ENERGY PERFORMANCE IN BUILDINGS DIRECTIVE – Latest News 8 July 2010

Energy Policies & the ‘Energy Performance of Buildings Directive’

We are currently experiencing some very challenging developments that will strongly influence the national energy policies. Because of the present economic crisis, public opinion may slightly tend towards postponing further tightening of energy performance requirements. However, at the same time the daily discouraging news about the Mexican Gulf disaster gives suggestion to reducing the dependency from fossil fuels as soon as possible.

The announcement of the recasts of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and of the Product Energy Labelling Directive dated 19 May 2010 which were both published in the EU Official Journal on 18 June 2010 are a sign of  continuing development in such challenging days.

[Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings (recast) English version of the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive can be viewed at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ%3AL%3A2010%3A153%3A0013%3A0035%3AEN%3APDF ]

Some important observations:

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (Recast), 2010/31/EU, requires that:

• All new buildings must be nearly zero energy buildings by 2020 and Member States shall set intermediate targets for 2015. A Nearly Zero Energy Building is a building that has a very high energy performance. The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources.
• Member States shall draw up national action plans for increasing the number of nearly zero energy buildings. These national action plans shall include policies and measures to stimulate the transformation of buildings which are refurbished into nearly zero energy buildings.
• The leading role of the public sector is reinforced. By 2018, all new public buildings shall be nearly zero energy buildings. Energy Performance Certificates will be displayed in the majority of public buildings. Public authorities will be encouraged to implement the recommendations included in the certificate.

(Note: A significant new requirement under the recast is that all new buildings across Europe must be built to a very low energy standard by 31 December 2020, with public buildings having to meet this level by the end of 2018. While no specific targets were set for the refurbishment of buildings, which account for 99% of the current building stock, all buildings undergoing major renovation will have to meet certain minimum energy performance requirements set by the Member States. The recast also builds on the 2002 Directive by improving rules on inspections and on energy performance certificates. An all-important article on financial incentives and market barriers requires Member States to list and propose financing schemes to support the implementation of the recast.)

The Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (Directive 2009/28/EC) requires that:

• Member States shall by 2015 require, where appropriate, the adoption of minimum levels of energy from renewable sources in new buildings and in existing buildings that are subject to major renovation.
• New public buildings and existing public buildings that are subject to major renovation, at national, regional and local level, shall fulfil an exemplary role from 2012 onwards. 

Impact, compliance and control of legislation

While the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) imposes Member States (MS) to set requirements, it does not specify the severity of those requirements, nor the measures to be taken to control implementation. Consequently, MS can fulfil the requirements of articles 4 through 6 of the EPBD (minimum energy performance requirements for new and renovated buildings) without increasing the existing levels of requirements and without carrying out any kind of control. We can therefore expect further views about the impact of the present EPBD on the requirements and how MS deal with the respect of requirements.

Compliance and control are essential parts of successfully implementing the EPBD. The main recommendations and findings from reports collected by ASIEPI (ASsessment and Improvement of the EPBD Impact - for new buildings and building renovation) have varied significantly regarding EPBD implementation, the large potential for further savings, the needs for infringement procedures by the European Commission, the importance of an integrated approach to buildings and their systems, support for innovative technologies, the necessity of investment in awareness and motivation actions.

What's In Store - December 2010

Read what Rodney Walker has to say about the Self Storage Industry in Property Week magazine.   

European Presentation from the FEDESSA Conference 2009