Final Publishable report - Step2Sportstep2sport.eu/.../uploads/2017/04/FINAL_PUBLISHABLE_REPORT.pdf · FINAL PUBLISHABLE REPORT ... Acknowledgement: This report has been produced

FINAL PUBLISHABLE REPORT

February 2017

STEP by STEP renovation towards Nearly Zero Energy SPORT Buildings

Acknowledgement: This report has been produced as part of the project “STEP by STEP renovation towards Nearly Zero Energy SPORT Buildings”, STEP-2-SPORT. The project consortium gratefully acknowledge the financial and intellectual support of this work provided by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. The logos of the partners cooperating in this project are shown below and more information about them and the project is available on www.step2sport.eu

Project Partners:

Coordinator: LEITAT Technological Center

Catalan Energy Institute

SPEED Development Consultants SA

THE POLISH NATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION AGENCY

Skåne Association of Local Authorities

PICH-AGUILERA ARQUITECTOS S.L.P

Ippocrate AS S.r.l.

BULGARIAN CONSTRUCTION CHAMBER

ENERGY AGENCY OF PLOVDIV

Samnite Agency for Energy & Environment

Mediterranean SOS Network

JesusFerreira Consultores-energyconsulting

The sole responsibility for the content of this deliverable lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

http://www.step2sport.eu/

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 4

2. WHY NEARLY ZERO ENERGY SPORT BUILDINGS ................................................................................ 5

3. HOW TO BECOME A NEARLY ZERO ENERGY SPORT BUILDING ......................................................... 6

4. THE PATH OF STEP-2-SPORT PILOTS TOWARDS NZEB ....................................................................... 7

5. TOOLS FOR SPORT OWNERS AND SPORT FACILITY MANAGERS ..................................................... 22

6. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO FOSTER THE ENERGY RENOVATION OF SPORT BUILDINGS ....... 24

Bulgaria ............................................................................................................................................ 24

Greece ............................................................................................................................................. 25

Italia ................................................................................................................................................. 25

Poland ............................................................................................................................................. 25

Portugal ........................................................................................................................................... 26

Spain ................................................................................................................................................ 27

Sweden ............................................................................................................................................ 27

7. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 28

References ........................................................................................................................................... 31

4

1. INTRODUCTION

STEP-2-SPORT, an EU project co-funded by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, aims to support the refurbishment of existing sport buildings through step by step renovation towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB). 27 pilot sports facilities from 7 EU countries (Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria) have participated in the project.

During the project duration (March 2014-February 2017), pilot sport buildings have initiated the step-by-step energy renovation process by implementing a wide variety of energy efficiency measures and renewable energies. The energy improvement measures proposed are being implemented through a step-by-step renovation approach, which is an effective strategy for achieving Nearly Zero Energy Sport Buildings in cases when there is a shortage of financial resources. Action Plans for the energy renovation of the pilots have been defined, indicating the energy improvement opportunities to be implemented within the next 10 years for achieving NZEBs, as well as the expected savings year by year. Some successful energy renovation experiences in the pilot sport buildings are presented in chapter 4 of this report.

From the experience obtained and the information compiled, a roadmap has been elaborated with the aim to promote the refurbishment of existing EU sport buildings towards NZEB levels. A Replication Plan has been conducted to transfer the results of the project and trigger the replication of renovations in other EU sport buildings. Guided

visits to front-runner pilots, training sessions for sport owners and sport facility managers and an on-line benchmarking tool are some of the strategies that have been used to replicate the results of the project.

On 21st February 2017 the Final Dissemination Event of STEP-2-SPORT project took place in Brussels. It was an open public event where the achieved results were presented to the audience.

If you are curious to learn more about STEP-2-SPORT and its results, watch the video and continue reading the next chapters!

Figure 1. Main activities carried out within STEP-2-SPORT project

Figure 2. STEP-2-SPORT Consortium.

https://step2sport.eu/

https://vimeo.com/188099103

5

2. WHY NEARLY ZERO ENERGY SPORT BUILDINGS

Most of the 1.500.000 existing EU sport buildings were built between 1960s and 1980s (1), therefore most of them need refurbishment because no considerable changes have been made to the initial conditions. The present rate of construction of new buildings is only below 2% per year in all major EU countries (2). For that reason special focus is needed on the renovation of existing sport buildings. In some countries the energy consumption of sport and recreation buildings is responsible for up to 10% of total energy consumption, being a significant contributor to greenhouse gases emissions.

The high energy consumption of indoor pools and sports complexes offers great opportunities for energy conservation and significant potential to reduce CO2 emissions. The Action Plans defined during STEP-2-SPORT project have revealed that with a total investment of €9.3 million in the 27 pilot sport buildings, more than 12,000 MWh/year can be saved through the implementation of energy efficiency measures and more than 3,000 MWh/year can be produced with renewable energies. Figure 3 shows the potential of energy savings detected in each one of the pilots. The bar

in blue colour represents the final energy consumption before the renovation and the bar in green colour is the expected final energy consumption of the building after implementing all the measures proposed.

The benefits of reaching highly energy efficient sport buildings can be grouped in three types:

1. Economic: reducing the energy consumption result in economic savings on the operational costs of sport facilities. 2. Environmental: stimulating the better use of available energy resources by implementing energy efficiency measures and renewable energies lead to a reduction of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. 3. Social: energy-efficient solutions not only reduce the operating costs and CO2 emissions, but also can improve comfort issues of sport users and staff. For example in indoor swimming pools, adequate inside air and water conditions are decisive for comfortableness and structural conservation. Another social benefit for users and staff is the increase of awareness levels on environmental issues.

