GREENBUILDING
Improved Energy Efficiency for
Non-Residential Buildings
main content
Welcome
In 2004, the European Commission initiated the GreenBuilding Programme (GBP). This programme aims at improving the energy efficiency and expanding the integration of renewable energies in non-residential buildings in Europe on a voluntary basis. The programme addresses owners of non-residential buildings to realise cost-effective measures which enhance the energy efficiency of their buildings in one or more technical disciplines.
In a pilot phase in the years 2005-2006, the GreenBuilding infrastructure was set up in ten European countries. In each participating country so called National Contact Points weres established for aiding organisations, which consider a participation in the GreenBuilding Projekt. The successful work continued in a 2nd phase - called GreenBuildinplus - that started December 2007. The GreenBuildingplus project is supported by the European Commission’s Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.
On this central project website you will find links to the websites of the ten National Contact Points and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
While the GreenBuildungplus-Project finished on May 31, 2010, the European Commission continues the GreenBuilding-Program.
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to still submit your application.
If you live in a country with no National Contact Point, please submit your application directly to Mr. Bertoldi from the European Commission, Joint Research Centre.
The cover letter and application should be written in English. Energy Audit, Action Plan, etc., however, can be submitted in the respective national language as an attachment.
Relevant contact details of the European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre and the National Contact Points.
European Workshop: "Energy efficiency in non-residential buildings"
The European Workshop “Energy efficiency in non-residential-buildings” and the European Green-Building Award took place within the IEECB’10 conference (Improving Energy Efficiency in Commercial Building Conference). Within the Workshop there was an introduction of the GreenBuilding Program by Paolo Bertoldi and lectures with the topics in the field of building envelope, installation systems and contracting. This conference was organized by Messe Frankfurt in cooperation with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, who also is responsible for the GreenBuilding Program.
Chair:
Henning Discher, German Energy Agency (dena), Berlin, Germany
Opening Statement
Dr. Paolo Bertoldi, European Commission DG JRC, Ispra, Italy
Contracting & Question & Answer Session
Ms. Piller, Berlin Energy Agency (Berliner Energieagentur “BEA”), Berlin, Germany
Installation engineering & Question & Answer Session
Dr. Jörg Schlenger, Drees & Sommer Advanced Building Technologies, Stuttgart, Germany
Building envelope & Question & Answer Session
Christian Grayer, Dömges Architekten AG, Regensburg, Germany
Presentation European Workshop “Energy efficiency in non-residential-buildings”
Pictures European Workshop “Energy efficiency in non-residential-buildings”
13 winners receive the European GreenBuilding Award 2010
Frankfurt / Main, April 14th, 2010. For the second time, the European GreenBuilding Award for energy efficient non-residential buildings has been handed over within the European Light & Building Fair and the IEECB’10 Conference (Improving Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings) in Frankfurt today. 13 projects in 4 categories were awarded. The awarding ceremony was organized by the Austrian Energy Agency being the Austrian National Contact Point for GreenBuilding.
Anyone who submitted his building(s) to the respective National Contact Point for GreenBuilding between January 2008 and September 2010, has automatically taken part in the European GreenBuilding Award competition 2010. The National Award winners of 9 EU-countries were assessed by a five-member jury according to defined quantitative and qualitative criteria. Among them, the jury has chosen the 13 most ambitious projects in the categories Best Endorser, Best Corporate Partner, Best Refurbishment Projects, and Best New Projects.
Following the Winners with their Presentations of the European GreenBuilding Award 2010:
- Category Best Endorser:
Levenger S.L. (Spain)
Bengt Dahlgren AB (Sweden) - Category Best Corporate Partner:
Fastighets AB Brostaden (Sweden) - Category Best Refurbishment Projects:
Realschule Hengersberg – Hauptschulverband Hengersberg (school, Germany)
Pireaus Bank SA Syggrou – Pireaus Bank (office building, Greece)
NH Principe de la Paz – NH Hotels (Hotel, Spain)
Bürogebäude Manschein - Ing. Siegfried Manschein GmbH (office building, Austria) - Category Best New Projects:
Phoenix Plaza – Phoenix Park d.o.o. (shopping center, Croatia)
ASILO Cologno Monzese – Municipality of Cologno Monzese (administration building, Italy)
Port of Ghent office - Havenbedrijf Gent agh (office building, Belgium)
ENERGYbase - WWFF Business and Service Center GmbH (office building, Austria) - Category Special acknowledgment of the jury:
AB Vasilopoulos, Komninon 1, Ethnomartirwn & Anagenniseos - AB Vasilopoulos S.A. (supermarket, Greece)
SeaBridge Logistics – SeaBridge SA (warehouse, Belgium)
Download the Presentation of the Workshop„Energy efficiency in non-residential buildings here.
The assessment of the finalists
The National-Award winners of each participating country were automatically qualified for the European GreenBuilding Award. The 36 final projects were assessed by an expert jury consisting of five buildings and energy experts according to a set of quantitative and qualitative criteria. The quantitative criteria were assessed according to a simple points system counting the concrete saving measures. The qualitative criteria, however, covered innovation and replication potential.
About the GreenBuilding Programme
GreenBuilding is a programme on a voluntary basis initiated by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). GreenBuilding addresses owners of newly built or refurbished private or public non-residential buildings, who want to invest in the energy efficiency of their buildings, thus reducing the overall energy consumption. According to a comprehensive energy concept which they have to submit, the overall energy consumption has to be reduced by 25% with refurbishing projects, whereas with newly erected buildings the energy consumption has to be at least 25% less than required by the building standard in force at that time. Throughout the EU, there are more than 155 buildings belonging to GreenBuilding Partners.
