CoR Plenary (June 2022)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) on the renovation of buildings. Thus, through the European project ENERFUND, 2 online web-based surveys were conducted in 12 countries of the European Union. It was shown that the results varied significantly both between countries and age groups and, that, on average, EPCs did play a role both in renovation decisions and whether to rent/buy a certain flat. In addition, this paper presents major key drivers and parameters related to energy renovation investment mobilisation and suggests actions that can contribute to the promotion of investments for deep energy renovation of buildings.

Charalambides, Kyriacou, Blakeley, and Frances, International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 38, no. 1 (2018): 1–12.

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2018/844/EU introduced the smart readiness indicator (SRI) to provide a framework to evaluate and promote building smartness in Europe. In order to establish a methodological framework for the SRI calculation, two technical studies were launched, at the end of which a consolidated methodology to calculate the SRI of a building basingon a flexible and modular multicriteria assessment has been proposed. In this paper the authors applied the above-mentioned methodology to estimate the SRI of the Italian residential building stock in different scenarios.

Canale et al. Energies, 14, no. 20 (2021): 6442.

Building regulations are important policy instruments for increasing building energy efficiency. However, when it comes to actual energy use, studies have shown that improvements in building energy efficiency are offset by changes in the inhabitants’ comfort practices. Nevertheless, the improvement of energy efficiency continues to be a cornerstone in building regulations, with no consideration of how this simultaneously influences everyday practices. The example of Danish building regulations, which are among the strictest in Europe, is critically reviewed for the implications regulatory design can have for reducing energy consumption.

Gram-Hanssen et al. Building Research & Information 2018, Vol. 46, No. 7, 790–803.

In 2018, the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) included for the first time the application of a smart readiness indicator (SRI). Based on the fact that load shifting in and across buildings plays an increasingly important role to improve efficiency and alleviate the
integration of renewable energy systems, the SRI is also aimed at providing an indication of how well buildings can interact with the energy grids. With the clustering of buildings into larger entities, synergies related to the integration of renewable energy and load shifting can be efficiently exploited. However, current proposals for the SRI focus mainly on qualitative appraisals of the smartness of buildings and do not include the wider context of the districts. Quantitative approaches that can be easily applied at an early planning stage are still mostly missing.

Märzinger and Österreicher, Energies, 2020, 13

How accurately can official energy performance calculations assess the real energy use in high-performance houses? This question was investigated by analysing 537 dwellings. Data on building characteristics and calculated performance from the Flemish Energy Performance of Buildings (EPB) database were complemented with data from energy utilities and surveys of inhabitants, their socio-demographic characteristics and user behaviours. While the real and theoretical energy uses were strongly correlated, the official alculation method overestimated the heating energy use of most houses while neglecting important electricity end uses.

Delghust et al. Building Research & Information, 2015, Vol. 43, No. 6, 675–690,

In recent decades, the steady increase of energy consumption from building construction and operations cause atmospheric pollution and significant financial burden, mainly due to the high costs imposed from energy production. This study examines ways under which modern
designs of a building can be applied on construction and domestication while following conventional methods of construction, compared to a building that has been constructed and domesticated under bioclimatic architecture.

Kanteraki et al. Challenges, 2020, 11, 5.