The International Network
for Sustainable Energy

Updated: December 2010

New Efficient Building Directive

On May 19 2010, the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) was finally adopted as Directive 2010/31/EU.
It calls for increased national regulation for energy efficiency in new and renovated houses. It also includes the framework for national requirements for building systems, such as heating systems and larger ventilation systems.
In July 2012, the new Directive shall be implemented, though many elements including the regulation of building systems only need to be implemented by January 2013 for public buildings and by July 2013 for all buildings.

Read the Directive 2010/31/EU, here (pdf 861kB).

Implementation of the New Directive Can Boost Energy Efficiency and Save a Lot

It is up to the EU countries to implement the new EPBD. If they do that in ambitious ways, it can lead to large increase of energy efficiency, and can save a lot of imported energy, and also money, if requirements are raised to cost-effective levels of energy efficiency. Too many EU countries have energy performance requirements well below cost-effective levels, thus wasting a lot of energy as well as money.
A major element of the implementation is to set efficiency requirements on cost-effective levels. For countries that have not worked with requirements since implementation of the first EPDB, new levels of requirements should be set, reflecting the increasing energy costs and the increasing energy efficiency options at affordable costs.The EU Commission will publish a common methodology for the implementation in June 2011. (See EE Directive)
The best practice in setting energy efficiency requirements is to set gradually increasing requirements with 2-4 year steps, leading to the "near zero energy houses" that should be the end-result in 2020. This is for instance done in Denmark and UK.

The new Directive has an article mandating countries to set requirements for technical building systems, such as heating systems, ventilation, windows, other building envelop parts. Some of these requirements will be set by the Ecodesign directive on a minimum level, but the Ecodesign process is slow, can only deal with specific products that are on the market (such as a boiler for heating systems), and will set requirement at a low level, well below cost-effective levels for countries with high heat demands. Thus the setting of national requirements are important for achieving a high efficiency when equipment is replaced or renovated. Good practices is in this respect:
- requirement of condensing boilers for gas and oil boilers (with limited option for exception for special situations)
- requirement of high-efficiency heat pumps with variable speed drives, and included in a smart electricity grids
- requirement of low-energy windows, i.e. double/triple windows with reflective coating

Good practice in this is requirements for condensing boilers in Denmark and UK, de-facto requirements for low-energy windows in Denmark and Sweden (though requirements for window frames are not fully up to date).

The Directive requires energy efficiency in renovations. This shall be implemented for major renovations, also for smaller buildings.

The Directive requires that renewable energy and district heating is used, if it is cost-effective. The Spanish solar ordinance is a good practice of requiring cost-effective renewable energy. The Danish heat planning is a good practice in requiring district heating, in developments, where district heating is cost-effective.

It will be a good practice to review building energy requirements when the recast of the EPBD is implemented. This can for instance include evaluation of the energy certification systems. Not all the certification systems are leading to energy efficiency improvements that are comparable to the costs of the certification system.

Read INFORSE-Europe's proposals for implementations of the recast of EPBD: (pdf file).

Recasting of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2008
Read on EPBD: here

Contents:

The main content of the Directive are:

