Our team
BPIE brought together an European team of experts.
Bogdan Atanasiu is Senior Energy Efficiency Expert to the Buildings Performance Institute Europe-BPIE. He is an electrical engineer with a PhD in renewable energy. Bogdan has extensive experience in climate change mitigation policies with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency in buildings and distributed energy generation from renewable sources.
At BPIE, Bogdan coordinated the implementation of a study on defining the principles for nearly-zero energy buildings and works in other related activities such as buildings energy performance certification, the renovation of the EU buildings stock, financing energy efficiency activities in buildings and on supporting the activities of the BPIE’s taskforce in Romania .
Over the last year as part of the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Bogdan contributes to the elaboration of various studies such as the assessment of the low-carbon innovation policies, the implications of bioenergy in the EU National Renewable Energy Action Plans and the transition costs implications of increasing the rate and the energy standard for the renovation of the European housing stock.
From 2004 to 2010 Bogdan had been scientific officer at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy (Ispra, Italy) were contributed to the elaboration of several reports on end-use electricity consumption and efficiency trends in the EU built environment and developed activities on financing and market mechanisms to support the deployment of energy efficient technologies and practices within the European Union. As part of the EC JRC team, Bogdan was involved in providing implementation feedback and technical support to the EU policy making process, i.e. on the evaluation of the first National Energy Efficiency Action Plans under the Energy Services Directive. Previously, Bogdan worked for eleven years in the renewable energy R&D, acting as a project manager and team researcher in numerous national and EU projects. Over this period he was involved in several projects for the promotion of the new and clean energy technologies. Bogdan has authored the 2006 and 2009 JRC Reports on Electricity Consumption and Efficiency Trends in the European Union and more than thirty scientific papers and conference presentations on energy efficiency and renewable energy topics.
Send an e-mail: bogdan.atanasiu@bpie.eu
Serban Danciu is heading up our taskforce in Romania. He is an engineer who graduated from the Power Engineering Faculty at the Polytechnic University in Bucharest. Serban has a deep understanding of the Romanian market as he held management positions in private companies listed on the stock market. As member of several industry associations Serban actively participated to the elaboration of legislative projects for the industrial sector. Due to his responsibilities in the Romanian industry, Serban is very familiar with decision making processes and stakeholder dynamics on national and local level.
Send an e-mail: serban.danciu@bpie.eu
Chantal Despret is BPIE’s Office manager and PA to Oliver. Chantal is a Belgian citizen. Alongside a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy and an additional degree in Company Management, she holds a Master degree in Human Resources. During her career as operational manager, Chantal experienced multiple organisational environments, from SME to large international corporations.
One of her recent key projects was the set-up of the back-offices of the Belgian CEA (Centre d’Etudes d’Assurances), an international consultant and broker specialised in construction liabilities. She worked for the headquarters situated in Paris and the subsidiary in Brussels.
In her last position as project coordinator, she worked for the Controls Department of Trane, part of Ingersoll-Rand Group.
Send an e-mail: chantal.despret@bpie.eu
Marina Economidou is an Expert in Energy Efficiency. She is a civil engineer by profession and obtained her Master of Engineering degree from Imperial College London. Her main area of expertise focuses on multi-storey buildings and, specifically, the ventilation aspect as an energy-saving feature in buildings. She recently completed a PhD in low-energy strategies in the built environment whereby she examined the physics behind natural ventilation in multi-connected spaces. In this work, she investigated the effects of harnessing solar heat gains, internal heat loads and external wind as a means of improving the ventilation in the interior of a building. This is an attractive alternative which can significantly reduce energy use in built environments. She has published a number of papers in scientific journals and presented her work at international conferences.
During her studies, she also gained work experience in a number of fields, including industry (construction & consulting) and research. During her studies, Marina (who is from Cyprus) benefited from a fellowship award.
Send an e-mail: marina.economidou@bpie.eu
Joana Maio is project assistant and was hired after her internship focusing on our study European Buildings under the microscope – a country-by-country review of the energy performance of buildings. Joana graduated in Environmental Engineering at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, with a focus on environment and energy management.
During her 5 year education, Joana developed a specific interest for the efficient energy use in buildings. Her final project aimed at the improvement of the energy efficiency of a shopping center.
Joana worked on an international cooperation project financed by grants from the EU program Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) which aimed to increase the relevance of the energy efficiency of buildings in the real estate market.
Joana has a specific knowledge of environmental certification schemes, namely ISO 14 001, Ecolabel and EMAS. Her previous work experiences cover the real estate industry sector as well as small consulting and research teams.
Send an e-mail: joana.maio@bpie.eu
Ingeborg Nolte is a marketing and communication professional with a broad international experience gained in the industry and on agency side. Prior to joining BPIE, where she holds the position of Senior Expert Communication and Outreach, Ingeborg worked for a marketing consultancy firm, servicing B2B and B2C customers from various sectors, such as transport, utilities, technology, finance, food and tourism/leisure.
Through recent assignments in the transport and tourism sector, Ingeborg developed a specific interest for sustainable (vs. green) marketing. She wrote several articles on the topic and organized two conferences focusing on the production (industry oriented) and consumption (research oriented) side. Ingeborg is a German citizen who studied in France and Germany. She holds a DEA (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies) in Linguistics, a French university degree equivalent to the first year of thesis, obtained at Paris X .
Send an e-mail: ingeborg.nolte@bpie.eu
Oliver Rapf has been appointed BPIE’s new Executive Director. He was formerly Head of Climate Business Engagement at WWF and joined the team in June 2011.
Before joining BPIE, Oliver Rapf worked for the global conservation organisation WWF in various roles. Most recently he was Head of the Climate Business Engagement unit of WWF International, managing strategy and partnership development with the private sector. Leading an international team, he advised multinational companies on climate change and energy issues.
Oliver’s experience in buildings efficiency goes back to the late 90s when he was a project leader for several deep renovation projects on behalf of WWF in cooperation with housing companies across Germany. Other roles include the position of deputy Head of WWF’s European Climate Change and Energy Policy Unit. Oliver participated in UNFCCC negotiations, and was the leader of the German NGO coalition at international climate change negotiations.
Oliver has been active as a jury member of environmental business awards, and serves on private sector environmental advisory boards. In his early career, he worked on regional sustainability strategies and spatial planning.
Send an e-mail: oliver.rapf@bpie.eu