Figure 3. Energy saving potential in pilot sport buildings.

6

3. HOW TO BECOME A NEARLY ZERO ENERGY SPORT BUILDING

The key steps recommended to be followed for achieving NZEB levels in existing sport buildings are shown in Figure 4 and summarized below:

1. The first step to be taken focuses on the

determination of the energy performance of the sport building. An energy audit should be carried out in order to establish the current energy situation, to analyse the energy usage within the building and to identify the еnergy improvement opportunities. Energy improvement opportunities should be identified within energy audits, quantifying the potential energy savings, economic savings, CO2 savings, the investment required as well as the payback period of each proposed.

2. A full NZEB Action Plan should be defined to

prioritise the actions to be implemented in short, medium and long term. From the energy saving potentials and payback periods identified in the energy audits, an action plan should be developed prioritising the energy conservation measures to be implemented in the next years. It is important to develop a full action plan to ensure achievement of ambitious NZEB levels, by combining different types of energy measures aimed to reduce energy demand and increase the share of renewable sources.

3. After determining the energy improvement

opportunities, the next step consists in finding funding instruments to renovate the buildings. Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), national energy efficiency funds, crowdfunding are some mechanisms that can be used to finance energy renovations in sports facilities. It is worth mentioning that NZEB renovations cannot be

achieved through the use of public resources alone since these are insufficient, and therefore the contribution of the private sector is essential. Grants should enable the implementation of certain types or packages of measures that have longer paybacks, instead of financing measures that are economically viable for the sport owners and sport facility managers.

4. To achieve NZEB levels, energy efficiency

measures must be implemented to reduce the energy demand as much as possible and renewable energies must be installed to cover in an extensive way the remaining energy needs of the building. It is worth mentioning that an adequate use and maintenance of the sports facilities is essential to guarantee an optimal and energy-efficient operation of the building. A wide variety of energy improvement measures for different sport building typologies are described in the Roadmap towards Nearly Zero Energy Sport Buildings.

5. After implementing the energy improvement

measures, a Measurement and Verification (M&V) process should be conducted to quantify the impact of the energy measures implemented. The assessment of an energy retrofit requires an energy measurement process before (baseline energy consumption) and after (post retrofit energy consumption) the retrofit. The International Performance Measurement and Verification

Protocol (IPMVP) is a recognised M&V procedure to determine the energy savings achieved in a reliable way.

Figure 4. Step-by-step energy renovation approach towards NZEB. levels.

http://step2sport.eu/sport/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WP3_20151130_STEP2SPORT_D3.1Roadmap_PU.pdf

http://step2sport.eu/sport/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WP3_20151130_STEP2SPORT_D3.1Roadmap_PU.pdf

7

energy-efficient solutions

4. THE PATH OF STEP-2-SPORT PILOTS TOWARDS NZEB

indoor sport

facilities

7 EU

countries

27

pilots

Energy demand reduction

Renewable energy production

CO2 emissions avoided

Economic savings

step-by-step energy renovation

experiences

8

CEM La Bordeta is a municipal sport facility located in

the city of Barcelona built in 2006. The owner of the building is Barcelona City Council (Institut Barcelona Esports). The facility, with a total gross floor area 5.018 m2, is composed by one swimming pool for adults (25 x 10 m), one swimming pool for kids (8,5 x 5 m), indoor sports court and several multiactivity rooms. The capacity of the main swimming pool is 350 m3, while the capacity of the learner pool is 55,25 m3.

Baseline: final energy consumption before renovation

Electricity consumption Thermal consumption Total energy consumption

749.222 kWh/year 802.865 kWh/year 1.552.087 kWh/year

Measures implemented during STEP-2-SPORT: - Stratified buffer tank for improving the heat storage system

and optimize Domestic Hot Water production, heating of swimming pools and heating system

- Energy-efficient circulation pumps - Replacement of metal halides for LED lighting in the

swimming pool area and installation of time switches for turning off the lights by night period

- Condensing boiler - Replacement of fluorescent lamps for LED lighting, lighting

sensors in locker rooms and corridors - Hydraulic balancing of the existing solar thermal plant

Total investment made: 104.173 €

Next steps to achieve a NZEB: In order to achieve a NZEB, the following measures could be implemented in the next years:

- Refurbishment of pool dehumidifier - Thermal pool cover installation - Heat recovery system from pool water renovation - Variable speed drives in pool filtration pumps - Photovoltaic plant installation - Expanding solar thermal system

Total investment required: 431.673 €

Total expected savings compared to baseline:

724.109 kWh/year (47%)

293.036 kWh/year (35%)

211.301 kg CO2/year

77.776 €/year

Savings achieved:

354.595 kWh/year (24%) 85.126 kg CO2/year 21.966 €/year

9

Club Poliesportiu Puigcerdà ice rink is a

municipal sport complex located in the Catalan Pyrinees. The sport complex is composed by an indoor ice rink (56 x 26 m), one swimming pool for adults (25 x 13,5 m), one swimming pool for kids (15,7 x 6m), indoor sports court and several multiactivity rooms. The project focused on improving the energy performance of the ice rink arena , since it’s the most energy consuming area of the sport complex. The ice rink was built on 1982, and since then no major renovations were conducted.



735.187 kWh/year 217.711 kWh/year 952.898 kWh/year

Measures implemented during STEP-2-SPORT: - Replacement of 2 of the 4 reciprocating compressors by

screw compressors with capacity control stages for ice production.

