NEWS

Position Paper | The recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Analysis & Policy Recommendations

Mar 29, 2022

With the proposal for the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the Commission is setting policy measures to accelerate the renovation rate of buildings and to achieve the vision of a zero-emission building stock
by 2050. smartEn welcomes this legislative proposal and suggests the following improvements:

  • anticipate the phasing-out of the worst-performing buildings through EU-level minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) to ensure a timely achievement of the 2050 target.
  • focus the measurement of the energy performance of a building around the new carbon metric to calculate operational greenhouse gas emission. This new metric should also open the possibility to quantify the benefits from demand-side flexibility, measure and incentivise progress through national building renovation plans and financial incentives.
  • strengthen the new requirements to allow third parties to access building data to support the development of demand-side flexibility business models.
  • improve the timid provisions for bidirectional charging in buildings to complement the requirements on smart charging.

The present document aims to outline the content of key provisions for smartEn and to set out targeted recommendations to inspire the positions that the European Parliament and Council need to shape on this legislative proposal.

More NEWS

  • smartEn together with 6 stakeholder organizations and drafting committee members, welcome the new network code proposed by ENTSO-E and the EU DSO Entity. This code is essential for supporting decarbonization and enhancing Europe’s energy security by enabling distributed energy resources (DERs) and demand response. The new code aims to remove the market access barriers, ensuring broad market participation and facilitating market-based procurement of flexibility services. We thank all involved in drafting this proposal and emphasize the need for effective, harmonized, and forward-looking regulations to promote a secure, efficient, and decentralized energy system.

  • Making better use of the grids thanks to the contribution of existing and future connected flexible consumers is an efficient approach to tackle urgently the congestion challenge. The Flexible Demand Management Industry that smartEn represents can empower grid users, i.e. grid connected buildings, industries and electric vehicles, to play an active role in supporting an efficient and smart operation of grids. However, grids must be incentivised to use the flexibility of connected consumers, as already prescribed by EU laws. To support this effort, this paper: Sets out six strategic recommendations for the smart operation of grids which should guide the efficient delivery of the EU Grids Action Plan. Lays the groundwork for a dedicated EU Strategy on Grid Congestion which the new Commission should develop to deliver the European Green Deal by 2030. Such a strategy should foster harmonised approaches to tackle grid congestion issues across the EU, without waiting for lengthy network reinforcement, by harnessing the potential of connected, flexible consumers.

  • The Flexible Demand Management Industry provides solutions to all consumers – citizens, businesses, buildings, electric vehicles (EVs) and industries – to become flexible and be rewarded for playing an active role in the clean energy transition. As such, it needs to be fully recognised as a crucial clean-tech industry in Europe. But as the Flexible Demand Management Industry is very heterogeneous, it is often not easy for it to be identified as a specific industrial base and its significant contribution tends to be overlooked. This is a major gap to fill. This paper intends to inform this effort by answering these 3 questions:  What is the Flexible Demand Management Industry and what are the solutions offered?  Why the Flexible Demand Management Industry matters ?  What is needed in the next EU legislature for the Flexible Demand Management Industry to rightfully become a solid pillar of Europe’s decarbonised economy?

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