To achieve the Paris Agreement targets and the 2050 vision of a decarbonised building stock, European buildings should be renovated at a faster pace. Everyone has a role to play, from policy-makers to building owners. However, one of the main barriers is that building owners lack and do not know where to find information on how to plan, finance and implement the renovation. Providing the right tools to energy auditors can contribute to overcome this barrier, increasing building owners’ trust and giving them easy access to information on renovation works: exactly what the H2020-funded project iBRoad new toolkit does. The features of the passport, the iBRoad Logbook and Roadmap, together with the training toolkit, are being field-tested in three pilot countries: Bulgaria, Poland and Portugal. 

Most countries present common barriers to renovation: building owners lack information on how to properly plan, finance and implement the renovation that could help them improve their indoor air quality, reduce their energy expenses and increase their living comfort. They perceive energy audits as too technical and difficult to understand, sometimes mistrusting certified experts (BPIE (2018). Understanding potential user needs. https://ibroad-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/iBRoadUnderstanding-potential-user-needs.pdf).

iBRoad identified and evaluated the current market situation for energy audit products as well as incentives for energy renovations and audits in five countries. Bulgaria, Poland and Portugal are completely new to the building renovation passport whereas Germany and Belgium (Flanders), have already implemented a similar concept. Despite consistent differences between the countries, for example related to the national calculation software, methods, standards and norms, the knowledge barrier is a common thing. 

The training toolkit, presented by a series of reports, consists of a handbook, presentations, questionnaires for both energy auditors and building owners, and a hotline for questions and doubts. After the evaluation of the field tests, the experiences of the participants will be used to improve the toolkit. In the future, the toolkit should be adopted from various relevant chambers and associations in order to promote and support further training. 

“The main objective of the toolkit is to enable energy auditors to issue the iBRoad tools completely. It starts with the basic motivation, explains the online tools and guides the user step-by-step through the audit process.” Peter Mellwig, Project Manager at ifeu, an iBRoad partner and author of the toolkit, states. “The toolkit is addressed to EPC-issuers and energy auditors in all European Member States. Even if specific states would not adopt the iBRoad concept as a whole, auditors will benefit from the stepwise approach and the technical details described.” 

The additional iBRoad tools, - the Roadmap and Logbook (similar to a more detailed / complete building renovation passport) -, are currently being tested in Bulgaria, Poland and Portugal. The aim is to test their practicality and manageability and feed the experiences of the participating energy auditors and building owners back into the tools for further adjustments. Fifteen to twenty buildings per pilot country are examined using the iBRoad tools in cooperation with professional energy auditors from the respective countries. 

The full report can be found at https://ibroad-project.eu/news/the-ibroad-training-toolkit/  
More information on the iBRoad project’s storyline can be found in this video:
https://ibroad-project.eu/results/videos/