Demonstration of an integrated Renovation approach for Energy Efficiency At the Multi building scale (DREEAM)

Research Project, 2015 – 2019

DREEAM aims to demonstrate replicable Net Zero Energy residential building renovation approaches achieving up to [SM1] 75% total Net Energy Demand reduction- an improvement of 60% to state of the art market practices.
The use of interconnected renewable energy systems that achieve a balance between energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. This is enabled by enhancing renewable technologies capacity factors by using advanced building management systems with machine learning algorithms that allow building system integration and auto-optimisation according to building dimensions. Currently, deep energy renovations mainly focus on building-level solutions, where, cost-effectively, an energy demand reduction of 40-50% can be achieved.

In district scale projects, technologies for energy generation, storage and dynamic control can be integrated cost-effectively, reducing up to an additional 25-35% of Net Energy Demand. Multi-owner complexities and need for tailored system integration normally make this approach location-specific and hard to replicate.

Whereas in DREEAM, a renovation approach with a strong focus on multi-building, single-owner situations allows to find the appropriate balance for both high energy demand reduction and high market replication potential. Energy Load Management technologies (ICT based building systems management) and services are being successfully piloted in residential buildings in UK, Germany and Italy and, in the future, might serve as case studies in other locations. Building owners that jointly own 160,000 dwellings, energy service engineers and finance experts collaborate to demonstrate the DREEAM approach in 3 climatologically different locations, and initiate replication in 15 more locations within the project duration. 

Partnership with city-, owner- and innovation networks allows results dissemination to 60% of the target market.

The approach is a breakthrough in reaching widely applicable and replicable pathways for near-NZEB residential building renovation, in particular for social and public housing, which accounts for 12% of European stock, or 25 million units.

Moreover, from a more social perspective, there is also a very strong focus on tenants engagement before, during and after renovations – tenants are involved and interviewed at different stages of the process so that their needs are always taken into consideration.

For further information, please visit the project’s website http://dreeam.eu/