Design of the shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and development of a web-based GIS interface

Chapter 5The Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) is a collaborative initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) aimed to establish an integrated and shared EU-wide environmental information system together with the Member States. SEIS presents the European vision on environmental information interoperability. It is a set of high-level principles & workflow-processes that organize the collection, exchange, and use of environmental data & information aimed to: • Modernise the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available to member states or EC instruments; • Streamline reporting processes and repeal overlaps or obsolete reporting obligations; • Stimulate similar developments at international conventions; • Standardise according to INSPIRE when possible; and • Introduce the SDI (spatial database infrastructure) principle EU-wide. SEIS is a system and workflow of operations that offers technical capabilities geared to meet concept expectations. In that respect, SEIS shows the way and sets up the workflow effectively in a standardise way (e.g, INSPIRE) to: • Collect Data from Spatial Databases, in situ sensors, statistical databases, earth observation readings (e.g., EOS, GMES), marine observation using standard data transfer protocols (ODBC, SOS, ft p, etc). • Harmonise collected data (including data check/data integrity) according to best practices proven to perform well, according to the INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC (1) Annexes I: II: III: plus INSPIRE Implementation Rules for data not specified in above mentioned Annexes. • Harmonise collected data according to WISE (Water Information System from Europe) or Ozone-web. • Process, aggregate harmonise data so to extract information in a format understandable by wider audiences (e.g., Eurostat, enviro-indicators). • Document information to fulfi l national reporting obligations towards EU bodies (e.g., the JRC, EEA, DGENV, Eurostat) • Store and publish information for authorised end-users (e.g., citizens, institutions). This paper presents the development and integration of the SEIS-Malta Geoportal. The first section outlines EU Regulations on INSPIRE and Aarhus Directives. The second covers the architecture and the implementation of SEIS-Malta Geoportal. The third discusses the results and successful implementation of the Geoportal.peer-reviewe

Location data enabling urban sustainable energy planning

Overview of the EULF Energy Pilot UC4: • Goal: To support policy makers to design and implement Energy Efficiency driven renovation plans of building stock at urban level. • Description: Use of existing models, from bottom-up to top-down approach, for the estimation of energy needs at urban level, based on real energy consumption data of a sample of buildings: • for building stock renovation planning and prioritization of interventions, e.g. by class of buildings and/or geographical area of interventions (e.g. in areas having energy distribution networks or in historical centres); • to enable Public Authorities (e.g. Municipalities) to assess the energy saving potential related to the building stock and to local conditions (e.g. climate); • to allow reuse of scaling- up models (from building to urban level) in different climatic conditions and with different characteristics of the building stock

Data-driven method for unsupervised electricity consumption characterisation at district level and beyond

Enhancing energy efficiency has become a priority for the European Union. Several policies and initiatives aim to improve the energy performance of buildings and collect data of sufficient quality on the effect of energy efficiency policies on building stocks across Europe. Knowledge about the characteristics of the building stock and the usage of these buildings' occupants is essential for defining and assessing strategies for energy savings. Nowadays, dynamic measured data from the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), especially in electricity consumption, combined with location-based data, like weather, cadastre, social or economic conditions, should be available for a significant part of the building stocks in Europe. Combinedly, this enormous set of data contains the characteristics of how buildings and their occupants consume energy. In this document, a bottom-up electricity characterisation methodology of the building stock at the local level is presented. It is based on the statistical analysis of aggregated energy consumption data, weather data, cadastre, and socioeconomic information. For validation purposes, the characterisation of the electricity consumption over Lleida (Spain) province is performed. The geographical aggregation level considered is the postal code (more detailed than LAU level 2, formerly NUTS level 5), due to it is the highest resolution available through the Spanish Distribution System Operators (DSOs) data portal. Besides, a web application to visualise the results of the characterisation has also been developed. The major novelty is the use of high-frequency consumption data from most consumers in each analysis area without considering any Building Energy Simulation (BES) model that considers performance or energy use assumptions. For this purpose, a data-driven technique is used to disaggregate consumption due to multiple components (heating, cooling, holiday and baseload). In addition, multiple Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are derived from these components to obtain the characterisation results. The potential reuse of this methodology allows for a better understanding of the drivers of electricity use, with multiple applications for the public and private sectors. This study has been executed in the frame of the Energy & Location Applications of the ELISE (European Location Interoperability Solutions for e-Government) action of the ISA 2 (Interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens) Programme

