Sustainability is still one of the cluster’s focal points for two reasons: energy efficiency and comfort are strategic areas for the development of value propositions in the market. On the other hand, circularity is becoming a priority in the industry. This blog specifies the most recent actions related to energy and energy efficiency in the home.
Several initiatives have been developed to raise public awareness in this area. All of these activities have been carried out in collaboration with H-ENEA, ACEDE’s Living Lab. The most recent are listed below:
Smartencity, ran from 2016 to 2022 with the mission of designing a common strategy for the creation of CO₂-free smart cities within the framework of the Horizon 2020 R&D&I Programme. ACEDE, through its Living Lab was challenged with creating a framework for co-designing neighbourhood involvement strategies in the 3 lighthouse cities and co-designing, from its initial concept, proposals for neighbourhood involvement in the refurbishment of their buildings and installation of a district boiler in the Coronación neighbourhood of Vitoria.
In 2019, we embarked on the Science and Technology Plan of the Basque Government’s Housing Department. Led by Alokabide, it was focused on digital, sustainable and social pillars. The role of ACEDE, together with H-ENEA Living Lab is to facilitate the conceptual alignment of the project throughout its execution of these different actions.
In 2017 the Birgaitzen inititaive was launched. Designed for energetically vulnerable households in which economic and/or free insulation solutions are proposed (depending on household income), its aim was to reduce energy consumption and increase the thermal comfort of homes with deficient insulation systems. To date, more than 50 households in the “Debagoiena area” have been involved in the process.
FV Etxean, is a social participation project to encourage households in Debagoiena to produce their own energy through the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roofs of neighbourhood communities in the Alto Deba region. By the end of 2022, 724 homes had been installed or were in the process of installing PV on community rooftops.
In 2020, the Orkli Living Lab began to be set up in our innovation garage. This space is used to interact with specifiers and installers, in order to show them in situ the benefits of the comfort solutions in its catalogue, and train them to make their installation effective and efficient. In addition to this Living Lab of the latest comfort solutions from Orkl, ACEDE has been incorporating these solutions in operation at its facilities: OKSol solar thermal water heating system, underfloor heating, cross-air renewal system with recovery of heat, photovoltaic installation, with Ekitermik. All this experience allows us to learn from experience in order to raise awareness about sustainability and comfort with full knowledge of the facts.