After 4 years of intense efforts of research, development, and innovation, LowUP partners are happy to invite you to the project final conference!

The LowUP project

Buildings account for about 40% of total energy use and 36% of greenhouse emissions in the European Union. They are the single largest energy consumer in Europe. Almost 75% of the building stock in the European Union is today energy inefficient.

To deal with this challenge, the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires all new buildings from 2021 (public buildings from 2019) to be nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB). NZEB are buildings that have a very high energy performance. The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent from renewable sources, including sources produced on-site or nearby.

LowUP is a European Union project aiming at developing and testing cutting edge technologies to turn this ambition into a reality. It is coordinated by ACCIONA, a Spanish company operating in renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, water and services, and gathers 13 partners (large companies, research and technology organizations, and SMEs) from 7 European countries (Spain, Italy, Finland, Austria, France, Switzerland). They have developed and tested three solutions of heating and cooling for buildings (see descriptions below), and they have explored the barriers and opportunities for their market uptakes. Some of the new solutions have already led to commercial successes.

Conference agenda

Welcome and opening (15 minutes, 10:00-10:15)

Introduction of the conference, presentation of the LowUP project

Speaker: Rafael C. Socorro Hernández, Project Coordinator, Digital Transformation Manager (Acciona)

HEAT-LowUP: valorising low-grade heat for buildings (20 minutes, 10:15-10:35)

General presentation of the solution, project overview, major outcomes and their possible implementation, next steps

Speaker: PhD. Manuel Andrés Chicote, Industrial Engineering (CARTIF)

COOL-LowUP: Low exergy cooling systems for buildings (20 minutes, 10:35-10:55)

General presentation of the solution, project overview, major outcomes and their possible implementation, next steps

Speaker: Carlos Ramos Rodríguez, Project Engineer(Acciona)

HP LowUP (20 minutes, 10:55-11:15)

General presentation of the solution, project overview, major outcomes and their possible implementation, next steps

Speaker: Jordi Macià Cid, Researcher (Eurecat)

[15 minutes break]

Zero energy building solutions in Europe: current status and future perspectives (1 hour-11:30-12:30)

Presentation of experts on the current status and future perspectives of zero energy building solutions in Europe

The use of phase change materials (PCM) in solar energy: challenges and new applications

15 minutes

Speaker: PhD. Raquel Simón Allué, Mechanical Engineer (ENDEF)

Designing smart energy-efficient offices: the experience of Halton

15 minutes

Speaker: PhD. Panu Mustakallio, Manager (Halton)

The decisive role of user involvement for zero-energy building

15 minutes

Speaker: Regina Enrich Sard, Senior Researcher (Eurecat)

Conclusion, Q&A (12:30-13:00)

Q&A. Moderator: Dominique Vellin, Senior Advisor(LGI) and Rafael C. Socorro Hernández, Digital Transformation Manager (Acciona)

Closure talk

Targeted audience

Policymakers, innovators, entrepreneurs, experts, and all other stakeholders interested in zero energy building solutions.

To know more about the project, see LowUP website.