Glass for Europe deplores the lack of ambition emanating from the Commission proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive released earlier today. Although the political objective of increasing Europe’s rational use of energy by way of reducing energy demand in key sectors such as buildings is very much welcome, the measures laid down in the proposal are clearly insufficient for the EU to achieve its current target of saving 20% of energy consumption by 2020.
‘Despite the tremendous potential of deep building renovation in cutting CO2 emissions, reducing energy demand, creating growth and jobs, the European Commission is once again missing a good opportunity to propose concrete and robust measures to cut building-related CO2 emissions’ says Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe. ‘Reducing Europe’s energy bill and engaging the transition to a low carbon economy is undoubtedly a difficult challenge. What is sure however is that without more concrete actions to back the nice objectives of cutting building-related CO2 emissions, which were laid down in the Road map for a Low-Carbon Economy by 2050, Europe will only continue wasting precious energy’ he added.
Buildings account for 40% of Europe’s energy use and the deep renovation of existing buildings could save 32% of Europe’s primary energy consumption. Glass for Europe therefore regrets the absence of binding targets on building renovation, the loose commitment on public buildings and the lack of new and inventive measures to unleash the giant but still dormant energy-efficiency potential of buildings. Concrete measures to support the uptake of energy-efficient solutions, such as the design of a window energy labelling scheme for Europe, are needed rapidly.
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About Glass for Europe
Glass for Europe is the trade association for Europe’s manufacturers of flat glass. Flat glass is the material that goes into a variety of end-products and primarily in windows and façades for buildings, windscreens and windows for automotive and transport as well as glass covers, connectors and mirrors for solar-energy equipments. Flat glass is also used for many other applications such as furniture, electronics, appliances, etc.
Glass for Europe has four members: AGC Glass Europe, NSG-Group, Saint-Gobain Glass and Sisecam-Trakya Cam and works in association with Guardian. Altogether, these five companies represent 90% of Europe’s flat glass production.
Glass for Europe firmly believes that state-of-the-art glass can play a vital role in achieving the EU’s energy saving targets and promotes ambitious mechanisms to support the market uptake of energy-efficient glass technologies.