- New heat recovery system for preheating pool water and Domestic Hot Water of the whole complex. The heat recovered is produced by the compressors of the refrigeration plant.

- New control system for a better operation of the refrigeration plant. Total investment made: 156.143 €

Next steps to achieve a NZEB: In order to achieve a NZEB, the following measures could be implemented in the next years: - Replacement of the 2 remaining old compressors of

the refrigeration plant - Replacement of the ice rink roof - LED lighting - Photovoltaic plant installation



394.822 kWh/year (41%)

374.204 kWh/year (67%)

136.726 kg CO2/year

76.876 €/year

Savings achieved:


10

SAF UAB is a large University Sports Centre with a

total gross floor area of 6.712 m2 situated in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Spain). No major renovations have been conducted since their construction in 1993. Indoor facilities of SAF are composed by one sports hall, three saunas, two heated indoor swimming pools and solarium, four squash courts, indoor rock-climbing walls, physical fitness room and several activity rooms. The main swimming pool is 25 metres in length and

16,67 metres wide and the learner pool is 16,67 metres in length and 6 metres wide.



748.304 kWh/year 1.178.521 kWh/year 1.926.825 kWh/year

Measures implemented during STEP-2-SPORT:

- Replacement of 3 natural gas boilers with a total heat power of 634 kW by a 500 kW biomass boiler feed by wood chips.



- Insulation of the building envelope - Stratified buffer tank for improving the heat

storage system and optimizing Domestic Hot Water production, heating of swimming pools and heating system

- LED lighting - Thermal pool cover - Replacement of the dehumidifier system - Photovoltaic plant - Expanding the existing solar thermal system



1.114.056 kWh/year (58%)

1.252.721 kWh/year (100%)

318.955 kg CO2/year

155.078 €/year

Savings achieved:

1.178.521 kWh/year (61%) 218.663 kg CO2/year 21.523 €/year

11

CEM Vallirana is a municipal sport facility situated

in the outskirts of Barcelona that is in operation since 2002. The owner of the building is Vallirana City Council and the facility is managed by Llop Gestió de l’Esport. The total gross floor area is 4.000 m2 and the facilities are composed by one semi-olympic pool (25 x 12,5 m), one pool for kids (12,5 x 4 m), spa pools, one fitness room and two multiactivity rooms.





- Refurbishment of the pool dehumidifier with energy efficient components - LED lighting - Insulation of the compensation tank water of the swimming pool

Total investment made: 47.710€


- Installation of stratified buffer tank and replacement of circulation pumps

- Photovoltaic plant installation - Heat recovery system from renovation water of

the swimming pool - Thermal pool cover - Insulation the fitness room envelope and

swimming pool roof - Expanding the existing solar thermal system



587.272 kWh/year (55%)

304.086kWh/year (63%)

169.564 kg CO2/year

58.433 €/year

Savings achieved:


12

The Palavolcan is an indoor sports arena located

in Acireale (Italy). It has a capacity of 1.200 spectators with a total gross floor area of 2.968 m2. It hosts a football, basket, volleyball and handball teams. The sport hall area, including box seats, facilities and playing area, has a total of 2.496 m2 and a volume of 14.976 m3.





- Thermal insulation and roof renovation - Sport flooring renovation - Fixtures replacement


Next steps to achieve a NZEB: - Photovoltaic plant installation



14.525 kWh/year (61%)

6.840 kWh/year (73%)

10.778 kg CO2/year

5.710€/year

Savings achieved:

14.525 (61%) 9.441 kg CO2/year 4.648 €/year

13

The Multifunctional Sports Hall of Milen Dobrev is

a municipal sports building owned by the Municipality of Plovdiv (Bulgaria). It was built in 1986 with 2000m2 of gross floor area, and the last renovation happened in 2004 when roof water proofing has been installed in order to avoid leakages. The sport building is managed by 3 private sports clubs – weight lifting club, boxing club and martial arts club. The sport building consists of three large sports halls,

two smaller halls, trainees’ rooms, showers and SPA. The three large sports halls are composed by a weight lifting hall with 280 m2, judo hall with 3.003 m2 and a boxing hall with 215 m2. The two smaller halls are composed by a weight lifting hall for winter use with 74 m2 and a boxing hall with 35 m2.



242.831 kWh/year 0 kWh/year 242.831 kWh/year


- External and internal wall insulation - Internal roof insulation - Installation of new efficient windows - LED lighting installation - Installation of an air-air heat pump


Next steps to achieve a NZEB:

In order to achieve a NZEB, the following measures could be implemented in the next years:

- Solar thermal system for domestic hot water - Air2Air heatpump (SCOP 4,00) - Expansion of the improvements of the building

envelope - Photovoltaic plant installation – 10kWp



157.129 kWh/year (65%)

50.428 kWh/year (59%)

169.989 kg CO2/year

30.508 €/year

Savings achieved:


14

Athletics Sports Hall Lokomotiv is a municipal

sports building owned by the Municipality of Plovdiv (Bulgaria), rented by Athletics Sport Club Lokomotiv. The building represents a 120 m long sports hall with small entrance hall. The sports hall has total gross floor area of 1.502 m² and total volume of 6832 m³, consisting of one indoor sport premises used by Lokomotiv Athletics Club, bathrooms and technical areas.




