Disproportionately high energy consumption in buildings, accounting for 52-53% of final consumption, has made building renovation the most significant societal and economic challenge in Estonia with the highest investment needs
- Zero Emission Buildings research group
- Renovation technology and building physics research group
- Data driven control and AI research group
- Energy efficient, resilient and smart electrification research group
- Data Science for control systems research group
- Housing Inequalities research group
- Housing and Family Dynamics research group
- Public Sector Innovation Research Group
Project information in the Estonian Research Information System
The project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Research
Energy Efficiency Centre of Excellence
The Energy Efficiency Centre of Excellence (ENER) is a seven-year project (2024–2030) aimed at breaking the rising energy consumption trend and supporting a breakthrough in full renovation of residential buildings. ENER brings together the best expertise in engineering, data science, and social sciences in Estonia and contributes to addressing Estonia’s societal and economic challenge of transforming 75% of the existing low-energy-efficiency building stock into emission-free buildings by 2050, maximizing the accompanying benefits and improvements in quality of life.
The CoE seeks practical technological, social, and urban planning solutions that support both the green transition and the improvement of people’s quality of life. New emission-free technologies are being developed for both renovated and new residential and non-residential buildings
Nearly half of Estonia’s population lives in apartments that require renovation, built between 1950 and 1990.
- Full renovation is necessary due to poor insulation and ventilation.
- There is potential for factory-based renovation.
- Could neighborhood-based renovation provide affordable solutions and improve the quality of urban space?
The Center of Excellence has a dedicated section in the “Estonia 2035” strategy, titled “Energy Consumption of Residential and Non-Residential Buildings.”
See more: Statistics Estonia: Tree of Truth
Eight research groups from three universities are participating in the Center of Excellence
Zero Emission Buildings research group
Jarek Kurnitski
Tallinn University of Technology
jarek.kurnitski@taltech.ee
Housing Inequalities research group
Tiit Tammaru
University of Tartu
tiit.tammaru@ut.ee
Housing and Family Dynamics research group
Hannaliis Jaadla
Tallinn University
hannaliis.jaadla@tlu.ee
Energy efficient, resilient and smart electrification research group
Dmitri Vinnikov
Tallinn University of Technology
dmitri.vinnikov@taltech.ee
Renovation technology and building physics research group
Targo Kalamees
Tallinn University of Technology
targo.kalamees@taltech.ee
Data driven control and AI research group
Eduard Petlenkov
Tallinn University of Technology
eduard.petlenkov@taltech.ee
Data Science for control systems research group
Juri Belikov
Tallinn University of Technology
juri.belikov@taltech.ee
Public Sector Innovation research group
Veiko Lember
Tallinn University of Technology
veiko.lember@taltech.ee
Project information in the Estonian Research Information System
The project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Research
Jarek Kurnitski
Zero Emission Buildings research groupTallinna tehnikaülikool
jarek.kurnitski@taltech.ee