HOUSEFUL goes ahead with renovation in its demo buildings
The last months of 2021 were characterised by numerous activities, such as water re-use and energy efficiency, in the demo buildings located in Sabadell, San Quirze del Valles and Cambium. The contribution of the HOUSEFUL project to the circular economy in the building sector is thus becoming ever more significant
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, a lot of progress has been made in the last months of 2021.
Firstly, at the end of last summer, the renovation of the demo building “El Mestres, Sabadell“, near Barcelona, was completed (find more here). This will now allow the implementation of an effective treatment for the reuse of rainwater and grey water. In particular, project partners AIGUASOL and Agencia de l’Habitatge de Catalunya have finalised the plan for the integration of the solutions, including both the recovery of grey rainwater for reuse in the nearby school and the treatment of black water and biological waste for biogas production.
Progress has been made at the demo building located in San Quirze del Valles too. Agencia de l’Habitatge de Catalunya developed the Executive project for the renovation of this building to ensure the improvement of energy efficiency through active and passive solutions and supported AIGUASOL in the development of the rainwater and grey water integration system.
This demo building was also the focus of an online workshop organised by Agencia de l’Habitatge de Catalunya and WE&B, with the participation of LEITAT and ITeC, to plan the implementation of three co-creation ideas (read more here). The workshop involved stakeholders from the neighbourhood, the local council and the region.
Following the local authorities’ approval for the installation of vertECO and the Homebiogas system in the Cambium community ecovillage in Fehring (Austria), where one of HOUSEFUL’s four demonstration buildings is located, the HOUSEFUL partner HOMEBIOGAS has worked on the production of the parts that will be used on it. These include: the digester, the cover/greenhouse, the insulation (earth, digester and pipe insulation), the additional gas bag, the condensation unit, the stove and stove cover, the sink cover, the heating mats, the sensors and the temperature controller. In addition, over the last six months, a new gas pipe has been developed and tested with the aim of reducing the amount of condensation water trapped in it.
Finally, AIGUASOL, in collaboration with ITeC and Agencia de l’Habitatge de Catalunya, worked on the holistic assessment of the energy performance of buildings after retrofitting with active and passive energy efficiency solutions. This holistic assessment aims to extend the benefits to tenants as a social engagement activity. To this end, AIGUASOL carried out simulations to predict energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission reduction.
