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Get energy out of your bill! (in Dutch: Haal energie uit je factuur) With that slogan, the city of Mechelen addressed all Mechelen households with the aim of reducing their energy consumption and thus reducing CO2 emissions. But how do you do that? How can communication support the energy transition? And what motivational techniques can you use to convince the people of Mechelen of this?
As buildings are responsible for an average of 60% of energy consumption in the EU, it is important that all residential buildings are made climate and energy neutral by 2050. The annual average current energy consumption in residential buildings is now 348 kWh/m2 and is 70% higher than the EU average. In 2022, we counted 4.6 million buildings with 5.6 million residential units in Belgium (source: Stabel). The figures confirm that Belgium's building stock is obsolete, with 15% built before 1900, 38% pre-1945, with the oldest building stock in Wallonia (48% pre-1945) and in Brussels (66% pre-1945), most of which are not insulated. However, the most recent buildings are located in Flanders with an accretion of 14 %, which in Wallonia, however, is 10 % and Brussels even only 3 %. 

Subsidies for 22 projects with energy consultants.

22 projects with the goal to increase the renovation rate and safeguard the affordability of energy bills, were granted with more than 5 million euros in...

E-learning training for first-line renovation advisors.

On December 1st, 2021, BE REEL! launched the training courses (in Dutch) for first-line renovation consultants on its online learning platform LearnWorlds. Not only can you consult the full kick-off, but you can also find 15 free training modules on various topics that affect the advising practice, such as limiting energy demand and partnerships. These training modules were developed in collaboration with Pixii, Kamp C, and Dialoog. You can read more about this in our interview.

Coop-kit RHEDCOOP

The RHEDCOOP project (Renovations in Renewable Energy Services via Cooperatives) has come to an end. On our online BE REEL!-learning platform LearnWorlds, you can discover the Coop-kit (in Dutch) after registration. This is an online training for cooperative energy service companies (ESCos) and local authorities, in which the RHEDCOOP partners have collected all knowledge, experiences and lessons learned. You will learn how to set up an ESCo project as a cooperative, how to communicate with the neighborhood and much more.

Interviews BE REEL! newsletters

The city of Mechelen is not sitting still when it comes to climate. They brought all climate-related topics together years ago under one denominator: Mechelen Klimaatneutraal, which received a substantial financial boost thanks to BE REEL! From collective renovations to installing solar panels. They do it all. BE REEL spoke to their project coordinator Ranja Van Asbroeck.
The construction industry brings together a wide range of professionals: from the contractor who builds your house to the technician who installs your heating. These professionals need training and support to keep up with the latest techniques and legislation. Buildwise, as innovation centre in the construction industry, is an important coordinator and source of knowledge. BE REEL! spoke to Johan Van Dessel, strategy and innovation coordinator at Buildwise

70% of all buildings in Antwerp are apartments. A generous share that no other Flemish city can match. Renovating an apartment building is complex in multiple ways. BE REEL! had a conversation with Britt Berghs, project coordinator for the city of Antwerp.

Last year, the European Commission launched five EU missions to tackle important challenges related to health, the environment and climate. One of those missions is “100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030”. A project in which the selection of 100 cities was recently announced. These cities also include the Walloon city of La Louvière. BE REEL! interviewed their alderman Nancy Castillo.

The long-awaited training modules for first-line renovation advisors (FRA) are available on our online learning platform Learnworlds. The training modules and the renovation advice toolbox (RAT) that served as inspiration for this were the result of a fruitful collaboration with Kamp C, Pixii and Dialoog. BE REEL! spoke with three experts, one from each partner, who participated in the development of the modules. 
The Flemish municipalities are fully engaged in reducing the energy consumption of their homes through energetic renovations. 8 Flemish cities and municipalities embarked on a participatory process to draw up a local long-term renovation strategy (LLRS). BE REEL! spoke with two people who have written guidelines to support the cities and municipalities in this challenge: Jan Custers and Kelly Cautreels.

Download the older interviews as a pdf

Because of a reconversion of our old website, all the <2022 newsletter URL's that referred to our old website will not work anymore. Including the links to the interviews. That's why we put all the interviews before 2022 in 1 pdf-file for you to download.