• Application and regular updating of minimum standards for energy performance of buildings based on a common methodology for all new buildings and for existing buildings of more than 1000 square meters that are being renovated. The performance will include energy use for heating, ventilation, lighting, as well as the opportunity of heat recovery and local renewable energy supply used in cost-effective ways.
• Common methodology for the preparation of minimum integrated energy performance standards, which Member States will have to adopt for each type of building. This methodology will have to take into account differences in climate and include factors relating to insulation, heating, ventilation, lighting, building orientation, heat recovery, and use of renewable energy sources.
• Certification systems for new and existing buildings: energy performance certificates no more than ten years old, containing advice on how to improve energy performance, will have to be available for all buildings when built, sold or leased. These energy performance certificates, together with information on recommended and actual indoor temperatures, will also be displayed in public buildings and in other types of building frequented by the public.
• Specific checks and assessment of heating and cooling equipment by experts. Member States will have to make arrangements for regular inspection of boilers of a rated output between 20 and 100 kW. Boilers above this threshold must be inspected every two years (gas boilers every four years).
• Energy requirements for renovations, including those of smaller buildings (< 1000 m²)
• National requirements for “technical building systems”. System requirements shall cover such as heating & ventilation systems as well as for components of the building envelope such as windows.
• New buildings shall be ”near zero energy buildings” after 2020, with energy coming mainly from renewables. Until then the countries shall make national plans for construction of new zero energy buildings. Starting in 2019, new public buildings shall be “near zero energy”.
• Harmonized methodology with a common framework for calculation of energy demands, with a view to reach cost-optimal levels. By June, 2011, the EU Commission shall establish a framework for calculating cost-optimal levels of energy requirements.
• After 2012 the countries shall strengthen energy requirements if they are significantly below cost-optimal levels.
• For new buildings, the feasibility of renewable energy, cogeneration, district heating and heat pumps shall be taken into account. This is also the case for buildings undergoing major renovations. In practice, a builder who does not want to choose any of these options must justify his/her choices.
• The countries shall encourage the use of intelligent metering systems.

Read more about the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2002/91/EC) on the EU Commission's web site.

Implementation - the First Directive 2002/91/EC
Member States had until the 4th of January 2006 to implement the Directive, except Bulgaria and Romania for whom the deadline was January 2007. However for certifications and inspections, Member States can have an additional period of three years if they miss qualified or accredited experts.
Many European countries have updated their energy performance regulations in order to improve energy efficiency of their buildings.
The EU Commission (DG TREN) formed a committee to oversee the implementation of the Directive, with representatives of EU countries and the trade association EuroAce. The committee had its first meeting in 2003.

Good Practice in Implementation (Directive 2002/91/EC)
The implementation of the EPBD has pushed cost-effective strengthening of energy requirements for buildings in many countries, leading to better buildings and reduced energy consumption and pollution. Some examples of good practices are the implementation in Denmark (strong framework), Germany (renewable energy requirements), and Norway (strongest specific requirements for building elements), read more here ( pdf) October 2008.

Read about national experience and good practice in the use of directive at this website and at EPBD Buildings Platform

INFORSE Recommendation for Implementation

Given that energy efficiency standards in national building codes have been one of the most efficiency and cost-effective way of raising energy efficiency in most EU countries, this Directive can be very important for future increase in energy efficiency. The effect of it is, however, crucial dependant on the implementation in national legislation. It is important that there is a national debate about the implementation with focus on how to maximize the benefits from the implementation, rather than a debate on how to have the least changes. In all countries current building codes have relatively low requirements for energy efficiency and renewable energy which leads to higher energy consumption than the cost-effective level. Because most houses are built according to the standards, the users are trapped with these unnecessary high costs. New, stronger building codes can correct this problem, to the benefit of users, the constructors and the environment. Thus, NGOs and relevant stakeholders should push the implementation of the new Directive in an ambitious direction, so it will contribute to this.

In the implementation, the countries should give priority to passive solar energy above what is proposed in the Directive. Passive solar energy use should be taken into account in planning, orientation and positioning of houses; as well as in use and heating control of houses. There is also a need for inclusion of passive solar concepts in education. The countries should also give priority to micro-CHP, i.e. building-integrated CHP.

It is proposed that the limit for renovation of buildings to require current energy efficiency standards is set to renovations that costs above 10% of the value of the building.

Read more on EuroACE and on the ENPER-EXIST project's website. EuroAce is the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings. ENPER-EXIST was a project which aims at supporting the take-off of the EPBD.

Development of Directive 2002/91/EC
On October 10, 2002 the EU Parliament supported the Commission's proposal with some amendments. Following this, the Commission adopted the final language agreed upon by the Parliament in October. This concluded a year and a half of debate between the Parliament and the Commission.
The EU countries agreed to the text and adopted it at the energy ministers' meeting November 25, 2002.

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