REPLACE – Making heating and cooling for European consumers efficient, economically resilient, clean and climate-friendly

In particular, the fact that 80 million out of 120 million installed space heating systems in Europe currently achieve an energy label class C or D gives rise to motivate consumers to replace those units as soon as possible with more efficient, greener alternatives.

All activities proposed by REPLACE aim to inform and motivate end consumers to replace their old and inefficient HC appliances with better, environmentally-friendly alternatives with the additional benefits of monetary savings and improvements in air-quality, user-comfort, operational reliability, and security of energy supply (due to the utilization of locally available, more price-stable energy from renewable sources). The replacement of HC appliances can also increase the value of the property, since it is supplied with an inexhaustible, sustainable energy source.

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- understand the heat markets as well as the mind-sets and needs of end consumers, intermediaries (like installers, chimney sweepers, energy advisers) and investors,
- identify and reduce market barriers and to foster an enabling environment as well as better and trustworthy services,
- improve framework conditions, planning and investment security,
- better inform all stakeholders of the benefits of a heating or cooling system replacement, according to their information needs and preferred formats,
- enable consumers to take informed decisions, encouraging sustainable energy behaviour,
- strengthen the trust of end consumers in intermediaries and in the reliability of renewable HC systems and related (service) suppliers,
- transfer know-how from more advanced to less advanced countries in this field, e.g. by training of installers in South-Eastern European countries,
- create and implement locally adapted, tailor-made replacements campaigns addressing and overcoming replacement barriers in ten European pilot regions, while also testing, steering and improving them on-site, , and
- to make the project’s findings available for replication in other countries and regions.

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- identifies requirements for implementation actions concerning infrastructure, regulations and law,
- investigates stakeholders’ mind-sets and their needs,
- refers to lessons learnt from previous projects,
- and develops action plans tailor-made for each pilot region.

As an essential approach, REPLACE explicitly unites intermediaries, such as chimney sweepers or installers, who have constant access to consumers, and policy makers to develop common activities with maximum impact. REPLACE supports the local working groups by a communication framework and specific online and offline actions targeted to the needs of all relevant stakeholders.

REPLACE wants to tackle those and other local challenges and barriers by developing and testing locally adapted, tailor-made replacement campaigns – for the first time, in parallel – across ten European pilot regions with a total population of 8 million. The replacement campaigns are to be launched and supported by the project partners on-site by local working groups, bringing public authorities, end consumers, installers, chimney sweepers, energy consultants, energy supply companies, policy makers and other key players to one table.

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- a “boiler age label” by chimney sweepers, serving – besides improving consumer awareness – the purpose of data acquisition for LWG planning and the hand-over of a replacement information map
- independent energy advisors who act as “one-stop shops” for intensive consulting regarding the most suitable new renewable heating systems, take care that the corresponding “all-round carefree package” offers of “listed installers” are complete and comparable and monitor the customer satisfaction regarding taken technical and procederal measures: all for free and on-site (except for comparing of offers via desktop)
- a "all-round carefree package" offered by “listed installers”: they are asked to put together a “package deal” including all costs and services needed for the
- disposal of outworn equipment and fuel,
- installation and commissioning of the new system, incl. electric installations etc.,
- (eventual) temporary, mobile “bridge-over” heating solutions, as well as
- application for permissions and subsidies, if any.
- “financing package”, i.e. public authorities
- offer financial incentives or bridge-over existing stop-and-go funding, respectively,
- negotiate with banks for predictable and attractive loan instalment rates (preferably lying in the range or below of the annual money savings after a fuel-switch),
- negotiate with suppliers of green HC systems for discounts for equipment or fuel, and
- grant mortgage loans in case of energy poverty or to older people with difficulties to apply for a loan,
- a “collective action” that addresses energy efficiency measures before or in parallel to a heating system replacement, collectively organized (by a public “care taker” organization), like
- collective thermal insulation of the top floor ceiling, e.g. at single family houses,
- collective implementation of cheap and simple “heating system check” measures, or
- joint purchase of PV systems, e.g. with hot water heating elements or split room air conditioning systems (e.g. recommended by topten.eu. An offer that is currently going to be extended by REPLACE’s “sister” Horizon 2020 project HACKS).

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- REPLACE information points at municipalities and other public bodies
- „Open cellar events“ at houses of pioneer families
- A study tour to best practice systems
- Labelling of houses e.g. with regard to climate friendliness
- Three webinars on the use of the „Replace your Heating System Calculator“
- Six boiler replacement feasibility studies per target region, offered for free
- Information stands at fair trades, installer events etc.
- Information stands on the subject of cooling and air conditioning
- Show case of a mobile heating container, e.g. as a part of „carefree packages“
- Show case of an energy supplier/energy service company/installer becoming a contractor
- Show case of an installer (door opener, equipment supplier) & contractor (planning, financing) cooperation
- Show case of a multifunctional facade system

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- making all material openly accessible,
- offering instruments for campaigns, e.g. guidelines for end-users, intermediaries and investors,
- highlighting success stories,
- providing learning material and regional training seminars,
- and implementing policy and business-related improvements.
The geographic
al focus of REPLACE lies in Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe: It covers 9 countries with 10 representative target regions and altogether 8.3 million inhabitants:

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- Austria: Federal State of Salzburg
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Canton of Sarajevo
- Bulgaria: Rhodope Mountain Region
- Croatia: Primorsko goranska County, City of Zagreb incl. three bordering counties
- Germany: Bavarian Oberland
- North Macedonia: Skopje Region
- Republic of Serbia: City of Šabac
- Slovenia: Slovenia
- Spain: Castilla y León Region
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- Österreichische Energieagentur Austrian Energy Agency (Austria)
- Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur GmbH & Co Planungs KG (Germany)
- Energiewende Oberland Bürgerstiftung für Erneuerbare Energien und Energieeinsparung (Germany)
- Escan s.l. (Spain)
- Regionalna energetska agencija Sjeverozapadne Hrvatske (Croatia)
- Energetski institut Hrvoje Požar (Croatia)
- Enova d.o.o. Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovnia)
- Black Sea Energy Research (Bulgaria)
- Grad Šabac (Serbia)
- Institut Jožef Stefan (Slovenia)
- Međunarodni centar za održivi razvoj energetike, voda i okoliša (North Macedonia)
- Ente Público Regional de la Energía de Castilla y León (Spain)