultimately, the 
goal of a test ground is to roll out successfully concepts on a larger scale. This should be used as 
criterion for success. 


2.2.3 Potential Action 3: The Green Network of large scale (deep) refurbishment of city districts for 
energy efficiency Introduction 

Context 

Although solutions for refurbishment based on innovative and existing materials and products 
(including green solutions), new lighting, heating and cooling systems and combinations of these, 
may appear more traditional, they nevertheless play a crucial role in the enormous European 
renovation and energy efficiency challenge. Industries involved in developing solutions for 
renovation and energy efficient/positive buildings have invested massively in this topic for many 
decades. Sharing this knowledge more directly with regions, cities, architects, urban planners and 
other stakeholders, will create even more sustainable customer focused solutions. It is also by 
adapting to a typology of buildings that the best combination of available solutions (from materials 
to ICT) will for efficient implementation and guarantee the best results for each individual case. 
Moreover adapting to the typology and specific characteristics of districts makes optimisation of 
energy efficiency solutions at district level possible, could lead to better, combined solutions in the 
public and private space and will create scale. Investing in refurbishment of buildings and districts 
can produce added value for owners and occupants and for the whole city. Comprehensive 
refurbishment, integrating optimised energy efficiency, comfort and usage concepts, can improve 
the district through improved comfort while preserving the historical heritage of buildings (where 
applicable), the renewal and revitalisation of abandoned areas. Possible wider socioeconomic 
impacts include increased quality of life and city/district attractiveness and local job creation. At the 
same time, negative impacts such as excessive costs and increases in rents must be avoided. 

There are many EU and national policies and directives that point out the need for deep renovation. 
And through this action - ‘the green network’- these targets could be reached more easily, because 
of the joint effort between industry, cities and the other involved stakeholders. 

Goal 

One of the major challenges for this action is the up scaling of these solutions. Although there are 
many small scale pilots to test, there are still hurdles that prevent scaling up. One of these hurdles is 
the sometimes long time to market, due to the many steps in the value chain for several sectors. 
The goal of this action is therefore to bridge these gaps and to tackle the huge European renovation 
challenge, starting with the building envelope itself. In doing this, the action focuses on what hurdles 
need to be taken away and how this can be done most effectively in order to create critical mass. 


Deliverables 
By 2020 a large scale (deep) refurbishment program across Europe, contributing significantly to 
achieving and exceeding the targets of the Covenant of Mayors, the Energy Efficiency Directive 
(2012/27/EU) and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU) has been carried out 
in various geographical areas in Europe. The refurbishment projects cover private and public, 
residential and non-residential buildings. They have tested a smart combination of affordable and 
user-friendly solutions, materials, products and technologies using an integrated approach. The 
Network may also connect existing projects to this action. 

Sub deliverables: 

i. Diagnosed potential at city level (should do and can do) 


The initiative has provided a ‘living lab environment’ to further develop, test, improve and 
implement pan-European integrated modelling and diagnosis methods and frameworks for low 
carbon districts and buildings, where also the reduction of the embedded energy of the solution, 
material or technology and a validated analysis of lifecycle energy use are taken into account. 


The energy efficient renovation needs and potential at city level should use as far as possible 
existing tools, for instance assessments made in the framework of Sustainable Energy Action 
Plans (SEAPs) under the Covenant of Mayors. 

 

ii. Market challenge 


Through this action new (combinations of) replicable solutions, materials and products have 
been tested and facilitated market uptake and rollout. The large scale renovation projects under 
this action should have made them more accessible and affordable. 

 

iii. Adapting solutions to local circumstances: 


Renovation projects have been be part of overall urban planning and energy planning and 
through this served as a ‘living lab environment’ for (some of) the actions in the horizontal 
priority ‘Integrated Planning’. For instance, they could be integrated with a city’s Sustainable 
Energy Action Plan (SEAP) under the Covenant of Mayors. 

 

iv. Energy challenge 


The energy efficiency contribution of a combination of solutions indoors as well as outdoors 
(neighbourhood/infrastructure) has been tested, as well as its contribution to reducing energy 
demand at a large scale and its role in the city’s energy system. Energy demand can now be 
forecasted and balanced more effectively. 

