Renovation Wave Archives

As the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive enters the home stretch, it faces a first crucial test in the European Parliament this week, where opposition is lying in wait.

After thwarting a proposed EU ban on new fossil fuel cars, Germany's liberal FDP party is now launching an attack on the EU's buildings directive, which envisages a Europe-wide renovation obligation to reduce the sector's emissions.

EU lawmakers have agreed to increase the ambition of the bloc’s energy efficiency directive, making energy savings of 11.7% by 2030 mandatory in a bid to further the bloc's climate and energy independence goals.

The European Parliament has adopted its position on the revision of the EU buildings directive, putting it on collision course with the 27 EU countries as EU lawmakers seek to boost renovation rates in the bloc.

The European Parliament's political parties have agreed to a joint position on the reform of the EU’s buildings directive, saving EU-wide minimum energy performance standards while opening the door to contentious hydrogen-based heating.

As negotiations within the European Parliament on the Energy Performance of Buildings directive head into the final stretch, political demands on heating become the centre of attention.

With a tripling of the current renovation rate, almost all residential buildings in the European Union could be renovated by 2050, saving 44% of final energy used in space heating, a new report shows.

An outrage in domestic Italian politics has put the reform of the EU’s energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) in peril, blowing up a tenuous political compromise from December 2022.

Buildings are a challenge to decarbonise because of the high upfront investment associated with renovation, but campaigners say new financial instruments could help fix this.

As EU countries struggle to agree on energy performance targets for buildings, Paris and Berlin are now counting on the European Parliament's backing to introduce more ambition into the EU's green buildings law.

The Commission has lodged significant complaints with Belgium, Austria and Germany for their failure to put the 2018 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) into national law.

The German government’s funding priorities have shifted away from supporting renovations to speeding up the switch from gas boilers to heat pumps, a move which leaves energy efficiency activists dismayed.

The EU’s push to create a bloc-wide framework of rules for so-called one-stop-shops, all in one contractor organisers that conduct building renovations, is shaping up amid work on the efficiency and buildings directives.

The German government plans to spend €177.5 billion of the federal budget on climate action and the transformation of the country’s economy between 2023 and 2026, with a focus on increasing the energy efficiency of buildings.

European industry has long failed to implement easy measures to reduce its energy use, as supplies become fraught and prices skyrocket, EU leaders seek to make it  obligatory to reduce energy consumption by all means necessary.

The Belgian government drew attention to measures already in place to reduce gas consumption as more EU states were being cut off from Russian supplies earlier this week.

Government incentives for the installation of new fossil fuel boilers should be stopped “much more quickly” because of Russia's war in Ukraine, an EU official explained, saying the current 2027 end date is “far too late” and must be brought forward.

The EU’s building stock is responsible for about 40% of the EU’s total energy consumption and 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions. The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) wants to tackle the issue for real.

The European Commission’s plan to eliminate Russian energy imports by 2027 features a strong focus on energy efficiency. For the energy intensive buildings sectors, this means yet another push to insulate homes fast.

Primary energy consumption is a metric that is commonly used worldwide, including by the European Commission. Most experts agree though that the metric is not fit for purpose when it comes to measuring energy use in buildings.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the EU to start getting serious about its energy policy and cut its reliance on Russia. To do that, building renovation must be a priority in the EU's REPowerEU Action Plan, due in May, writes Adrian Joyce.