Tag: Green buildings

The European Commission is taking Portugal to the European Court of Justice for failing to transpose a directive aimed at reducing the huge energy waste from Europe’s housing stock.

Brussels and Beijing are quietly but increasingly cultivating contacts and exchanging expertise aimed at enhancing energy-saving practices in the building sector. 

Financial support for energy saving measures in buildings across the EU varies widely, but a full picture is clouded by a lack of accurate data compiled by member states, according to two new reports.

The European Parliament voted for an 80% cut in energy used by buildings today [14 March], a move that will require a massive ramping up of the EU’s renovation targets. 

EU regulators have rubber-stamped €700 million of public support the UK is offering under a ‘Green Deal’ energy-efficiency scheme, but the project’s VAT component is still firmly under the Brussels microscope.

Buildings account for over 40% of the EU's final energy demand and are a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions, making energy savings there a key element of European climate change objectives. However, it remains to be seen whether Europeans will be able to tap into the area with the single biggest potential – the existing building stock.

EU member states and the European Parliament have agreed changes to two key energy efficiency directives in order to make them compatible with Lisbon Treaty requirements on delegated acts, which will now come under MEPs' scrutiny.

British households will be able to take out soft loans to improve the efficiency of their homes under a proposed new law to fight climate change and cut fuel poverty, the government said on Tuesday (2 March).

EU lawmakers last night (17 November) forged a long-awaited compromise on the recast buildings directive, agreeing that all new buildings would have to comply with high energy-performance standards and supply a significant share of their energy requirements from renewable sources after the end of 2020.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has embarked on a detailed study to map the growth in eco-innovation since the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The move comes ahead of the next month's UN climate summit in Copenhagen and as major industry players line up behind green technology.

The Swedish EU Presidency faces a difficult task steering through the revision of the EU's energy performance of buildings directive as member states are getting increasingly wary of the draft law's implications.

Governments must regulate to encourage energy-efficiency investments in the buildings sector to bring on a market transformation, Constant Van Aerschot from Lafarge, co-chair of the energy performance of buildings project at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), told EurActiv in an interview.

MEPs in the Parliament's industry committee yesterday (31 March) backed legislation that would require all new buildings in Europe to produce their own renewable energy by 2019, asking for a big push in public financing for energy-efficient buildings.

Governments need to communicate more clearly their objectives on improving the energy consumption of buildings, to give construction companies more certainty about future demand, according to a survey to be published later today.

Fiscal incentives backed by EU funds to promote cleaner vehicles and building efficiency are recommended as part of a 200-billion-euro economic recovery plan unveiled by the European Commission yesterday (26 November). 

EU countries have been slow to implement rules to improve energy efficiency in buildings, with many of the bloc's newer member states facing 'substantial problems', according to a new report by RICS, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

While Europe's appliance manufacturers are pushing for a numerical energy performance label and mandatory phase-outs of inefficient machines, EU member states are severely behind in implementing energy efficiency legislation, particularly in the buildings sector. 

Parliament's Committee on Industry has backed a report by MEP Fiona Hall, which charges that Commission and EU member states have largely failed to realise their own commitments to reduce energy consumption.