Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD)
Energy Efficiency of Buildings in the New European Directive 2010/31/EUBuildings account for 40 % of total energy consumption in the European Union. Therefore, management of energy demand is an important tool enabling the Union to influence the global energy market and hence the security of energy supply in the medium and long term.
The new “Energy performance building directive” which came into force on 9 July 2010, recasting and repealing previous Directive 2002/91/EC, underlines how reduction of energy consumption and the use of energy from renewable sources in the buildings sector constitute important measures needed to reduce the Union’s energy dependency and greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy Performance of New Buildings
The new directive adopted new environmental targets even more ambitious than the ones set by Kyoto Protocol before and later by the Climate and Energy Package of 2008 which, with the so-called “three 20 targets” provided for: reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 20%, increasing energy savings by 20% and achieving 20% of consumption from renewable sources, all by 2020.
The new EU directive is intended to reach, for buildings constructed after 2020 and for public buildings after 2018, an energy consumption close to zero. For the first time we hear of “nearly zero-energy buildings”. In particular, the term “nearly zero-energy building” refers to a structure with high energy performance and with a high degree of sustainability, whose energy needs should be covered mostly by energy generated from renewable sources and possibly produced nearby.
Energy certification will become increasingly important in the future, and will become a fundamental point of EU legislation: the leading role of public authorities is in fact confirmed, along with the obligation, in the case of lease, sale or construction, to show and deliver the certificate to the prospective buyer or new tenant.