A best-practice example of a sustainable energy building
As long as it keeps accounting for 40% of the EU's energy demand, the building sector faces the inevitable challenge of producting more efficient buildings whilst at the same time responding to ever more demanding occupants in terms of comfort.
Furthermore, there are a huge number of thistoric buildings in Europe still wasting large amounts of energy. Within a sustainable building approach, buildings renovation requires ambitious and encompassing energy concepts to be developed.
Since the realization of this exemplary project and the implementation of its energy concept, Europe's capital has been provided with a showcase for integration of innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in a 140 year-old listed building.
The REH thus demonstrates that its possible to significantly reduce any buildings energy needs and to deal with the multiple constraints in any site, to offer a 100% renewable energy answer.
Visits of the Renewable Energy House and additional information
Thank you for your interest in visiting the Renewable Energy House!
Since its establishment in January 2006 more than 15.000 people from all over the world have visited the building.
Please note that the Renewable Energy House (REH) is not a museum and is only open to the public upon appointment on working days. Tours are generally made by one of the organisations located in the house, the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).
EREC aims to make your visit an interesting, valuable and enjoyable experience. To meet this aim we would be most grateful for your help and co-operation in following the guidelines and booking procedure:
- to ensure a comfortable visit, the maximum number of visitors per guide has been set at 20.
- on arrival the person in charge reports to the entry desk to inform them of the number of visitors.
The Renewable Energy House (REH) is a busy office throughout the year with more than 100 employees coming from 25 different countries and several meetings a day. Many of these events involve restricting access to parts of the building.
Nature of the visits
The visits of the house are aimed at the general public who wishes to see the different Renewable Energy technologies.
Visit details
The tour of the house will take approximately 1 hour. It will start with a short description of the origin of the Renewable Energy House and of the different organisations that are located in it. Visitors will then be explained and shown the Solar Thermal, Geothermal, Photovoltaic and Biomass installations.
To request a visit:
Please email to the Renewable Energy House Manager, Ms. Kim Vanguers, or alternatively phone +32 2 400 10 71.
Make sure you mention the size of the group, suggested date and time as well as the language in which you would like the tour to be made (English, French, Dutch or German).
Monthly general guided tours
General public can visit the Renewable Energy House (REH) every last Friday of the month at 2pm. These visits are free of charge. Interested people should sign-up with email directly to the REH Manager, Ms. Kim Vanguers at least two days prior to the visit.
A brochure of the House (available in English, French and Dutch) featuring the contact details of all the actors in the Project will be made available.
Information on Renewable Energy in Belgium
For detailed information on regional aids; technical questions on using renewable energies in Belgium, please contact one of the following organisations.
- Region Brussels-Capital, Brussels Environment
- NPO Brussels, Centre Urbain - Stadswinkel
- Walloon Region, Portail de l'Energie
- NPO Walloon Region & Brussels, APERe
- Flemish Region, Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Afdeling Natuurlijke Rijkdommen en Energie
- NPO Flemish Region, ODE Vlaanderen
A selection of additional sources related to renewable energy and energy efficiency are listed in the Link directory.