Location data for buildings related energy efficiency policies

Based on the priority currently given by the European Union to the energy efficiency topic through its Energy Union Package, this feasibility study has focused on the role of location data in support of energy efficiency policies, taking into account the requirements of INSPIRE, EPBD and EED Directives, as well as the CoM initiative. The EU Member States are already due to implement such Directives according to different roadmaps, but there are benefits to be gained from a coherent and consistent approach. Moreover, data is not always available in consistent form and with good quality. The monitoring and reporting requirements set by the CoM need real data and models, that can be used and that should work consistently across different administrative levels. The analysis reported in this document support these statement, showing that there is lack of data quality and reliability. These aspects might hinder the effective application of the energy efficiency policies at the municipal, district and national level. Geospatial technologies in general and accurate location data in particular can support this field, because they can significantly support efficient processes related to data collection, elaboration and communication to be executed in all the phases of energy efficiency policies life cycle; and effective decision-making. INSPIRE has a role to play as it can provide common data models and common data access rules adopted by all EU MS and a roadmap to provide interoperable datasets of high relevance with energy efficiency. The study has identified areas of development and analysis that can be useful to fill the recognised “data gap”, and proposed an initial pilot activity as a start-up project to investigate concretely these ideas with a limited number of pilot citiesJRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

EULF Energy Pilot - Final Report Phase 1

The European Union is giving more and more emphasis to its energy policies, reinforcing a political commitment to very high energy savings, with the aim to achieve a more competitive, secure and sustainable European energy system. Increased energy efficiency is vital to achieve the challenging goals set for the future and energy efficiency constitutes one of the five dimensions of the European Commission's Energy Union Package, designed to enhance energy security, sustainability and competitiveness. Within this policy context, this report focused on the 2010/31/EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings and the 2012/27/EU Directive on Energy Efficiency, describing an initial set of pilot activities undertaken to enable and test the use of geospatial technologies in Digital Government processes and services related to energy efficiency EU policies, aiming to show, through a set of use cases, that accurate and interoperable location-based information can lower the barriers faced by government, companies and citizens involved in the energy efficiency policies’ lifecycle. The approach adopted is based on the INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC, establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe to support Community environmental policies, and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment, such as energy policies. The enabling role played by INSPIRE consists in the provision of common data models and common data access rules adopted by all EU MS and a roadmap to provide interoperable datasets of high relevance with energy efficiency. The report has identified a series of next steps to be undertaken to achieve the expected benefits deriving from the use of interoperable location-based information within the analysed energy policy instruments and to solve the issues encountered.JRC.B.6-Digital Econom

Methodologies for energy performance assessment based on location data: Proceedings of the workshop, Ispra, 12-14 September 2016

This expert workshop is one of a series covering the following topics: energy, buildings, location, assessment methods and data in relation to European Directives on Energy Efficiency (EED), Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD), INSPIRE, establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe and the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative. These workshops are jointly organised by the EC DG JRC project on Energy and Location and the European Union Location Framework (EULF) action of the EC ISA Programme (Interoperability Solutions for Public Administration) . So far the JRC team has produced a feasibility study and started a dedicated pilot project on location data for buildings related energy efficiency policies . The first event organised was the workshop on “Spatial data for modelling building stock energy needs” held at JRC in Ispra 23-25 November 2015 . The aim of this second workshop was to discuss different approaches and methodologies to assess energy efficiency measures as well as energy usage and monitoring of energy flows at building, urban and regional level, representing an opportunity to share information, integrate stakeholders’ views and set the ground for mutual collaboration. Eleven invited leading organisations and EU projects were invited to take part in this workshop sending experts to present their projects and discuss how to assess synergies and how to arrive to a coherent approach for assessment of energy use in the built environment. Another twelve people from JRC, experts on energy efficiency, energy performance, geospatial data modelling and processing participated to the workshop. From the discussions, it has emerged that a holistic approach would give more evidence of the needs for measures to reduce energy consumption. This is a bit in contrast to what the EU policy requests by the present energy related Directives. More and more it becomes evident that the target should be reducing emissions and not necessarily reducing energy consumption. Integration of energy technologies are playing an important role at a higher level than the building only (i.e. at the EPBD–level). The energy market (gas and electricity) is able to provide an enormous buffer in storing energy virtually and the buildings itself should be much better balanced in energy terms to the thermal needs, e.g. heating and cooling. At the same time the energy network requires buildings for balancing. INSPIRE could be very relevant for energy assessment in the built environment and for this reason the Energy Pilot initiated under the “Energy and Location” and “European Union Location Framework” projects will be continued over the next years. Main objectives of the pilot project will be to continue to work on Use Cases already outlined, to be further elaborated based on the information gathered at the workshop. The JRC will seek to develop partnerships to implement the defined use cases with the selected partners.JRC.B.6-Digital Econom

