General Description

DREEAM aims to demonstrate replicable Net Zero Energy residential building renovation approaches achieving 75% total Net Energy Demand reduction- an improvement of 60% to state-of-the-art market practices. It will utilise packages of interconnected energy systems that achieve a balance between energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. This is enabled by enhancing renewable technologies capacity factors by using advanced building management systems with machine learning algorithms that allow building system integration and auto-optimisation across building dimensions.

Currently, deep energy renovations mainly focus on building-level solutions, where, cost-effectively, an energy demand reduction of 40-50% can be achieved. In district-scale projects, technologies for energy generation, storage and management can be integrated cost-effectively, reducing up to an additional 25-35% of Net Energy Demand. Multi-owner complexities and the need for tailored system integration make this approach location-specific and hard to replicate. A focus on multi-building, single-owner situations seeks the appropriate balance for both high energy demand reduction and high market replication potential. Energy Load Management technologies (ICT-based building systems management) and services that are successfully piloted in commercial buildings will be adapted to enable this approach.

The approach is a breakthrough in reaching widely applicable and replicable pathways for near-NZEB residential building renovation, in particular for social and public housing, which accounts for 12% of European stock, or 25 million units.

Building owners that jointly own 160,000 dwellings, energy service engineers and finance experts collaborate to demonstrate the DREEAM approach in 3 climatologically different locations and initiate replication in 15 more locations within the project duration. Partnership with city-, owner- and innovation networks allows dissemination to 60% of the target market.