As social housing is the target sector of a specific call for proposal (see under the call section on page 5-6) , and thanks to the success of the specific budget line for social housing under the Intelligent Energy Europe programmes, it was considered worth focussing the ICT research budget on our sector too. However, for the moment, the call is restricted to project which support the development of new products such as smart meters.

Claire Roumet, representing CECODHAS-Housing Europe, stressed the need to work on social acceptance of these new and often too complex devices, and also to clarify that while ICT can be applied to help consumers manage their consumption it also serves to give suppliers greater control over end-user consumption. Finally, the cost effectiveness of the products needs more attention, particularly as current price instability make the investments impossible for landlords. In addition, Roumet stressed that “To ensure take-off of this new energy efficiency sector, the scope of ICT solutions should be broadened to focus not only on consumption management, as is currently the case, but also on the improvement of the energy performance of the building itself and coordination between all “energy efficient actors” along the entire building chain.”

> You can watch CECODHAS Housing Europe's intervention as wel as other speeches HERE