Measures to implement in 2017:

- Thermal insulation of external walls - New roof with PU panels, δ = 10 cm. - New efficient windows - LED lighting



- Biomass boiler - Installation of solar thermal system for

domestic hot water - Water-2-Water chiller for cooling and

ventilation demands - Installation of energy recovery ventilation

system (air recirculation and energy recovery from exhausted air)

- PV installation



273.770 kWh/year (78%)

25.013 kWh/year (32%)

294.916 kg CO2/year

38.456 €/year

Expected savings:


15

The Sport Hall of Farsala belongs to the

Municipality of Farsala, was built in 1985 and is managed by the Municipality. The Sport Hall houses the local basket ball and volleyball teams and can accommodate approximately 470 spectators (seating and standing). The sport hall consists of two abutting buildings: the main building has an orthogonal shape with an area of 1.355 m2 and abutting to this is a smaller orthogonal

building housing the warehouse, WC’s, boiler room, athletes changing rooms, referee’s room and offices.





- Replacement of fluorescent lamps for metal halide lighting - Replacement the existing boiler to a natural gas boiler with high efficiency - New efficient windows



- Installation of Building Energy Management Systems

- Installation of shading system - Wall insulation - Solar thermal system for domestic hot water



358.630 kWh/year (56%)

65.583 kWh/year (23%)

118.430 kg CO2/year

30.157 €/year

Savings achieved:


16

The indoor swimming pool of Nea Smyrni belongs to the Municipality of Nea Smyrni (Greece), was built in 1975 and is managed by the Municipality. Initially it was constructed as an open air swimming pool, but in 1996 it was covered and took its existing form. The indoor swimming pool facilities consist of 4 abutting buildings: The main building contains two swimming pools, one 50×25m with average depth of 5m and one smaller 12,5×10,5m with average depth of 3m. Abutting to

the main building is a smaller orthogonal building housing the athletes’ changing rooms, the wc’s, the boiler room, the first aid/nursery room, the referees’ room and the offices. The two more buildings of small size are used as warehouse and athletes gym. The total gross floor area of Nea Smyrni indoor swimming pool is 2.878 m2.




Measures to implement in 2017-2018 to achieve a NZEB: - Wall insulation - Installation of new efficient openings - Roof insulation - Replacement of existing natural gas boiler and auxiliaries - Installation of new pumps with inverters - Replacement of the existing lighting system for LED lighting - Variable speed drives in pool filtration pumps - Building Energy Management Systems - Installation of a new capacitor unit - Cogeneration (CHP) unit

Total investment: 563.317 €


1.807.925 kWh kWh/year (64%) 374.546 kg CO2/year 174.121 €/year

17

Hajnówka Aqua Park (Poland) was built in

2005 and the last renovation was conducted in 2014. Indoor swimming pool building, with 3.102 m2 of gross floor area, is adjoined to the existing sports hall and it is owned by the Municipality of Hajnówka. There are two swimming pools in the part containing the pool halls: a swimming pool with dimensions of 25m x 16m (400 m2) and a variable depth from 1,8m to 2,0m, leisure pool with a variable depth from 0,8m to 1,6 m, landing

area for planar slide and children’s pool with a depth of 0,45m to 0,65m.





- Replacement the existing lighting to LED lighting Total investment made: 2.348 €

Next steps to achieve a NZEB: The following measures could be implemented in the next years:

- Improvements on heating system of the pools supplement water

- Installation of a solar thermal system and heat pump for domestic hot water

- Modernization of the heat source by installing a heat pump



632.892 kWh/year (28%)

75.997 kWh/year (5%)

239.378 kg CO2/year

8.678 €/year

Savings achieved:


18

Zambrow Aqua Park (Poland) with 3.491 m2 was

constructed in 2001. There are two swimming pools: 25m x 12,5m and a variable depth from 1,4m to 1,9 m, a leisure pool with dimensions of 12,5 m x 6,0 m and variable depth from 0.6 to 1.0m. There are other facilities as tribunes for 130 spectators, coffee shop, hairdresser and fitness rooms.





- Replacement the existing lighting to LED lighting Total investment made: 837 €

Next steps to achieve a NZEB: The following measures could be implemented in the next years:

- Installation of heat recovery unit based on heat pump water

- Insulation of rooftop - Insulation of external walls



298.227 kWh/year (20%)

103-170 kg CO2/year

7.306 €/year

Savings achieved:

7.300 kWh/year (0,5%) 2.465 kg CO2/year 1.148 €/year

19

Mosir Stalowa Wola swimming pool (Poland) was built

in 1959. The complex with a total gross floor area of 10.657 m2

includes swimming pool halls, offices rooms and gymnasiums. There are three main indoor swimming pools, one with 25m x 13m and depth of 1,1 to 3m and volume of 666,25m3, the second with 25m x 13m and depth of 1,3 to 1,8m and volume of 503,75m3 and the last one with 13m x 6m with a total capacity of 78m3. Jacuzzi and slide pipe bench belong to the indoor swimming pools hall. Recreation and outdoor pools

also belong to the swimming pool complex area.



