Affordable low energy housing solutions with H4.0E
The Housing 4.0 Energy consortium will build pilot projects of affordable low energy dwellings. Researchers from OTB will be working on the research part of the project, exploring possibilities for upscaling of the pilots. This includes the development of an open source platform, in which regional stakeholders work together to make low energy housing solutions a reality.
North-West Europe lacks affordable new low energy housing solution for 1- and 2-person households. Existing techniques and practices neglect the financial capacities and limited space requirements of this growing group. This results in occupants living in housing units which are often too large, too expensive, and not energy efficient. By offering access to new, smaller and zero energy / low carbon homes (ZEH), these households will be able to help vastly reduce energy use and CO2-emissions in North-West Europe.
The project Housing 4.0 Energy, which was approved by the European subsidy program Interreg North West Europe, aims to develop an affordable ZEH market. This will be done by adapting and applying new technologies, and exploring opportunities for upscaling. This exploration includes investigating consumer, supplier, and policy maker experiences in the pilot projects. Transnational development, the implementation of digitisation, and the creating of a digital platform will create the necessary fundamental changes in design, manufacturing, and construction supply chains. The project is a collaboration between academia, practice, and policymakers. All partners will work with social housing companies and end users in four pilot sites, in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Ireland. In doing so, each partner will establish a regional stakeholder group for roll-out, including housing companies, authorities, architects, engineers, and construction companies, using and developing the open source 4.0 platform.
OTB will be exploring possibilities for upscaling of the pilots. The research is a cooperation between Housing Studies, and Sustainable Housing quality, spearheaded by Marja Elsinga, and Henk Visscher, respectively.