Researching factors impacting the energy performance of small buildings

Expected outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Increased evidence of factors such as physiological, behavioural, social, environmental and cultural that influence how different user and demographic groups perceive and use smart, secured, integrated energy efficient building systems, and how it affects the building whole-life cycle and energy savings, as well as occupant satisfaction, health and well-being; The design and operation of smart building systems and smart buildings are improved making them more user-friendly and effective.

Scope

Significant investments have been made in developing hardware and software for smart buildings. There is still limited understanding how smart buildings solutions impact the energy performance of buildings and users’ comfort in practice. Research is required on the technical, social, and economic factors that influence how different groups – defined by their social, educational, age, and financial status – use and interact with smart buildings and systems. The whole-life cycle impacts of smart building have to be better understood, from design and construction to operation, maintenance, end-of-life and circular re-use, to ensure delivery of sustainable and cost-effective smart building solutions. Proposals are expected to address all of the following: Research and quantify how existing and novel smart building solutions meet the needs of different social and economic groups (based on their gender, age, educational and financial status, etc.); Identify major barriers and enablers for the use of smart building solutions among different socio-demographic and socio-economic groups, and research how it impacts the energy performance of buildings; Validate of findings in at least three different categories of existing buildings (e.g. private residential, social housing, commercial building, office building, etc.), each one in a different Member State or Associated Country. Develop actionable recommendations tailored to key stakeholders (such as equipment providers, architects, building owners and facility managers) to support the design, deployment and operation of inclusive, user-centric smart building solutions. This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘People-cent

What this means for cities and regions

Research into the technical, social and economic factors driving the energy performance of small buildings — vital for municipal building-stock policy where small residential and tertiary buildings dominate. Cities, social-housing providers and regional energy agencies typically join Horizon consortia of academia and industry. Project size around €5 million per grant; close 15 September 2026.