Energy performance requirements for building are a good start, but we need to boost digital’s role to ensure we are on track

DIGITALEUROPE welcomes the proposal for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) presented by the European Commission, and its ambitious energy performance requirements for the whole building stock. We look forward to engaging with the European Parliament and Council to ensure the EPBD boosts innovation and the role of digital in monitoring and lowering the sector’s footprint.

DIGITALEUROPE’s Director-General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl said: 

“There is no other way to achieve our 2030 goals: we must double the renovation rate and reduce emissions of the building stock by 60%. That can only be achieved if we make full use of digital technologies to calculate, track and report energy performance of buildings.

Construction is the least digitised sector in Europe. The public sector has a responsibility to lead by example in deploying and promoting digital technologies, but we also need to incentivise investments to encourage uptake in private buildings. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive should be even more ambitious in recognising digital’s potential.”

Background: smart buildings are greener buildings

• Our building stock is responsible for 40% of the EU’s energy consumption, and 36% of our emissions.
• When revising energy performance of buildings, we should look at all the tools in our toolbox. Digital technologies can help other industries, including buildings, cut 20% of their emissions by 2030.
• In our recent report Digital action = Climate action: 8 ideas to accelerate the twin transition, we provide concrete examples of how digital technologies are helping making buildings more sustainable, including a cloud-based Internet of Things platform that saved a single business enough energy in 1 month to power the equivalent of 800 homes for a year.
• Digital renovations need data, and we welcome the increased efforts on data transparency and energy performance certificates in the EPBD revision.
• Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and Internet of Things – through smart sensors and meters – can implement energy management solutions not only for individual buildings, but also across municipalities and power grids, amplifying the savings.
• Minimum energy performance standards should be accompanied by easily accessible support measures for low-income households and businesses, to incentivise private investments and accelerate digital innovation in the construction sector.