Methodology for developing ambitious strategies for energy renovation of national building stocks

Panel: 2. Energy efficiency policies: What delivers?

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Author:
Dan Staniaszek, The Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), Belgium

Abstract

The new Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU (EED), published in October 2012, includes a requirement for Member States to establish long-term strategies for mobilising investment in the renovation of their existing building stocks. A first version of these strategies needs to be published by 30 April 2014, and then every three years thereafter. These national strategies could become a key vehicle for accelerating the rate, and increasing the depth, of building renovation throughout the EU.

In order to facilitate that process, the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) has developed “A Guide to Developing Strategies for Building Energy Renovation”. The guide aims to assist Member States in the planning as well as delivery of national renovation strategies and it identifies a stepwise approach to developing a national renovation strategy, in accordance with the requirements in EED Article 4.

This paper argues the case for Member States to be ambitious and visionary when considering the potential for sustainable energy renovation of buildings. The paper presents a summary of the guide to developing renovation strategies published by BPIE, with a special focus on the factors that are critical to the successful development of a strategy. Eight success parameters are identified, ranging from establishing political support for building renovation and factoring in the value of co-benefits in economic appraisal, to the need for reviewing barriers and designing financing vehicles to support deep renovation.