According to BPIE modelling, up to 777 Terawatt hours (TWh) in energy savings – equivalent to the electricity consumption of Germany and Spain combined – would be achieved by insulating roofs and walls of the EU’s residential buildings.

“What we are finding this year is that the gap between where we are today, and where we should be, is growing,” said Oliver Rapf, the executive director of Buildings Performance Institute Europe, a nonprofit think tank, and one of the authors of the report. “That’s a real problem. That means that our buildings, our offices, our homes, our schools are not fit, at the moment, to meet the climate challenge and that we need to accelerate action.”

Secondo lo studio di Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) isolando solai e tetti in Europa, si risparmierebbero 254 TWh all'anno, che rappresentano fino al 14% della domanda di energia per il riscaldamento nel settore residenziale dell'UE nel 2020, portando ad un risparmio energetico annuo equivalente a 26 miliardi di metri cubi di gas fossile, circa il 17% delle importazioni di gas dell'Europa dalla Russia nel 2021.

The challenge to curtail the energy demand of buildings is enormous. Up to 97 percent of our buildings are inefficient. However, if we prioritize energy efficiency and building decarbonization, we can use known technologies to deliver a long-term solution with multiple benefits : for energy security, for climate action, for jobs and green growth, for individual households and for society at large.

Europe won’t meet its goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050 if countries don’t adopt more stringent and consistent requirements for buildings

Improving the energy performance of European buildings is the most reliable and safest strategy to reduce the EU’s exposure to future energy cost spikes, and policymaking should move from serious words to serious action and serious political support.

As Europe embarks on a road to climate-neutrality and post-COVID economic recovery, a strong and ambitious national renovation strategy is key to impactful spending of recovery funds available to Member States. This should prompt Member States to improve upon their Long-term renovation strategies.

Since January, all newly built homes and commercial real estate must be near-zero-energy buildings (nZEB), but a wide variation in standards applied from country to country is undermining EU climate goals.

European efforts to prevent global warming by constructing more efficient buildings are faltering, according to an independent think tank that specializes in climate-neutral construction.

Carbon tax on the fuel used to heat Europe’s buildings is the most effective price signal to decarbonise Europe’s building stock, which is in desperate need of renovation to meet the EU’s climate ambition.

Choosing the right strategy and taking action early to address the hidden carbon emissions in the building sector becomes more and more urgent.

Fulfilling the Paris Agreement’s climate-neutrality commitments by 2050 demands significant efforts from the building sector. All actors from across the entire buildings value chain need to increase decarbonisation efforts

Mesurer l’empreinte carbone des bâtiments sur tout leur cycle de vie est une pratique encore peu répandue. Un think tank européen veut inciter Bruxelles à mobiliser les Etats-membres sur le sujet.

Les Etats membres privilégient la décarbonation de leur mix énergétique mais délaissent la performance énergétique de leur parc immobilier.

Los estados miembros de la Unión Europea tienen hasta 2050 para poner a punto su parque inmobiliario y convertirlos en activos neutros de carbono y eficientes energéticamente.

El director ejecutivo de Building Performance Institute Europe (Bpie) apunta a que los los estados miembros conseguirán la neutralidad climática en el parque inmobiliario en 2050.

The long-term renovation strategies of the EU member states are not on track to deliver climate-neutral buildings by 2050, indicating the need for a full revision of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive .

The European Union must set a precent of maximum ambition in the proposed revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), expected in Q4 this year, writes Oliver Rapf. Aiming anywhere below 100% misses the mark.

A new report launched today by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) finds that EU Member States continue to underplay the role of the building sector in delivering a climate-neutral Europe.

The long-term renovations strategies that EU countries submitted last year to the European Commission are not in line with the bloc’s objective of reaching climate-neutrality by 2050, according to fresh analysis due to be published this week.

While the European Commission is well-positioned to initiate the development and implementation of a new European Bauhaus, it must be truly open to the ideas of a wide array of contributors and committed to supporting a diversity of perspectives.

On average these countries have tougher building regulations and EPC A thresholds, which means that the benchmark for what is being considered ‘sustainable’ or ‘green’ will also become more difficult to reach.

Nous suggérons de diminuer de seulement 10 % cette surface. La pandémie nous a montré qu’il est possible de changer de mode de vie. Et il peut s’agir de gagner en confort également, par exemple des personnes devenues âgées peuvent apprécier un logement plus petit et mieux chauffé.

At the moment, we’re at 0.2% deep renovation rate or at 1% if you take all renovations into account. So the challenge is enormous, but we also know, looking at other sectors and how quickly they have gone through a transformation.

Member states need to roll up their sleeves and start working on implementing national and local renovation waves across Europe

Refocusing sustainability on a human-centric view can provide greater comfort, health, and enhance (instead of compromise) society's wellness.

An incredible number of buildings are energy inefficient, requiring a robust effort of renovation. It is widely agreed that at least 3% of the building stock must be renovated annually in order to meet carbon reduction goals

Considering the urgency of decarbonisation, we must prioritise close alignment between the Strategy for smart sector integration and the Renovation Wave initiative with the principle of efficiency first at the foundation.

Renovating a country’s buildings and homes represents a massive opportunity for sustainable economic recovery, health, well-being, and CO2 reduction

Establishing a sound evidence base to fill the knowledge gaps and communicating the health and well-being benefits of retrofits more widely both at EU and Member State level would bring attention and awareness

The scale of the investment opportunity is enormous, and while large figures for the economic recovery are currently featuring high in the political debate, we are presenting an updated analysis what investment is needed to deeply renovate Europe’s buildings.