A data-driven method for unsupervised electricity consumption characterisation at the district level and beyond

A bottom-up electricity characterisation methodology of the building stock at the local level is presented. It is based on the statistical learning analysis of aggregated energy consumption data, weather data, cadastre, and socioeconomic information. To demonstrate the validity of this methodology, the characterisation of the electricity consumption of the whole province of Lleida, located in northeast Spain, is implemented and tested. The geographical aggregation level considered is the postal code since it is the highest data resolution available through the open data sources used in the research work. The development and the experimental tests are supported by a web application environment formed by interactive user interfaces specifically developed for this purpose. The paper’s novelty relies on the application of statistical data methods able to infer the main energy performance characteristics of a large number of urban districts without prior knowledge of their building characteristics and with the use of solely measured data coming from smart meters, cadastre databases and weather forecasting services. A data-driven technique disaggregates electricity consumption in multiple uses (space heating, cooling, holidays and baseload). In addition, multiple Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are derived from this disaggregated energy uses to obtain the energy characterisation of the buildings within a specific area. The potential reuse of this methodology allows for a better understanding of the drivers of electricity use, with multiple applications for the public and private sector.This work emanated from research conducted with the fi-nancial support of the European Commission through the H2020project BIGG , grant agreement 957047, and the JRC Expert Con-tractCT-EX2017D306558-102.D.ChemisanathanksICREAfortheICREA Acadèmia. Dr J. Cipriano also thanks the Ministerio deCiencia e Innovación of the Spanish Government for the Juan dela Cierva Incorporación gran

Building energy renovation for decarbonisation and Covid-19 recovery: A snapshot at regional level

Our society and economy are changing as our lifestyles shift in a world recovering from Covid-19. While the governments are working to face this challenge, new local and regional instances stand out. A sustainable recovery throughout Europe calls for a reduction of the existing gaps between regions. Energy efficiency qualifies as one of the sectors with a greater potential for the double dividend hypothesis, thus supporting economic recovery and decarbonisation simultaneously. Although recent years have witnessed the introduction of various regulatory mechanisms and incentives for efficiency, the energy saving potential of the European building stock is still very high, especially in the residential sector. To activate it, a thirty-year planning and short-term shock measures are required to unlock the efficiency process. This report provides a snapshot of the European building stock at local level, and identifies the most critical regions, taking into account buildings age, climatic conditions, some structural barriers and key economic indicators. Based on this information, we calculated the energy saving potential of extensive renovation of residential buildings, as well as the associated investment needs and the impact on employment. These indications and datasets can guide decision-makers in the definition of fine-tuned programmes for the refurbishment of existing buildings at European and national level.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Use of the INSPIRE EF data specifications to develop the SEIS-Malta geodatabase for the air quality data management

SEIS-Malta system (Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and web-based GIS interface) forms part of a global project on environmental monitoring funded under the 2007- 2013 Structural Funds Programme for Malta. • The project “Developing national environmental infrastructure and capacity”, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which provides 85% of the project’s funding and the Government of Malta, which finances the rest under Malta’s Operational Programme I - Cohesion Policy 2007- 2013 “Investing in Competitiveness for a Better Quality of Life”.peer-reviewe

INSPIRE-MMTIS: overlap in standards related to the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1926

The COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2017/1926 of 31 May 2017 supplementing Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the provision of EU-wide multimodal travel information services provides a list of static and dynamic data categories to be made available by Member States through the National Access Points. A range of data standards are required for the publication of such data categories, of which a subset (20 data categories) refers to static spatial data which are also linked to the INSPIRE Directive (Directive 2007/2/EC). Within this policy context, this document is the final report of the INSPIRE-MMTIS study, aimed to identify and analyse the overlaps and gaps existing among the relevant standards to be used for the sharing and reuse of data under the remit of the above mentioned Delegated Regulation. Recommendations for both data providers and data users on how to deal with the overlaps/gaps have been formulated, based on a series of use cases. The analysis performed in the study represents a first step to support Member States in the implementation of the MMTIS Regulation. Results demonstrate that the analysed standards are sufficient to start implementing the Regulation, although several recommendations show that further work is necessary (given e.g. gaps in standardisation and the need for European profiles and conversion tools).JRC.B.6-Digital Econom