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The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)
The Directive 2002/91/EC (EPBD, 2003) of the European Parliament and Council on energy efficiency of buildings ("Energy Performance of Buildings Directive", EPBD) was adopted on 16th December 2002 and came into force on 4th January 2003.
This Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is considered a very important legislative component of energy efficiency activities of the European Union.
The Directive is set to promote the improvement of energy performance of buildings with the following requirements to be implemented by the Member States:
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the general framework for a methodology of calculation of the integrated energy performance of buildings;
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the application of minimum requirements on the energy performance of new buildings;
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the application of minimum requirements on the energy performance of large existing buildings that are subject to major renovation;
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energy performance certification of buildings;
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regular inspection of boilers and of air-conditioning systems in buildings and in addition an assessment of the heating installation in which the boilers are more than 15 years old;
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requirements for experts and inspectors for the certification of buildings, the drafting of the accompanying recommendations and the inspection of boilers and air-conditioning systems.
Within these general principles and objectives, it is the individual responsibility of each EU Member State to choose measures that corresponds best to its particular situation (subsidiarity principle). However, it is clear that collaboration and information exchange can highly facilitate the implementation.
EPBD recast proposal
On the 13th of November 2008 the European Commission presented a proposal for the recast of the Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) [4]. The recast intends to strengthen the effectiveness and impact of the EPBD. The Buildings Platform Information Paper P149 provides more information on the possible impact on the calculation procedures. More information: www.buildingsplatform.eu (from early May 2009: www.buildup.eu).
Mandate to CEN for European standards to support the EPBD
The European Commission, DG TREN and DG Enterprise, gave Mandate 343 to CEN (2004). It ordered CEN to develop a methodology for calculating the integrated energy performance of buildings in accordance with the terms set forth in Directive 2002/91/EC (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive-EPBD).
Access to this methodology in the form of European Standards makes it possible to coordinate the various measures for improving the energy efficiency in buildings that are used in the Member States. It will increase the accessibility, transparency and objectivity of energy performance assessment in the Member States (as mentioned in recital (10) of the EPBD).
Status and role of the CEN standards
The CEN standards to support the EPBD were successively published in the years 2007-2008 (see the so called "Umbrella Document", introduced in Chapter 7, for a systematic overview).
The role of the EPBD-CEN standards is to provide a common European concept and common methods for preparing energy performance certification and energy inspections of buildings.
However, the implementation of these CEN standards in the EU Member States (MS) is far from trivial: the standards cover a wide variety of levels and a wide range of interlaced topics from different areas of expertise. They comprise different levels of complexity and allow differentiation and national choices at various levels for different applications.
The commission supported the development of the CEN standard by giving a mandate to CEN to produce the standards needed to support the implementation of the EPBD. It will be beneficial for Europe if all Member States use these standards as reference. However building regulation is an area where the EU Member States claim their national privilege to formulate the national legislation (also the EPBD adopted the subsidiarity principle in this respect).
Regional differences in climate, building tradition, legal settings, quality assurance and user behaviour in Europe will have impact on the input data and consequently on the energy performance. These differences will also lead to different choices when it comes to finding the optimum balance between accuracy and simplicity. The standards developed under the EPBD have to be flexible enough to accommodate these differences.
Consequently, although most MS say they use the CEN standards as a basis, as these procedures are in accordance with the EPBD, most of the Member states do not require the direct use of these standards.
The standards are worked out in such a way that direct practical use, without supporting national information (national annexes), may be difficult. In some MS part of the content will be found in national publications or regulations, in some other MS using the EPBD standards is always an alternative solution.
On the long term, harmonisation of the standards will also be attractive for all Member States. The maintenance and further development costs will be lower compared with the situation where all MS have to do this on their own. In addition, there is great advantage in having harmonised standards throughout Europe. The wide scale implementation of new technical solutions, equipment and systems will become easier if the performance is calculated in a similar way. This means that the industry may have a bigger market throughout Europe which may also benefit their opportunities on the world market.
