The EU’s buildings have an energy problem that green home renovations can help with. Three quarters of building stock is energy inefficient – emitting over a third of the bloc’s carbon dioxide and keeping millions in energy poverty.
Renovating the existing stock is vital for improving energy efficiency but the task is daunting – according to academic estimates, around 97% of all buildings will need to be upgraded by 2050 to meet climate targets.
The good news is that technical solutions have surged in the last decade with readily available options for sustainable heating and cooling systems, photovoltaic panels and better insulation from windows, doors and roofs. The less good news is that the market for these products and for the installation and ongoing servicing of them is complex and fragmented. This puts up barriers for consumers which need to be overcome to get the green renovation revolution started.
Challenges for consumers and green upgrades start with low awareness of the financial and energy efficiency benefits of home renovation, and continue with understanding what the best package of options are best for them. Choosing between different materials, installers and financing options or understanding local planning regulations can be tricky. In many cases, people can’t always be sure that improvements to performance or comfort at home are guaranteed.
Consumer organisations are in a strong position to bridge the gap between deciding to renovate and finding the best option, the right financing and commissioning work. A new project with Euroconsumers’ members in Spain, Italy and Portugal will develop a dedicated online one-stop-shop service to advise and support consumers at every step of the renovation journey. The Home Renovation Integrated Services (HORIS) will match end-users’ needs with professionals’ offers and support consumers throughout the entire home renovation process.
“For a long time, consumers wanting to upgrade their homes to be warmer and greener have had to take a leap of faith that their choices are the best ones. The One-stop-shop approach takes away much of the uncertainty by making it simple to get started, find information on the products best suited for their homes, but on quality and price of providers, financing options and what longer term savings they can expect”
Luisa Crisigiovanni, Head of EU grants Program Manager, Euroconsumer
As well as putting all the information in one place, the digital one-stop-shop will use information about consumers’ homes, individual needs, goals and ability to pay to create a bespoke recommendation for the best option.
To build consumer confidence and keep competition fair amongst providers, the one-stop-shop will also develop a validation and rating scheme for the wide range of construction and retro-fitting companies, services and products on the market right now. Recognised suppliers would be placed on a list co-ordinated by Euroconsumers’ members OCU (Spain), Altroconsumo (Italy) and Deco Proteste (Portugal).
The suppliers would also be offered training on dealing with legal matters or dispute resolution, all things needed to help grow a strong and trustworthy marketplace for the demand and supply side.
The HORIS programme’s digital one-stop-shop will build on an already active platform in Portugal called the ‘Green Menu’ which was originally supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community.
This interactive site will be expanded to include more countries and to provide a direct link to the construction and renovation specialists needed for successful custom-made products. It will also include information on national and local funding programs and links to specialized credit companies.
HORIS will provide a wealth of renovation information including:
As more supplier and product information is fed into the HORIS platform, and consumers start to use it, we can start to understand the information people find most useful.
HORIS also has wider ambitions beyond tailoring consumer information. It aims to link up professionals and technicians in the green renovation supply chain to foster more innovation and collaboration in the rapidly growing sector of Integrated Home Renovation Services or IHRS. There’s a fantastic growth opportunity within this sector, and pooling efforts and understanding each others’ technologies and priorities will help speed up economies of scale and link up local and regional initiatives.
DecoProteste hosted the HORIS consortium kick off meeting on 21st and 22nd of September 2023 in Lisbon at an event with partners De Groene Grachten, ANERR, Inegi, Nova School of Science and Technology, GNE Finance, IEECP, Bureau Veritas, and Euroconsumers’ members OCU, Altroconsumo.
DecoProteste hosted the HORIS consortium kick off meeting on 21st and 22nd of September 2023 in Lisbon at an event with partners De Groene Grachten, ANERR, Inegi, Nova School of Science and Technology, GNE Finance, IEECP, Bureau Veritas, and Euroconsumers’ members OCU, Altroconsumo.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Share:
The fifth edition of Euroconsumers’ BeXt awards will celebrate the brands that stand out on sustainability, value and reliability.
As part of the PROMPT network of consumer groups, researchers and repair specialists, Euroconsumers members OCU and Test Achats are tackling the ingrained problem of consumer produ...
Read More
Collective purchase schemes could be a game changer by getting high quality, energy efficiency products into households at specially negotiated prices. Euroconsumers’ Deco Protes...
Read More
