Decarbonising the building stock is a key component of the EU environmental and climate policy, as their use accounts for 40% of the annual energy consumption in the EU, and their construction and renovation consume very significant material resources and energy. In the framework of the Fit for 55 package, in December 2021, the European Commission launched the revision of the Energy Performance of Building Directive, setting 2050 as the target for climate neutrality (net zero emission) of the building stock.
As one of the tools to measure and assess the energy performance of buildings, the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is under revision. The aim of the Smart Living EPC project is to guarantee that the next generation of energy performance certification schemes will support the transition towards a net zero emission building stock by 2050.
The project consortium is developping technical tools to enhance the quality of performance assessment and to link it to other instruments such as building logbooks. For example, it also seeks to explore synergies with other performance data generated over the building’s life cycle, such as well-being and indoor air quality data, and consumption of non-energy resources. Measuring and acknowledging the role of indoor environmental quality is crucial, as urban dwellers spend 80 to 90% of their daily time inside and are therefore exposed to several pollutants that have can have serious effects on health.
ANEC participates in this consortium as the only consumer organisation. We have taken part in the tasks relating to identification of user needs and to standardisation activity. ANEC is also involved in the coordination with related projects, and with dissemination of the results to a wide audience, including the three European Standardisation Organisations, CEN-CENELEC and ETSI, and ISO and IEC at the international level.
The project kicked-off in July 2022 and had its 3rd General Assembly in September 2023. It will last three years and it isfunded by the European research programme, HORIZON 2021, as part of the call for “Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use”.
Project partners are:
- Research institutes: Asociata Inginerilor De Instalatii Din Romania (Romania), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (Greece), Frederick Research Centre (Cyprus), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), Universidad Deusteo (Spain)
- Consultants and SMEs: DEMO Consultants (Netherlands), Eunice Energy Technologies GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), IES R&D (Ireland), Intelligent Solutions for Zero and Positive Energy Buildings (Greece), Que Technologies (Greece), Waide Strategic Efficiency Limited (UK)
- Standardisation: ANEC (Belgium), Austrian Standards International (Austria)
- Cooperative and non-profit organisations : Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (Belgium), GOIENER S. Coop (Spain).
Link to the official website of the SmartLivingEPC project: https://www.smartlivingepc.eu/en/.
