From Long-Term Renovation Strategies to Building Renovation Plans
European Energy Network (EnR)
A voluntary network of European energy agencies which aims at promoting sustainable energy.
The European Energy Network (EnR) ’s ?? Buildings Working Group hosted a webinar on October 25th 2022 on the implementation status of Long-Term Renovation Strategies (LTRS) across the European Union after this first year of implementation, and a sneak peek on the future update of LTRS into National Building Renovation Plans.
On the same day as the European Council agreed on stricter rules for energy performance of buildings (in a proposal to revise the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which will entail that all new buildings should be zero-emission buildings by 2030, and that existing buildings should be transformed into?zero-emission buildings by 2050), this session gathered experts from EnR member agencies and the European Commission, at a pivotal moment when the energy crisis prompts countries to accelerate building renovation to reap the huge potential energy savings. [Agenda and speaker bios.]
You can (re)watch the entire session on our Youtube channel below, or continue reading to get the main highlights and speaker presentations (listed in the end)!
Welcoming participants, Nelson Lage , President of the Portuguese Energy Agency ADENE - Agência para a Energia , and President of EnR in 2022, highlighted how challenging it is for countries and for national energy agencies to assist implementation of a 30-year strategy, like the LTRS, in the current context, with instability in raw materials, security of supply, costs, and an unfavourable geopolitical context overall, making this session even more relevant.?
Rui Fragoso , the Chair of EnR’s Buildings’ Working Group and Head of ADENE's Projects Department, was the host of the session and welcomed guests, providing an overview of current activities in the Working Group, as well as some details about the session. He also referred how important are LTRS and the relevance from updating these strategies into National Building Renovation Plans (NBRP) in order to transform buildings into Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB). NBRP will also benefit from the use of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) and Building Renovation Passports (BRP) and will provide a clear view in relation to the implementation of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS).
Jo?o Cleto , from ADENE, presented the results of a consultation done within EnR members, with 13 agencies providing inputs on the current status of LTRS implementation at this one-year mark. Monitoring of the strategies has not yet started in most cases, still, EnR members believe LTRS need to be pushed further and faster as we are dangerously lagging behind. Public outreach together with consistent financial instruments are critical to surpass this slow start and as a key success factor for effective implementation. It is clear that national energy agencies have a strong pivotal role as part of a network of LTRS’ supporting institutions.
?????Margareta Zidar, a Lead Consultant in the Energy Efficiency Department, Energy Institute Hrvoje Po?ar (EIHP), Croatia, presented the status of LTRS in the country, which expects to increase the buildings renovation rate from 0,4% in 2020 up to 4% in 2050. The Croatian LTRS is included in the National Energy and Climate Plans activities and benefits from an open dialogue since 2019, already with clear investments until 2030 from different funds. Aside from energy, this strategy also tackles energy poverty, fire and seismic safety. Margareta also presented some details about a systematic energy management of public buildings implemented since 2010.
?????In Finland, LTRS status was presented by Harri Heinaro, Expert on the Energy Efficiency Unit of Motiva – valtion kest?v?n kehityksen yhti? , the Finnish energy agency. Motiva has been involved in the LTRS design and also the roadmap for the implementation plan. Their main goal was to establish a good stakeholder network, engaging through workshops and consultations (on financing, how to improve renovation and energy efficiency advice, including an external evaluation of current advisory services, public buildings strategies and impact assessment/monitoring). The main goals of the Finnish LTRS are to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings by 90% and to increase the share of nZEB from 10% to more than 90%. To achieve it, several mechanisms were implemented, from renovation subsidies for residential sector, tax deductions, but also incentives to change to low carbon heating. The main conclusion is that a lot of information is still lacking and so efforts were directed at creating materials for use by different advisory groups. The Finnish Energy Authority funds energy advice, both from Motiva (for more than a decade) and more recently they have also been funding the regional advice (2018-2025, covering all mainland Finland). This advice reaches consumers, municipalities and SME. Motiva works with this network, improving education materials and training advisers, but there is still a lot to do, with a one-stop-shop is in their future plans.
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????? Max Pasquier , the Head of Buildings Department at ADEME , presented France’s state-of-the-art, with a clear vision for the challenge of reaching net zero energy-efficient resilient buildings and construction sector, seen as considerable, but achievable with a clear strategy. To design the LTRS, ADEME launched a forward-looking analysis, based on a triple strategy for decarbonizing the buildings and construction sector: 1) Reducing energy demand, 2) Decarbonizing the power supply and 3) Addressing embodied carbon stored in building materials. ADEME envisioned 4 contrasting scenarios to reach net-zero that go from a vision of “limiting impacts” (based on sufficiency and efficiency and strong decrease in construction rate) all the way to “making up for impacts” (based more on low carbon energy but mostly on carbon sink capacity, with only a slight decrease in construction rate). In all scenarios, there is a need for ambition in the renovation rate, with very rapid increases in the renovation rhythm in order to reach the targets. The key messages are that not only the least performing buildings need renovation, but the entire building stock, with nearly all dwellings needing to reach high performance level. And the other key message is that a high level of performance is not achieved with step-by-step renovation, and that it’s necessary to focus action towards 1-step, deep renovations that allow for coordination and managing the technical interfaces in right order. This will impact public policy, with support strategies to enable the renovation in as fewer steps as possible. ADEME has devised a set of recommendations for these support strategies.
?????The Portuguese LTRS was presented by Nuno Filipe Baptista, Head of Building Energy Certification System Unit at ADENE - Agência para a Energia . Following a general overview of the concept, goals, and estimated investment for the LTRS, Nuno brought some insights regarding positive externalities of building renovation, in particular the possible impacts in terms of health (fewer sick days), improved productivity (additional workdays), and even added value for the renovated building, with the estimation of the corresponding financial benefits. As a conclusion, Nuno presented the ongoing activities regarding the monitoring (top-down and bottom-up approach) of the policies and measures already in practice that ensure the effectiveness of the LTRS in Portugal.
???? After the round of country focus presentations,?Dimitrios ATHANASIOU, Energy Efficiency Policy Officer at DG ENER ( European Commission ), presented the current political agenda, which places high priority on energy efficiency, and also shared some information regarding the Recovery and Resilience Plans current expenditure. Dimitrios also and presented the objectives and main ingredients of the EPBD, within the Fit for 55 plan package, and the role of National Building Renovation Plans. Finally, Dimitrios shared some preliminary information from a report, made by the Joint Research Centre, assessing the current LTRS, which is expected to be published soon.
In the final panel, with all the speakers, some additional questions were made addressing the Croatian energy management programme for public buildings, the renovation of buildings in France, made by a step-by-step approach and its links with the future renovation passports, how can LTRS contribute to the EU energy security of supply, independency and energy costs reduction, the rescaling of EPC classes and the access to its database by different stakeholders, including the financial institutions and the implementation of energy sufficiency measures in the French strategy.
Speaker Presentations:
?????Margareta Zidar, Energy Institute Hrvoje Po?ar | LTRS in Croatia
?????Harri Heinaro,?Motiva | LTRS in Finland
?????Max Pasquier,?ADEME | LTRS in France (soon available)