CoolLIFE project

Open source tool to face the increase in buildings space cooling demand 

To face the rising demand of space cooling (SC) in Europe, CoolLIFE developed a digital tool that maps this demand for the EU27’s buildings from the hectare to continent level. The research project’s aim was to provide indications to best meet actual and future cooling demand and to promote the implementation of innovative and efficient space cooling solutions with a special focus on the comfort, lifestyle and user behaviour of the residential sector.

Furthermore, the initiative promotes natural, passive and free cooling (e.g. nature-based) solutions. The tool also provides comfort, lifestyle and user behaviour indications, demand-side management/demand response measures as well as economic, policy and legal/regulatory conditions. Complementary to the tool, a knowledge hub was created to work as an online repository of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) and quality-controlled sources to address the lack of data on SC, including a review of available funding options.

Within CoolLIFE, ABUD led the work package focusing on thermal comfort, lifestyle and user behavior, including:

• Compilation and analysis of cooling efficiency behavioral strategies through policy interventions (top-down approach) and occupants’ lifestyle and behavioral interventions (bottom-up approach).
• Quantification of the impacts of occupant behavior on the building energy performance through energy simulations, and integration of this module into the CoolLIFE tool.
• Impact assessment (environmental, economic, and health-related) from the implementation of behavioral interventions.

This project has received funding from the European Union under grant agreement no. 101075405.

Coordinator contact details

Coordinating Beneficiary: ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO

Address: VIALE DRUSO 1, 39100, BOLZANO, Italia

Beneficiaries