CRAVEzero

Cost optimal and nearly zero energy performance levels are principles initiated by the European Union’s (EU) Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which was recast in 2010. These will be major drivers in the construction sector in the next few years, because all new buildings in the EU from 2021 onwards are expected to be nearly zero energy buildings (NZEB). While realized NZEB have clearly shown that nearly-zero energy target could be achieved using existing technologies and practices, most experts agree that a broad scale shift towards nearly-zero energy buildings require significant adjustments to prevailing building market structures. Cost-effective integration of efficient solution sets and renewable energy systems, in a form that fits with the development, manufacturing and construction industry processes, as well as with planning, design, and procurement procedures, are the major challenges. CRAVEzero will focus on proven and new approaches to cost reduction of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) at all stages of the life cycle. The main goal is to identify and eliminate the extra-costs for NZEBs related to processes, technologies, building operation, and to promote innovative business models taking into account the cost-effectiveness for all the stakeholders. Main project pillars will be: (i) CRAVEzero pinboard as a structured framework organizing all needed information and data to build an effective low life cycle cost NZEB business model (ii) reliable lifecycle cost databases with cost reduction potentials in processes and technologies (iii) methodologies, robust solutions and business models for low LCC NZEBs. Costs reduction will indeed cover all stages of the process, from urban planning, to building design, construction, until the building operation, while ensuring high building overall quality, considering in particular architecture and indoor environmental.

Cost optimal and nearly zero energy performance levels are principles initiated by the European Union’s (EU) Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which was recast in 2010. These will be major drivers in the construction sector in the next few years, because all new buildings in the EU from 2021 onwards are expected to be nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB).

While nZEB realized so far have clearly shown that the nearly-zero energy target can be achieved using existing technologies and practices, most experts agree that a broad-scale shift towards nearly-zero energy buildings requires significant adjustments to prevailing building market structures. Cost-effective integration of efficient solution sets and renewable energy systems, in a form that fits with the development, manufacturing and construction industry processes, as well as with planning, design, and procurement procedures, are the major challenges.

CRAVEzero will focus on proven and new approaches to reduce the costs of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs) at all stages of the life cycle. The main goal is to identify and eliminate the extra costs for nZEBs related to processes, technologies, building operation, and to promote innovative business models taking into account the cost-effectiveness for all the stakeholders.

The main objectives of the projects are:

• To optimize the planning activities at different levels, from urban and spatial planning to the building detailed design.
• To foster the installation of cost-effective technologies according to local contexts and needs.
• To improve the quality of the building in a user-centred perspective
• To demonstrate the effectiveness of the CRAVEzero approach

The consortium has the expertise to reach the above mentioned objectives: it cconsists of three research institutions - AEE INTEC, Austria, Fraunhofer ISE, Germany and EURAC, Italy, leading European construction and facility companies from France, Sweden, and Italy as well as medium-sized design companies and real estate developers from Austria, Germany and Italy.

Thanks to the expertise involved, CRAVEzero will transform the whole construction cycle (from the design to the end of life) into an organized process, where the building will acquire the features of a manufacturing product cutting off the uncertainties and failures during planning-construction-operation of the current practice and reducing the associated costs.

Guidelines, databases and case studies for cost reduction of nZEB technologies, processes and business models will be developed in close cooperation with the industry partners involved. Working methodologies, ready-to-be-used customisable solutions enabling cost reduction, speeding up the process and ensuring the high performance level of the new buildings, will be addressed. Nevertheless, the nZEB promoted by CRAVEzero is not a unique model to be simply duplicated, but it is composed by a set of customisable solutions to be combined according to the local context and the needs of the users, ensuring the high quality of the built environment, preserving the identity of each single building, increasing user acceptance and maintaining high real estate value. Highly replicable models will be developed in order to lower design and construction costs, avoid delays, optimise and simplify the management of development, construction and operational phase while minimising errors and failures.

The main results of the project will be:

• Result 1 - Reference schemes for nZEB urban planning and building design process: providing a framework for the development of effective urban plans that will provide a series of useful information to the professionals, with a systematic vision that will facilitate the design process at single building level.
• Result 2 – Performance-based procurement processes, including guidelines for performance agreements during the planning process - not only for public but also for private procurements.
• Result 3 – Demonstration of co-benefits: optimal architecture and building configuration for high quality living and/or working environment and real estate value with a matrix of possible building concepts
• Result 4 and Result 5 – Structured methodological approach for optimising integration of technologies and renewables
• Result 6 – nZEBs lean management protocols to be applied in different phases of the building life cycle
• Result 7 – Low Life cycle cost nZEB business models considering different stakeholder perspectives
• Result 8 – Protocol for continuous commissioning and effective user behaviour strategies
• Result 9 – Scenarios of optimal nZEB - energy grids interaction.

All the project results will be included in the “CRAVEzero pinboard” – an interactive web-based structured framework supporting the development of low LCC nZEB business models. It will represent a support for developers and designers, supporting and driving them thanks to the project outcomes, as well as for other stakeholders with information on the manufacturers and the whole supply chain, which must fulfil a set of requirements in terms of costs & quality insurance.