1.194.898 kWh/year 1.608.381 kWh/year 2.803.279 kWh/year

Measures to implement in 2017 and steps to achieve NZEB - Walls and roofs insulation - Installation of new efficient windows and doors - Modernisation of ventilation system - Modernization of heat and warm water system - Modernisation of lighting system - Installation of 278 solar thermal panels - 28 kWp photovoltaic plant - Installation of heat recovery systems from hot water

Total investment: 2.090.117 €


1.518.692 kWh/year (54%) 350.560 kWh/year (27%)

630.805 kg CO2/year 229.841 €/year

20

Piscina Municipal do Barreiro is a swimming

pool sport building situated in Barreiro, just a short distance away from Lisbon (Portugal). The swimming pool center with 1.508 m2, built in 1974, is owned and managed by Barreiro City Council. Piscina Municipal do Barreiro is a swimming center that offers many activities for the community such as water environment adaptation, pure swimming, water aerobics, hydrotherapy and tournaments. There is one heated

indoor pool with 25m x 13m, depth from 1,10 to 2,13m with a volume of 471 m3. Reception area, technical zone, offices rooms, locker rooms and showers, first aid room, meeting offices, storage rooms and circulation zones are part of the other buildings’ areas




Measures implemented during STEP-2-SPORT: - Technical remodelling interventions on the roof*


* The roofs’ remodelling, without any roof insulation, doesn’t cause significant energy and economic savings


- LED lighting system - Installation of an automatic thermal pool cover - Replacement of dehumidifying heat pumps - Replacement of circulation pumps - Photovoltaic plant installation



280.188 kWh/year (51%)

15.355 kWh/year (6%)

51.891 kg CO2/year

62.150 €/year

21

Båstad Sport Center is a sport facility located in

Sweden, owned by the Tennis Club and hosts training camps, competitions and tennis schools. The sport facility with a total of 8.256 m2 is composed by both indoor and outdoor tennis courts, reception area, gym, restaurant, hostel, offices and conference area. There are two indoor tennis halls composed by 6 courts.



749.000 kWh/year 0 kWh/year 749.000 kWh/year

Measures implemented during STEP-2-SPORT: - Installation of heat pumps and heating system improvements - LED lighting system



- Adapting and improving ventilation for dressing rooms and showers

- Installation of heat pumps in other pilot areas - Installation of LED lighting system in other pilot

areas - New ventilation system installation



262.500 kWh/year (35%)

239.378 kg CO2/year

15.139 €/year

Savings achieved:


22

5. TOOLS FOR SPORT OWNERS AND SPORT FACILITY MANAGERS Within STEP-2-SPORT project, training activities and tools for sport owners and sport facility managers have been developed with the aim to promote the energy renovation of sports facilities.

Benchmarking tool The Benchmarking tool enables sport owners and sport facility managers to assess their current energy performance. Top benefits of the Benchmarking tool:

To determine the energy improvement potential of your sport building.

To compare the energy performance of your sport building with an energy-efficient building of the same typology.

To provide recommendations of energy improvement measures that can be implemented to achieve a Nearly Zero Energy Sport Building, reducing your energy expenses up to 60% .

Figure 5. Benchmarking tool.

A tutorial video is available to support users on how to use the benchmarking tool.

Advisory Platform An Advisory Platform is available on the project website to advice owners and sport facility managers that wish to implement a deep energy renovation.

Through the advisory platform, the sport sector has the possibility to contact the technical experts of STEP-2-SPORT project to ask their questions concerning the implementation of energy efficiency measures and renewable energies, Measurement & Verification of energy savings, funding opportunities, energy performance certification and other aspects related to the energy renovation of sport buildings. The sport sector has the possibility too to consult the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about energy renovation in sport buildings.

Figure 6. Results of the benchmarking tool.

Figure 7. Advisory platform.

http://step2sport.eu/?page_id=1489





23

Capacity Building

Several capacity building activities have been conducted in the 7 EU partners’ countries and these were tailored to the needs of each site and were particularly aimed to increase the knowledge and awareness on the importance to renovate sport buildings towards NZEB levels. Technical training sessions, radio and TV interviews, and guided visits to the pilots were organized to foster the implementation of energy efficiency measures and renewable energies.

24

6. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO FOSTER THE ENERGY RENOVATION OF SPORT BUILDINGS

The STEP-2-SPORT consortium has elaborated recommendations for policy makers for removing barriers and boosting renovations towards NZESportB. Policy recommendations for the 7 EU participating countries are provided below.

Bulgaria

The government should design and offer

appropriate financial mechanisms of support so as to stimulate the implementation of energy efficiency measures in sports buildings. According to experts the government policy should focus predominantly on incentives like tax reliefs, benefits for the establishment of public-private partnerships, etc. rather than on sanctions to induce the desired behavior. Furthermore sports hall owners’ expectations are related to the revision of the legislative framework and the conduct of effective control over the allocation of financial resources for the implementation of energy efficiency measures in them.

Adoption of the National Strategy for the Modernization of Sports Infrastructure is an essential step towards the provision of a common strategic framework that will guide the whole process of sports infrastructure modernization, including the application of energy efficiency measures and the improvement of energy performance of sports buildings. This strategic document should provide a clear roadmap and identify appropriate measures, available resources and responsible institutions in order to guarantee the step-by-step implementation of modernization, including renovation and improvement of energy performance. It should be noted that the mere adoption of a written strategic document will not benefit the process of EE measures implementation in sports buildings. It is necessary that such a strategy provide mechanisms for the elaboration and regular update of detailed action plans that set clear goals in relation to sports buildings’ renovation measureable through a set of well-designed results indicators.

Active work on proposed changes in the Public-private Partnership Act and the Concession Act so as to guarantee that changes in both acts will ease the implementation of such instruments for the modernization of sports infrastructure. In the area of public-private partnership it is essential to design adequate incentives for private actors in order to raise their interest and stimulate them to invest in sports infrastructure.

Elaboration and adoption of minimum standards for the level of maintenance expenditures in sports infrastructure is recommended as it can have positive impact on sports buildings exploitation. Such standards will create greater clarity in the process of renting sports buildings.

