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Other links:
www.eu-greenbuilding.org
www.epbd-ca.org

Read and print the British model of an energy performance certificate

UIPI is organizing an international conference every year in the framework of the European Sustainable Energy Week, Brussels. Read all about it!


EPBD RECAST
The reacast of the EU Directive on energy performance of buildings (EPBD) was finally approved on May 19 and finally published on June 18, 2010 in the official Journal of the European Union. The 1000m2 threshold for major renovation has been deleted and this will take effect when the national regulations have been implemented and applied, probably at the beginning of 2014. Serious new obligations are placed upon the shoulders of property and building owners while no concrete measures of assistance are taken. Read more...

On 19 May 2010, a recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in order to strengthen the energy performance requirements and to clarify and streamline some of the provisions from the 2002 Directive it replaces. In November 2008, the Commission adopted the proposal for a recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Throughout 2009, the proposal went through the approval process of the European Parliament and Council and a political agreement was achieved 17 November 2009. The recast proposal confirms the importance of effective implementation at the Member State level, the importance of Community-wide co-operation and the strong long-term commitment and role of the Commission itself to support such effective implementation.
As the November 2008 Commission Communication for the original proposal states, buildings have significant untapped potential for cost effective energy savings ?which, if realized, would mean that in 2020 the EU will consume 11 % less final energy.? The magnitude of the potential savings is such that every effort must be made to achieve it.

Major Highlights of the Recast Directive include:

As of 31 December 2020 new buildings in the EU will have to consume 'nearly zero' energy and the energy will be 'to a very large extent' from renewable sources.
Public authorities that own or occupy a new building should set an example by building, buying or renting such 'nearly zero energy building' as of 31 December 2018.
The definition of very low energy building was agreed to: "nearly zero energy building means a building that has a very high energy performance, determined in accordance with Annex I. The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should to a very significant level be covered by energy from renewable source, including renewable energy produced on-site or nearby"
There is no specific target be set for the renovation of existing building, but Member States shall following the leading example of the public sector by developing policies and take measures such as targets in order to stimulate the transformation of buildings that are refurbished into very low energy buildings, and inform the Commission thereof in their national plans referred to in paragraph 1.
The 1000m2 threshold for major renovation has been deleted and this will take effect when the national regulations have been implemented and applied, probably at the beginning of 2014.
Minimum requirements for components are introduced for all replacements and renovations, although for major renovations, the holistic calculation methodology is the preferred method with performance calculations based on component requirements allowed as a complement or alternatively
A harmonised calculation methodology to push-up MS minimum energy performance requirements towards a cost-optimal level is set out in the Directive in a definition and an annex, and will also be refined in a comitology process,. MS will have to justify to the COM if the gap between current requirements and cost optimal requirements is more than 15 %
A more detailed and rigorous procedure for issuing energy performance certificates will be required in MS.
Control systems will be required by MS to check the correctness of performance certification.
MS will be required to introduce penalties for non-compliance. Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall communicate those provisions to the Commission.

Read the text of the new Directive at
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L ... 2010:153:0013:0035:EN:PDF


"SAVE ENERGY IN BUILDINGS"
Reducing the energy use in buildings without compromising the indoor environment and services, is a key challenge for Europe.
UIPI has launched a continuous international campaign titled "SAVE ENERGY IN BUILDINGS" in order to inform the millions of members of its national organizations-members in 25 european countries about their rights and obligations concerning energy saving in their buildings! For this purpose UIPI has already devoted two International Congresses (June 2007 in Bern and June 2009 in Stockholm) and two international events in the "EUROPEAN ENERGY WEEK" of Brussels, to the promotion of the idea of Energy Saving in Buildings.


The implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is the necessary tool for this purpose. The Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and Council on energy efficiency of buildings was adopted, after a long discussion at all levels and with overwhelming support from Member States and the European Parliament, on 16th December 2002 and entered into force on 4th January 2003. The 4th of January 2006 was the official deadline by which the Member States had to transpose the Directive into national law. Member States because of lack of qualified and/or accredited experts, had an additional period of three more years, (until 4.1.2009), to fully apply the provisions of articles 7 (energy performance certificate), 8 (inspection of boilers) and 9 (inspection of air conditioning systems).

The Directive is considered as a very important legislative component of energy efficiency activities of the European Union designed to meet the Kyoto commitment and responds to issues raised in the recent debate on the Green Paper on energy supply security.
Estimates project a cost-effective savings potential realisable by 2010 of around 22% within the building sector - if this potential was realised, around 20% of the EU Kyoto commitment could be met. Transposition of this Directive by 2006 at the latest will allow a portion of this potential to be translated into reduced energy consumption.