 

The right incentives are in place: Financial and procurement challenge 

Large scale renovation projects require sound cost-benefit analysis and financing models that 
distribute risks fairly and take into account life-cycle costs. Under this action, financing models 
have been developed and tested to ensure replication is it within Europe or beyond. Work on 
innovative financing schemes should continue, and existing models such as Energy Performance 
Contracting are applied more widely where this is useful. New ways of (functional) procurement 
and risk sharing mechanisms have been developed and are made available. 

 

v. Training and educational challenge 


A significant number of local employees, including civil servants, urban planners, builders and 
craftsmen have been trained to the latest standards, to be able to design, use and apply new 
technologies, sustainable, resource efficient materials and products in the build envelope. 
Stakeholders directly involved in renovation, such as construction companies, architects, 
suppliers of materials and equipment, work together to set up appropriate training programs to 
ensure the quality of the renovation program. 

 

vi. Local/regional economic employment challenge 


The renovation program has provided, through commitment of all stakeholders involved, jobs to 
local and regional employees, through local/and or regional contracting where possible. This has 
been facilitated by information and capacity building for local authorities on relevant legal 
issues, in particular pre-commercial and green public procurement (PCP and GPP), public 
procurement for innovation (PPI) and questions of state aid. 

 

What do the proposals in this action contain? 

Combine 
Proposals engaging in this action cover a combination of renovation technologies, materials and 
products used in the built envelope such as: 

. Heating, cooling, and ventilation technologies 



. Materials and products used in buildings, inside as well as outside, such as high performance 
insulation solutions and (surface) materials like coatings and materials and solutions which , for 
example, interact with lighting and heating and cooling technologies and/or can store/absorb 
and release energy or heat, etc. 
. Green roofs, facades, open spaces, colours and other solutions to reduce the ‘heat island’ effect. 
. Lighting technologies – both indoor as well as outdoor. 
. Multi-building solutions 


Align with existing plans 

Renovation projects are part of overall urban planning and energy planning. For instance, they could 
be integrated with a city’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) under the Covenant of Mayors. This 
includes the analysis of the existing building stock and its energy performance. 

Integrate technologies 

Proposals are, where applicable, to combine one of the following technologies and solutions, with 
the renovation technologies (mentioned under 1.) in their refurbishment program: 

. Smart meters to monitor energy use and savings and support selling energy to the grid. 
. Technologies to store and release energy from, for example, electric vehicles and solar charged 
lampposts and/or share energy with other buildings in the district and lower the total energy use 
and costs for its inhabitants. 
. Renewable energy and energy management technologies. 


 

Share and contribute 

Partners are willing to contribute data/open data and contribute to the development and 
improvement of diagnosis and modelling instruments or tools and share knowledge. 

Train and employ/contract local/regional 

All stakeholders involved are being committed to train, employ and contract locally/regionally. 

Provide scale 

Projects cover a minimum amount of m2 and/or dwellings since the initiative is about large scale 
refurbishment. The minimum size of a project depends largely on the elements of it and the local 
conditions. However, it is central that the pilot project is designed in such a way that it cannot only 
be replicated but also up scaled easily. 

Preconditions 

Industry Stakeholders: 

. Industry (materials, technology, products, energy, ICT) provide knowledge, technologies and 
materials, engage with educational organizations to develop and execute trainings and offer 
support. They are expected to engage in local/regional collaborations and employment. 
. Construction companies are a natural partner in renovation. These partners provide knowledge, 
support, etc., engage with educational organizations to develop and execute trainings. They are 
expected to engage in local/regional collaborations and employment. 
. Architects 


Financial stakeholders 

. Regional and national financial institutions and investors, as well as the EIB, depending on the 
content of and the partners in the project, could work on innovative financing tools to co-
develop with the major stakeholders a financial model to tackle the huge renovation challenge 
at large scale. 


 


Governmental stakeholders 

. Cities, in their role as public procurers, with their own engineering and support services, urban 
planners, as well as in the role of brokers that can help bring together relevant stakeholders. 
. The Commission and Member States should coordinate different EU funding sources with each 
other, for instance the implementation of structural funds and their OIPs with other EU funding 
sources such as Horizon 2020. Information and capacity building on pre-commercial 
procurement for local authorities should be supported by the EU. 


