Page 36 - European Energy Innovation - autumn 2019 publication

36 Autumn 2019 European Energy Innovation

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Leading by example – Public
buildings in Upper Austria

The transformation of the public buildings sector can serve to set an example for citizens and
businesses. In Upper Austria, the regional government proactively chose to lead the way in the
energy transition by improving its own public buildings: strong energy efficiency criteria and
stringent NZEB standards were integrated into all refurbishment and new construction projects.
This led to a 23% reduction of the energy demand per m2 for heating and hot water in public
buildings between 2005 and 2017, despite the increase of building technologies and services
such as ventilation, cooling and IT.

In Upper Austria, a European Making energy efficiency the norm To encourage the transition
leader region in the clean In Austria, due to the country’s in the public sector, stringent
energy transition, greenhouse federal structure, building legislation NZEB standards are applied
gas emissions in the entire and the implementation of the to refurbishments and new

buildings sector were reduced by a European Buildings Directive are constructions of public buildings and

significant 41% in the last 10 years. regional matters. This offers the a regional law obliges that renewable

This was achieved through a smart regions flexibility in choosing which energy sources be prioritised.

combination of energy efficiency and measures to apply to achieve energy Upper Austria was also among the

renewable energy. and climate targets. One approach first European regions to introduce

used in Upper Austria has been to mandatory energy accounting

The progress seen in Upper Austria is offer subsidies if certain levels of for space heating, hot water and

mainly attributed to the clear vision building performance are achieved. electricity in all public buildings

pursued by the regional government With time, regulatory building (regional and municipal).

for over two decades, supported standards are gradually tightened and

by the OÖ Energiesparverband the required performance level for True leaders lead by example
(ESV), the regional energy agency.
subsidies is raised. This has permitted According to the motto “leading by

The government’s “leading by to progressively increase the overall example”, the region of Upper Austria

example” approach was also a strong energy efficiency of the building stock implemented a comprehensive

contributing factor. while driving innovation. and ambitious approach to drive

the energy transition in its own

Christiane Egger – Deputy Manager OÖ Energiesparverband buildings. The region’s large public

building stock consists of several

individual buildings – serving a wide

variety of functions – with a total

surface of almost 1,000,000m². It

includes schools, administrative

buildings, cultural buildings, technical

maintenance buildings and nursing

homes.

Already two decades ago, the
regional government put in place
a standardised “energy accounting
and monitoring system” for all
its public buildings. Tracking the
energy consumption and costs
has since become an integrated
part of standard everyday facility
management tasks – representing
limited additional efforts for the staff.
Key aspects of this approach are

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