On Tuesday 17 April the European Parliament’s Plenary, with an outstanding majority, voted in favour of the Bendtsen Report on the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). This  vote follows the agreement reached between the institutions in December and the endorsement of the EU ambassadors on 31st January.

eu.bac, representing the European Building Automation and Control Industry, welcomes the vote  and congratulates the Rapporteur, Mr. Bendt Bendtsen, and his shadow rapporteur colleagues  for their work. 

The vote represents a major milestone in the road to decarbonize Europe, delivering health and  comfort to occupants, empowering them to achieve huge savings and, at the same time, strongly  supporting digitalization at European level. 

The new Directive envisages several new key elements, such as: 

• Roll‐out,  by  2025,  of  building  automation  and  control  functionalities  in  large  nonresidential buildings that ensure optimized energy consumption and indoor comfort in  real‐time, year after year, saving up to 20.3 % of all EU service sector building energy  consumption, with returns 9 times higher than investments;   
• Incentives to building automation and control functionalities as the most cost‐effective  approach  for  maintaining  performance  of  heating  and  air‐conditioning  systems  in  residential buildings, with returns 9 times higher than investments and annual energy savings up to 23.4% of residential building energy consumption (optimal scenario);
• Roll‐out of individual room temperature control functionality, putting people in control  of their energy bills and indoor comfort, and delivering annual energy savings of up to 160  TWh, 29 Mt CO2, with returns 7 times higher than investments;  
• Increased  focus  on  performance  improvements  under  typical,  dynamically  varying  building operating conditions, to ensure that intended savings are achieved in practice.
• The  mandate  to  adopt  delegating  and  implementing  acts  establishing  an  optional  common Union scheme for rating the smart readiness of buildings through a smart  readiness  indicator  and  detailing  the  technical  modalities  for  the  effective  implementation. 

Following a formal approval by the Council expected in May, the Directive will be published in  the Official Journal of the EU and it will enter into force twenty days later, with a transposition  period of 20 months. 

The European Institutions demonstrated political courage and vision, it is now up to the Member States in the coming months to translate these words into actions, integrating the current text  with ambitious measures, fully implementing the Directive in the best interests of people and businesses alike. 

The European Building Automation and Controls industry is fully committed in providing its  technical expertise in implementing the Directive and will soon publish its Guidelines on the text,  providing Member States and Stakeholders with concrete, detailed suggestions on how to ensure  a smooth and effective transposition and implementation.   

About eu.bac

eu.bac is the European Building Automation and Controls Association. It  represents the major European manufacturers of products and systems for  home and building automation. Its vision is a world where energy efficient,  sustainable, healthy and comfortable buildings are achieved through the  optimal application of home and building controls, automation systems and  services. eu.bac has founded the European Association of Energy Services Companies (eu.esco) for  promoting Energy Performance Contracting as the economically sustainable solution for improving the  energy performance of existing buildings using the guaranteed energy savings to pay for the installation.  For a full and updated overview of our membership, please see www.eubac.org.   

For more information, please contact: 

Simone Alessandri (Director Governmental Relations)

Diamant Building, Boulevard A. Reyers, 80, 
B‐1030 Brussels, Belgium  
e‐mail: simone.alessandri@eubac.org   
Phone: +32 2 706 82 02 / +32 494 88 28 26