Citizens 

. Citizens are a natural partner in the renovation challenge, not only because of the influence of 
their behaviour, but also because of the fact that they live in the buildings renovated, and a 
healthy, comfortable living environment is crucial for them. 


SME Local/regional stakeholders 

. Social Housing companies, real estate owners and developers, local and regional SME’s 
(employers), educational organizations (that develop and execute training programs). 
Furthermore local/regional job agencies to search appropriate staffing for execution. 


Academic and/or research technology organisations (RTOs) stakeholders 

. They are to support in the assessment of the retrofitting potential in cities and districts, analyse 
the optimal mix of measures together with up-scaling potential, monitor lessons learned, 
knowledge broking, testing and animate, coordinate and analyse the actions. And offer support 
in assessments, evaluations and certification. 


Other Stakeholders 

. The stakeholder platform or a kind of platform could fulfil the role of combining cities with a 
renovation challenge to this initiative under the EIP Smart Cities and Communities umbrella. 
. The Covenant of Mayors Office could be invited to disseminate the best practices and innovative 
solutions implemented under this action to increase replication, for instance through webinars 
and other capacity building activities. 


Methods and details of implementation 
Large project parts: 

1. Training: develop, test, implement and monitor 
2. Financial model: check, identify, develop, test and implement 
3. Identify cities/large scale areas to be renovated/ identify what’s already in place/going on and 
connect those initiatives. 
4. Support replication 


An outline phasing of the work includes: 

. Phase 1: Identification 
. Phase 2: Preparation and small scale testing of models 
. Phase 3: Implementation 
. Phase 4: Monitoring and dissemination 


Monitoring 
The monitoring focuses on three areas: 

1. Reduction of Energy used and GHG emissions per euro spend 
2. Sustainability of the investment and economic growth 
Payback time of the investments, sustainability of the investment (< 10 years/or low 
maintenance), increased local value creation at the project scale and the ratio between privately 
invested € and in public-invested € following 20-20-20 goals. 



3. Replication and up scaling 
The number of initiatives using the new replicable/scalable services/concepts in other cities. 


 


2.2.4 Potential Action 4: Large scale deployment of zero energy new districts and zero energy new 
buildings 

 

Context 

Since buildings last several decades, it is not only essential to find energy efficient, low carbon 
solutions for existing buildings, but for new buildings and districts as well. The major challenge in this 
action is the scaling up of (new) system solutions and materials and focus at the same time on 
technical building solutions and building automation as well as smart energy (district/city) networks 
and energy storages and the interaction with the users. This highlights the importance of holistic 
solutions at building level as well as district level. 

Recognizing every city has its different surroundings, it is essential to combine requirements to 
enable industries to provide solutions that are fit for purpose and at the same time come with 
reasonable pricing and quality. 

Goal 

One of the major goals for this action is the upscaling of the number of zero energy buildings and 
districts and the solutions, technologies and materials that are on the market. Although there are 
many small scale pilots to test, there are still hurdles that prevent scaling up. One of these hurdles is 
the sometimes long time to market, due to the many steps in the value chain for several sectors. 
The goal of this action is therefore to bridge these gaps and to tackle the European ambition put 
down in EU policies to increase heavily the number of zero energy buildings and districts (public as 
well as private building. In doing this, the action focuses on what hurdles need to be taken away and 
how this can be done most effectively in order to create critical mass. The aim is to improve district 
level energy efficiency and CO2 reduction, focusing on holistic district planning and integration to 
existing city structure, (near to market or on the market) building materials, heating and ventilation 
systems, automation and smart energy networks and energy storages and the interaction with the 
users. 

The goal is to give a more holistic view and solution of the different perspectives of city/district 
design and implementation by integrating systems, and see where the gaps are in respect of 
technologies, materials and systems. 

Deliverables 

1. Combined knowledge database where different perspectives from all contributions, 
from materials, ICT, systems, etc. (with data on effectiveness, prize and behaviour) to 
near or zero energy efficient buildings & districts are gathered and made accessible to all 
stakeholders involved. 
2. From this total offering the most promising(s) combination(s) is/are selected and tested 
in new built districts in various geographical areas. 




