Energiesprong in France – Typical brick individual house

Location: Hem, Hauts-de-France, France

Population: 18,093

Climate: Oceanic

Duration: 2018

Sector: Buildings

Funding sources: Public

City networks: n/a

Savings: A reduction of around 75% of energy consumption.

Solutions: Implementation of a refurbishment plan.

Multiple benefits:   Reduction of the energy consumption and the electricity bill for the ten dwellings.

Objective – The goal is to refurbish ten individual dwellings using the Energiesprong method.

Solutions – The social housing association Vilogia owns ten individual houses in Hem, divided into two groups of four houses and one group of two houses. Vilogia is the first housing association in France to demonstrate ten net-zero energy (NZE) dwellings as part of the E=0 Project’s Energiesprong strategy. These houses were built in 1952 and had an initial energy performance of E. They are typical northern brick houses with two stories and four rooms. This is the first refurbishment in France to come with a 25-year energy performance warranty.

Among the project’s primary stakeholders are found: Social housing association, Tenants and Owners: Vilogia; Buildings design and construction company: Rabot Dutilleul Construction, Design and installation of energy solutions: Pouchain and the chosen solution provider was Rabot Dutilleul.

The total cost amounted 1525 €/m2 (design: 10,500 €, construction works: 121,000 €/house, maintenance: 1100 €/house) – a total of 1,200,000 €. As this was the first trial in France, the cost of the first Energiesprong demonstrator was high. The long-term goal is to complete these renovations at standard costs, or at least at 75,000 € / 70,000 € each home for individual households and 55000 € per home for buildings.

Funding – Incentives/grants received from Interreg NEW (an EU program): 51,000 €/house for the construction work. Additionally, this project also received a co-funding ADEME / Caisse des Dépôts & Consignations to perform some preliminary studies. Considering the business case consisted of 10 houses, the total grant received amounted to 510,000 €.

Innovation – Energiesprong was released in France in March 2016. GreenFlex, a sustainability consultant specialising in assisting organisations in accelerating their social and environmental transition, hosted the team. GreenFlex has established a market development team of seven individuals to adapt and implement the Energiesprong strategy with local partners.

Success factors: 1) Assistance from an extensive network of professional multi-disciplinary experts, offering a holistic approach to the renovation project with a high level of flexibility in the design phase; 2) The owner was directly involved in defining the intervention methods that would be included in the renovation project; 3) Optimal management of total costs in the early stages of the project; 4) Optimal integration of different measures as a result of collaboration among the various players involved in the refurbishment project; 5) a complete design and operational plan for retrofitting spans the building’s life cycle; 6) The team members share their responsibilities and risks.

Significant outcomes:

• A reduction of around 75% of energy consumption (76 kWh/m2 /yr. (A)) after retrofitting;
• After the renovation, the global electricity bill for the ten dwellings was reduced by 60% (600 €).

Synergies with local policies:

• Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), Hauts-de France, 2021-2027. Following the merger of Picardy and Nord-Pas de Calais, Hauts-de-France has opted to adopt a new smart specialisation plan. Areas of specialisation include carbon-free energy efficiency and new material functionalities;
• Hauts-de-France – direct citizen participation in green energy transition. One of the current Hauts-de-France regional Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) objectives involves citizens in the green energy transition. Increasing local control of green energy initiatives, including financial ownership, is the goal;
• Hauts-de-France Pass Renovation. It is a technical and financial tool created by the regional Public Service for Energy Efficiency (PSEE). Based on an innovative economic model, the PSEE advances the sum allotted to rehabilitation works through a dedicated public fund; recipients return this advance in whole or in part through financial savings made on their energy bills.

Political alignment:

• France’s Integrated Energy and Climate Plan is a ten-year integrated document that the European Union has required of its member states for the EU to reach its overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets. The Energy and Climate Plan covers all five components of the EU Energy Union, including decarbonisation and energy efficiency (source);
• Law no. 2015-992 on Energy Transition for Green Growth (Energy Transition Law). The framework Energy Transition Law and its associated action plans are intended to provide France with the means to diversify its energy mix and strengthen its climate-change-related measures. Among the national targets are reductions in GHG emissions of 40% between 1990 and 2030 and 75% by 2050. It also establishes minimum energy consumption limits for public buildings and, if possible, requires them to be energy positive (source);
• Energy Renovation in Buildings Plan. The fifth-year Energy Renovation in Buildings Plan, which was released in April 2018, is the government’s approach for meeting the goal of carbon neutrality while also improving purchasing power (source);
• Grenelle II. This law establishes the Grenelle I targets to enable their implementation, to reduce energy consumption by at least 40% by 2020 and GHG emissions by 50% by 2020 compared to a 2010 baseline (source).

Marketability: N/A