The energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, has already announced his intention to tighten the existing requirements. Among those bodies giving evidence has been the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EuroACE). The organisation includes 20 major names in the energy efficiency field, including Kingspan Insulation, Rockwool, Honeywell, Pilkington and Philips Lighting.

EuroACE told the Commission that several key changes must be made when the
Directive is revised. In particular:
n All building codes must include a critical path to a situation where only ‘very low energy buildings’ are permitted
n The current 1000m2 thresholds should be abolished – the Directive’s requirements should apply to all buildings
n There should be a mandatory requirement that refurbishment should result in increased energy efficiency, achieving best practice (best-rated component replacement should be compulsory wherever appropriate)
n Member states should use financial instruments to incentivise energy efficiency investments.
n Finally, there needs to be better enforcement of the regulations in all the member states.

Implementation ‘disappointingly slow’
Only one-fifth of EU member states have introduced energy performance certificates (EPCs) for buildings and that figure only refers to domestic new build, according to a new report on the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Over two years after it should have been fully implemented across the 27 nations of the Community, progress continues at a snail’s pace.

The report by the European Energy Network (EnR) a a network of 23 national energy agencies including the UK’s Energy Saving Trust merely refers to this as “disappointingly slow”. The report is likely to provide further ammunition for European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in his efforts to ‘beef up’ the Directive. He has promised to put forward a series of revisions by November this year.

The 160 million buildings in the EU use over 40% of Europe’s energy and create over 40% of its carbon dioxide emissions, and that proportion is increasing. On 4 January 2003 the Energy Performance Building Directive came into force and Member States had until January 2006 to transpose the Directive. Its aim is to reduce the emissions of all buildings, both domestic and non-domestic. Potentially the directive could save 45m tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2010.

The EnR is calling for action at both European and national level. It wants member states to:
l  Set minimum performance requirement for building components which should be fulfilled when these components are changed or renovated and signal that the requirements will be tightened over time
l  Ensure the takeoff of building energy performance certificates using information and awareness campaigns to building owners and training campaigns targeted at all market agents in the building sector
l  Establish effective enforcement systems to ensure that the building regulations on new build and major refurbishment of existing buildings are actually met.

Implementation of the EU Energy Performance in Buildings Directive – a snapshot report: www.enr-network.org/mambots/editors/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/working_groups/buildings_wg/EnR_lessons_learned_and_recommendations_for_future.pdf
u www.euroace.org