EU project completes largest study of European building stock
The European Union is working towards ambitious targets for the reduction of energy consumption of buildings in Europe. This includes a bold renovation target which seeks to transform existing buildings into nearly zero-energy buildings. However, unless we have an accurate overview of existing stock then we are really just feeling in the dark. The FP7-funded INSPIRE project has addressed this information gap with its recently completed assessment and analysis of the EU-27's residential and office building stock. Presented at the project's mid-term meeting in March, it is one of the largest such studies ever completed. The report, carried out by project partners BSRIA in the UK and EURAC in Italy, presents information about the building stock in each country separately as well as an overall picture, and also includes a summary of the policies and incentives in each country designed to encourage energy-saving retrofit work in buildings. The report also summarises the principal barriers to this retrofitting work that also exist in each of the countries. The report reveals that there is approximately 17.6 billion m2 of residential floor space available in the EU-27, the vast majority of which is heated. Almost three quarters of this space is in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK and Poland. Interestingly, it also shows that the actual rate of construction of new-build homes has been steadily in decline since the post-war boom times of the 1950s and 1960s. The most dramatic decline in new-homes building has been since 2000. Of the existing European stock currently lived in, 53 % of it was built before 1971, 15-18 % between 1971 and 1980, 12-13 % up to 1990 and 12 % up to 2000. Only 6 per cent has been built since 2000. In terms of targeting buildings to improve through fabric retrofit measures, the report concludes that older dwellings have greater potential for improvement. With over half the residential stock in the EU-27 countries being built before 1970. The report will feed into achieving the main objective of the INSPIRE project which is to produce systemic renovation packages that can be applied to residential and tertiary buildings. These renovation packages, which should be suitable for a variety of climates, aim to reduce the primary energy consumption of a building to lower than 50 kWh/m2/year. As such, the second major stage of the project is the development of multifunctional renovation kits that make use of innovative envelope technologies, energy generation systems (including RES integration) and energy distribution systems. The technologies and renovation approaches developed by INSPIRE will be installed and tested on three case studies, two residential and one office building, in Germany, Spain and Italy. 'We are going to define a process for renovation,' says Roberto Fedrizzi, of EURAC and coordinator of the project. 'But we are also going to develop technologies and products that will be placed on the market.' INSPIRE also hopes to make it easier for public authorities and decision makers who aren't skilled in the sector of energy renovation. The project team is building a database of the most efficient and cost effective means for renovation. Roberto concludes, 'It is really important to know which are the most effective technologies from both an energy and cost point of view out of the various proposals available on the market.'For more information, please visit: INSPIRE https://inspire-fp7.eu/ Project factsheet
Countries
Italy