What is SouthZEB Project

This chapter gives an overall summary of the challenges faced by European countries regarding the adoption of nZEBs, particularly focusing in the training needs in the Southern Mediterranean countries, and on the experience reached so far by the ongoing SouthZEB Project. Therefore, it first elaborates on the nZEB concept definition framework focusing on the relevance of the topic to local and regional development purposes. Secondly, the chapter gives an overview of the definitions that may be used to the adoption of nZEB across European countries. The perspective presented is first through a top-down approach, based on the policy implementation efforts developed by the European Commission and, after that, based on a bottom-up perspective, including an overview of existent voluntary standards that may be regarded as contributing to the adoption of near zero energy buildings. Thirdly, the chapter reflects on some of the barriers encountered that hamper nZEB adoption, specifically addressing the need for professional training in Southern European countries. Finally, the methodology used by the SouthZEB Project to define the training and certification needs, which is based on the participatory process, is presented along with an overview of the project major results achieved until now and the main difficulties identified so far.