The QualDeEPC project is aiming to both improve quality and cross-EU convergence of Ener-gy Performance Certificate (EPC) schemes, and the link between EPCs and deep renovation: High-quality Energy Performance Assessment and Certification in Europe Accelerating Deep Energy Renovation (QualDeEPC). The objective of the project is to improve the practical implementation of the assessment, is-suance, design, and use of EPCs as well as their renovation recommendations, in the partici-pating countries and beyond. Recommendations for renovation shall be made coherent with deep energy renovation towards a nearly-zero energy building stock by 2050. In order to reach these objectives, the project will organise its activities in four stages: 1 | Analysis of existing EPC schemes, good practice, shortcomings, and priorities for improvement 2 | Development and testing of concrete proposals and tools for enhanced EPC assessment, certifi-cation, and verification, as well as Deep Renovation Network Platforms 3 | Adaptation to country needs and implementation of consensus elements, and developing a roadmap for further dialogue and 4 | Sustainability Strategy and Conclusive policy recommendations, dialogue, and transfer. Project partners will work to achieve consensus and implementation during the project for as many improvements as possible, seeking the cooperation of certification bodies, energy agen-cies and other organisations. Some of these are project partners, many others agreed to sup-port the project as associated partners. However, many of the potential improvements to EPC assessment, certification, and independent monitoring and verification will need adaptation of standards, regulations, or even legislation. The QualDeEPC project will stimulate such changes by (1) intensive dialogue involving the important stakeholders at all levels from the very beginning in the above four project stages and (2) disseminating its findings among the relevant target audiences in Europe.

The CO2EXIDE project aims at the development of a combined electrochemical-chemical technology for the simultaneous “200%” conversion of CO2 to ethylene at the cathode, water oxidation to hydrogen peroxide at the anode and a subsequent chemical conversion of both intermediates to ethylene oxide and oligo-/polyethylene glycol in a cascade, boosting this technology from TRL4 to TRL6. The CO2EXIDE technology combines a modular nature for the feasibility of a decentralised application, a high energy and material efficieny/yield and the substitution of fossil based production of ethylene oxide. The CO2EXIDE technology will be combinable with renewables and allows for the direct creation of products, which can be integrated into the existing supply chain. The reactions will be operated at low temperatures and pressures and forecast significant improvements in energy and resource efficiency combined with an enormous reduction of GHG emissions. All improvements will be quantitated using Life Cycle Assessment. The CO2EXIDE approach will bring together physicists, chemists, engineers and dissemination and exploitation experts from 5 universities/research institutions, 3 SMEs and 2 industries, innovatively joining their key technologies to develop and exploit an unprecedented process based on CO2, renewable energy and water to combine the chemical and energy sector. Within 42 months project duration, the CO2EXIDE technology will undergo a thorough material and component R&D programme. A 1kW PEM electrolyser for CO2-reduction and water oxidation in combination with an ethylene enrichment unit and subsequent chemical conversion cascade reactor will be manufactured to produce ethylene oxide as intermediate for oligo-/polyethylene glycol synthesis. This will prove the achievement of the quantified techno-economic targets of CO2EXIDE.

According to Eurostat, the agricultural sector is by far the biggest producer of the residual biomass in Europe, annually generating ca. 400 million tonnes (Mt) of dry agricultural waste. This residual biomass is usually either utilized for low value applications (compost or animal feed) or have to be deactivated to be safely disposed. On the other side, this residual biomass is highly rich in various bioactive compounds (oils, fatty acids, polyphenols, proteins) which could be used to improve the human health and wellbeing but usually lost for high-value applications due to the lack of comprehensive technology to effectively extract and preserve the bioactives. Among the natural bio-based compounds, polyphenols is the biggest class of bioactives with a range of beneficial properties for human health which have not be utilized for their full potential. PHENOLEXA project proposes to unlock the potential of polyphenols-rich agri-side streams (olive, grape shoots and leaves, chicory and onion residues) to procure bioactive compounds of high value via the development of cascade smart biorefinery which combines pretreatment of the biomass with benign environmentally friendly green solvents extraction technology. PHENOLEXA will focus on the processing of several types of agri and biowaste to create a pool of new functional polyphenolic bioactives with the tuned functionality (anticancer, antiviral, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory) whereas the remaining fibres and colorants will be utilised in functional foods. PHENOLEXA will demonstrate the technology of the bioactive ingredients procurement at TRL4/5 and will create lab scale prototypes of cosmetic, nutraceutical, pharma and functional food products with their proved efficacy by the end of the project. PHENOLEXA will also validate the techno-economic feasibility and environmental sustainability of the proposed biorefinery.

E2DRIVER will develop a collaborative-cooperative training platform boosting the automotive supply industry collective intelligence on energy efficiency. The platform will provide access to training material, online lessons, guidelines, energy and financial tools, virtual reality modules and a community of key actors in the sector for SMEs to undergo energy audits and implement their recommendations. To this end, E2DRIVER training methodology will enable the development of specific training plan itineraries based on the company’s needs and trainees’ role in the company, which will increase the effectiveness of the training sessions and the awareness on energy issues among the staff. The development of E2DRIVER platform will not be a static action resulting from the project execution, but will enable a continuous update of the training material, best practices, benchmarking analysis and guidelines due to the implementation of an ontological flip teaching method, which enables trainees to generate their own knowledge and training materials to be shared through E2DRIVER cooperative networks. E2DRIVER platform will be tested and validated in 40 companies from the automotive supply industry in four countries that represent over 50% of the EU employees in this sector: Spain, France, Italy and Germany. Moreover, a total of 60 trainers will be certified in E2DRIVER training methodology, which will ease the replication of the project results and the business consolidation of E2DRIVER platform. E2DRIVER gender-balanced consortium includes three well-known research institutions with expertise in energy efficiency, social science and decision-making processes. In addition, a partner in charge of training at national level and an association as multiplier organization has been involved in every pilot country. Finally, this competitive consortium is complemented by two research oriented SMEs focussed on exploitation and dissemination issues.

ENABLING is the initiative of 16 partners in 13 EU and associated (IL, NO) countries. The main goal is to support the spreading of best practices and innovation in the provision (production, pre-processing) of biomass for the BBI (Bio-Based Industry). In particular, ENABLING aims at creating appropriate conditions for the development of efficient biomass to BBPs (Bio-Based Products and Processes) value chains. The consortium’s vision is that Europe bears a huge potential for optimising the supply of biomass into innovative bio-based processes and products. Upscaling biomass production and pre-processing, and combining streams towards the BBPs with those of more traditional bioenergy chains would enhance at least three interlinked types of impact. a) biomass production gains scale to meet higher demand in both sectors (bioenergy and the BBI); b) the reinforcement of biomass supply for the BBI benefits smaller BBI players, helping them diversify and consolidate biomass input sources; c) reinforcing the biomass and BBPs linkages may contribute to job-creation, due to the increased need for specialised workers. To realise such potential, ENABLING also anticipates its longer term exploitation pathways. In the intention of the consortium, the project should aggregate and engage partners for the establishment of a permanent innovation brokerage platform, likely to become in the future, one of the main marketplaces and innovation transfer accelerators at European level. In this sense, the project organises its work around two building blocks: one relates to animating the stakeholders (on the farming and BBPs sides), identifying best practices, turning them into easy to access content (in the EIP format) for their potential users and providing stakeholders with coaching and guidance on innovation. The other one looks at future developments, with the consolidation, in a self-sustainable way, of the innovation brokerage platforms after the end of the EU funded initiative.