BPIE: Europe's buildings under the microscope - PU Europe

Energy performance requirement: minimum level of energy performance that is to be achieved to
obtain a right or an advantage: e.g. right to build, lower interest rate, quality label [CEN standard - En
15217 “Energy performance of buildings – “methods for expressing energy performance and for the
energy certification of buildings”]
Energy service company (ESCO): a natural or legal person that delivers energy services and/or other
energy efficiency improvement measures in a user’s facility or premises, and accepts some degree of
financial risk in so doing. The payment for the services delivered is based (either wholly or in part) on the
achievement of energy efficiency improvements and on the meeting of the other agreed performance
criteria [ESD, 2006/32/EC]
Final energy: Energy supplied that is available to the consumer to be converted into useful energy (e.g.
electricity at the wall outlet). (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC)
Gross floor area: The total area of all the floors of a building, including intermediately floored tiers,
mezzanine, basements, etc., as measured from the exterior surfaces of the outside walls of the building
Heat pump: a device or installation that extracts heat at low temperature from air, water or earth and
supplies the heat to the building [EPBD, 2002/91/EC]
Internal gross area: A term used in the United Kingdom, defined in the RICS Standard, for the area of a
building measured to the internal face of perimeter walls at each floor level
Internal rate of return (IRR): A rate at which the accounting value of a security is equal to the present
value of the future cash flow. [European Central Bank]
Living floor space/area: total area of rooms falling under the concept of rooms [OECD Glossary of
statistical terms]
Nearly zero energy building: a building that has very high energy performance, as determined in
accordance with Annex I of the EPBD recast. The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required
should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources, including energy from
renewable sources produced on-site or nearby [EPBD recast, 2010/31/EC]
Net floor area: A term used in the ISO standard to express the Interior Gross Area less the areas of all
interior walls
Net present value: The net present value (NPV) is a standard method for the financial assessment of
long-term projects. It measures the excess or shortfall of cash flows, calculated at their present value at
the start of the project
Payback time: the length of time required to recover the cost of an investment
Primary energy: Energy from renewable and non-renewable sources which has not undergone any
conversion or transformation process
Public building: building owned or occupied by any public body
Regulated energy: energy used in the home for heating, cooling, hot water and lighting
Residential building: A structure used primarily as a dwelling for one or more households. Residential
buildings include single-family houses (detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses (or
alternatively row houses) and multi-family houses (or apartment blocks) which includes apartments/flats
Third-party financing: a contractual arrangement involving a third party — in addition to the energy
supplier and the beneficiary of the energy efficiency improvement measure — that provides the capital
for that measure and charges the beneficiary a fee equivalent to a part of the energy savings achieved
as a result of the energy efficiency improvement measure. That third party may or may not be an ESCO
[ESD, 2006/32/EC]
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