THE DIRECTIVE

The Directive is set to promote the improvement of energy performance of buildings with four requirements to be implemented by the Member States:

1. General framework for a methodology of calculation of the integrated performance of buildings
2. Setting of minimum standards in new and existing buildings
3. Energy Certification of Buildings
4. Inspection and assessment of heating and cooling installations.

The Directive is foremost a measure that concerns a very large number of actors on all levels and with different impacts and different motivations: designers, architects, engineers, industries, providers of building and electromechanical systems and appliances, installation companies, building experts, housing associations, owners, tenants, essentially all energy consumers in the European Union.
It will greatly affect awareness of energy use in buildings, and is intended to lead to substantial increases in investments in energy efficiency measures within these buildings. It presents a great challenge for the transformation of European building sector towards energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy resources.
But at this point UIPI warns that there is a very clear distinction between the above mentioned categories. All of the thousands of professionals involved in this business, who are pushing for the implementation of the directive, as inspectors, industrialists, providers, experts, installers etc., expect to increase greatly their business activity and their profits of it. On the other hand, it will be only the owners who will have to pay for the tremendous costs of the required works, without tax reliefs, without any subsidy, without any help by anybody, without the guarantee that there will actually be results justifying their compulsory investment. And in the rented premises it will be only the tenants who will take advantage of the energy saving by paying smaller energy bills, without having contributed anything in all this effort.
Unfortunately the directive does not oblige the member states to support financially or otherwise the owners who will upgrade their buildings. It only provides for the energy performance certification, which will somehow act as a mechanism of defamation of the older buildings, turning away prospective tenants, and thus force the landlords to renovate in order to stay in the market. But since this will not always be possible, we are afraid that few existing buildings will be upgraded and the measure might turn out to be only one more reason for abandoning more of the historical buildings in the centers of our cities, or old buildings everywhere...

THE OPINION OF UIPI


Energy saving is an issue in which the prospects for the real estate sector are anything but rosy, especially with regard to the existing built property.
The EU Directive on Energy Saving incorporated only in part the proposals made by the UIPI, which asked that it should be limited to new buildings or to those involved in total restructuring work. It is true that the main objective underlying the Directive of the European Parliament is to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings, but what the EU legislator seems to have neglected is the actual dimension of the violent impact that the implementation of such a measure, will create among the tenths of millions of real estate owners and investors of the existing buildings all over Europe!

The existing buildings

While for newly built buildings and those involved in total restructuring work it is correct to demand the observance of minimum energy savings characteristics, in fact for existing buildings this seems to be absolutely unfeasible. There are three reasons for this.
1. The realization of the very many necessary works of thermal insulation etc. it requires tremendous work on the building and on its energy systems, with all the resulting costs and logistic problems, especially if it is occupied.
2. In rented properties, the owner and the tenant have conflicting interests on the residential and professional buildings. The owner has little or no incentive to invest in energy saving because he has no economic return, as he is not allowed by the law of the state or of the market situation, to accordingly raise the rent in a manner proportional to the costs incurred, and in any case, it is the tenant who pays the energy bills.
3. Even when the owner is self occupying the building, living in the house, or using the office, he is not easily convinced that the energy savings obtained will ever pay him back the required investment.


Energy certification

Another point of the Directive, on which the EU legislator seems to have wanted to force things, is the issue concerning the setting up of compulsory energy certification even for all existing buildings and the carrying out of inspections on boilers and heating systems.
In our opinion, envisaged energy certification should be compulsory only for new buildings or those that have been totally restructured, because it can be obtained from the design calculations, with a modest cost increase, while for existing buildings such certification would entail a survey of the building and its systems with easily imaginable high resulting costs.
In addition, inspections are expensive, irritate the users and generally do not specify the solution for any problems that may be found. It would have been better to have the public bodies, as we had suggested, identify the buildings that show excessively high specific consumption advising or ordering the owners to have an energy diagnosis made, aiming to identify the causes of the high consumption, and to verify the possible convenience of applying energy saving measures that would bring the buildings back within tolerable limits.
Moreover the specific consumptions suitable for identifying energy-wasting buildings are easy to determine by knowing the annual fuel or electricity consumption and the heating volume of the building.

