What is innovative about this project?

  • Social: Developing different models of co-ownership or shared ownership of accommodation or certain utilities.
  • Technical: Ensuring energy efficiency at district-level by combining different sources of energy.
  • Technical: Digitising social housing service provision in an affordable, adaptable and purpose driven manner.

Propelled by beneficial fiscal conditions in Italy, Energheia is a model of self-consumption in residential buildings. Initially started with a small pilot in Pinerolo, the success has already enabled replication across Piedmont (Italy). The model includes energy efficiency measures (insulation of façades, substitution of windows, solar panels on the roof and the installation of a heat pump in the thermal room, etc.) and the creation of an energy community with the residents. The involvement of the inhabitants in the energy community is facilitated by gamifying their energy consumption and starting “competitions” where residents are encouraged to consume less than their neighbour.

Local Partnership

  • Company: ACEA Pinerolere Energia S.r.l, Technozenith S.r.l.
  • Municipality: –
  • Housing provider: different tenures
  • Other: Atenes Auc, Energy Center of Politecnico di Torino

ACEA Pinerolese Energia S.r.l and Technozenith S.r.l. formed together a joint venture called Progetto Energheia. This gave life to an initiative of collective self-consuming condominiums. The evolution of this project was facilitated by a favourable fiscal incentive at the country-level.
Atenes AUC is the cultural organisation that takes care of the social part of these energy communities. The Politecnico of Torino Energy Centre validates and analyses the data coming from the energy sharing of the condominiums.

Key Facts

  • Year of construction: 1950-1970
  • Renovation period: the project started in 2018 and is still going on now in some areas. The renovation of a buildings takes three to four months on average.
  • Area of intervention (m²): A number of condominiums with 10 to 30 dwellings each
  • Number of dwellings (before/after): no changes
  • Housing typology: multi-apartment buildings
  • Housing tenure: multi-ownership: social (non-for-profit) rental housing, owner-occupancy and private-rental housing
  • Number of residents: from 70 to 100
  • Shared facilities: e-charging columns for bikes or cars in some cases

Financial information

  • Funding sources: Partially funded by Italian fiscal incentives, like the Superbonus 110% and 90%, two measures that were effective respectively from 2020 to 2022 and from 2023 onwards. The rest is financed by residents, who start a mortgage that is paid back with the savings in the condominium expenses due to the lower energy bill after the renovation works.
  • Total cost of renovation (€):1/1.5 million € per building, around 40 000/45 000 € for apartment.
  • Subsidies received (€): European Funding (300.000€) for ventilated wall technology and Enerboxx in the context of the project BuildHeat (Horizon 2020)
  • Rent before and after renovation (€/month): Normally it stays the same, but it is not to be excluded the possibility of rising prices once the rental is expired (in the case of private rental).
  • Energy bill (€/month): In the first condominium that was renovated 133€ for heating (1200€ per year) before and 30€ per month afterwards (370€ per year).

Context

ACEA Pinerolese Energia S.r.l and Technozenith S.r.l. decided to form a joint venture called Progetto Energheia, to spread the advantages of the favourable fiscal incentive in Italy regarding energy efficiency, renewable energies production and communities of self-consumption of energy. A pilot project took place in the town of Pinerolo, in the Torino region. The model was then exported to other neighbourhoods and towns, based on the pillars of energy efficiency improvements and self-consumption. An added incentive is provided by establishing Energy Performance Contracts with each condominium, where the actual improvement in energy efficiency is certified by Energheia: if the renovation results are better than expected Energheia takes the excess, but is also obliged to provide a reimbursement if the results do not correspond to what is contracted.

Goals

  • Reducing primary energy need for heating and cooling in summer and cutting 90% of energy from the outside.
  • Increasing the thermal comfort in the dwellings.
  • Helping tenants and homeowners to save money on their energy bill.
  • Creating social inclusion through the establishment of energy communities open to all tenants despite their income.
  • Providing different flats with building automation system to regulate and control energy use, so people can monitor and adjust their consumption during the day.

Interventions

  • Insulation of the façade, ceilings and cellars through the insufflation of the interspace with glass wool and other materials, and, in some cases, using the ventilated wall technology.
  • Substitution of windows with state-of-the-art double glass models.
  • Installation of solar panels on each roof.
  • Installation of a heat pump.
  • Creation of the self-consuming community at the condominium level.
  • Installation of an energy storage system in each condominium
  • Ventilated walls and Enerboxx (boilers for sanitary hot water storage), funded by the EU project BuildHeat, are installed in some condominiums.
  • Installation of smart meter devices in each flat.
  • Offering of consultancy services to stakeholders that want to carry out similar work in other districts across Italy.
  • People are able to stay in their houses during the interventions. Construction workers enter the apartments only one day to change the windows, and the rest is done externally.
  • Agreement of an energy performance contract with the condominium that governs the incentives for each party, but also re-assures the residents of the advantages of joining the Energheia model.

Impact

  • 27 buildings were renovated by the end of 2022 (50 still on the waiting list).
  • The buildings were upgraded from classes D,F or G to A2 or B, and this led to an increase in the property value.
  • On average, energy use has decreased by the 68% (from 77,91 to 24,96 kWh/m²/year). CO2 emissions had declined as well, passing from 17,39 to 8,88 kgCO2/m²/year.
  • Tenants experienced a significant reduction in their energy bill, due to gas expenses dropping from 1600€ to 370€ per year (2022). The inhabitants can now exchange the energy they produce within a condominium and rely on renewables.
  • Thanks to the smart devices installed in their apartments, they can compete with their neighbours for who saves more energy. This has led to a virtuous cycle and has enhanced the sense of community and teamwork. This dynamic has fostered social inclusion as also more marginalised people with limited financial resources can join the community and can feel part of a team that shares a common goal (saving energy).
  • The quality of life of residents improved not only in terms of thermal comfort but also of noise reduction, which was achieved by replacing the windows.

Advice to future “Lighthouse Districts”

  • Consider the necessary resources (and skills) to deal with the bureaucracy associated with EU-funded innovation projects as well.
  • Develop a trial-and-error process to the extent that it is possible. Deciding which technology, materials or the most cost-effective option is not evident, but it is a necessary process to go through.