EU portal shares energy reduction strategies

The European Commission today launched its new BUILD UP Web portal as a tool for sharing information on reducing energy use of buildings.

The site’s content will be regularly updated and enhanced by users themselves to cover a wide range of good practices in energy reduction, as well as to inform visitors of new energy and construction legislation.

“The BUILD UP Web portal will enable anyone from homeowners to builders to look up and share best practice and information,” said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. “At the same time, it will inform and update the market about the legislative framework. BUILD UP can be an extremely useful tool to improve building performance.”

Buildings are responsible for about 40 per cent of total energy consumption in Europe. As a result, improvements in building performance are crucial to achieving EU energy-savings targets and combating climate change, whilst also contributing to energy security.

The EU in 2002 adopted the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which provided member states with an integrated approach towards efficient energy use in the buildings sector. Recognising there is still a considerable potential for cost-efficient energy savings that is not being exploited., the EU last November proposed a recast of the EPBD that could generate additional energy savings of the equivalent of 60 to 80 million tonnes of oil per year by 2020 — equivalent to a further reduction by 5 to 6 per cent of total EU energy consumption over that achievable by full implementation of the current Directive.

Based on these proposals, the European Parliament adopted in April 2009 a legislative resolution calling for even more ambitious and demanding legislation. The position of the Council of the European Union is now awaited.