For more information on JRC, please see http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/greenbuilding/index.htm
Pictures from the European GreenBuilding Awards 2010 in Frankfurt/Main
GreenBuilding Endorser | An enterprise active in the fields of architecture, building construction, energy or engineer consultancy, or energy services, and acquiring at least one new GreenBuilding Partner. |
Green Building Corporate Partner | Any enterprise holding a property of at least 10 objects and incorporating the major part of their property into the GreenBuilding Programme (new or refurbished). |
GreenBuilding Refurbishment Projects | Refurbishing projects with at least 25% energy savings. |
GreenBuilding New Projects | New buildings with an energy consumption at least 25% less than required by the building standard in force. |
New GreenBuilding Brochure
The new GreenBuilding Brochure is now available as download. New Good-Practice-Examples are being presented, giving an idea of the broad varity of measurements that can be performed to improve the energy efficiency of different building types.
GreenBuilding Information leaflet
What is the GreenBuilding Programme about? How can I participate?
Answers to these questions provides the short GreenBuilding information leaflet, that can be downloaded.
GreenBuilding information leaflet
Information about the GreenBuilding Partner and GreenBuilding Endorser Status can be found in our so-called "Highlights":
IMPORTANT: Guidelines have changed
May 2009, The GreenBuilding Partner Guidelines had to be updated. In collaboration with the GreenBuilding Programme Manager at the EU Commission’s Joint Research Center – Paolo Bertoldi – the guidelines were updated in March.
They are available now as download and on the national websites.
New Guidelines
The updated guidelines apply for all new applications. The most important changes were:
- Rules to gain Corporate Partner Status have been redefined.
- Only the energy reduction of a whole building (DHW, heating and electricity) count for an GreenBuilding Partner Status – not the reduction for a single system.
- The partner status does not end after three years anymore.
Applicants with highly efficient buildings (70% energy reduction for a refurbishment or primary energy demand 50% below national standard for new buildings) cannot gain a GreenBuilding Certification for the building itself anymore – only the GreenBuilding Partner Status for the company possible.
Fastighets AB Brostaden is Europé’s first GreenBuilding Corporate Partner
Stockholm, May 2009
NCC Property Development, first property developer in Europe to become GreenBuilding partner at corporate level
NCC Property Development, as the first European property developer, has been approved as a GreenBuilding partner at corporate level. This entails that nearly 75 percent of the company’s projects must comply with GreenBuilding criteria.
“We were committed to GreenBuilding from an early stage and the first NCC project to be approved was Kaggen in Malmö. In May 2009 a total of six NCC projects in the Nordic region have been approved as GreenBuildings, of which three are completed. One of them is the first retail property to comply with GreenBuilding requirements in the Nordic region – Coop in Kungsbacka,” says Jonny Hellman, Environmental Manager at NCC Property Development.
Buildings and infrastructure affect the environment, both during the construction process and during the operating period. NCC’s clear objective is to accept responsibility for reducing that impact. The environment and energy are in focus within the company.
“Environmental and climate issues are becoming increasingly important and demand for energy-efficient properties will increase. Becoming a corporate partner in GreenBuilding is in line with our strategy, whose aim is that all NCC’s office properties shall comply with GreenBuilding criteria,” continues Jonny Hellman.
The EU’s goal is to reduce energy consumption and, accordingly, carbon-dioxide emissions, which is why GreenBuilding was launched. GreenBuilding criteria say that the energy consumption of new buildings must be at least 25 percent below the requirement set for energy consumption.
In Sweden, commercial properties are being classified by the Swedish Property Federation in consultation with the EU. Follow ups of NCC’s properties classed as GreenBuildings show that they comfortably meet the requirements.
Prison becomes GreenBuilding Partner
Germany: May 2009, The buildings of JVA Schwalmstadt (Schwalmstadt Prison) were built in several stages between the 12th century and 1986 and have a gross floor area of 27,468qm. JVA Schwalmstadt is a closed institution of the highest security level with an affiliated closed section of a lower security level. At present, approx. 300 prisoners are imprisoned at the JVA. The main institution is located in the count’s of Hessen-Kassel former hunting lodge and the subsequent annex building.
Lately large refurbishments in the heating, cooling, electricity, automation and energy controlling sections were performed. The energy partner is the YIT Germany GmbH, a leading European service company for building services engineering as well as construction and industry services.
The energy modernisation of the JVA Schwalmstadt reduced the primary energy consumption by approx. 60% and the annual carbon dioxide emission decreased by approx. 1,000 tons. The focus of the modernisation was the renewal of the heating facilities. The previous two natural gas boilers and the natural gas heat pump were replaced by a new 1200 KW natural gas-fired low temperature boiler and a natural 700KW gas-fired condensing boiler. In addition, in order to generate heat and electricity, a natural gas block heat and power plant with 238kWel and 363 kWth were installed.
CONTACT
You want to apply for the GreenBuilding Partner or GreenBuilding Endorser Status or you are looking for material in your native language?
Please contact the National Contact Point in your country.
Key Messages for Technical Modules online
The Technical Modules that should be considered for a GreenBuilding Partner Application are now available as Key Messages giving potential GB Partners a short introduction to various possiblities for improving a building's energy efficiency.
Newsletter Subscription
You may subscribe to the electronic GreenBuilding Newsletter with the following link: