Towards nearly zero- energy buildings: Definition of common principles under the EPBD Final report – Executive Summary

The definition of NZEB and related EPBD-principals is a national concern of EU member states. The complex implementation-process of the EU-directives in the national legislation goes along with difficulties of a clear definition of NZEB and of a lack of a comparative taxonomy. The Passive House Standard’s uniform definition and clear criteria make it especially suitable for a harmonised European market, enabling international players to speak the same language and strive for the same defined goals. A useful framework for the national plans, developed by a panel of international experts led by Ecofys, is presented in this study. This study was executed by a consortium led by Ecofys and developed with the end-use Efficiency Research Group of Politecnico di Milano (eERG-PoliMI) and the University of Wuppertal for the European Commission to provide more guidance to Member States and the Commission with regards to the implementation of the requirements for nearly zero-energy buildings under the Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD). The study identified benchmarks for nZEBs, developed an analytical framework for evaluating the national plans (including a reporting template) and investigated the convergence between cost optimal levels and nearly zero-energy buildings.

Media:Nzeb_executive_summary_eERG.PDF

Sources:

[1] Study: Towards nearly zero-energy buildings Definition of common principles under the EPBD, www.eerg.it

[2] Energy Efficiency - European Commission