With a tripling of the present renovation charge, nearly all residential buildings within the European Union may very well be renovated by 2050, saving 44% of ultimate vitality utilized in house heating, a brand new report reveals.
The decarbonisation of Europe’s constructing inventory is a significant problem. Buildings nonetheless account for 40% of the EU’s complete vitality consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions, and these numbers have persistently resisted efforts to cut back them.
Already in 2020, the European Fee careworn that constructing renovations “might cut back the EU’s complete vitality consumption by 5-6% and decrease carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%.”
As EU lawmakers study a proposed revision of the bloc’s Vitality Efficiency of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a brand new report tempts lawmakers with big-time vitality financial savings. Offered the tempo of dwelling renovations is elevated considerably.
If all present residential buildings within the EU have been renovated, “44% of ultimate vitality used for house heating, may very well be saved,” says the report launched on Wednesday (18 January) by the Constructing Efficiency Institute (PBIE), a think-tank.
The most important winners, in absolute phrases, could be Germany, France, Italy and Poland. They might save respectively 214, 113, 115, and 52 Terawatt hours (TWh) of vitality if all their buildings have been to be renovated, the examine discovered.
For Germany, the potential financial savings quantity to 30% of immediately’s annual electrical energy consumption – on heating alone.
However getting there received’t be a straightforward activity. The report careworn that European roofs would should be renovated, dropping their common temperature pass-through capability, the so-called u-value, by an element of six. Home partitions would should be made extra environment friendly by an element of 5.
“That is inside our attain. Key details are that insulation is an already present and out there expertise,” explains Katarzyna Wardal-Szmit, EU public affairs supervisor at Knauf Insulation.
Moreover, “bettering vitality efficiency of residential constructing envelopes within the EU contributes to EU vitality safety” and attaining the EU’s local weather targets, the authors of the report defined.
“In line with the Worldwide Vitality Company, in 2023 the European Union might see a supply-demand hole in pure fuel as broad as 57 billion cubic meters,” careworn Wardal-Szmit.
A lot of the possibly lacking fuel may very well be compensated via renovating houses, as fossil fuel is a key supply of family warmth. For Europe as a complete, full renovation of EU residential buildings would save 777 TWh of fuel – nearly half the quantity Russia exported to Europe in 2021, the examine discovered.
To realize the diploma of constructing renovation needed to attain this purpose, the authors begin from the present charge of complete constructing renovation of 1%.
Wile the EU’s flagship Renovation Wave initiative goals to double that charge to 2%, the BPIE examine says a charge of three% is required by 2035 to deliver all residential buildings in Europe on the needed stage of vitality consumption. And to hit net-zero emissions by mid-century, the renovation charge have to be introduced as much as 4% by 2045.
In any other case, if renovations stagnate at 2%, solely 66% of the estimated vitality financial savings potential can be harvested, the examine discovered.
The most important potential winners
Seven nations stand to profit probably the most from a housing renovation push, and will obtain an vitality financial savings potential of at the least 50% as a result of age of their constructing inventory, present vitality consumption, native local weather and residential housing composition.
These are Luxembourg (60%), the Netherlands (57%), Romania (56%), Bulgaria (56%), Cyprus (54%), Malta (53%), Hungary (51%) and Austria (51%).
“For instance, greater relative financial savings within the Netherlands in comparison with Poland originate from a better last vitality demand per sq. meter,” the authors word, stating that solely 56% of the buildings in Poland are single-family houses versus 85% within the Netherlands”.
Furthermore, 44% of the constructing inventory within the Netherlands was constructed earlier than 1970, a interval when building materials was scarce, and insulation carried out worse. In Poland, in contrast, 35% of buildings have been constructed after 2000 and thus carry out higher – which explains why the nation’s vitality financial savings potential “solely” reaches 39%.
Coverage suggestions
To reap these financial savings, the authors of the report name on lawmakers to strengthen the EU’s Vitality Efficiency of Buildings directive, which is presently underneath revision.
For one, they insist that the EPBD ought to outline “deep renovations” that may comprise warmth bleed-off and prioritise them.
Moreover, the constructing’s directive ought to enhance the renovations of worst-performing buildings via so-called “minimal vitality efficiency requirements” (MEPS). This ought to be performed by specializing in particular person buildings – one thing EU nations fiercely oppose.
The authors additionally stress the significance of redirecting funding. “Funds presently used for emergency reduction measures in opposition to excessive vitality costs ought to be progressively phased out and redirected to help constructing renovation programmes,” they insist. There, the main target ought to be on the worst-performing buildings.
Authorities help for fossil fuel boilers, that warmth a lot of Central Europe’s homes, ought to be “stopped, and funding ought to be redirected to help the rollout of renewable heating alternate options.”
[Edited by Frédéric Simon and Alice Taylor]
