The European directive on Green Homes changes. The trilogue - EU Commission, EU Council and EU Parliament - found theagreement on the new rules for the energy performance of buildings. The compromise on the last points remaining pending after the October negotiation marathon arrived on Thursday 7 December after approximately two hours of negotiations. The new EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive), thus amended, defines the path that all countries adhering to the Union will have to adopt to achieve a climate-neutral building stock. by 2050. The directive concerns not only newly constructed buildings but also existing ones that are not adequate from an energy efficiency point of view: 43% of buildings fall into this category, a number estimated at around 5 million properties in Italy.
EU green homes directive: what changes
There will be more flexibility. The latest version of the text abandons the philosophy of objectives linked to the minimum energy classes of buildings and focuses on a path to reduce average energy consumption by the residential buildings of the individual member countries. The path starts in 2020 and reaches 2050, when the goal is zero emissions. Member countries will have to establish how to achieve the objectives established by the directive, according to a path that becomes more flexible compared to first proposals from the EU Parliament.
With own national intervention plans, each country will have to ensure that homes reduce average energy consumption by 16% in 2030 and 20-22% in the 2035. 55% of the energy reduction will have to be achieved through the renovation of the worst performing buildings but in the intermediate stages the States will be able to decide which properties to start with and which measures to adopt.
Green homes: what changes for gas boilers and solar panels
Residential buildings are excluded from the obligation to install solar panels on buildings, while residential ones remain covered public buildings and large non-residential buildings, with exceptions for example for listed historical heritage or churches. The end of the ifossil fuel heating systems (mostly, the gas boilers) in homes was postponed instead by 2035 to 2040. But from The incentives will cease on January 1, 2025 to gas boilers.
Finally, the new version of the Directive establishes that national plans must remove barriers to sustainable mobility and encourage charging areas for electric vehicles and spaces parking for e-bikes (also cargo).
The stages of the agreement on the green homes directive
The approved rules, commented EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, are "a series of concrete measures that improve the lives of our citizens, reducing energy bills and stimulating the economy".
“We will have to verify the texts, but the common sense approach that prevailed at the meeting on 12 October seems confirmed – states the president of the Confconstruction, Giorgio Spaziani Testa – an approach that eliminates direct obligations for owners, leaving states greater freedom of action”.
The stages of the negotiation on the EU green homes directive
Negotiations between European institutions began on 6 June. And, after almost exactly six months she reached the finish line. The review of Energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD), better known as the Green Case Directive, will be submitted to the final vote of the EU Commission on 23 January, then it will go to the European Parliament
