Comprised of the largest and one of the most dense metropolitan areas of the European Union, the North-West Europe region currently faces the great challenge of improving the overall efficiency of existing buildings. For instance, around 80% of the housing stock in the area dates from before 1990, which has led to an urgent need to improve energy performance and reduce both energy consumption and green-house gas (GHG) emissions. A successful transition towards a low-carbon energy system requires strong investments in energy efficiency and the smart retrofitting of buildings, as over 40% of emissions come from consumption in existing buildings.
However, traditional retrofitting approaches are not contributing quickly enough to reducing emissions in order to meet Europe’s Climate & Energy targets. There is a need for alternative energy efficiency solutions that can help citizens reduce their energy bills, lower their dependence on external suppliers, as well as decrease the environmental impact from energy consumption.
Due to the different specificities of areas in the plural urban environment, our projects target the creation of a wide-range of new techniques for neighbourhoods that are in need of renovation across NWE. With a variety of available solutions on the market, Interreg NWE is giving an extra push to transnational initiatives that not only fit the citizens’ pockets but are able to overcome specific barriers of retrofitting. The Programme aims not only to create new markets for energy efficient retrofitting models across the NWE region, but also to encourage tenants and owners to invest in these technologies via the development of innovative tools and increased dialogues between local authorities.© Union européenne 2019 / Studio Arnography
