Abstract
In order to accelerate the clean energy transition, the European Union set enhanced climate and energy targets, giving a particular emphasis on improving energy performance in the building sector. This regulatory trend has been taken forward in 2020 by the Climate target Plan 2030 and the Renovation Wave strategy which shifted the focus from improving the energy performance during building operation to a complete building stock decarbonisation by 2050 reducing overall GHG emission in the building life cycle.
Considering the number of existing buildings, decarbonising the building stock requires new buildings designed to reach the highest performance to compensate for existing buildings’ emissions. The forthcoming revision of the EPBD is expected to require that ‘all new buildings should be zero-emission buildings, and all existing buildings should be transformed into zero-emission buildings by 2050’. Furthermore, building renovation and new buildings’ construction are considered unique opportunities ‘to improve indoor environmental quality, living conditions of vulnerable households, sufficiency and circularity, increasing climate resilience, improving environmental and health standards resilience against disaster risks and accessibility for persons with disabilities, and enhancing carbon sinks, such as vegetated surfaces”.
In that context, Zero-emission and positive buildings are especially relevant. Zero-emission buildings are buildings with a very high energy performance, which contribute to the optimisation of the energy system through demand-side flexibility, where any very low residual amount of energy still required is fully covered by energy from renewable sources generated on-site or nearby off-site. When the energy balance between renewable energy generated and consumed by the building is positive, it is considered to be a positive energy building since is capable of exporting surplus energy to other buildings or to the network. Accordingly, net-zero and positive energy building initiatives have grown around Europe with the aim of promoting and fostering their implementation.
This article presents the overall framework for the PEB definition, and the latest project results in terms of technology solutions, multiple benefits analysis, and policy recommendations.