STEP-2-SPORT: STEP-by-STEP renovation towards nearly zero energy SPORT buildings

Since 1^st March 2014, LEITAT Technological coordinates a new EU project, STEP-2-SPORT, co-funded by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme.

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Last 10^th and 11^th April, the consortium met for the Kick-off meeting, organised in Terrassa.  The purpose of this meeting was to define and agree on the strategy to follow during the next six months and before the next meeting which take place in Athens in September. STEP-2-SPORT project will last until February 2017.

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Considering the objectives of the project, STEP-2-SPORT aims to support the refurbishment of the existing sport buildings through step by step renovation towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB), contributing, in  this way, to the EU energy objectives. Energy audits and energy performance certification will be performed in pilot sport facilities of 7 different countries (Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria). The purpose is to identify energy improvement opportunities as well as to determine their energy rating. Action Plans for renovation of pilots will be developed, identifying which energy improvement measures should implement each pilot sport facility over the next 10 years in order to be a NZEB.

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Following the recommendations defined in the action plans, energy improvement measures will be set up during the project duration, and their implementation will be monitored. From the experience obtained and the information compiled, a roadmap will be defined with the aim of achieving NZEB in EU sport buildings in the medium-long term. Considering the current economic situation, the most important barrier for sport owners is the lack of investment capital to implement full refurbishment towards NZEB. For this reason, innovative business model schemes for renovations, and in particular Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and Energy Performance Contracting will be promoted since they can finance energy saving measures and implement plans to improve energy efficiency in the long term.  With the support from large multipliers, a Replication Plan will be defined to transfer the results of the project and trigger the replication of renovations in other EU sport buildings.