There is a lot of talk at this time about the European directive called “Case Green”: on February 9, a first draft text was approved in the industry committee of the European Parliament, and now the vote of the plenary committee is expected, and then it goes on to be transposed into national standards.
This is a very difficult text, with continuous repetitions and with statements that go from general questions of principle to specific application details. (It can be found in English original here at the link https://bit.ly/3IU9JVk). It's hard to summarize it in a few lines, but let's try it
.
The general inspiring principle is obviously to improve the energy performance of buildings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with the concrete objective of ensuring that by 2050 all real estate assets guarantee “zero emissions” (class A). For new buildings, current Italian legislation already requires it, but for existing buildings, intermediate objectives are set
:
- For residential buildings, we ask to reach energy class E by 2030 and D by 2033
- For non-residential buildings, it is requested to reach class E by 2027 and class D by 2030.
Member states may decide to exclude from the application historic and protected buildings, religious buildings, temporary buildings, buildings for non-residential technological use, buildings for limited use (e.g. vacation homes that consume no more than 25% of the annual requirement).
Member states are also required to:
- Define a “harmonized” method for calculating the energy performance of buildings that is common to all member states
- Define a calculation method to determine the Global Warming Potential (measure of how much global warming affects) for the entire lifespan of the building
- Apply solar energy
- Eliminate the use of fossil fuels (but the use of 'hybrid' systems is allowed).
- Provide a building passport and an energy certificate (mandatory for real estate transactions)
- Use natural solutions for public spaces adjacent to buildings
- Provide for inspections and controls of heating and air conditioning systems, carried out by independent bodies
- Define minimum indoor environmental quality performance
- Use for new buildings the design principles dictated by the “New European Bauhaus” (which is inspired by criteria of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion).
As you can well guess, these are measures that can have a very heavy impact on our homes and buildings, and rightly a lot of criticism is being raised, especially since the adjustment may not be easily applicable to the Italian building stock, and could require high expenses for interventions, which not everyone can afford. On many sides, the objection has also been raised that the cost and commitment for these interventions would be disproportionate to the actual reduction in climate-altering emissions that would be obtained, and that it would therefore be advisable to turn to other
activities.
But let's try to see the glass half full: as always, where there are risks, there may be opportunities, especially if adequate and sustainable financing methods are identified. In fact, the directive invites member states to provide fair financing measures, such that these obligations do not affect the poorest social groups too heavily, and this could favor the redevelopment of public buildings built in the '60s/'70s
.
As professionals, we consider it important to keep our attention high and to study the text of the directive and the documents that will follow, especially to correctly interpret the requests from a technical point of view.
Let's take an example: the draft directive requires member states to develop a certification system that is “harmonized” with other European states, which classifies all buildings from class A to G, so that class G contains no more than 15% of existing real estate assets. Probably the system in force today defined by law 10/91, decree 192/2005 and the 2015 decrees, is not so calibrated, since these regulations have existed for many years and are rather stringent. It is likely that it will need to be further modified. For this reason, it is important that as professionals we intervene with trade associations and with regulators to ensure that the calculation method that will be implemented complies with this prescription, so as not to force us to intervene more than necessary. We would also like to suggest that any new calculation method is as fair, clear and simple as possible to apply, that it does not allow interpretations or “shortcuts” but that it simply allows us to evaluate real energy performance. The draft directive, for example, suggests also taking into account consumption actually measured in past years, which would allow for more truthful comparisons
.
Mr. Carlo Bruschetta — Project Manager Dabster Engineering