REEEP event highlights European EE export successes
Brussels, 13.04.2011 - REEEP International Secretariat
Europe is a leading force in the technology and services behind energy efficient buildings, and a REEEP event highlighted this dramatically in a series of three roundtable style discussions along side EU Sustainable Energy Week. Gathered around the very same conference table that once stood in the office of Jacques Delors, three pairs of companies showcased how an EU-based energy efficiency (EE) technology or service provider has worked successfully with a corporate partner in an emerging market.
 "EUSEW 2011 Session 3")
The Hon Fiona Hall, MEP and energy efficiency advocate (right) opened the event's third session, where Afshin Afshari of Masdar City (left) and Pedro Haberbosch from Foster + Partners (centre) shared their experiences from the Masdar project.
Urbi uses BASF technology in low-energy housing in Mexico
In the first of the event's three sessions, Fernando Mayagoitia from the leading Mexican housing developer Urbi and Jack Armstrong of BASF discussed how European technologies have been used in low-energy pilot projects such as the UrbiVilla Del Rey in Cancun. This multi-story apartment block incorporated BASF technologies such as Thorostucco Thermo, a stucco prepared with nanotechnology that reduces the interior temperature by 4 to 7°C compared to the outside temperature, and other innovations such polyurethane with no chlorofluorocarbon emissions. The session was prefaced with remarks by Horst Biedermann, Chairman of REEEP’s Energy Efficiency Coalition (EEC), who highlighted the EEC’s role in jumpstarting the Mexican stakeholder alliance for energy efficient buildings.
Enercret from Austria brings large-scale geothermal installations to China
Dr. Peter Zapfel, Head of Coordination Office DG Climate gave the opening remarks at the second session which looked at the experience of Enercret, an Austrian-based geothermal heating and ventilation technology provider, in several projects in China. Here, Bernhard Widerin and Manfred Steinkellner of Enercret gave an idea of the vast size of geothermal projects in China, where this technology is rapidly expanding, particularly in large-scale hospital and office installations such as the Wuhan Hospital and Wuxi Guolian Financial Tower. Their presentation also highlighted some of the vagaries of conducting business in China as an exporter, including the necessary awareness of the bidding processes that are customary.
Foster & Partners provide energy efficient master plan for Masdar City
The third session which introduced the audience to the design and energy management of Masdar City was opened by the Hon. Fiona Hall, the Liberal Democrat MEP who is a strong support of the energy efficiency cause at the European level. She introduced Pedro Haberbosch from Foster + Partners and Afshin Afshari of Masdar, who gave detailed presentations on Masdar City’s planning and its energy footprint. Their presentations brought the world’s leading sustainable city into vivid focus. By making pedestrian-oriented streets with buildings massed to maximise shading, and by using heat-absorbing materials, a typical street in Masdar City can actually feel cooler than the measured air temperature. On a recent 39°C day, a street in Masdar had a radiant temperature of 37°C, while at the very same moment, a street in downtown Abu Dhabi had a radiant temperature of 52°C.
An edited version of the presentations from all three sessions can be downloaded here: