KeepCool II - Transforming the market from "cooling" to "sustainable summer comfort"

Status

completed

Summary

Twelve partners from nine European countries worked together in the project “KeepCool II“ with the aim to advance alternative solutions to reach sustainable summer comfort at office and public buildings.

The focus of the former project “KeepCool“ was on sustainable cooling technologies and the description of “best practice” examples of office- and public-buildings. The follow-up project “KeepCool II” was dealing with the context and experience of the first project. That means the main activities of the project were dissemination activities, to revise and extend the existing material and to model good examples for sustainable summer comfort. The main focus of sustainable cooling was adjusted to sustainable comfort as benefit. This aspect is more overall since summer comfort means more than just air-conditioning for buildings. It includes, among other things, a procurement guide, reductions of internal loads in buildings with the procurement of energy-efficient lights and appliances on IT.

The project wanted to enforce the contacts with existing networks of professionals as building engineers, architects and craftsmen.

Direct results from „KeepCool II“ were:

• To increase the awareness of building owners, building engineers and suppliers such as summer comfort can be offered but also asked for as well.
• Stronger cooperation between professionals as a result of dissemination activities in professional networks.
• Extensive information in different languages for local or national initiatives and networks.
• Recommendations for sustainable summer comfort, either in public procurement schemes, national building regulations or in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan (EEAP) in all partner countries.
• New design rules for cooling systems and innovative support schemes.

The basement of information was extended in the first part of the project. Furthermore the experiences of the first KeepCool project have been actualised and intensified. Barriers of the performance of sustainable summer comfort have been addressed, procurement guidelines for the public sector were compiled and the “Toolkit” website from the first project was updated. A new aspect was the assessment of energy savings and the input to the national Energy Efficiency Plan. The second part of the project was to focus on dissemination activities on national and international level as well as to set on legislation- and common standardisation-activities. In the same way the project included the focus on subsidy schemes, among others for building engineers, engineers and architects.

Project manager

Institut für ZukunftsEnergieSysteme gGmbH

Project and cooperation partners

• AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies
• ARMINES
• arsenal research
• Building and Civil Enginieering Institute ZRMK
• CEEETA-ECO
• Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Energetica
• European Solar Shading Organization
• Portugal National Institute of Enginieering Technology and Innovation
• Österreichische Energieagentur
• Swedish Solarshading Association/Somfy Nordic AB
• London Metropolitan University
• Swedish Energy Agency