The influence of the powerful lobbies

The above problems are joined by those connected with keeping the technological systems (water, plumbing, heating, electricity, telephone, gas, lifting and transport, fire-fighting, etc.) efficient and the continuous requests for the issuing of regulations that impose new measures, sometimes useful, but certainly not indispensable, formulated by the powerful system manufacturer lobbies, on the basis of alleged risks for safety or the environment.
This is the case, for example, of the existing lifts (around three million in Europe), for which there is a strong pressure at the EU level by lift construction and maintenance firms insisting that the recommendations become compulsory, thus forcing property owners to carry out upgrading work that would entail heavy and unjustified costs, with mostly insignificant or dubious results.
The final remark on the matter would be that the effort for the implementation of the energy performance directive in the existing buildings requires serious tax incentives for the owners of the buildings, as full tax relief for all expenses and reduced VAT, and substantial subsidies of the cost, so they can bear the tremendous cost of the energy transformation of the existing buildings.


PROPOSAL OF UPDATING EU DIR. 2002/91/EC
By Michele Vigne, Vice president of UIPI
Belluno, Italy

Preface
After a few years following publication in the European Union Official Gazette on 04.01.2003, the directive on the energy performance of buildings has officially come into force.
We had hoped for a better document taking into account existing knowledge, experience and regulations. Instead, some parts of the document are somewhat confused, indicating insufficient knowledge of the state of the art within the sector. This said, it is a directive destined to produce important effects by way of the application of innovative concepts.
However, much will depend on its application, given the range of actions available to Member States. In fact, there are ample margins to overcome the deficiencies of this directive, so that its contents do not become a hindrance to users, but rather a chance and a means to attain a significant cost free improvement in the national building park: increased health and a drastic reduction of consumption and atmospheric pollution, at the same time favouring work and the availability of financial resources to sustain productive consumption.
The following notes and comments are intended as an initial contribution by national building owners organisations apt to attain the above-mentioned objectives.
Below you can find the important points of the directive and the comments that were deemed significant for possible future action.





THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty,
Whereas:

Omissis

............
(9) The measures further to improve the energy performance of buildings should take into account climatic and local conditions as well as indoor climate environment and cost-effectiveness (1). They should not contravene other essential requirements concerning buildings such as accessibility, prudence and the intended use of the building.
NOTE 1: With reference to improvements in energy performance, the directive provides an important additional concept: efficiency from a cost viewpoint, which implies an economic analysis of the energy content of the materials used and their duration, as well as the reduction of energy consumption.
This analysis should allow elimination of errors such as, for example, transformation of central heating systems into autonomous ones with single generators to favour autonomy attained with the measurement of heat used.

(10) The energy performance of buildings should be calculated on the basis of a methodology, which may be differentiated at regional level, that includes, in addition to thermal insulation other factors that play an increasingly important role such as heating and air-conditioning installations, application of renewable energy sources and design of the building. A common approach to this process, carried out by qualified and/or accredited experts, whose independence is to be guaranteed on the basis of objective criteria, will contribute to a level playing field as regards efforts made in Member States to energy saving in the buildings sector and will introduce transparency for prospective owners or users with regard to the energy performance in the Community property market (2).
NOTE 2: These considerations are somewhat confusing and indicate a lack of knowledge of the principles on which recent regulations for calculating the energy performance of buildings are based.
However, some important clarifications can be identified that allow an unequivocal interpretation, with the help of some common sense, of the above considerations:
a) The heating performance of buildings should be calculated on the basis of a common methodology, which should be that emanated, or to be emanated, by the CEN;
b) the methodology is differentiated at a regional level. It is reasonable to infer that the calculation of consumption limits (the required performance) could, or should, be established at a regional level, bearing in mind climate and the objectives sought;
c) the verification method (method of measurement) of performance must be common if a homogeneous context is to be created.
Different verification methods could be used, if at all, in a transitory phase by countries such as Italy, Denmark, Germany and possibly others which already have means for calculating energy requirements for heating buildings, even though based on the principles on which CEN?s work is founded.