Coordination within the responsible institutions in the sphere of energy efficiency should be improved so as to enable better control of energy efficiency obligations and better communication channels for owners of buildings, including sports hall owners that try to find information about energy efficiency obligations and available financial mechanisms of support for the implementation of measures.

Sport clubs and sport building owners should be able to apply for grant schemes for improving the energy efficiency. A greater degree of support should be allocated to those projects that achieve higher energy efficiency classes (B, A, or A+). This is the only way to achieve a significant reduction in buildings’ energy spending and return on investment and achieving real energy savings.

EE, comfort levels and living conditions in sport sector is an issue of low or no political interest both nationally and within the EU framework for the region. It is recommended sport building stock with medium-high priority at the national level to be included in the EE programs.

Need of effective monitoring of the existing exploitation of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. There is more attention towards passive measures, while the active measures related to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are very often neglected;

25

“passive measures” related to the “building envelope” are necessary but insufficient for reaching NZEB goals.

Reconsidering the lowest price criteria in Construction and assembly work tenders.

Greece

The role of ESCOs in Greece is not well established because of the delays

in the legislation (the relevant ministerial decree concerning the operation of ESCOs came into power in June 2011 and in November 2015, at a time that the financial crisis in Greece had already irrupted having as a result the limitation of funds from the banking sector).

Also, until recently, the required financial mechanisms for the reimbursement of the ESCOs from the public sector through guaranteed performance and or shared benefit contracts had not been legislated. Thus, repayment of loans from banks according to energy performance was not possible.

There is a lack of crowd funding mechanisms at local/client level, which could be helpful in substituting traditional lending mechanisms.

Also, because of the reduced role of ESCOs in the Greek market, there is lack of awareness concerning their role in energy saving actions and it is therefore essential that combined efforts of the state and financial institutions should take place in order to promote their role and the benefits for the managers/owners of sports facilities. It is worth mentioning here that in the latest edition of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (3) policy measures for the period 2014 – 2020 are included, but their materialization which will provide available funding and enhance the role of the ESCOs has not started yet.

It is our belief that more efforts should be made to all competent authorities towards understanding the benefits of improving the energy efficiency of the various buildings because it seems that due to the financial crisis the priorities of owners/managers do not include the

energy efficiency prospective in their action plans and budgets.

Also the role of private companies as “donors” for energy efficiency improvements as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility schemes should be enhanced with the support of the government providing financial incentives for the “donations”.

Italia

More effective policies with measures to support investments in the form of a grant that could help

owners/managers of the sport buildings to invest resources and implement measures to foster the energy renovation are needed. In particular, the Italian government should support the implementation of EE measures in sport buildings, by concretely offering clear guidelines to access the national and EU funds available.

To stimulate owners/managers to apply for funding in order to obtain the EE interventions in their sport buildings, Italian government and regions should start to simplify bureaucracy and procedures of application, reducing also the time needed for the evaluation of the proposals and the release of funds.

Strong dissemination and information campaign by media and policy makers to raise awareness towards understanding the benefits in terms of money and energy savings coming from the implementation of energy efficiency measures in

sport buildings is needed, since due to the financial crisis the priorities of sport buildings owners in terms of budget to invest is not related to energy efficiency of their structures.

Poland As sport facilities in Poland

are mostly owned by municipalities, they are not able to finance significant modernizations, fully relying on national and European assets. The funding programmes need to be disseminated and applying for

26

them should be more approachable for owners and municipality representatives.

Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism runs a financial scheme for new and renovated sport facilities. In procedure of applying for subsidy there should be a condition or extra credit for buildings which use less energy or have installed RES.

Owners and sport facility managers should have basic knowledge about energy used in buildings, renovation, RES and technical systems. It will allow on more aware and correct operation of sport facilities. Training sessions and useful materials should be clear and easy to access.

The knowledge about advantages of buildings’ renovation, RES and energy efficiency should be disseminated amongst users of sport facilities. This would result in more conscious approach to energy in all aspects of life.

Energy efficiency and use of RES should be highly promoted by government through projects and grand schemes.

Every new or deeply modernized sport building should be obligated to install systems which recover heat from waste air and water.

Government should encourage private and public investors to build in NZEB standard by repaying the difference between cost of standard and NZEB building.

Sport facilities should be equipped with energy management systems in order to measure energy usage and adjust internal climate to current occupancy in building.

Polish government should establish definition of ESCOs and NZEB which would be beneficial to the market.

Portugal

Creation of regulations and legislation in line with the need to ensure a high energy performance of energy-consuming

installations. Avoid policies that may block the implementation of energy efficiency and renewable measures.

Perform the effective and efficient supervision with regards to compliance to the regulations and legislations.

Creation of support mechanisms for projects and contracts and standardization guidelines for the procedures. Development of standard Energy Performance Contracts dedicated to sport buildings (for private and public sector) in order to reduce the negotiation time and the understanding by final users.

Promoting innovative business model schemes designed for renovation of sport buildings and, especially, for public facilities, as well as creation of tax incentives for investment.

Creation and management of new investment funds, with the intervention of local or State Bodies (such as National Energy Agencies) together with commercial banks, should be considered in order to finance energy efficiency projects from the perspective of project finance.

Tender calls for governmental funds must change the energy savings requirements into realistic ones.

Eliminate the indirect subsidies on energy prices by ensuring that each consumer pays the real value of the consumed energy, thereby eliminating the additional cost for sports complexes and the tariff debt generation

Implementation of an accredited evaluation tool would be beneficial in project risk assessment in terms of compensating the risk associated to Energy Performance Contracting projects.

