Environmental and health related criteria for buildings - ANEC

IBO - Environmental and Health related Criteria for Buildings
practice that means that in some periods power is gained from the grid and in other periods
power is returned to grid (renewable energy sources are often seasonal).
c) Energy positive house
An energy positive house (also: plus energy house) is a house that on average over the year
produces more energy from renewable energy sources than it imports from external sources.
This is achieved using combination of small power generators and low-energy building
techniques such as passive solar building design, insulation and careful site selection and
placement.”
All nearly-zero energy building concepts have to summarize the energy needs for heating,
cooling, ventilation, hot water and lighting and may take into account benefits from local solar
exposure conditions, active solar systems and other heating and electricity systems based
on energy from renewable sources; electricity produced by cogeneration, district or block
heating and cooling and natural lighting.
Minimum requirements
Not new in the EPBD recast is that minimum requirements for the energy performance of
buildings have to be set by the EU Member States, whereas the demand for cost-effectiveness
or cost-optimal levels is new. Cost-optimal means that this energy performance level
“leads to the lowest cost during the estimated economic lifecycle” (Article 2, paragraph 14).
Use patterns, outdoor climate conditions, investment costs, building category, maintenance
and operating costs (including energy costs and savings), earnings from energy produced
and disposal costs, where applicable, can be taken into account. This provision applies to the
inspection reports of heating and air-conditioning systems as well as the energy performance
certificate as recommendations for the cost-optimal or cost-effective improvement of the
energy performance of a building (or building unit) shall be included. In order to ease the
comparison and assessment for owners or tenants reference values such as minimum
energy performance requirements will be integrated in the energy performance certificate.
Therefore, the Member States have to define “reference buildings that are characterised by
and representative of their functionality and geographic location, including indoor and
outdoor climate conditions”, assess their final and primary energy need, define energyefficiency
measures and calculate the costs of the energy efficiency measures during the
expected economic lifecycle (see Annex III). A general harmonization of national calculation
methods and parameters is not foreseen.
Only “a comparative methodology framework for calculating cost-optimal levels of minimum
energy performance requirements” will be provided by the European Commission. “Member
States should use this framework to compare the results with the minimum energy
performance requirements which they have adopted. Should significant discrepancies, i.e.
exceeding 15 %, exist between the calculated cost-optimal levels of minimum energy
performance requirements and the minimum energy performance requirements in force,
Member States should justify the difference or plan appropriate steps to reduce the
discrepancy.” (Paragraph 14, EPBD Recast). The comparative methodology framework
should be based on relevant European standards relating to the EPBD Recast and the
Final Report 56 31 03 2011