........
(11) The Commission intends further to develop standards such as EN 832 and prEN 13790, also including consideration of air-conditioning systems and lighting (3).
NOTE 3: This declaration of intent emphasises the interpretation given to the above point. For a better understanding, the current regulations on this subject must be remembered:
a) EN 832 ?Heating performance of buildings ? calculation of energy requirements for heating ? residential buildings? was emanated some years ago and is currently in force.
b) prEN 13790 ?Heating performance of buildings ? calculation of the energy requirements for heating? has been approved and is now EN ISO 13790. As such, it will support EN 832, as it is applicable to all buildings.
c) prEN 14335-1 ?Calculation of performance and energy requirements ? part 1 ? structure? has already passed the public inquiry stage.
Other regulations:
prEN 14335-2-1 ?Calculation of performance and energy requirements ? part 2-1 ? emission system and regulation?; prEN 14335-2-2 ?Calculation of performance and energy requirements ? part 2-2 ? combustion generating system?; prEN 14335-2-3 ?Calculation of performance and energy requirements ? part 2-3 ? distribution system? and prEN 14335-2-4 ?Calculation of performance and energy requirements ? part 2-4 ? heat pump generating system?; should reach the public inquiry stage before the end of 2004.
d) A great deal of work is being carried out for the preparation of regulations required for complete application of the directive (illumination, air-conditioning, economic calculations, etc.) by various CEN TCs (TC 89, TC 156, TC 169, TC 228, TC 247).

(12)As regards air-conditioning, more time will be needed and it is difficult to make predictions.
It must be highlighted that all work until now has been voluntarily carried out by CEN TC 89 and CEN TC 228 during the last ten years or so.
Mandate M 343, with which the European Union will finance CEN for the drafting of a first version of regulatory documents necessary for the application of the directive, is currently undergoing approval. It must therefore be assumed that these will be available in a fairly short space of time.

(13) Major renovations of existing buildings above a certain size should be regarded as an opportunity to take cost effective measures to enhance energy performance. Major renovations are cases such as those where the total cost of the renovation related to the building shell and/or energy installations such as heating, hot water supply, air-conditioning, ventilation and lighting is higher than 25 % of the value of the building, excluding the value of the land upon which the building is situated, or those where more than 25 % of the building shell undergoes renovation(4).

(14) However, the improvement of the overall energy performance of an existing building does not necessarily mean a total renovation of the building but could be confined to those parts that are most relevant for the energy performance of the building and are cost-effective(4).
NOTE 4: The considerations in point 14 are important and qualifying, so much so as to exceed the definition of ?significant restructuring? and the need to provide performance limits for existing buildings.
Every time even partial restructuring of a building or the relevant systems is carried out, the improvements relevant to efficiency from a cost viewpoint are adopted.
The criterion of economic convenience could even lead the properly informed owner to carry out integrating work aimed at improving the energy performance of the building and system voluntarily, independently from the need to restructure.

(15) Renovation requirements for existing buildings should not be incompatible with the intended function, quality or character of the building. It should be possible to recover additional costs involved in such renovation within a reasonable period of time in relation to the expected technical lifetime of the investment by accrued energy savings (1).

...........
(18) Recent years have seen a rise in the number of air-conditioning systems in southern European countries. This creates considerable problems at peak load times, increasing the cost of electricity and disrupting the energy balance in those countries. Priority should be given to strategies which enhance the thermal performance of buildings during the summer period. To this end there should be further development of passive cooling techniques, primarily those that improve indoor climatic conditions and the microclimate around buildings(5).
NOTE 5: The Commission?s priorities have been taken into account. However, it must be clarified that correct and effective work in the air-conditioning sector requires regulations similar to those in force for heating, which allow diagnosis and economic evaluations to be made. Shortcuts generate certain costs and non-verifiable advantages. However, the mandate should significantly reduce the time required.

(19) Regular maintenance of boilers and of air-conditioning systems by qualified personnel contributes to maintaining their correct adjustment in accordance with the product specification and in that way will ensure optimal performance from an environmental, safety and energy point of view. An independent assessment of the total heating installation is appropriate whenever replacement could be considered on the basis of cost-effectiveness(6).
NOTE 6: Regular maintenance of systems is certainly due, but is absolutely insufficient, especially if it is limited to preserving combustion performance. If a system is conceptually flawed or oversized, it will continue to waste energy even after accurate maintenance.
Only extraordinary maintenance, with operations identified by energy diagnosis and the economic analysis of the work, is able to produce an effective and economic reduction of energy consumption.

........................
(21) In accordance with the principles of subsidiary and proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, general principles providing for a system of energy performance requirements and its objectives should be established at Community level, but the detailed implementation should be left to Member States, thus allowing each Member State to choose the regime which corresponds best to its particular situation. This Directive confines itself to the minimum required in order to achieve those objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose(7).
NOTE 7: The need for unified methods of calculation is reaffirmed: the same quantity (consumption) cannot be measured with different units, even for the free circulation of ideas, products and services. See also note 2.

