The fourth conference of the Local Renewables series focused on “Green Buildings and the Future of Sustainable Urban Development”. Organised by ICLEI and hosted by the City of Freiburg (Germany) from 27-28 October 2011, the conference looked at the evolving role of renewable energy in sustainable buildings and addressed the issue of energy efficiency, both from a technological and city development point of view.

Buildings make up 40 percent of the energy used in the European Union and account for 36 percent of Europe’s CO2 emissions. For this reason, the building sector plays a key role in combating climate change and offers local governments an excellent opportunity to meet their climate targets.

The Local Renewables 2011 Conference focused on:

• The political framework for sustainable construction and urban planning from a European, national and regional perspective
• Upgrading options for the existing building stock
  
• Best practice examples of zero emission districts across Europe
• Cutting-edge technologies and clever design for energy efficient  solutions
• District heating and cooling
  
• Financing models and mechanisms  - in particular the new Energy Efficiency Fund
• Challenges in the value chain of energy efficient building
  
• and much more…!

Programme Details

Thursday 27 October

Welcome remarks from the host city

• Dr. Dieter Wörner, Head, Environment Department, City of Freiburg, Germany

Plenary 1 - Energy and buildings: potential for chance policies in support of energy efficient buildings

Introduction

• Gino Van Begin, Regional Director, ICLEI, Europe, Germany

Perspectives from the local level

• Dr. Dieter Wörner, Head, Environment Department, City of Freiburg, Germany

Perspectives from the state level

• Helmfried Meinel, Secretary General to the Minister for the Environemnt Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Plenary 2 - Technical solutions, clever design - energy efficient solutions for new and existing buildings

• Facilitator: Rian van Staden, Principal Consultant, Intelligent Renewable Energy
• Theoni Karlessi, Researcher, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece - Energy savings in buildings and urban microclimate improvent: The role of materials
• Sebastian Herkel, Frauenhofer-Institut für Solar Energiesysteme (ISE), Freiburg, Germany - Cutting edge technologies for today and tomorrow
• Rolf C. Buschmann, Prof Aux UCLV,  EnED, Solar Infor Center, Freiburg, Germany - Adaptation of real estate to smart grids
• Christoph Conrad, Head Strategy and Marketing, Siemens Building Automation - Smart Buildings - Key player in a sustainable environment

Plenary workshop 1

B1 – Driving energy efficiency innovation at all stages of the public construction process

• Facilitator: Simon Clement, Project Coordinator, Sustainable Procurement, ICLEI Europe
• Matthew Galvin, Responsible Procurement Manager, Greater London Authority, (GLA), UK - GLA group Sustainable Construction – Best Practice Examples
• Isa-Maria Bergman, Expert Consultant, Motiva Oy, Finland - How to procure energy efficient public construction - recommendations for local governments 
• Joan Estrada i Aliberas, Environment, Landscape and Energy Unit Director, INCASÒL (Catalan Land Institute), Spain - Promoting sustainability in the urbanisation of the El Boscarró Nord business and industrial estate
• Helena Hecimovic, Councilor, City of Koprivnica, Croatia - New face of Koprivnica

Plenary workshops 2

A2 – Renovating historical buildings: where to invest?

• Facilitator: Maryke van Staden, Project Coordinator, Climate and Air Team, ICLEI Europe
• Dr Christian Hanus, Head, Center for Architectural Heritage & Infrastructure, Donau University, Krems, Austria - Architectural heritage and energy efficiency
• Jan Falconer, Manager, Projects, Partnerships and Funding, Aberdeen City Council, Scotland, United Kingdom - AC/DC project - to Adapt and Conserve / Develop and Create
• Dr. Alexandra Troi, Vice Head of the Institute for Renewable Energy, European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano - Energy efficiency in historic buildings - the 3ENCULT project in focus