Preconditions 

Such initiatives require input from a number of actors. The principal ones being: 

. Developers, construction companies 
. Energy utilities 
. System and component manufacturers 
. User perspective 


Methods and details of implementation 

An outline phasing of work could include: 

. Phase 1: Integration of systems 
o Selection of the most promising sets of systems and materials to integrate 
o Starting the integration cases 





o Testing the integration in “labs” 


. Phase 2: Pilot cases 
o Selection of pilot cases 
o Support for pilot cases 
o Monitoring of the process 
o Feedback and possible fine-tuning 


. Phase 3: Dissemination and progress reports 
o Making results available on a national and European level 


. Phase 4: Wide scale implementation in member states 


Monitoring 

The relevant information should be publicly available to help the wide spread of information and 
benefits of integrated design and construction. Progress should be monitored and published to help 
the wide dissemination and adaptation. Early adopters can in such way serve as example to other 
cities facing similar challenges and conditions. Progress monitoring can be done in KPIs like 
Reduction of CO2 ekv emissions (CO2 ekv/m2/a or CO2 ekv/capita/a), Percentage of primary energy 
use by local renewable energy generation, number of energy self-sustaining cities or districts in 
Europe and measuring the citizen well-being with wellbeing index. 

 


3 Priority Area 'Integrated Infrastructures' 

 

3.1 Introduction 

Significant and as yet insufficiently tapped value is offered by integrating the various existing and 
new infrastructure networks within and across cities – be they energy, transport, communications or 
others – rather than duplicating these needlessly. This point applies, both, to active and passive 
infrastructure. Many such infrastructures are ageing; budgets to replace them are stretched; they 
are procured and managed ‘in silos’; yet the potential afforded to cities and their customers through 
new joined-up approaches, exploiting modern technologies is substantial. This is achievable; 
however it will take sustained commitment from multiple parties to access value. 

3.2 Potential Actions 

Consistent with the spirit and messaging of the SIP, the following table of ideas provides thoughts on 
how infrastructures of various forms in cities can be improved and exploited in a more integrated 
way to add value. These are intended to provoke thought, not make specific recommendations. Two 
examples then follow that dig deeper, seeking to make the potential actions for these areas practical 
and understandable. 

 

# 

Title 

Summary 

Link to SIP Action 

1 

The “humble 
lamppost” 

(See potential 
actions below) 

Reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs 
through implementing e.g. efficient long-lasting lighting; 
motion-sensing; PV-power. Use lamppost for e.g. WiFi; 
CCTV (parking, safety etc). Test innovative business models. 

#1 Infrastructures for 
visible, early wins. 

#3 Business models. 

2 

City 
Information 
Platforms 

(See potential 
actions) 

Combine and manage multiple data sources; provide inter-
operability and data protocols between city domains (using 
public + infrastructure data + domain / system data). Basis 
for operational and decision making improvements. 

#2 Common 
architecture. 
Standards/Protocols. 

Big/Open Data. 

3 

Shared 
infrastructure 
planning 

(See potential 
actions) 

Systematically exploit synergies between smart grid and 
broadband infrastructure, including shared engineering 
works, reuse of passive infrastructures, communications 
networks, data centres and services. 

#1 Infrastructures for 
visible, early wins. 

#3 Business models 

Integrated Planning 

4 

Transforming 
the Energy 
Chain 

Integrated smart grid (renewables + storage + heat pumps 
+ EMS at consumer side). Managing a ‘two-way’ energy 
chain, balancing demand and supply dynamically between 
renewable and traditional sources. Link customer into 
chain as a key actor. 

#1 Infrastructures for 
visible, early wins. 

Sustainable Districts 

5 

Road systems 

Mobile ITS (location-based route / travel information + 
traffic light systems = optimized traffic flow to reduce 
emissions and energy consumption). Work with traffic 
management systems and automotive industry to re-use 
urban sensors deployed in street scenes. Exploit sensors 
and devices to predict traffic conditions / improve road and 
traffic management. 

#1 Infrastructures for 
visible, early wins. 

#2 Common 
architecture. 

Urban Mobility 




6 

Intelligent 
multi-modal 
transport 
solutions 

Use real-time multi-modal info to offer choice, personalise 
travel, and improve customer experience. Exploit ticketing, 
social media, routing, vehicle location, and mobile data. 
More pro-active and predictive use of energy efficient 
modes. 

#1 Infrastructures for 
visible, early wins. 

Big/Open Data. 

Urban Mobility 