(22) Provision should be made for the possibility of rapidly adapting the methodology of calculation and of Member States regularly reviewing minimum requirements in the field of energy performance of buildings with regard to technical progress, inter alias, as concerns the insulation properties (or quality) of the construction material, and to future developments in standardisation(8).
NOTE 8: This consideration confirms that observed in note 7.
............

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE

Article 1 - Objective

The objective of this Directive is to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings within the Community, taking into account outdoor climatic and local conditions, as well as indoor climate requirements and cost-effectiveness.
This Directive lays down requirements as regards:
(a) the general framework for a methodology of calculation of the integrated energy performance of buildings(2)and (3);
(b) the application of minimum requirements on the energy performance of new buildings;
(c) the application of minimum requirements on the energy performance of large existing buildings that are subject to major renovation(4);
(d) energy certification of buildings;
(e) regular inspection of boilers and of air-conditioning systems in buildings and in addition an assessment of the heating installation in which the boilers are more than 15 years old(9).
NOTE 9: Periodic inspection and checks should be related to high consumptions and not the age of the generator. For these buildings, energy diagnosis of the building and system should be carried out to identify and remove the cause of high consumption.

Article 3 - Adoption of a methodology
Member States shall apply a methodology, at national or regional level, of calculation of the energy performance of buildings on the basis of the general framework set out in the Annex. Parts 1 and 2 of this framework shall be adapted to technical progress in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14, taking into account standards or norms applied in Member State legislation.
This methodology shall be set at national or regional level(2),(3) and(7). The energy performance of a building shall be expressed in a transparent manner and may include a CO2 emission indicator.

Article 4 - Setting of energy performance requirements

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that minimum energy performance requirements for buildings are set, based on the methodology referred to in Article 3. When setting requirements, Member States may differentiate between new and existing buildings (4) and different
categories of buildings. These requirements shall take account of general indoor climate conditions, in order to avoid possible negative effects such as inadequate ventilation, as well as local conditions and the designated function and the age of the building. These requirements shall be reviewed at regular intervals which should not be longer than five years and, if necessary, updated in order to reflect technical progress in the building sector (10).
NOTE 10: The construction sector obviously includes the underlying systems.

2. The energy performance requirements shall be applied in accordance with Articles 5 and 6.
3. Member States may decide not to set or apply the requirements referred to in paragraph 1 for the following categories of buildings:
? buildings and monuments officially protected as part of a designated environment or because of their special architectural or historic merit, where compliance with the requirements would unacceptably alter their character or appearance,
? buildings used as places of worship and for religious activities,
? temporary buildings with a planned time of use of two years or less, industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings with low energy demand and non residential agricultural buildings which are in use by a sector covered by a national sectoral agreement on energy performance,
? residential buildings which are intended to be used less than four months of the year(11),
? stand-alone buildings with a total useful floor area of less than 50 m2.

NOTE 11: Holiday condominiums are frequently inhabited by both residents and occasional users. In light of the construction methods used, each user?s heating expenses may vary significantly if the adjacent homes are occupied or not. In these buildings, energy performance should be expressed in the two cases of neighbours being present or not, so as to enable the purchaser or tenant to know the relevant level of consumption.
This category of new buildings should not be excluded in establishing minimum requirements, except in establishing specific requirements (unless such buildings are completely uninhabited for the remaining months, such as the summer for example).

Article 6 - Existing buildings

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that when buildings with a total useful floor area over 1 000 m2 undergo major renovation, their energy performance is upgraded in order to meet minimum requirements in so far as this is technically, functionally and economically feasible.
Member States shall derive these minimum energy performance requirements on the basis of the energy performance requirements set for buildings in accordance with Article 4. The requirements may be set either for the renovated building as a whole or for the renovated systems or components when these are part of a renovation to be carried out within a limited time period, with the abovementioned objective of improving the overall energy performance of the building (4).

Article 7 - Energy performance certificate

1. Member States shall ensure that, when buildings are constructed, sold or rented out, an energy performance certificate is made available to the owner or by the owner to the prospective buyer or tenant, as the case might be. The validity of the certificate shall not exceed 10 years.
Certification for apartments or units designed for separate use in blocks may be based:
? on a common certification of the whole building for blocks with a common heating system, or on the assessment of another representative apartment in the same block (12).

NOTE 12: In the case of central heating, it is easy to obtain the energy certification of single apartments from that of the whole building, on the basis of the relevant quota of heating used. In the case of an autonomous system, or one that is managed autonomously, there is no single representation, as each single apartment is characterised by its own energy performance based on its position, exposure and the characteristics of the system.

