Project Description
Building Understanding for a Shared Renovation Plan
RenoVisor is an EU-funded Horizon Europe project supporting citizens, homeowners and energy communities in making informed renovation decisions. By combining social science research, advanced building simulation and participatory advisory tools, RenoVisor aims to increase Europe’s building renovation rate and contribute to the decarbonisation of the building sector.
Through user-friendly digital tools piloted in more than 10,000 homes across Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, RenoVisor empowers people to navigate renovation decisions with confidence, turning complexity into clarity and intention into action. Each site has very unique local conditions and very different renovation challenges, in terms of building stock and renovation needs for climate change resilience. By choosing a range of testing conditions, the project can make sure that these new tools are ready to be used all over Europe.
The Challenge
Renovating a home is rarely a simple technical decision. Homeowners face multiple barriers such as financial uncertainty and access to funding, complex technical choices, uncertainty about real energy savings, and conflicting information from different sources.
At the same time, increasing the renovation rate is essential for achieving Europe’s climate targets. Buildings account for a significant share of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, yet renovation rates remain too low. RenoVisor addresses this gap by supporting citizens throughout the entire renovation decision journey.
The Approach
RenoVisor applies the sales funnel model - from Awareness to Purchase - to better understand and support the renovation decision process. By centering the funnel methodology in the design of the three tools, RenoVisor ensures that no stage of the decision process is overlooked and their impact is maximised.
The project's objective is to develop digital tools that provide personalised renovation pathways. Indeed, the three tools will integrate technical performance, economic feasibility, social and behavioural factors, climate resilience considerations, and health and comfort impacts. Rather than offering generic advice, RenoVisor delivers renovation plans tailored to users' specific building characteristics, lifestyle patterns and financial context
The Technical Foundation
RenoVisor uses the building simulation model "ETHOS.HiSim" as a technical foundation. ETHOS.HiSim is a modular, extendable bottom-up model that can be used to simulate how buildings and energy systems work. It allows for simulations to be run at any time of the year and can be used to test different components. Developed over several research projects, the model is built to show how houses and the house infrastructure work, including heating, cooling, solar panels, and energy management. It also includes mobility modelling, meaning that users can set typical commuting and travel distances and it then calculates charging patterns and costs for electric vehicles. The work in RenoVisor will focus on making it easier to use and improving how well it works. It will also check that the tool is accurate and effective, and make calculations faster to support more situations.
ETHOS.HiSim is used together with the LoadProfileGenerator tool, which looks at how people behave and creates load profiles. This combination allows to create models of interventions, such as changing appliances, lifestyle or transport, and this is especially important considering that there is often a big difference between the theoretical demand numbers according to standard methods and the actual consumption after a renovation.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.