The main objective of the proposal is to design a flow chart for the valorisation process of sewage sludge (SS) waste stream from municipal water treatment plant origin, (code 19 08 05, in accord with 2014/955/EU Decision), and its subsequent use as supplementary cementitious material (SCM). The End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria is applied, in the first stage, by assessing of the potential organic and inorganic hazardous constituents content and manner of their removal or inertization (by optimized incineration process, mainly). Secondly, in order to generate a final SS ash (SSA) by-product of constant physical-chemical properties, apt to be used as a SCM, an adequate analysis of its main chemical components (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3) is provided, according to EN and ASTM requirements and testing to quality standards, with a special consideration of eventual pozzolanic activity. Once the classification of thus obtained SCM is carried out as active or non-active addition, its performance in the Portland cement (PC) based binders is studied. The manufacturing of new PC/SSA cements and its resultant products, concretes and mortars, is focused from the following principle perspectives: mechanical compressive and flexural strength efficiency, volume soundness and chemical durability in front of chemical aggressive media like sulfates, chlorides, sea water action, etc. Finally, an impact assessment of the proposed EoW procedure is evaluated taking into account its legal, economic, market, social and environmental aspects. The current proposal seeks to address regional work programme of sustainable energy development in Central Poland by putting forward an idea of the local residual materials management, once converted into by-products, to manufacture concretes and mortars in the same conditions and with identical constructive uses that PC ordinary concretes and mortars, nowadays, dictated by environmental and economic questions, principally, in the most of industrialized EU countries.

Although legal obligations are provided at National level by transposing the provisions of the 2010/31/EU Directive, the Nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) concept does not seem to be easily applicable yet in many countries. Previous research showed that defining the cost-feasible optimal integration of the technologies suitable for nZEB and the skills gaps experienced by the building sector are among the most important barriers. Current qualification courses and training schemes are still not satisfactory and underdeveloped to face the challenge of effective nZEB implementation, while the recourse to skilled professionals for renovations and new constructions of buildings is not usual practice. Despite strong political push towards nZEB and deep energy renovation, the traditionally conservative real estate market is still slow in the uptake of the new building standards and practices, especially in the residential sector. To respond to the challenge and use the emerging opportunities, the nZEB Ready project aims to act at market level in order to stimulate the demand for energy-related skills of construction workers and specialists in the involved countries and beyond and to increase the market readiness for an effective nZEB implementation: (1) by addressing the key identified barriers of nZEB implementation in focused markets, (2) by supporting the enhancement of skills framework by new market driven mutual recognition training and certification scheme for nZEB deployment that will facilitate the necessary legislative changes and (3) through development and communication of toolboxes, tailored guidance and practical support to engage home owners and public authorities to reach the nZEB benefits. The project will address the challenges in Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Poland and Romania in order to exploit synergies related to common climatic zones, traditions and opportunities to use the benefit of a larger and easily accessible regional market.

This KETBIO project aims at establishing a novel cluster model of biotechnology research projects under HORIZON 2020 to enhance and demonstrate the impact and the outreach of EU funded key enabling biotechnology research. All impact of research is reflected in an appropriate up-take of research outputs through business and society at large as well as through integration into technological and societal systems, the here proposed novel clustering model will thus act as a pivot trajectory to achieve a maximum of these goals for the biotechnology: The proposed cluster will strive to further RTD and innovation through networking and alliance forming and through capacity gains of cluster members. The envisaged clustering of projects and linkage to knowledge transfer activities will allow accelerated industrial exploitation of results through partnering and will maximise impact through exploiting synergies in knowledge transfer and communication. Supporting and coordination activities of KETBIO will lead to the set-up of an actively managed cluster-network of projects facilitating sharing of insights, mutual learning, working group exchange, partnering with industry, dissemination of results and exploring of exploitation pathways. To reach these goals, KETBIO will - Actively promote networking and knowledge exchange between research-industry-policy stakeholders - Establish platforms and online working groups for elaboration on RTD and innovation - Facilitate capacity building through training, webinars, including a lecture library - Provide insights, information and interaction through technology review and science intelligence - Enable partnering between research and industry/ policy partners - Explore a multitude of exploitation pathways, including dissemination of results to the specialist public and to larger audiences

The EU 2050 Long-term Strategy develops scenarios for a climate-neutral EU in 2050 that aim at full deployment of low-carbon technologies or assume increased climate awareness of EU citizens translating into lifestyle changes, consumer choices, and a more circular economy. While these scenarios integrate societal trends, further progress is necessary to enhance the empirical basis for such New Societal Trends and their representation in models. New Societal Trends have potentially a large (increasing or decreasing) impact on energy consumption and might lead to cross-sectoral demand shifts that go beyond extrapolation of presently observed trends (continuous trends) and may speed up when they are embraced by larger parts of the society (disruptive trends). Such trends include in particular: digitalisation of the economy and of private lives, Circular Economy and Low-carbon industry, and Shared Economy, which will be the main focus of the present project. The novelty of our project arises from three perspectives: A thematic perspective identifying and quantifying how New Societal Trends affect energy demand, using trend-evolution pathways. A methodological perspective combining qualitative (foresight methods) with quantitative cross-sectoral modelling and exploring how energy demand models are to be improved to represent New Societal Trends. Several well-established models build the core of this project (INVERT/EE-Lab, FORECAST bottom-up model family, PRIMES energy system model, GEM-E3(-FIT)). All of which have been used extensively in the EU context for long-term projections and will be enhanced in this project. Further, policies will be represented in the demand models that influence such trends in the light of the EE1 Principle. Finally, a data perspective enhancing the empirical basis for modelling the impact of new societal trends through exploitation of new data sources (e.g. smart meter data) and empirical data (e.g. on behavioural changes).

At present, energy conservation campaigns provide households with a general awareness but do not provoke large scale behavior changes. The main goal of the STEP_BY_STEP is to maximize the number of households in a given area that significantly change their behaviour at home. Desired behaviour change includes reduced electricity consumption and the investment in energy efficient products and/or high quality renewable energy products. Communication strategies involving direct contact are typically more effective on behavioural change than mass media campaigns. Thus, a system will be put into place to make individual door-to-door contact with 80% of the households in a given area. Contrary to traditional door-to-door canvassing, often seen as a one-shot deal, our project solicits targeted households regularly through email or by phone and accompanies them over a 20 month period towards the adoption of energy-saving practices. To reduce the attitude-behaviour gap, our system uses proven communication techniques that push towards action. Households are regularly encouraged to try new ecological gestures adapted to their level of motivation. Feedback is given and social norms are used. Community-based social marketing strategies will be used to encourage energy-related investment decisions. Households likely to take individual investment decisions will be motivated to take such decisions benefiting from economies of scale and facilitated by other households’ experience. Institutional partners will launch their energy saving interventions amongst 9000 households in 4 European areas that represent diverse populations and communities. French SME E3D will provide a behavioral strategy along with a web based system for behavioral change developed within a research project. Partnered laboratories will analyze household energy saving behavior patterns based on profiles and will define the environmental and economic impact of the project. Power Link will ensure the dissemination.