Member States may exclude the categories referred to in Article 4 from the application of this paragraph (11).
2. The energy performance certificate for buildings shall include reference values such as current legal standards and benchmarks in order to make it possible for consumers to compare and assess the energy performance of the building. The certificate shall be accompanied by recommendations for the cost-effective improvement of the energy performance (13).
The objective of the certificates shall be limited to the provision of information and any effects of these certificates in terms of legal proceedings or otherwise shall be decided in accordance with national rules.

NOTE 13: The information requested involves the diagnosis, simulation and economic evaluation of the possible energy saving schemes. The operation is certainly convenient, but only for buildings with high energy requirements. In any case, it is an important operation involving finalisation of regulations currently being drafted in Europe and the training of specialised technicians, but which should generate an important re-qualification process for buildings and systems.
Therefore, operations must be carried out gradually if they are to be done in an orderly and correct manner, bearing in mind the resources available. In other words, the companies in the sector must not feel constrained to be over-sized for a short time, to then find themselves over-staffed.
The preliminary phase should be the classification of buildings on the basis of global energy consumption.
Each user of a heating system (the administrator for condominiums) should personally certify:
- gross volume heated (regulations are required to identify this);
- net inhabitable area (instructions required);
- annual consumption of heating (litres for oil, cubic metres for gas, etc.);
- annual consumption for the production of hot water (litres for oil, cubic metres for gas, etc.) (for autonomous systems, this may be included under heating consumption);
- annual consumption of gas for cooking (in cubic metres) (for autonomous systems, this will be included under heating consumption);
- annual electricity consumption for the functioning of the heating system (in kWh) (only for central heating systems in buildings inhabited by more than one family).
The values declared will indicate specific consumption for heating and the production of hot water in kJ/m3.GG and a ranking system will result (based only on heating consumption, which is more indicative and discriminating).
For buildings with higher energy consumption, for example 100 kJ/m3.GG, diagnosis and energy certification may be obligatory from the start (in the case of leasing or transfer of ownership).
For other buildings located in the higher consumption bands (100-80, 80-70, 70-60, 60-50, etc.) different deadlines may be imposed, bearing in mind that economic feasibility will tend to expire below certain requirement levels (except for economic incentives).
Below certain limits, energy diagnosis may be considered as optional, in as much as it has no role. Retailers may obtain it to demonstrate the quality of their product.


Article 8 - Inspection of boilers

With regard to reducing energy consumption and limiting carbon dioxide emissions, Member States shall either:
(a) lay down the necessary measures to establish a regular inspection of boilers fired by non-renewable liquid or solid fuel of an effective rated output of 20 kW to 100 kW. Such inspection may also be applied to boilers using other fuels.
Boilers of an effective rated output of more than 100 kW shall be inspected at least every two years. For gas boilers, this period may be extended to four years. For heating installations with boilers of an effective rated output of more than 20 kW which are older than 15 years, Member States shall lay down the necessary measures to establish a one-off inspection of the whole heating installation.
On the basis of this inspection, which shall include an assessment of the boiler efficiency and the boiler sizing compared to the heating requirements of the building, the experts shall provide advice to the users on the replacement of the boilers, other modifications to the heating system and on alternative solutions; or
(b) take steps to ensure the provision of advice to the users on the replacement of boilers, other modifications to the heating system and on alternative solutions which may include inspections to assess the efficiency and appropriate size of the boiler. The overall impact of this approach should be broadly equivalent to that arising from the provisions set out in (a). Member States that choose this option shall submit a report on the equivalence of their approach to the Commission every two years (14) and (6).

NOTE 14: The classification of buildings on the basis of specific requirements (see note 13) shows its utility in this case as well.
In fact, the inspection of heat generators in low-consumption buildings makes no sense, as it would represent a waste of resources.
On the other hand, inspection is insufficient in high-consumption buildings. Only energy diagnosis is an adequate means of indicating interventions that are energy saving and economically viable.

Article 9 - Inspection of air-conditioning systems

With regard to reducing energy consumption and limiting carbon dioxide emissions, Member States shall lay down the necessary measures to establish a regular inspection of air-conditioning systems of an effective rated output of more than 12 kW.
This inspection shall include an assessment of the air-conditioning efficiency and the sizing compared to the cooling requirements of the building. Appropriate advice shall be provided to the users on possible improvement or replacement of the air-conditioning system and on alternative solutions (5) and (3).

THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE OF UIPI