The CENSE project organizes the information on the CEN standards and the feed back from the Member States, to prepare recommendations to CEN for the next generation of CEN (and/or CEN-ISO) standards on the energy performance of buildings.
The global perspective: ISO
Practical tools in the form of standards are also needed at global level. Consequently, there are also initiatives in ISO on standardization of energy performance of buildings. Some of the developed and/or updated EPBD CEN standards have already been voted in parallel. This means that these standards are CEN standards and ISO standards at the same time. This includes EN ISO 13790 as well as the series of standards dealing with thermal transmission properties. This work is done in parallel in ISO Technical Committee TC 163, "Thermal performance and energy use in the built environment". Also other ISO Technical Committees are preparing draft standards that are related to the energy performance of buildings, e.g. in ISO/TC 205, "Building environment design".
It is expected that more of the current EPBD CEN standards may be adopted by ISO/TC 163 and/or ISO/TC205 as well. This means that the current EN’s may become EN ISO standards. This could be done without changing the technical content of the current EN's.
Global consensus on such methods provides transparency for all interested parties. It enables meaningful comparisons of actual energy use and the potential of energy saving and renewable energy technologies at a global level. This is essential for international cooperation to solve the environmental and climate change problems.
The ISO standards are widely accepted and may even increase the market opportunities of the European industry.
Overview of the relations between the standards: the "Umbrella Document" (CEN/TR 15615)
Introduction
Under the mandate M343 the CEN-EPBD standards were produced, consisting of 43 titles or parts, covering the different elements of the calculation procedures, system inspection procedures and other relevant procedures.
The set of CEN-EPBD standards can be grouped as follows:
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The building physics standards, e.g. describing the calculation of heat transfer by transmission and ventilation, load and summer temperature, solar transmittance and the calculation of the energy need for heating and cooling of the building.
The generation efficiency.
The emission efficiency.
Domestic hot water systems.
Low temperature heating and cooling systems integrated in building elements (embedded systems).
- A series of supporting standards on:
Lighting systems for buildings (including the effect of daylight).
Controls and automation for building services.
Classification of the indoor environment.
Financial economic evaluation of sustainable energy applications.
- A set of standards on inspection:
Boilers and heating systems.
Cooling- and AC systems.
Ventilation systems.
And, last but not least, the two key standards on expressing energy performance and for energy certification of buildings, the overall energy use, primary energy and CO2 emissions, the assessment of energy use and definition of energy performance ratings.
Umbrella Document, CEN/TR 15615
A guidance document has been published, as a CEN Technical Report (TR) on the application of the standards, CEN/TR 15615, the so called "Umbrella Document". It shows the main relations between the standards.
The main relations between different (clusters of) CEN standards are shown in figure 1, a similar diagram as can be found in the "Umbrella Document". The scheme reflects the main EPBD requirements:
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Minimum requirements (left box at top of diagram).
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Energy performance certificates (middle).
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System inspections (right).
Annex C of this CEN report provides a list of definitions, and Annex D a list of principal symbols, that are used consistently in the standards.
Figure: Basic scheme of CEN standards
Standards for the minimum requirements and energy performance certificate
Further on in this report we put the spotlight on three of the top level standards for the energy certificate and the minimum energy performance requirements: EN 15217, EN 15603 and EN ISO 13790.
Standards for system inspections
The system inspection standards cover heating systems, air conditioning and ventilation; the latter is not directly referred to in one of the EPBD articles. However, ventilation systems are very often integrated in the cooling and heating systems of buildings. Not inspecting ventilation systems seems illogical. The EPBD indicates that energy saving measures should not lead to negative effects on the indoor climate conditions, "such as inadequate ventilation". As the ventilation system plays an important role in this, inspection of the performance of these systems seems essential.
Practical use
Experiences and tips and tricks on the implementation and practical use of the CEN standards in the national or regional building regulations.
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