Intervista a Norbert Lantschner. Edoardo Zanchini

Norbert Lantschner is the creator of Casaclima Protocol, as Director of the Province of Bolzano Agency Casaclima he followed all the steps that defined the articulation of a certification system which is today an international benchmark for sustainable building. Today he is engaged in a new Foundation called ClimAbitat, presented in June at Bolzano, with the aim to continue working on innovation in sustainable construction through a synergy between different skills and interests, involving organizations and institutions, companies and trade associations.

From your point of view, how do you think it will be possible to describe the change in the way design and building has changed in these years, undoubtedly, in South Tyrol? And in what direction do you think will be the next evolution in the construction industry?

Casaclima changed a common practice in our country, which is to impose standards in buildings through rules or with an incentive. Instead Casaclima started with information and citizen involvement, providing the necessary support for those who wanted to respect the environment and protect their interests, which means saving energy and ensuring comfort inside houses. When the certification was proposed it was notable for being simple and clear, and through the tag the energetic quality of the building becomes visible. But the real innovation is the guarantee of public audit of every bulding, to verify the performances really reached. In this way we overcome the problem that each of us do not have "X-rays" to recognize the quality of a building, and this is essential to check projects and the work on site. Ten years after the start of Casaclima it is evident the revolution occurred in construction in this Province, which covers both the users perception that the behavior of different players in the sector. In Alto Adige energy efficiency is becoming a real perspective day after day, both in new buildings but also for renovation. The gradual approach has worked in this area, at the beginning the certification protocol was based on voluntary participation, then in 2005 it became mandatory with a provincial decree. Today the minimum standard for new buildings is the class B Casaclima, while in the rest of the Italian territory the certification is known as a seal for the seriousness and reliability. So far over 5,000 certificates have been issued with this protocol. This result was achieved thanks to the participation of the entire building industry, but mainly thanks to the farsightedness in bringing attention primarily to people, who will live and spend most of their lives in those homes.

The certification is helping to change the construction market, but still you have the impression that the sector has not yet found its own compass between different brands, energy or sustainability protocols, plus in Italy their is uncertainty on rules and differences between Regions. In general it seems that it has not been understood the importance of the change required to improve performance and reach, we must not forget, what is expected by the European Directives in terms of performances. How do you consider this situation and what direction do you think should be covered?

Europe has rightly identified the building as the main area to be transformed in order to meet the year 2020 objectives for energy and climate. This goal is a big step in the direction of sustainability, because it dictates the way to energy independence and to reduce environmental impact. Unfortunately some States, including Italy, are lagging behind in this process. So now we are in a chaotic and fragmented situation, which does not help the achievement of objectives. Especially it lacks a decisive presence in the public discussion on these issues, which should lead to understand that we are not only facing a severe economic crisis, but we also experience a crisis of perception of the vastness of the energy and environmental problems. We haven’t realize that we already entered a gigantic transformation of our society that will give construction a huge role and a character totally different from the past. It means that we must speed up to avoid dramatic changes in environmental and climatic conditions, and push the cultural commitment that must guide this transformation. We have to find the right mix of requirements and incentives to promote energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings. Even the taxation of property must be linked to these new objectives. Simply our country must be rebuilt to respond to a energy, environmental and social emergency. The construction sector will revitalize our economy. Just think that 55 percent of Italians live in homes built before 1972, and 15 per cent was built even before 1945! The average age of buildings is more than 30 years, with 10 million units built between 1946 and 1972. A situation that puts us on top of the European classification by period of construction of the building stock. It is estimated that there are 23 million windows to replace, 140 million square feet of walls, 300 million square meters of roofs to rehabilitate. Activating these interventions means 300,000 jobs that can be created and 2 billion liters of diesel / gas cubic meters of energy saved, that means 3.4 billion euros of savings. Energy efficiency is therefore a major economic and social opportunity.

One of the challenges in the coming years is to broaden the focus on energy from buildings to the city, and together toward a broader view of sustainability. How do you think we should push this perspective?

Doing well in the tasks of energy is the gateway to the sustainability, but then we need to achieve other relevant ecological parameters, on quality and urban integration. To move in this direction requires a holistic approach of living and in the way you live in private and public environments. This is the mission of the new platform we're building with ClimAbitat Foundation, which aims to be the catalyst for meeting current challenges, and that has its focus on the essential elements that must be met to achieve the goal of sustainability. It requires an open mind moving from a vision focused on buildings to an other one that looks widely to the environment that hosts it, and how this natural and urban environment is then inserted in a broader context of values and traditions, needs. It 'a great responsibility for designers and manufacturers to internalize this vision, but it is an absolutely central challenge for the next years, that we must be able to motivate and develop, and then implement.