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Abstract:Buildings are the focus of European (EU) policies aimed at a sustainable and competitive low-carbon economy by 2020. Reducing energy consumption of existing buildings and achieving nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) are the core of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the recast of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). To comply with these requirements, Member States have to adopt actions to exploit energy savings from the building sector. This paper describes the differences between deep, major and NZEB renovation and then it provides an overview of best practice policies and measures to target retrofit and investment related to non-residential buildings. Energy requirements defined by Member States for NZEB levels are reported comparing both new and existing residential and non-residential buildings. The paper shows how the attention given to refurbishment of NZEBs increased over the last decade, but the achievement of a comprehensive implementation of retrofit remains one of main challenges that Europe is facing.

The energy consumptions of the building stock are playing a central role in the energy policy of the European Union. While the Member States are applying the Directives in force, the European Commission is working to update the regulatory framework. Specifically, it is necessary to achieve the great unrealized potential for energy savings in existing buildings. With this aim, the nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) target was introduced, and a comparative methodology framework to calculate cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements was proposed. This study focuses on the issue of building renovation, and it presents the results obtained with the application of a cost-optimal calculation method for identifying proper retrofit measures to reach costoptimal levels and NZEB levels. The assessment takes into account an exhaustive set of passive and active renovation options and it was extended to various building types of 60s-70s (residential and non-residential) in a wide range of representative European climatic conditions. A very relevant energy-saving potential was found for all cost-optimal benchmarks, and in many cases, the obtained NZEB refurbishments have resulted interesting also from an economic point of view.

This article analyses the status and trends of the European Union (EU) residential energy consumption in light of the energy consumption targets set by the EU 2020 and 2030 energy and climate strategies. It assesses the energy efficiency progress from 2000 to 2016, using the official Eurostat data. In 2016, the residential energy consumption amounted to 25.71% of the EU’s final energy consumption, representing the second largest consuming sector after transport. Consumption-related data are discussed together with data on some main energy efficiency policies and energy consumption determinants, such as economic and population growth, weather conditions, and household and building characteristics. Indicators are identified to show the impact of specific determinants on energy consumption and a new indicator is proposed, drawing a closer link between energy trends and policy and technological changes in the sector. The analysis of these determinants highlights the complex dynamics behind the demand of energy in the residential sector. Decomposition analysis is carried out using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index technique to provide a more complete picture of the impact of various determinants (population, wealth, intensity, and weather) on the latest EU-28 residential energy consumption trends. The article provides a better understanding of the EU residential energy consumption, its drivers, the impact of current policies, and recommendations on future policies.

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In the presence of renewed research and application efforts towards low-or zero-energy buildings, the issues of fine-tuning comfort and fully understanding its connection with energy use are becoming increasingly relevant both for research and application, and particularly so in the Mediterranean zone. This chapter discusses how the evolution of knowledge about comfort and its incorporation into international standards, inter alia in the form of comfort categories for different types of buildings, can influence the design, operation and evaluation of buildings in the Mediterranean area. There is a discussion of some of the implications, obtained by the authors via dynamic simulation software complemented by pre-and post-processing tools specifically prepared to ameliorate and speed the treatment of comfort data. The authors present an optimization methodology, some results in a selection of climates, and the current limitations and needs for improvement of the indexes defined in the standards. Critical analysis and results presented here have been developed partially under the lEE projects Commoncense and ThermCo.

Following the adoption of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) in 2012, the Member States of the European Union implemented various policies and measures to meet the Directive's requirements, including national energy efficiency targets for 2020. The progress made at national level is tracked through the Annual Reports provided by Member States to the Commission in accordance with the EED Article 24. To provide valuable insights of the actions taken by Member States towards increasing energy efficiency in various sectors of their economies, this paper reviews the assessment of the Annual Reports (AR) submitted since 2013 – the year in which the first reports were due – until the latest Annual Reports of 2018. Notably, the implementation status of key EED provisions such as Article 5 on the exemplary role of public bodies’ buildings and Article 7 on Energy Efficiency Obligation Schemes (EEOS) is discussed, providing a historical view of the progress made from the inception of the various actions until now. The need of more efforts, in particular with the Article 5 implementation, is identified. The national contributions towards the EU 2020 target are also discussed, including an analysis of the latest energy consumption trends and reasons for which energy consumption remained stable or increased, as given by Member States in their reports. Lessons learned from the EED experience so far are drawn that provide valuable input for the successful implementation of the future requirements under the new Energy Union Governance.

In order to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement and reduce energy consumption there is the need for a behavior change in energy end-users. Many studies have demonstrated that by delivering to energy users customized feedback on their energy consumption it can encourage a change in their behavior and support investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy use. However, the resulting impact on energy consumption can vary largely depending on how, when, and to whom the feedback is delivered. This paper aims to provide an updated overview of the energy savings for the main energy consumptions in residential buildings associated with different types of feedback and against some key determinants, i.e., geographical area, time period, type of medium. This analysis is based on a comprehensive literature review of over 70 studies. Based on the review the paper draws conclusions relevant for policymakers and stakeholders interested in developing feedback strategies and tools for their wide applications. The paper focuses also on the ongoing process implementing the EU Energy Efficiency Directive articles related to billing and metering, which will enable more proactive consumer feedback.