Sharing flag projects, making public the energy improvements implemented and the replication plan in order to create trust in the market.

Technical training sessions to encourage the renovation of sport buildings, training sessions to explain how to achieve nZEB through Energy Performance Contracting, training sessions to financial institutions in order to help them to better understand the energy savings and projects concept and dissemination of available financing instruments to sport sector.

Local Energy Agencies should be involved and provide transparent information to municipalities.

In the case of changes in Mayor or Councillor, the content of the ongoing energy efficiency project must be explained to ensure the transparency of

27

the process and that all the parties are truly involved.

Spain

In Spain public sport buildings cannot benefit from the national energy efficiency fund due to the fact that applicants must include, at the time of the request, the budgets of the companies that will carry out the energy renovation. This information cannot be attached at the time of the request, because renovation works of public facilities are subject to a tender procedure. The requirements of the Spanish national energy efficiency fund should be changed in order to promote the renovation of public facilities, facilitating the exemplary role of public sector.

When refurbishing public sport buildings, local authorities should have the possibility to access attractive financing solutions and benefit from innovative financing mechanisms such as Energy Performance Contracting or the Spanish national energy efficiency fund. Since many municipalities are facing budget constraints and have limited public debt capacity, an EU level action is needed to minimize the barriers to implement Energy Performance Contracting projects in public sport buildings. In addition, national and regional governments should organize training sessions/events to improve the awareness levels of municipalities/public about Energy Performance Contracting.

Taxes to cover regulated costs (tariff deficit, transmission and distribution costs, extra-peninsular costs, special regime costs, etc) represent more than 40% of the total amount payable in electricity bills. The high percentage of fixed costs discourages the implementation of energy efficiency measures. Policy makers and utilities should design effective rates and pricing approaches that encourage owners and managers to reduce the energy demand.

Since 2015, there is in Spain a Royal Decree (RD900/2015) to levy a tax (called as backup toll) on energy obtained from photovoltaic (PV) installations, including for self-consumption. As

a consequence a negative impact on the profitability of PV installations is produced. Self-consumed electricity should not be exposed to any grid costs and taxes in order to achieve EU climate and energy goals. Despite Spain’s natural abundance of sunshine, it seems that the Spanish Government is not interested in promoting the PV installations. In this line, it is quite surprising that the PV installations are not considered elegible under the Spanish national energy efficiency fund.

A common methodology should be defined in Spain to determine the energy rating of sports facilities with indoor pools. Currently, in the simulation process is accepted to exclude the indoor pool area from the certification process of the whole sport complex. This has no sense since indoor pools are the most energy intensive sport facilities.

Sweden

Similar energy efficiency projects should continue to be

implemented, as a way to stimulate the energy renovation of sport buildings and raise the awareness of owners.

A good system must be prioritized more in the work of energy efficiency and in the design of energy systems at national level. NZEB and ZEB is the building system boundary, and with that view one misses the enormous benefits that are, for example, in a biofuel supplied district heating systems, adding call usefulness of thermal systems and electrical system, etc.

Policy recommendations must therefore broaden the approach and not limit themselves to the building system boundary, which often leads to sub-optimization.

Promoting the use of local energy production (e.g. district heating, biogas production, ...) as a path for increasing energy efficiency because of lower transport or transfer losses, as well as, increasing energy, electricity and fuel security by reducing import dependency.

28

7. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

There are huge opportunities to reduce energy consumption in sport buildings. Buildings with indoor pools are the most energy intensive sports facilities. Pool heating, HVAC equipment, domestic hot water and pool pumping are the main energy users in buildings that have pools. In indoor swimming pools, pool heating and space heating constitutes the biggest share of energy consumption amounting most of the times between 55% to 80% of total final energy use. Therefore, there is a large saving potential that lies mainly in improving the thermal efficiency of indoor pools by promoting the wider use of heat recovery systems, energy efficient HVAC systems, pool covers, envelope insulation and solar thermal systems for swimming pool heating and domestic water heating. Heat recovery techniques can be used to recover energy that might otherwise be wasted by transferring heat between two fluids such as exhaust air and fresh air. One proven way of achieving significant thermal savings (up to 45%) in HVAC systems consists of installing a Demand Controlled Ventilation system with the aim to adjust the amount of outdoor ventilation based on the level of CO2 in the swimming pool building. When occupancy levels are low, the ventilation rate is reduced to minimal levels causing a reduction in the energy usage. For facilities without pools (e.g. sports halls and gymnasiums), space heating is often the largest energy user. Lighting accounts up to 25% of the energy use in sports halls and up to 20% in gymnasiums.

The Action Plans developed in the project have revealed that with a total investment of €9.3 million in the 27 pilot sport buildings, more than 12.000 MWh/year can be saved through the implementation of energy efficiency measures and more than 3.000 MWh/year can be produced with renewable energies.

The energy improvement measures proposed in the Action Plans are being implemented in the pilots through a step-by-step renovation approach, which is an effective strategy for achieving NZEB in cases when there is a shortage of financial resources. Until February 2017, the investment made in the 27 EU pilot sport buildings

has been around €1.2 million, achieving energy savings of 1.239 MWh/year and increasing the production of renewable energies more than 1.178 MWh/year. A wide variety of energy improvement opportunities have been implemented so far, such as building envelope solutions (e.g. wall and roofs insulation, energy-efficient windows), stratified storage tank system for hot water, energy-efficient pumps, LED lighting systems and occupancy sensors, efficient HVAC solutions and heat recovery systems for indoor swimming pools, and condensing and biomass boilers. By the end of 2017, almost €4,6 million will have been invested to improve the energy performance of pilot sport buildings, delivering energy savings higher than 6.000 MWh/year, avoiding more than 1.800 tonnes of CO2/year and saving more than €506.000 per year.

