POWER HOUSE EUROPE - Passive house study visit in Austria
In March 2011 year, within POWER HOUSE EUROPE project, CECODHAS Housing Europe Austrian member GbV arranged study visits to the Passive House project Quellenstrasse, Vienna, Eurogate, the World's largest passive house settlement (Study visit hosted by Sozialbau Housing Provider, Vienna - see http://www.buildup.eu/cases/6891 for further information) and the Solar City (Study visit hosted by GIWOG Housing Provider and City Planning department of Linz - see http://www.linz.at/leben/4701.asp for further information).
The study visits were dedicated to empowering and training of tenants in the passive housing buildings as the main motor of the energy transition. Ever since studies have shown the processes which have involved empowerment and training of the residents result in important energy saving behavior, empowering tenants became the key strategy to success. During this study visit It has been stated necessary to train the residents, the people in charge of the building and the people in contact with residents, if the ambitious targets are wanted to be achieved. Participants has discussed and confirmed successful methods of empowerments like: training through though handbooks, direct contact or courses for tenants. Moreover, social mediators have been also trained to guide tenants since users are essential for reaching the target.
The Solar City of Linz is an exemplary European model for low-energy construction using alternative energy sources in social housing, where the three pillars of sustainability, namely economic growth, ecological balance and social progress, were equally and simultaneously taken into account. The joint deter-mination of objectives and specification of plans, as well as the institution of a central project management team, guaranteed the successful realization of the project. As a result of its inte-grated approach, chances are high that the SolarCity will be-come a model for urban development in the 21st century. The customers of the district heating system profit from a sure supply of environmentally friendly heating and an economic form of energy with stable price.
Housing Minister for the city of Brussels, Mr. Christos Dulkeridis, along with a team of advisors joined the POWER HOUSE study visit. The Minister planned to use the trip as a way to strengthen his arguments to call for more ambitious energy performance standards in the region of Brussels. In the Youtube video recorded during the visit we can hear the Minister calling for a stress on education to achieved the standards, education of those in public authorities, those buildings and maintaining the housing but also the end users, ie those living in the homes.
During the study visit held in the context of POWER HOUSE EUROPE I to a passive house and low-energy housing estate in Vienna, it became clear that for participants the issue of performance in the long term in terms of energy consumption as well as maintenance difficulties and costs were of high importance. This information was partly available, although not in an easily accessible formats. Participants were also keen to learn about difficulties encountered at the user stage of the buildings. For building managers these are all key concerns and while there are many best practice examples available from around the EU, there is rarely quality data on a large scale on a long term from a neutral, reliable source with no vested interest.
The study visit helped sow the seeds for a continuation of work together with a focus on the issues of performance in the long term.
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