Page 28 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2019 publication
P. 28

28  Spring 2019 European Energy Innovation

    BUILDINGS ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Want to reach climate
neutrality by 2050?
Then start with our buildings!

Adrian Joyce is Secretary General      sets out the actions needed to            can play in decarbonising the EU. It
of EuroACE, the European Alliance of   achieve climate neutrality by 2050. It    correctly recalls that buildings use
Companies for Energy Efficiency in     describes eight potential pathways to     above 40% of all primary energy
Buildings, the leading industry voice  achieve its aim, each one containing a    and that there is a huge potential to
on energy performance of buildings     different emphasis and different mix      dramatically reduce energy use in
within the EU policy context. In this  of technologies. The road to climate      buildings through higher renovation
editorial comment he outlines why      neutrality must, it says, be built on     rates although it does not mention
the EU cannot expect to achieve        seven strategic buildings blocks.         that the higher rates must be coupled
its ambition for a climate-neutral                                               with higher levels of ambition in
economy by 2050 without solving the    The first, and for me most important,     renovation projects. The focus
energy waste crisis in our buildings.  building block mentioned is to            then changes to a long text on fuel
                                       maximise the benefits from energy         switching and the use of sustainable
A Clean Planet for All is the          efficiency including zero emission        renewable heating to achieve the
surprising start to the title of the   buildings. I fully agree that putting     decarbonisation objective.
recently launched Communication        energy efficiency first is right and
of the European Commission on          I was pleased to see that it is the       From my perspective, the
the European strategic long-term       first building block mentioned in the     Communication has not accounted
vision for a prosperous, modern,       Commission document. However,             for the supporting analysis in
competitive and climate neutral        it is practically the only place in the   an adequate manner. In the
economy in which the Commission        entire Communication where energy         analysis (page 90), we see that the
                                       efficiency gets the prominence it         Commission acknowledges that the
         IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS IN          deserves.                                 target renovation rate to achieve our
   SUPPORT OF THE COMMISSION                                                     ambitions should be at least 3% per
  COMMUNICATION COM(2018) 773          My alarm at this lack of attention        year up to 2050. We then find that
                                       to the role that energy efficiency        on page 102, the renovation rates
           A Clean Planet for all      can and must play in getting the          used in the eight modelled scenarios
   A European long-term strategic      EU on the path to a climate-neutral       are a maximum of 1.8% and then only
  vision for a prosperous, modern,     economy by 2050 was further               in the residential sector! This clearly
   competitive and climate neutral     accentuated when I took a close look      demonstrates that the full potential
                                       at the logo used by the European          for energy savings in the buildings
                    economu            Commission in conjunction with the        sector has not been considered,
                                       Communication (see picture). In           thus contradicting the analysis that
Is this a graphic illustration of how  all the icons used in the doughnut        accompanies the Communication.
the role of buildings is overlooked    shape, there is just one building and it
in the long-term decarbonisation       is a factory building used to make the    The analysis of the buildings sector
strategy?                              observer think of industry. Practically   leaves the reader with an accurate
                                       all the other icons are ones that lead    appreciation of the challenge of
                                       the observer to think of renewable        achieving highly energy efficiency
                                       energy supply or efficient products       and decarbonised buildings as it
                                       and none make you think of our            describes an integrated approach
                                       buildings in which we all spend nearly    that includes a narrative on improved
                                       90% of our time!                          energy performance of the building
                                                                                 envelope that must be coupled with
                                       The Communication, on page 8,             optimised technical building systems
                                       correctly refers to the role that higher  and appropriately designed building
                                       energy performance of buildings           automation and control systems.

                                                                                 www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33