physics

Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment

Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment rather than just read about it. In short: Public plans for energy efficient refurbishment are put in place by states to encourage building owners to renovate their properties in a way that increases their energy performance. As financing represents the most important obstacle to this type of renovation, the plans favour financial incentives in the form of loans or grants.

Key takeaways

Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Public plans for energy efficient refurbishment are put in place by states to encourage building owners to renovate their properties in a way that increases their energy performance. As financing represents the most important obstacle to this type of renovation, the plans favour financial incentives in the form of loans or grants. Various institutions can be involved in the process, such as ministries, banks, firms, or energy services companies (ESCOs). A number of countries have implemented such plans: the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Estonia, and others.

United States: PACE

The concept of PACE (Property-Assessed Clean Energy) was inspired by "solar bonds" program implemented in San Francisco in 2001. It was meant to overcome the major barrier to the installation of solar and energy efficiency retrofits in commercial or residential properties: high up-front costs. The principle consisted in "on-tax bill solar and efficiency financing," whereby repayment of the investment in measures is made through a property tax assessment. PACE originated in 2008 with pilot programs in California, Colorado, and New York, that focused primarily on energy efficiency upgrades to single family homes. The first actual PACE program was carried out in Berkeley, California, and the state passed the first PACE-enabling legislation in 2008. In the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, on July 30, 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was created to supervise enterprises and banks (the "regulated entities"), after Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association)'s bankruptcy. At the time, most homes had a market value below the volume of contracted loans, following the burst of the housing bubble. In July 2010, the FHFA issued the first of many directives that effectively ban Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from buying or holding mortgages with PACE assessments. PACE therefore shifted its focus over the next year toward commercial, industrial, multi-family and agricultural buildings and properties. PACENow, is a national advocate for PACE, defines its mission as "to promote and assist the development of PACE programs by state and local governments and provide leadership and support for a growing universe of energy efficiency and PACE stakeholders." PACE funding is provided (using various sources) or arranged by local governments for 100% of a project's cost, and is repaid with an assessment over a term of up to 20 years.

Germany - KfW Bankengruppe

Context and creation KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, meaning Reconstruction Credit Institute) is a German government-owned development bank, based in Frankfurt. The bank was created in 1948 after the Second World War as part of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe. The KfW Förderbank (KfW promotional bank) is today its largest business unit, committed to housing and environmental protection. KfW introduced the Efficiency House Standard in 2009, to identify levels of energy efficiency in houses and provide loans or grants accordingly. Its activities devoted to bringing down CO2 emissions align with a strategy designed by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) in 2010, following the decision to speed up the pace of nuclear energy phase-out. This strategy outlined the directions to be privileged in the following years to achieve the desired level of energy efficiency. Among others, it asked to significantly raise the efficiency standards for buildings, to increase funds available for building improvement, and to implement tools to help ensure that new buildings gradually comply with the futureEuropean standards for nearly zero energy buildings. The KfW created promotional programmes targeting private buyers and homeowners, landlords and housing companies, to support refurbishment of older residential buildings with grants or loans.

Goals and missions The German government announced in its "Energy Concept" strategy that it aims at reducing CO2 emissions by 80% in 2050 (the base year is 1990). Between 1990 and 2010, annual CO2 emissions have fallen at an average annual growth rate of -1.1%. This rate is not large enough to reach the 80% reduction goal; emissions should decrease at a rate of 3.4% per year from now on. The most important sector contributing to CO2 emissions is the production and distribution of energy and water (42% of total emissions), and the second-most important one is that of private households (22%). The government has thus decided that efforts must be focused on two pillars: increased energy efficiency in existing buildings, and a larger share of renewable electricity. In order to ensure a reduction of energy consumption in existing buildings, it has decided to promote their rehabilitation, and has committed to carrying out thermal retrofits on 2% of the building stock each year. The realization of these goals is precisely what KfW's promotional programs are targeting.

Intervention methods The bank has set six levels of promotional incentives for energy efficiency refurbishment activities, expressed as Efficiency House Standards 55, 70, 85, 100, 115, and "Monument". These numbers represent the energy consumption of the housing unit as a percentage of the maximum primary energy requirement specified by the Energy Conservation Ordinance (EnEV). The lower the rating, the greater the energy efficiency. For example, a "KfW Efficiency House 70" consumes 70% of this requirement. As such, the best standard (55) receives the greatest support. To meet the energy standard for an efficient home, heating systems, thermal wall insulation, roof and floor insulation and windows are required. Promotional funds are available either through a loan, or through a grant. The involvement of an energy consultant is mandatory in the application process, and must be contracted by the applicant himself.

Supplementary Credit The "KfW Energy Efficient Renovation - Supplementary Credit" programme offers low interest loans specifically for the replacement of the heating and domestic hot water systems that were installed before 2009. The loans can be up to €50,000, and have a 10-year maturity at a fixed interest rate.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment

In research: Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Renewable energy policy, Sustainable energy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment in simple terms?

Why does Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment.