1 - Benchmarking

Intercomparison of requirement levels in Member States

As requested by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) all Member States of the European Union have implemented energy performance requirements for new buildings, or will do this in due time. The strictness of the requirement levels is, for now, set on national level. Within ASIEPI method has been developed to compare the energy performance (EP) requirement levels among Europe.

Why is a comparison method of requirement levels necessary?
For various stakeholders an intercomparison of requirement levels between Member States is relevant. However, given the differences in EP assessment methodologies, climatic conditions, building practices and building use, the straightforward intercomparison of requirement levels in Member States does not give interpretable results. An intercomparison methodology is needed to help overcome barriers for effective future tightening of the requirement levels.

The main objective of this work package was to develop an instrument for intercomparison of EP requirement levels between Member States. With this instrument we intent to obtain a comparable overview of the EPBD requirement levels in the different Member States.

The instrument that is developed is far from trivial. In spite of the harmonisation efforts by the European Standardisation Committee (CEN), the calculation methods to assess the energy performance levels differ from country to country, at least for the time being. And even with harmonised standards there are large differences between countries related to building use, such as:

  • indoor climate conditions,
  • outdoor climate,
  • construction practice,
  • availability,
  • usability and cost of technologies and labour,
  • levels of compliance with the regulation
  • and many more..

Who benefits from a comparison method?
A comparison is crucial for the European Commission in order to monitor and judge the progress of the EP requirements of individual MS:

  • In which MS do the minimum EP requirements have a large potential to be tightened and which MS already has very strict EP requirements?
  • Is it realistic to expect from a MS a steep improvement of the energy requirements?
  • Is it realistic that a MS shows only a gentle improvement?

The comparison of the energy performance requirement levels in Europe is not only interesting to the European Institutions. Also Member States and industrial parties may benefit from it.

Member States like to know where they stand compared to their neighbours. And since Member States with comparable requirement levels are bound to have similar challenges when further tightening their requirements, it is good to know which countries to turn to in sharing experiences and for finding possible solutions. Industrial parties can benefit from information on the energy performance requirement levels of various countries in Europe. Depending on the requirement levels certain new technologies could become of interest in a country.

 

Last update: 20/05/2010