Laying the foundations for low-energy homes

The lighting, heating and cooling of buildings accounts for a huge amount of Europe’s carbon emissions.

When European Union officials, diplomats and politicians go to the international climate change talks in Copenhagen next month, they will hold out the promise of cutting the bloc’s emissions by 30% by 2020 – if other rich countries make similar efforts. 

The credibility of this offer can be judged by an apparently mundane proposal about boilers and loft-lagging. The EU is in the closing stages of revising its 2002 law on the energy performance of buildings, which is something of a test-case for the EU’s ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in sectors of the economy outside heavy industry.

The lighting, heating and cooling of buildings together account for 40% of all Europe’s carbon emissions. Improving energy-use in buildings holds out the prospect of potentially huge savings: the European Commission estimates that by 2020 Europe would need 11% less energy if buildings were greener.

The current buildings law requires governments to set minimum standards for the energy efficiency of new buildings and of old buildings undergoing renovation. But the law is limited to edifices with a floor area greater than 1,000 square metres, which rules out almost three-quarters of the stock.

In its draft proposal, the Commission proposes to abolish this threshold. Just about everyone agrees that this is a sensible move, but the EU institutions are divided about other aspects of the proposal.

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The European Parliament wants a more ambitious law and has called for all new buildings to be zero-energy by 2019, meaning that they must produce as much energy as they consume. The Commission came up with a less-demanding requirement: that governments promote carbon-neutral or low-emissions buildings, without any deadline.

Different definitions

But agreeing on what is a low-energy building is not straightforward. Some member states have already come up with their own definitions, but these vary widely, partly because of different climatic conditions. At least eight countries have drawn up tough energy-efficiency strategies for new buildings, according to a survey by the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EuroACE), which includes firms such as Philips lighting and Pilkington, the glass-makers. EuroACE argues that the Commission needs to use the new proposal to encourage other member states to do the same.

MEPs also want more money to be devoted to energy efficiency, as well as VAT reductions for energy-efficient products for buildings. They have their eye on various sources of funding, including the European Investment Bank and the EU’s structural funds, and they would like to set up a dedicated energy-efficiency fund in the EU budget. The Parliament also wants to close loopholes, such as an exemption for holiday homes used for fewer than four months per year.

But the Council of Ministers is opposed to the Parliament’s tax and spending additions to the Commission’s proposal, which may yet prove to be one of the most difficult sticking-points between the law-makers.

Arguments over methodological definitions of low-energy buildings are also proving difficult. In general, the Parliament favours setting an EU-wide methodology in Brussels, whereas national governments want more flexibility. The most recent three-way negotiating session between the Council, Parliament and Commission was “not very constructive”, according to one EU source. Talks resume next week (17 November) and both the Parliament and the Council are anxious for an agreement.

Confident

Silvia-Adriana Ticau, a Romanian Socialist MEP who is leading negotiations on behalf of the Parliament, says that she is confident of an agreement with the Council.

“It should be ambitious and easy to be implemented by the member states,” she says, pointing out that 20 countries have failed to implement the existing law correctly. She stresses the importance of having a law that will be a tool to inform people about cost savings and energy savings.

But there is a big gap in this law: the vast majority of buildings that will be standing in 50 years’ time already exist today. Commission officials are considering launching a ‘European Building Initiative’, a grand plan to renovate 15 million buildings by 2020, according to early drafts of the delayed energy efficiency action plan. Efficiency improvements would be funded by loans from the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. But even if this plan is implemented, it would take a long time to make a difference, says Andrew Warren at EuroACE.

“It would take us until well into the next century, to around 2130, to complete upgrading them all – even allowing for those which will inevitably be pulled down in the interim. The capacity certainly exists to deliver far more,” Warren says.