Investing in the energy renovation of our building stock is a very rewarding choice.

As we are confronted by the Corona crisis it is time to consider combined responses to our biggest challenges. We can address climate change and support the economic recovery at the same time.

The European Green Deal must be central to the recovery programme needed to transition out of the crisis caused by COVID-19. And the European Commission’s upcoming building renovation wave should be at the centre of it

Architecture and Construction, Spain, sites BPIE’s recommendations for the EU Green Deal in a call to decarbonise Spain’s buildings and cities, while also maintaining affordable housing.

Today in Poland, the condition of single-family houses is poor, 70 percent requires thermomodernization, while only 1 percent can be considered energy efficient.

Klimaneutrale Gebäude gibt es nicht geschenkt. Sie müssen wahrscheinlich stark gefördert werden.

Making our buildings climate-proof is not only about reducing the 36% of CO2 emissions they are responsible for, but about doing so while caring for the people that live in them.

With deadlines looming, some advice for EU member states to speed up progress on their national building renovation strategies.

Investing in building renovation also greatly improves the health, well-being and productivity of European citizens, says a study by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), a not-for-profit think tank.

Buildings have the potential to be at the forefront of providing flexibility to the energy system, through energy production, control, storage and demand response, as well as green charging stations for electric vehicles.

Cerca del 97% de los edificios de la UE deberán ser modernizados para alcanzar el objetivo de descarbonización para 2050, pero sólo entre el 0,4% y el 1,2% de los edificios son reformados anualmente.

Two-thirds (65%) of the European building stock was built before 1980, about 97% of the EU’s buildings must be upgraded to achieve the 2050 decarbonisation goal, but only 0.4-1.2% are renovated each year

Focusing on the health, well-being and performance of staff, students and patients will boost property values, financial returns and societal gains.

Policy innovation is challenging, and it requires novelty in all its stages including the design (and its drivers), the implementation and evaluation.

The project, aimed mostly at municipal and national public officers and at the civil society, will enable the target groups to fulfil the Clean Energy Package requirements while creating lasting benefits in the two countries.

The project will design and develop an approach to replicate and scale up innovative policies for deep renovation, in view of the future creation of the Building Policy Innovation Exchange (BPIX) platform.

El valor interior de un edificio: vinculación de la calidad ambiental interior y el rendimiento energético en la regulación del edificio

Energy efficiency standards are needed to force landlords to reduce the energy use of their buildings for the good of the climate and their tenants, argue Jan Rosenow from the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) and Sibyl Steuwer from the Buildings Performance Institute Europe

Se estima que al menos el 10% de los hogares alemanes sufre pobreza energética.

Considering that 97% of the existing building stock needs to be upgraded, the only way to achieve the 2050 vision is to renovate most of our building stock.

The European Union's climate and energy goals entail a deep transformation of the building stock.

Cost-effective renovations of buildings and the overall improvement of their energy performances are surely key in this respect.

There is a simple truth about EU climate policy: If it does not put energy efficiency first, it will not meet its objectives cost-effectively. And if it does not try to do that, it may not meet them at all

Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and of district heating systems are at first glance two separate jobs, but only by linking them can real effects be achieved, as this creates a synergy and improves the efficient use of energy.

When designing buildings, transitioning from theory to practice is more difficult than expected: the design is often based on simulations, and when the building is finally operational, there is often very little feedback on the theoretical principles.

Tres años después de que el informe del BPIE situase la española como una de las "estrategias mejor valoradas por su evaluación técnica del parque existente y de las oportunidades de ahorro energético", la situación y la situación ha cambiado sustancialmente.

Our low carbon strategies need us to increase our ambition, our population segments suffering from fuel poverty need greater ambition. All of us need greater ambition.

Im Zuge der gestern gestarteten Verhandlungen zur europäischen Gebäuderichtlinie (EPBD) hat die Bundesregierung die Chance, sich für eine langfristige, sozial gerechte und nachhaltige Gebäudesanierung einzusetzen.

Buildings, transport and power sectors are the three biggest CO2 pollutors in Europe.

Building efficiency is playing a crucial role in the EU’s drive to decarbonise the economy, meet its climate goals and improve public health. Inefficient buildings, after all, require more energy and are often detrimental to people with respiratory illnesses.

Energy renovations are not just about energy. Of course, they bring huge amounts of savings to utility bills – just as they slash greenhouse gas emissions – but building refurbishments can also have staggering and unexpected knock-on effects for our social, economic and personal lives.

Initially considered the “icons of consumerist society,” shopping centers are now becoming lighthouses of energy efficient systems and sustainable architecture.

The lack of effective EU legislation for the decarbonisation of Europe’s heating and cooling systems is a “real failure” that puts the bloc’s climate goals at risk, Maarten De Groote, the head of research at the Buildings Performance Institute Europe, has warned.

Cities need to be more sustainable. Cars can act as storage. Hydrogen is a real solution. The energy transformation is underway.

Retrofitting shopping centres could play a significant role in reaching Europe’s green goals.

Buildings have the potential to be at the forefront of providing flexibility for the energy system, including through energy production, control, storage and demand response, as well as providing a means to integrate electric vehicles.

Energy efficiency renovation can alleviate fuel poverty and bring a raft of health and societal benefits. While the EU could do more to boost renovation, several governments have shown that effective answers can be found at a national level.