The Sustainable Lifestyles Accelerator (SLA) on local TV

During one year we worked with 7 pilot families of Sant Cugat in our Sustainable Lifestyle Accelerator project, applying the "transition cycle" methodology for helping them to reduce their lifestyle carbon and material footprints. (www.suslife.info ; www.suslifespain.blogspot.com) One of our SLA pilot families has now been interviewed by local television program CONNECTICAT regarding their experiences and achievements, and Torsten Masseck explained the SLA project and its objectives to the audience. 

Please find the full interview here: https://www.alacarta.cat/connecticat/tall/com-podem-reduir-la-nostre-petjada-de-carboni

SLA Pilot families reduce their Lifestyle Carbon Footprints in up to 18%!

7 pilot families of Sant Cugat del Vallès achieve reducing their lifestyle carbon footprint in 13% average through the international Sustainable Lifestyle Accelerator Project!

Between 6 and 18% of carbon emissions could be avoided by families through behavioural changes in their daily life in the areas of housing, nutrition, mobility, purchases and leisure activities.

Within the SLA project families first assessed their household carbon footprint, then created their personal transition roadmap and finally implemented changes during an experimental period of 2-3 months. 

The achieved changes have been assessed and quantified by the international Sustainable Lifestyle consortium, and now have been presented to the families by the principal researcher of the project in Spain, Dr. Torsten Masseck. No better place for it than the LOW3 Living Lab of ETSAV (UPC) in Sant Cugat del Vallès, a platform for teaching and research about sustainable architecture and lifestyles!

Families discussed results, shared their experiences and expressed to be very happy with the process and their individual reductions achieved, as they declared to be very motivated to reduce their environmental impact, but so far lacked detailed knowledge and tools how to do so!

SLA now starts in its second round with the creation of the SLA online platform (launch in October 2019) with the aim to reach out to 500 households during this year and engaging over 10.000 in each of the 7 partner countries during 2020. 

Prepare to form part of the SLA community soon! 

International Work Meeting Sustainable Lifestyles Accelerator (SLA)

Form 11^thto 13^thof March project partners from 7 countries (Finland, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, India, Mexico and Spain) came together at ETSAV for holding the second international meeting of the SLA project. 

During 3 days, partners presented their individual results and experiences made during the first round of the 3-year SLA project, and worked together intensively on the design and functionalities of the future SLA web platform. 

A Co-creation session held at LOW3 Living Lab with external stakeholders form the municipality of Sant Cugat del Vallès as well as UPC students which worked on the platform concept, allowed to advance in the definition of specific concept, appearance and functions of the future SLA platform.

MOOC “LOW3: Living Zero!”- Students as SLA Energy Consultants

Students of our MOOC Course LOW3: Living zero! started their final exercise on energy efficiency and solar potential adopting the role of energy consultants to our SLA pilot families, analysing the specific energy parameters of a real private household.

In a first step students analysed existing data about energy consumption, type of energy used and other available information about the energy system and energy use of the households.

In a second step students did the energy certification of a specific household and described possible improvements of the overall energy performance. This included the use of online tools and a visit to the family’s home for raising detailed data about the building envelope, façade and window qualities as well as existing active energy systems.

In a last step, students analysed the solar potential of the household for a roof-top PV installation, gathering data about the building’s roof and using an online simulation tool in order to calculate the possible annual PV electricity production.

All these exercises resulted in a report to the SLA pilot families, useful for them in order to optimize the energy performance of their home through behavioral change and building management, and for taking decisions about a possible investment into energy efficiency measures or a PV installation.

This approach to the real-world energy performance of existing buildings as part of our innovative educational offer at ETSAV is another example how our students are getting prepared for being active change agents of society, facing real problems of our buildings and cities within a holistic understanding of sustainability in its economic, social and environmental dimension. Linking regular teaching at UPC and a research project like SLA in the context of Living Lab LOW3, allows offering this unique learning approach to students. 

More information about the Living Lab LOW3 project: www.livinglab-low3.blogspot.com 

More information about our MOOC course LOW3: Living zero!: https://mooc.upc.edu