Cross-country analysis of the implementation of nearly zero-energy building standards across Europe

Abstract

Sustainability of the European society and economy will be based on renewable energy and resource efficiency. This implies among others the large scale deployment of nearly Zero-Energy Buildings. The technology is already available and proven; however the large scale uptake of nearly zero-energy building construction and renovation is a big challenge for all market actors. A substantial gap in reliable data on current market activities makes it difficult for policy-makers to evaluate the success of their policies as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires the EU-Member States to define nearly zero-energy building standards for new buildings and energy efficiency requirements for building renovation. Thus, the subject of this paper is to show the implications of a current policy scenario until 2050 in terms of the quality of the building stock, the related final energy demand and finally the associated investments and costs in four selected countries, namely Italy, Norway, Romania and Spain. As the results show there is a high potential for energy savings by 2050, which is partly lost due to the lack of strong building standards as assumed in the current policy scenario.