The ECBCS Research Programme

The IEA (International Energy Agency) Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems (ECBCS) Programme carries out research and development activities toward near-zero energy and carbon emissions in the built environment. The R&D activities focus on the integration of energy-efficient and sustainable technologies into healthy buildings and communities. ECBCS projects and activities have produced long-lasting decision-making tools and integrated systems technologies. Outcomes from the Programme are publicised through many seminars and conferences.

What's New (January 2010)

NEW PROJECTS: Several new projects have recently been started -

  • "Reliability of Energy Efficient Building Retrofitting - Probability Assessment of Performance & Cost (RAP-RETRO)" (Annex 55).
  • "Energy Efficient Communities" (Working Group).
  • "Technical & Commercialisation Studies for Micro-generation Deployment in Buildings" (Annex 54).

NEW MEMBER COUNTRY: The People's Republic of China has recently formally joined the ECBCS Programme.

FORTHCOMING RESEARCH FINDINGS: Several ECBCS projects are soon publishing Guidebooks. These include -

  • "Integrating Environmentally Responsive Elements in Buildings" (Annex 44),
  • "Energy-Efficient Future Electric Lighting for Buildings" (Annex 45), and
  • "Cost Effective Commissioning of Existing & Low Energy Buildings" (Annex 47).

Our Work

The ECBCS mission is to develop and facilitate the integration of technologies and processes for energy efficiency and conservation into healthy, low emission, and sustainable buildings and communities, through innovation and research.

The remit of the ECBCS Programme covers every aspects of energy conservation in buildings and community systems. Significantly, community wide energy systems are taking on increasing importance in providing energy services to buildings. For all building types, there are many issues relating to design, construction and performance in practice that need to be resolved. To this end, the ECBCS Programme carries out projects in the following areas:
  • Community scale energy systems
  • Performance benchmarking
  • Integrated system design including renewable energy sources
  • Renovation and retrofit
  • Construction technologies
  • Electric lighting and daylighting
  • Energy measurement, management & auditing
  • Environmental assessment
  • Thermal simulation
  • Ventilation
  • Control of moisture in buildings

Specifically for non-residential buildings, we have carried out research to better understand how energy reduction may be achieved through improved design and operation of systems, including:

  • Low energy cooling systems
  • Fault detection and commissioning

Sometimes challenges posed by certain building types require special attention. Therefore, the ECBCS Programme has undertaken projects on the following end use sectors:

  • Educational buildings
  • Office buildings
  • Hospitals
  • Residential buildings

... for Researchers, Assessment Organisations & Manufacturers

Participation in ECBCS projects is decided by national representatives. So, please contact your national representative in the first instance. If your country is not listed, please contact either the Executive Committee Chair or the ESSU (ECBCS’ secretariat) for more information. (Please note the benefits of joining a project close to completion become limited both for you and for the other participants.)

At an individual level, the Programme allows researchers and others funded by national programmes and industry to pool their collective expertise to produce high quality project outputs. By taking part in the projects, they create and reinforce their own technical networks, the benefits of which remain long after the particular project has formally ended. This does not happen quickly, but over the course of three to five years, these networks of expertise become established as excellent international channels of communication.

Please see here for a comprehensive list of projects under way or completed by the ECBCS Programme.

... for Practitioners & Clients

Many of the outcomes of the ECBCS research projects are aimed at practitioners, such as engineers, assessors, architects, contractors as well as their clients such as government and private sector customers, developers and construction project managers.

Regular updates about our work are published in ECBCS News. For information about how our research findings are being used in your country, please contact your national representative.

... for Energy Policy Makers & National Research Programmes

ECBCS works according to an approved Strategic Plan (currently for 2007-2012), intended to align with the national research programmes of the member countries. Certain outcomes from ECBCS projects are intended to inform national energy policy makers about best practice for the technical basis of regulations and standards. Read more here.