B2 – District heating and cooling: technical solutions

• Facilitator: Sabine Froning, Managing Director, Euroheat & Power (EHP)
• Peter Odermatt, CEO, Stadsverwarming Purmerend B.V. Netherlands - District Heating 2.0 (En route towards DH 3.0?)
• Johan Saltin, Project Manager Heat and Power, Växjö Energie AB, Sweden - Biofueled district heating and cooling
• Klaus Preiser, Maging Director, Badenova-Sister Wärme PLUS, Germany - Cogeneration for reliably and energy efficiency

Reception hosted by the City of Freiburg

Friday 28 October

Plenary 3 - Finance: Intelligent financing mechanisms and models for new and existing building stock

• Facilitator: Wolfgang Teubner, Managing Director, ICLEI European Secretariat
• William Gillett, Head of Unit, Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation (EACI), European Commission, Brussels, Belgium
• Zarpana Massud-Baqa, Assistant Vice President, Asset Management - Environmental & Social Capital, Deutsche Bank AG
• Susanne Berger, Senior Consultant, Berlin Energy Agency (BEA),  Germany
• Peter Odermatt, CEO, Stadsverwarming Purmerend B.V., Netherlands

Parallel workshops 3

A3 – Zero-emission districts

• Facilitator: Wolfgang Teubner, Executive Director, ICLEI Europe, Germany
• Andreas Koch, Project Manager, EIFER European. Institute for Energy Research (EIFER) - IEA Annex 51: Energy Efficient Communities – first findings from international case studies
• Annette Egetoft, Senior Advisor, Environment Agency, City of Copenhagen, Denmark - Copenhagen city of the future: Passive Houses and  the Zero-Emission-District
• Klaus Hoppe, Head of Energy and Environment Department, City of Freiburg, Germany - Zero Emission Districts – Between Vision and Reality

B3 – Cutting-edge implementation in buildings and buildings systems

• Facilitator: Rian van Staden, Principal Consultant, Intelligent Renewable Energy
• Meinhard Hansen, Head of the Chamber of Architects, Freiburg, Germany - Twenty years of passive house design: The experiment becomes standard
• Dr. Marek Miara, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE), Germany - Heat pumps: effective contribution to energy efficiency?
• Peter Schoenenberger, Head of Marketing, Sauter, Switzerland; Member of European Building Automation Controls Association - Intelligent building automation and its contribution to sustainability

Plenary 4 - The future perspectives for energy efficient buildings - challenges in the value chain

• Facilitator: Wolfgang Teubner, Managing  Director, ICLEI European Secretariat
• Ralf Bermich, Head, Energy and climate department, Heidelberg, Germany
• Pierre Strub, Head of Innovations, Strafin Innovations Ltd., Switzerland
• Rüdiger Hornung, Registered Manager, Roux Deutschland GmbH; Chairman of the RICS Deutschland Sustainability Professional Group
• Alan Yates, Director, Regeneration, Accord Housing Group; Chair, Sustainable Housing Action Programme (SHAP)

 Plenary 5 - Summary and outlook

Summary and outlook

• Rian van Staden, Principal Consultant, Intelligent Renewable Energy

Study tours

• Vauban
• Rieselfeld
• Buggingerstraße 50

Hosts and Organisers

Freiburg, Green City

The City of Freiburg is internationally renowned for its innovative and integrated approach to sustainable energy management and extensive use of renewable energy sources. As a result of its achievements, Freiburg was honoured as “Germany’s Most Sustainable Major City" in 2012, making the city an exemplary and qualified host. Colleagues from the city administration, scientific experts and representatives from the renewable energy sector will be on hand to provide information and advice from an insider’s perspective. Freiburg is synonymous with sustainable development and its ecologically progressive policies have a positive impact on its citizens’ quality of life. The city will be the perfect scenario for the conference, inspiring participants with tangible evidence that seeking energy sustainability and stakeholder collaboration are the way forward.

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability

Freiburg is also the Host City of the ICLEI European Secretariat. Cities can only become sustainable if they drastically reduce their resource consumption and climate impacts. To achieve its mission, ICLEI, promotes the collaboration between local administrations and supports their progresses towards sustainable development. With its Cities for Climate Protection Campaign and Local Renewables Initiative ICLEI provides information, motivation and support to many local governments around the world.