PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The use of renewable energy and digital technologies in the building sector is heavily emphasised in the relevant EU Directives and Regulations. These technologies have an important role to play to help meet the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, to achieve a fully decarbonised building stock by 2050, as well as to address the energy crisis in Europe. Given that background, the NS4nZEBs project aims to tackle existing mismatches between the skills currently characterising the energy performance and the ones increasingly in demand and indispensable in the future, to increase the number of skilled building professionals in the fields of PVs, smart electrical systems, heat pumps and hydrogen technologies in buildings at all levels of the building design, operation and maintenance. This will lead to an increased application of new energy efficient and renewable energy technologies for the successful uptake of (nearly) Zero Energy Buildings, the upscaling of ambitious renovation interventions, the roll-out of efficient renewable-based heating and cooling, in particular heat pumps, thus contributing to phasing out EU dependence on fossil fuels imports. This objective will be reached through the development of new and upgrading existing training methods and curricula, and qualifications courses for all types of professionals involved in the building value chain ('blue collars' and 'white collars'). All relevant stakeholders – authorities, employers, end-users as well VET providers are involved to work on feedback mechanisms ensuring that training programmes and curricula are labour market-relevant and proactively integrate emerging skills. In addition, the number of people who will benefit from the regularly updated training developed under the project will be constantly increasing in the long term. The consortium is a partnership of excellence, with experts (installers, engineers, architects, experts in IT, automation, education and communications) from 6 countries, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Ukraine.