In the last years, budget cuts have reduced the number of sports facilities investing in energy improvement measures with medium-long paybacks. It’s important not be dissuaded from some measures with longer payback periods since large percentages of possible energy savings may be lost. Bundling long payback measures with quick payback measures can make the combined rate of return more competitive, while at the same time major savings can be achieved. NZEB renovations cannot be achieved through the use of public resources alone since these are insufficient, and therefore the contribution of the private sector is essential. There are different innovative financial instruments that are supporting the energy renovation such as Energy Performance Contracting, Energy Efficiency Investment Funds and crowdfunding.

The implementation and financing of energy renovation works in sport buildings is complex and slow, even after clear renovation plans were produced and the technical assistance provided to get funding. Current policies are insufficient to achieve the necessary depth of deep energy renovation in sport buildings, and a breakthrough is needed that can stimulate and foster this market.

29

The key policy recommendations proposed are outlined below:

Governments need to create a framework to foster appropriate financial mechanisms for stimulating the energy renovation of sport buildings. The banking crisis has caused that the requirements for mortgage loans have been tightened, which prevents owners from borrowing more for renovating their buildings. Nowadays, the development of innovative financing products is often blocked by legislation. National legislation should be adapted in Member States (MS) to allow more flexible financing products (e.g. financial models for EPC, national energy efficiency funds, …) favouring deep energy renovations of sport buildings. Incentive programmes could then make public funding conditional on the level of energy performance achieved. Governments shall define new financial instruments in order to undertake an exemplary role in the energy retrofit of public sport building stock.

Address the EU and national accounting rules to allocate the capital expenditure in Energy Performance Contracts. In August 2015, Eurostat published a guidance note on how to record the impact of EPCs on government accounts. Since 2015 all capital expenditure (“capex”) within EPCs should be treated, by default, as government expenditure. As a consequence, the levels of public debt increase with the energy renovation expenditures, being a significant barrier for public authorities facing budgetary constraints and that would like to renovate sport facilities through an EPC project, as the projects have to be approved by the supervisory bodies. It should be explored how to address the impact of energy efficiency-related investments on the debt and deficit of governments in order to promote Energy Performance Contracting as an instrument to speed up the energy renovation of sport buildings. These EPC projects could inspire other owners to take up a frontrunner role as well.

Awareness raising activities of sport owners/sport facility managers on energy efficiency. Governments should provide

information to improve the awareness levels of public authorities and sport owners about the importance to renovate sport facilities with the aim to reduce the energy use but also to guarantee thermal comfort of the users. In some EU countries (e.g. Bulgaria, Greece), energy efficiency in sport facilities remains outside of the priorities of the municipalities.

Use public funding to create a facilitator role for guiding owners through the renovation process. A facilitator could provide guidance and personalised support to sport owners/sport facility managers to get funding to renovate their facilities. These advisors could also support the tendering process and provide contacts of qualified suppliers and building professionals. During the meetings with the owners of the pilots (public ones), it was detected that public authorities don’t have staff with proper knowledge on ESCOs and EPCs. For a public authority the task to prepare and implement an EPC project without previous EPC experience is very challenging. The figure of a facilitator at local/regional level can be effective to handle the complexity of the whole retrofitting process lifecycle.The facilitator role could be played by the local/regional government or the private sector. The Roadmap towards Nearly Zero Energy Sport Buildings developed in the framework of STEP-2-SPORT could be an effective tool to be considered for facilitators.

Member States should define specific NZEB definitions for sports facilities. Member States (MS) shoud give more attention to sport buildings when defining energy policies, and especially in the transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). MS should define specific NZEB requirements for sport buildings since their energy usage is completely different from other non-residential buildings. However, some EU Member States have only set a single numerical indicator for non-residential buildings without differentiating the seven non-residential building types (offices, educational buildings, hospitals, hotels and restaurants, sports facilities, wholesale and retail trade services buildings, and other types of energy consuming buildings) recommended in

30

the Annex I of the EPBD recast. It is recommended to include a numerical indicator of the maximum primary energy use at least for the following two sport building types:

a) sports facilities with indoor swimming pools

b) dry sports facilities (e.g. gyms, sport halls)

Since the energy consumption differs highly between both sport building types, different requirements should be defined. Sports facilities with indoor swimming pools are the most energy intensive sports facilities and should meet less stricter NZEB levels than dry sports facilities. Further studies should be conducted at national level to determine whether it is necessary to include ice rink arenas as an additional category with specific NZEB requirements.

31

References 1. SPORTE2. D7.1 Market Analysis. Energy Efficiency for European Sport Facilities. http://www.sporte2.eu/documents/15982/20836/D7.1+-+Market+Analysis.pdf/a6a67ae6-c412-4a74-842c-fced962816b4?version=1.0. 2013. 2. European Commission. Research & Innovation. Energy-efficient buildings. [Online] http://ec.europa.eu/research/industrial_technologies/eeb-facts-and-figures_en.html. 3. National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (Greece). https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/EL_NEEAP_en%20version.pdf .

Documents

Final Publishable report - Step2Sportstep2sport.eu/.../uploads/2017/04/FINAL_PUBLISHABLE_REPORT.pdf · FINAL PUBLISHABLE REPORT ... Acknowledgement: This report has been produced