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What role can minimum energy performance standards play to fully decarbonise the stock?

Panel: 7. Policies and programmes for better buildings

Author:
Louise Sunderland, RAP and Independent, United Kingdom

Abstract

The European Commission has proposed new minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) in the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, published in December.

The proposal targets the worst performing buildings, defined as those with an Energy Performance Certificate class F or G, on an A-G scale. G class non-residential buildings are to be improved to F by 2027, then F class to E by 2030. Homes follow the same steps but three years later, with G class improved to F by 2030 and to E by 2033. The Commission’s proposed design follows several international examples that focus on the worst performing buildings and aim to bring them up to a minimum ‘decency’ standard. Examples are found in Australia, New Zealand, France, Flanders, Belgium and the UK.

The current context, however, requires new thinking. The need to swiftly cut gas use – the dominant fossil heating fuel – and reduce carbon emissions from the buildings sector by 60% by 2030 paves the way for a redesign of MEPS. Rather than improve buildings to just the next worst performing EPC class, the regulations should put every building on a pathway to full decarbonisation through one or two stages of renovation.

The destination for all buildings before 2050 is a suitable level of energy efficiency of the envelope and a heating system that uses a zero emissions source, individual or shared. To guide buildings along this path, the MEPS regulations should require each building to be renovated to a minimum envelope energy efficiency standard that enables decarbonisation of the heating system concurrently or at the next step.

This standard should be defined as the energy efficiency and heat distribution system requirements that enable the building to be heated using lower temperature water and for the heating schedule to be operated at flexible times without compromising comfort. Heating with lower flow temperature water in radiators or underfloor systems is always more efficient, whatever the heat source. It will be particularly important for heat pumps - a primary heat solution - as they work more efficiently when delivering lower flow temperatures. Enabling homes to be heated flexibly is essential to allow new electrified loads from heating to be absorbed efficiently by the electricity system.

This new MEPS can support the different pathways to phase out fossil fuels for heat. It can be used in conjunction with the phase out of the gas grid, as underway in the Netherlands, in advance of a phaseout of fossil boilers as proposed in several European countries, or in conjunction with an EPC-based standard requiring individual buildings to be decarbonised using a carbon metric.

The Netherlands is the frontrunner in this field. In 2021 the Government defined a standard for home insulation to ‘future-proof’ homes. The intention is to ready buildings to be heated with sustainable heat sources that deliver water at lower flow temperatures compared to the grid gas, defined as 50 degrees or below. The standard is presented for four archetypes, distilled from an investigation of 16. It is currently guidance with no decision made on making compliance compulsory.

In Scotland, the Government has also made steps in this direction by setting out its intention to combine a minimum fabric efficiency standard (equivalent to EPC C) with a requirement for fossil boilers to be replaced with zero emissions systems. A recent Existing Homes Alliance Scotland (2022) paper explored how the minimum efficiency standard could be redefined to ensure lower flow temperature and flexible heating.

In Germany, where a phase out of fossil boilers is planned from 2026, analysts (Ifeu 2021) explored the insulation and heat distribution characteristics that would define a ‘low temperature-ready’ standard to ensure that the homes can be heated at a maximum flow temperature of 55 degrees. These examples and assessments provide invaluable starting points for the definition of a standard in the EPBD.

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