Our Current Work


Newsletter Newsletter

ECBCS News is published twice each year (in June and December). It is intended for a general audience of those active in fields relating to operational energy saving for buildings and community systems.
Annual Report Annual Report

The Annual Report provides an overview of progress made by the ECBCS Programme, including summaries of new, ongoing and recently completed projects.
Ventilation Air Infiltration & Ventilation Centre (Annex 5)

Objective: To be the primary international information centre on research and development in the fields of air infiltration and ventilation, and thus to provide a high quality technical and information forum covering the areas of ventilation and air infiltration in the built environment with respect to efficient energy use, good indoor air quality and thermal comfort.
Responsive components Integrating Environmentally Responsive Elements in Buildings (Annex 44)

Objective: Investigate the performance of responsive building elements and their integration in new responsive building concepts, and to develop guidelines and procedures for the design of responsive building concepts, including the estimation of the environmental performance of responsive building elements.
Lighting Energy-Efficient Future Electric Lighting for Buildings (Annex 45)

Objective: Identify and to accelerate the widespread use of appropriate energy efficient high-quality lighting technologies and their integration with other building systems, making them the preferred choice of lighting designers, owners and users.
Energy refurbishment for government buildings Holistic Assessment Tool-kit on Energy Efficient Retrofit Measures for Government Buildings (EnERGo) (Annex 46)

Objective: Improve the decision making process for energy retrofitting of government non-residential buildings, e.g. office / administrative buildings, dormitories / barracks, service buildings and production and maintenance facilities. Though the focus is on government buildings, many results can be applied to similar private sector buildings. Collectively, these building types represent a substantial part of the non-residential building stock.
Commissioning Cost Effective Commissioning of Existing & Low Energy Buildings (Annex 47)

Objective: Enable the effective commissioning of existing and future buildings for improved operating performance. The commissioning techniques developed through this research will help to transition the industry from the intuitive approach that is currently employed in the operation of buildings to a more systematic operation that focuses on achieving significant energy savings.
Reversible heat pumps Heat Pumping & Reversible Air Conditioning (Annex 48)

Objective: Promote the most efficient combinations of heating and cooling techniques in air-conditioned buildings, due to the use of heat recovery and reversible systems. The main goals are:

  • To allow the quick identification of heat pumping potential in existing buildings
  • To help designers to consider “heat pumping” solutions and to allow for future possibilities
  • To document the technological possibilities and heat pumping solutions
  • To improve commissioning and operation of buildings equipped with heat pump systems
  • To make available a set of reference case studies
Low exergy systems Low Exergy Systems for High Performance Buildings & Communities (Annex 49)

Objective: From an economic and environmental point of view, high exergy energy sources should mainly be used in industry to allow for the production of high quality products. The Low Exergy (LowEx) approach entails matching the quality levels of exergy supply and demand, in order to streamline the use of high-value energy resources and make best use of low-value energy before it reaches the ambient environment.
Energy refurbishment for apartments Prefabricated Systems for Low Energy Renovation of Residential Buildings (Annex 50)

Objective: Develop and demonstrate innovative whole building renovation concepts for typical apartment buildings, minimising the primary energy use to 30-50 kWh/(m2·year) for heating, cooling and domestic hot water. The concepts focus on standardized and prefabricated renovation modules for façades and roofs. It is anticipated that they will substantially enhance the building renovation quality and comfort in existing residential buildings.
Energy efficient communities Energy Efficient Communities (Annex 51)

Objective: Local energy planning on a community level should be, in addition to being a traditional engineering task, an interdisciplinary approach covering aspects of decision-making, project management and implementation instruments; apply the principles of such a holistic approach to community energy planning and to provide the necessary methods and instruments to urban planners, decision makers and stakeholders.
Zero energy buildings Towards Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings (Annex 52)

Objective: Study current net-zero, near net-zero and very low energy buildings and to develop a common understanding, a harmonised international definitions framework, tools, innovative solutions and industry guidelines. To achieve this objective the project will document and propose practical NZEB demonstration projects, with convincing architectural quality.
Measuring & understanding energy use Total Energy Use in Buildings: Analysis & Evaluation Methods (Annex 53)

Objective: Enrich our understanding of energy performance of buildings, to broaden our knowledge about determinant factors for total building energy use, and to assess short- and long-term energy measures, policies and technologies.
Measuring & understanding energy use Technical & Commercialisation Studies for Micro-generation Deployment in Buildings  (Annex 54)

Objective: Undertake an expansive analysis of micro-cogeneration and associated technologies. The scope of activities will encompass:

  • multi-source micro-cogeneration systems, polygeneration systems (i.e. integrated heating / cooling / power generation systems) and renewable hybrid systems (collectively termed micro-generation);
  • integration of micro-generation, energy storage and demand side management technologies at a local level (integrated systems);
  • customised and optimum control strategies for integrated systems;
  • analysis of integrated systems performance when serving single and multiple residences along with small commercial premises;
  • analysis of the wider effects of micro-generation on the power distribution system.