Everything you need to know about the EPBD
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive affects buildings in all EU countries. Learn here what this means for you.
Buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. This is why the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) was amended for the third time in 2018. It was made more stringent to drive building renovation towards smart infrastructure and reduce final energy consumption, in order to achieve the EU decarbonization goals.
What do you have to do to fulfill the EPBD?
The EPBD comes into effect in each EU country as of 2020. Each member state must transpose the directive into national law and prepare a new comprehensive long-term renovation strategy of its building stock.
The national laws will be based on the following main guidelines:
Existing non-residential buildings
For all existing non-residential buildings with a heating, ventilation or cooling system having an output higher than 290 kilowatts the requirements include retrofitting of the system with a building automation and control system (BACS) by 2025 with the following capabilities:
- Continuously monitoring, logging, analyzing and allowing for the adjustment of energy use
- Benchmarking the building’s energy efficiency, detecting losses in efficiency of technical building systems, and informing the person responsible for the facilities or technical building management about opportunities for energy efficiency improvement
- Allowing communication with connected technical building systems and other appliances inside the building and being interoperable with technical building systems across different types of proprietary technologies, devices and manufacturers.
Such equipment above (BACS, monitoring) exempts from otherwise mandatory regular inspections.
Existing residential buildings
Residential buildings shall be equipped with continuous electronic monitoring that measures systems’ efficiency and informs building owners or managers in case of faults or if servicing is necessary, to ensure optimum generation, distribution, storage and use of energy.
Such equipment above (BACS, monitoring) exempts from otherwise mandatory regular inspections.
Major renovation of existing buildings
For such, the directive drives local legislation as follows:
- In terms of building design, minimal energy performance levels must be met after renovations, as well as standards for healthy indoor climate conditions and for fire safety
- As to technical building infrastructure, installation of self-regulating devices for the separate regulation of the temperature in each room or, where justified, in a designated heated zone of the building unit
- Consider the installation of self-regulating devices for the separate regulation of the temperature in each room
- With respect to promoting electromobility, install a minimum number of electric vehicle charging points for parking spaces and/or cable conduits for future installations
- Improve the transparency of energy performance certificates by ensuring that all necessary parameters for calculations, both for certification and minimum energy performance requirements, are set out and applied consistently.
New buildings
For new buildings the criteria are both more comprehensive and more detailed, leading to a higher energy efficiency standard. In this context, Siemens can provide support with the technical infrastructures – please contact us for more information.
How is the EPBD implemented in my country?
Currently each EU member state adapts the directive into national law. We will keep you updated here. Contact us for more information.
Financing smart buildings: driving value in the "new normal"
Using future savings to fund the cost of smart buildings conversion
How can we help you?
If you have questions, comments or feedback, please feel free to contact us. We are ready to help!
