Spain: Ecce Homo
- Pilot Site: Ecce Homo
- Location: Zaragoza, Spain
- Year of construction: 1921-1938
- Year of renovation: 2019
- Type of buildings: Social housing
- Area: 2,226 m²
- Number of dwellings: 26
- Number of residents: 49
- Demographics/Residents: Working and retired families of diverse income, age, ability, mobility, and ethnic origin: 10 apartments for young people (under 35 years old), 8 apartments for people over 65 years old, and 8 apartments for families with children
- Facility Manager: Zaragoza Vivienda
- Iot Developer: CIRCE
Description:
Since 1989, Zaragoza City Council has promoted urban rehabilitation through Zaragoza Vivienda, supporting the modernisation of the housing stock via public funding, European projects, and regulatory tools. Initially focused on the Historic Centre, actions have expanded citywide, with a strong emphasis on energy efficiency and emergency interventions.
The demonstration building dates from 1921, is in the heart of Zaragoza’s Historic Center, and is listed as of environmental interest by the City Council. All this limits the scope of subsequent improvements. The renovation was completed in 2019 and was comprehensive, encompassing the building envelope and installations in compliance with the then-current regulations, CTE 2013. This means that a full renovation is not possible, but we can improve the installations to increase their efficiency, allowing us to achieve at least a “B” energy rating, striving for an “A.” It consists of 26 apartments: 15 with one bedroom and the rest with two. The planned renovation would be:
a. Hybridisation of the thermal production system for heating with heat pumps, achieving at least 70% production through this system.
b. Separate DHW production from heating production and guarantee 100% supply through the heat pump
Facility Manager:
The aim of Zaragoza Vivienda is to achieve greater efficiency in the municipal actions designed to promote the regeneration of the city, the housing sector, the construction of new buildings and the urbanisation of the land to achieve a total revitalisation of degraded urban zones and as result obtain a reduction in the sale and leasing prices of buildable lots and the resulting constructions.
As result, our raison d’être is not based on the economic value of our building stock or our economic management. Our defining goal is intervention in vulnerable districts, by promoting access to housing for people with social and economic difficulties thus obtaining greater social returns in terms of social integration and an improvement in the quality of living conditions.
Zaragoza Vivienda has an administrative, a technical and a social team who support families and manage the 2300 social rental housing units under our care in the city. Our management includes providing all the information related to the contract, the contract itself, rent calculation, subsidies, bills, renovation of contracts, finalization, etc.
The project:
Within CHRONICLE, the Ecce Homo pilot explores the potential of energy evaluation tools to guide targeted improvements in a previously renovated building. The aim is to enhance system efficiency, reduce reliance on gas boilers, and achieve a higher energy rating with minimal investment. CHRONICLE services will also help address user-reported overheating issues while promoting decarbonisation and energy savings.
IoT implementation:
At an apartment level, CIRCE provided and configured Siemens thermostats communicating via Modbus RTU protocol. With one inside each apartment, these devices are controlled from the Energybox device also from CIRCE, which is a platform that runs Linux and that is remotely controlled using an internet connection.
The CO2 duct sensor, also from Siemens, is installed in the general ventilation system of the building. Assuming that the CO2 of each apartment will be similar, the global measure from the sensor will be used to have an idea of the CO2 levels inside each apartment.
The Digital & Analog module from Circutor is used not only to monitor the status of the heat pump and the boiler of the building, but also to control the ventilation system of the building. Both the CO2 sensor and the digital/analog IO module are controlled by the Energybox device mentioned above.
