An Interreg-Europe project called ZeroCO2 is aimed at proposing policies and measures that could be implemented in new and existing buildings, on a regional or national level, to improve their environmental sustainability and mitigation of climate change risk.
Such policies will contribute towards greening the building sector through enhancement of various eco-friendly energy technologies, services and business models.
This project will represent and implement Net-Zero CO2 Emission Buildings (NZCO2EB), due to energy use in policies addressed at the same level as had been done for Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB), which means that the buildings do not produce CO2 emissions during their use.
It is important to note that EU, national and regional policies do not define near-zero CO2 buildings due to energy use, hence the need for the ZeroCO2 project.
The first stakeholders’ meeting for all entities involved in policy-making and the building industry in Malta is being held on September 29
The project will dedicate the first two years to studying and developing the best policies that can be proposed to the policy stakeholders for their consideration and will dedicate the last two years to bring into fruition the outcomes of the project.
The project is being led by the energy agency Spodnje Podravje in Slovenia and has seven partners from Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Finland and Lithuania. The Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Malta has also been working on this project since last April.
The first stakeholders’ meeting for all entities involved in policy-making and the building industry in Malta is being held on September 29 to present the project’s aims and its road map to the participants, while encouraging them to discuss and bring out all salient matters that will enhance the energy efficiency of new and existing building stock, to be able to comply to EU and local minimum energy efficiency requirements and eventually reach the zero energy and zero CO2 levels.
For further information e-mail Dr Charles Yousif at charles.yousif@um.edu.mt or call 2340 7831.
Links to the project’s first newsletters in English and Maltese may be found at the website below.
www.um.edu.mt/ise/notices/interreg-europezeroco2