Climate and culture-based design and market valuable technology solutions for Plus Energy Houses

_Duration 2019 – 2025

_Programme Horizon 2020

_Call H2020-NMBP-EEB-2019

_Total Project Budget €  8 784 073,21

_Grant Agreement model Budget-Based

Short description 

Cultural-E is a Horizon 2020-funded project advancing Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs) that produce more energy than they consume. The project focuses on modular, climate and culture-responsive solutions for residential buildings across Europe, optimising the value-to-cost ratio while considering local energy habits. It involved the construction and renovation of four demonstration PEBs in France, Germany, Italy, and Norway, showcasing technologies such as advanced ventilation, solar control, and user-centric management strategies to enhance comfort and minimise energy use. Cultural-E emphasises socio-cultural factors in building design, adapting solutions to local customs and lifestyles. Through its integrated approach, Cultural-E contributes to decarbonising Europe’s residential sector and informs future energy-efficient, culturally sensitive building practices.

The Architects´ Council of Europe’s involvement 

The Architects’ Council of Europe led the dissemination and communication activities of Cultural-E, coordinating the project website, visual identity, brochures, banners, newsletters and social media campaigns. The Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) led the development of policy positions and guidance on Plus Energy Buildings. By promoting the project’s outputs to architects, policymakers and other stakeholders, ACE helped facilitate the adoption of energy-efficient, culturally responsive building solutions.

Project results

The Cultural-E project successfully advanced the concept of Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs) by developing modular, replicable solutions that integrate climate and cultural considerations. It delivered four demonstration PEBs in France, Germany, Italy, and Norway, serving as real-world examples of energy-positive residential buildings. The project developed smart technologies, including a cloud-based House Management System, hybrid ventilation systems, smart air movement systems and decentralised heat pump systems, tailored to diverse European climates and socio-cultural contexts. An interactive map of European geo-clusters was created to support context-specific technology solution sets, while policy recommendations were proposed to overcome cultural and legal barriers and facilitate broader PEB adoption across Europe. Additionally, the project established the Plus Energy Building HUB (PEB HUB), an online repository enabling professionals to share experiences, best practices and lessons learned. These results contribute to the decarbonisation of the European residential sector and promote the adoption of sustainable, culturally sensitive building practices.

Significant Cultural-e results include

Plus Energy Building (PEB) HUB, a real-world case study, design guidelines, and insights on adapting PEBs to different climates and cultural contexts and an Interest Group on PEB at the Architects’ Council of Europe HUB for information sharing and discussion on the topic.

The project also produced several policy positions and recommendations, including Key recommendations for the policy development to foster the construction of PEB, Position Paper on the impact of Plus Energy Buildings on the community, and Position Paper for policy-makers showing the impact of PEBs.

Cultural-e delivered a set of design tools, including the European Climate and Cultural Atlas for Plus Energy Building Research, an Excel-based tool to assess life cycle economic impact, and a vademecum to guide the designers through PEB climate and cultural design.

The project also handed over the Factsheets reporting solution set description and metrics for each climate-cultural geo-cluster, Guidelines and calculation methods for Lifecycle Environmental Impact Assessment of Plus Energy Buildings, and the Design guidelines with 7 key design principles for Plus Energy Buildings.

All the results are available on the Cultural-E website, the Zenodo Community and the project YouTube Channel.

Coordinator

EURAC Research – Italy

Project Partners

_ Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology – Spain
_ Ca’ Foscari University of Venice – Italy
_ University of Stuttgart – Germany
_ Brunel University of London – United Kingdom
_ Architects´ Council of Europe – Belgium
_ Nobatek – Inef 4 – France
_ SINTEF – Norway
_ Steinbeis Innovation – Germany
_ Vilogia – France
_ Advantic Sistemas y Servicios – Spain
_ Ventive – United Kingdom
_ Eurofinestra Sas di Ecosistema – Italy
_ Vortice – Italy
_ Abitcoop – Housing Cooperative in the Province of Modena – Italy
_ Baerum Municipality – Norway
_ Wohnbau-Studio – Germany

For more information

Cultural-E website | Twitter page | Facebook page | LinkedIn page

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 870072