Energy Savings Potential in the Building Stock of nine Member States of European Union Krzysztof Klobut and Pekka Tuominen VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland Corresponding email:
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SUMMARY The success of energy certification in European Union (imposed by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) depends to a large extent on the conditions in Member States. Energy consumption in residential buildings varies greatly depending on the type of building, construction year and many country-specific factors, such as climate. The countries have very different energy savings potentials depending on the size and condition of the housing stock. In absolute terms, the greatest savings potentials are in Germany and the United Kingdom mostly due to the large size of their housing stock. Relative to present energy consumption, the greatest savings potentials were identified in Latvia, Bulgaria and Portugal. In general, it seems that cost effective energy savings of approximately 10% can be achieved by 2020 in most countries and 20% by 2030. A total annual energy saving of approximately 150 TWh by 2020 and 280 TWh by 2030 appears possible. INTRODUCTION The European Commission sees improving energy efficiency as a key element in the Community energy policy. It is described by the Commission as a the most effective way to improve security of energy supply, reduce carbon emissions, increase competitiveness and stimulate the development of markets for new energy-efficient technologies. Households have been estimated to represent 27 % of the energy savings potential by the year 2020. [1] The Article 7 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) [2] states that residential buildings of 1000 m2 or less must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when they are sold, rented out or constructed. The EPC includes a label rating of the energy efficiency of the dwelling and recommendations of cost-effective energy saving measures. The basic idea of the certificate is that it assumes that household’s decision processes are based on financial savings and by informing the household about cost effective energy saving measures this will result in marked behavioural change. However, as there is no obligation to carry out the recommended saving measures, it is unclear to what extent energy savings will be realised in existing buildings due to the EPBD. Experiences with prior labelling and auditing programmes show that not all cost-effective saving measures are carried out. If these earlier experiences are an indication of the effectiveness of the EPBD, there is the risk that a large part of the energy saving potential in existing dwellings will not be realised under the EPBD. The success of EPC depends to a large extent on the conditions in member states. In the IDEAL-EPBD project both technical and institutional country specific characteristics were
investigated. This paper is focused on reporting the latest estimate obtained on energy savings achievable by enhancing the energy performance of the building stock. METHODS Housing stock inventory The research was limited to privately owned residential buildings in the participating member countries of the IDEAL-EPBD project, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The size, composition and energy consumption of the housing stock and the barriers and policies pertaining to energy efficiency in each country were studied. The focus on privately owned dwellings was chosen because: consumer behaviour is especially relevant and determines what action takes place in this part of the housing stock, private dwelling owners is a target group that is hard to reach for policy makers (much more difficult than housing cooperatives or municipalities - often owners of rental dwellings), and privately owned dwellings form the bulk of the dwelling stock in Europe (71%). The inventory of housing stock was compiled from data collected by the IDEAL-EPBD research teams in each participating country. Each country provided their respective stock data including, but not limited to, the following information: Size of housing stock categorized by two general types of buildings: single-family houses and apartment buildings. Dwellings were also grouped by age, although different age bands were used by most countries. Past and expected rates of renovations aiming at improving energy efficiency of homes. Types and costs of different energy efficiency measures, etc. The inventory formed the basis for calculating the expected saving potential under the EPBD for existing dwellings and thus provides insight into total cost-effective saving potential in dwellings that are
