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

Within the existing European stock, a large share (more than 40% 17 ) is built before 1960s where there were
only few or no requirements for energy efficiency and only a small part of these have undergone major
energy retrofits, meaning that, these have low insulation levels and their systems are old and inefficient.
The oldest part of the building stock contributes greatly to the high energy consumption in the building
sector. Older buildings tend to consume more due to their low performance levels.
This is clearly demonstrated in Figure 1C6, which shows data on typical heating consumption levels of the
existing stock by age for several countries collected through the BPIE survey. Cross-country comparisons
of the performance are difficult to make due to the multiple factors affecting heating consumption as
explained above.
It is however clear that the largest energy saving potential is associated with the older building stock.
This is a trend observed in all countries where in some cases buildings from the 1960s are worse than
buildings constructed in the years before that (c.f. Bulgaria and Germany). It is interesting to note the
large consumption levels for heating in the UK, indicating the very poor performance of UK buildings.
Moreover, although heating needs in Southern countries such as Portugal and Italy are lower due to
milder winters, the energy use in these countries is relatively high, which can be an indication of lack of
sufficient thermal envelope insulation in their building stocks. For those countries, cooling becomes an
important contributor to the overall consumption, where homes are, in many cases, equipped with airconditioning
systems.
Figure 1C7 – U values (W/(m²K) for external walls in different countries for different construction
periods.
Sources: SE- Mundoca & Neij (2011), NL: Kwalitatieve Woningregistratie (2006), PT: ADENE, BPIE survey
0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
>1920
1921-40
Sweden The Netherlands Poland
1941-60
1961-70
1971-80
1981-90
1991-00
2001-05
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
>1900
1901-20
1921-40
1941-60
1961-80
1981-90
>2000
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
>1949
1950-59
1960-69
1970-79
1980-89
1990-99
2000-05
2006-10
Sufficient thermal insulation of the building envelope is in fact essential for shielding the interior of the
building from the exterior environment and minimising thermal transfer (heat losses or gains) through
the envelope during the winter and summer periods. Figure 1C7 compares typical U values of exterior
walls in a number of countries for different construction periods and compares these with the respective
requirements for today’s new build. The lack of proper insulation in older buildings is clear in all countries
due to the lack of insulation standards in those construction years.
17
This is a figure deduced from our analysis – see section 1B for further details.
Europe’s buildings under the microscope | 49