Revolution in sight for about three million Italian apartments that use centralized or district heating. By 2017 January XNUMX, all buildings must have devices installed to contain consumption and achieve better energy efficiency. And this will require the adoption of systems for the individual accounting of consumption and the related reporting.
The European directive 27 of 2012 establishes it, which the Italian State must transpose by early June. The offices of the Ministry of Economic Development are working on the text of the legislative decree which, in all probability, will be examined by the Council of Ministers by the end of March.
In terms of energy efficiency in the heating of real estate units, other provisions had already been launched: Presidential Decree 551/ of 21 December 1999 already obliged all new buildings, starting from 30 June 2000, to adopt individual heat measurement systems.
Some Regions have already passed local regulations on the matter. In Piedmont, the regional law of 2007 establishes the obligation to have thermostatic valves and metering services by 2014. The same date has been set by the Lombardy region, while for the autonomous province of Bolzano the deadline is January 2015 and for the Lazio region the expiry of this obligation is December 2015.
In Germany, 12 million apartments are accounted for with allocators, in Holland all 650 thousand, in Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria, this system covers almost all housing.
The individual measurement of heat and the reporting of consumption which can take place not only at the end of the winter period but also every two to three months, allow constant control of consumption and savings in the heating bill which are around 20%.
In practice, a general meter is installed in each condominium which detects the global consumption of all the rooms. To measure the consumption of each individual user, an individual meter is installed at the entrance of the user to be measured or heat cost allocators are installed on each radiator which detect the consumption of each radiator and transmit the data so as to be able to carry out the sum of consumption within each housing unit or office. Obviously this system integrates with the thermostatic valves which allow you to adjust the flow of hot water to the radiator in relation to the desired temperature and avoid heating beyond what is necessary.
"With this system - says engineer Marius Leucutia, vice president of the national association for heat and water accounting (Ancca) - everyone pays for what they consume, and saves significantly, atmospheric pollution is reduced and more responsible for heating costs.
But how much is it? The average investment to account for an apartment is around 700 euros. The average consumption to heat this apartment is around 1200 euros a year. By installing metering, you save 240 euros a year, so that the investment is recovered in a maximum of 3 seasons.
Furthermore, the State meets the costs of installing the meters with a tax saving ranging from 50 to 65%. The benefits for pockets and for the environment are significant.
