BPIE: Europe's buildings under the microscope - PU Europe
BPIE: Europe's buildings under the microscope - PU Europe
BPIE: Europe's buildings under the microscope - PU Europe
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Financial programmes fall into <strong>the</strong> main categories illustrated in Figure 2C1. For <strong>the</strong> most part, schemes<br />
are funded by public authorities. These could be at <strong>the</strong> national/federal level, or regionally/locally. EU<br />
structural funds and resources from o<strong>the</strong>r EU and international sources are also available for renovation<br />
works, particularly in <strong>the</strong> Central and East region countries. Many of <strong>the</strong>se schemes are targeted at<br />
poor quality apartment blocks constructed prior to 1990. By contrast, white certificate schemes place<br />
an obligation on third parties, typically energy companies, with <strong>the</strong> costs ultimately borne by energy<br />
consumers through an increase in energy tariffs.<br />
A summary of <strong>the</strong> financial programmes currently operating in individual EU Member States, toge<strong>the</strong>r<br />
with Norway and Switzerland is provided in Table 2C1. 37 This table shows how <strong>the</strong> wide range of<br />
financial instruments is used throughout <strong>Europe</strong>. <strong>BPIE</strong> has identified 333 separate schemes. It can be<br />
seen that direct financial support in <strong>the</strong> form of grants or subsidies is prevalent throughout <strong>Europe</strong>.<br />
Many countries support residential as well as non-residential <strong>buildings</strong>, both new build and existing<br />
(though not necessarily in <strong>the</strong> same programme), while o<strong>the</strong>rs focus on renovating <strong>the</strong> existing building<br />
stock. A number only support residential <strong>buildings</strong>. There are also many schemes that target specific<br />
technologies, such as insulation, boiler scrappage, renewables, or specific building categories, such as<br />
social housing, <strong>the</strong> public sector, panel <strong>buildings</strong>. There are several schemes that provide support for<br />
new passive <strong>buildings</strong>.<br />
Various forms of loans and tax incentives are used in many countries. These are usually available for<br />
individuals as well as businesses, <strong>the</strong>reby covering most of <strong>the</strong> building stock outside <strong>the</strong> public sector.<br />
Somewhat less popular are energy supplier obligations/white certificate schemes, audits and third<br />
party financing, used in only a handful of countries, though <strong>the</strong> use of energy supplier obligations could<br />
become mandatory across all EU Member States if <strong>the</strong> current proposal in <strong>the</strong> draft Energy Efficiency<br />
Directive is approved.<br />
In terms of programme size, whilst it is difficult to make direct comparisons due to different funding<br />
regimes and timescales, <strong>the</strong> financial support varies considerably from around €1M/a to in excess of<br />
€1bn/a. Larger programmes tend to be support for improvements to social housing stock. These have<br />
traditionally been funded at large scale through financial transfers from central governments to local/<br />
regional authorities or public housing bodies. While <strong>the</strong> original purpose of <strong>the</strong>se schemes has been<br />
to meet basic housing requirements, funds are increasingly directed towards improving <strong>the</strong> energy<br />
performance of social or public housing.<br />
Programmes often take 3-5 years, though individual initiatives can last anything from one year to over a<br />
decade. This is a concern if a retrofit strategy is to be for <strong>the</strong> long term. The Energy Audit Programme in<br />
Finland has operated since 1992, while energy suppliers in <strong>the</strong> UK have been <strong>under</strong> some form of energy<br />
saving target obligation since 1994. It is noteworthy that a number of schemes have been terminated<br />
recently as a result of <strong>the</strong> credit crunch and consequent measures to rein in public expenditure. Table<br />
2C2 summarises some of <strong>the</strong> identified programmes operating in different countries across <strong>Europe</strong><br />
illustrating <strong>the</strong>irwide range and nature.<br />
37<br />
It should be added that <strong>the</strong>re are two on-line databases that provide updated information on financial instruments. The first is MURE which is a<br />
joint project <strong>under</strong> <strong>the</strong> Intelligent Energy for <strong>Europe</strong> Programme of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Europe</strong>an Commission/DG Energy of all energy efficiency agencies in <strong>the</strong><br />
EU 27, Croatia and Norway. MURE is an information platform on energy efficiency policies in <strong>Europe</strong>. See http://www.mure2.com/. The second is<br />
<strong>the</strong> International Energy Agency that has <strong>the</strong> Policies and Measures Databases offer access to information on energy-related policies and measures<br />
taken or planned to reduce GHG emissions, improve energy efficiency and support renewable energy development and deployment. See http://<br />
www.iea.org/textbase/pm/index.html.<br />
<strong>Europe</strong>’s <strong>buildings</strong> <strong>under</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>microscope</strong> | 91