Starting with 2019, all the new buildings that will be built in the European Union will have to produce the same amount of energy which they consume. At the end of last week, the European Parlament voted that the deadline for achieving this is 2019. For public building, this deadline is 2016.

A quarter of all the buildings in the EU are from the first half of the 20th century. The poll was actually an addition to a previous law that concerned the buildings’ energy efficiency. The new standards of energy efficiency will be applied to all the restorated buildings as well, not only to those having a surface of over 1,000 square meters, like the previous law stated.

This new addition is very important because a great part of European buildings is represented by already existing buildings, among which 25% have been built before 1945.

In Europe, energy consumption of buildings represents 40% of the total, out of which 36% is emissions producting energy. A great deal of this energy can be saved by using more performant insulation, heating and cooling systems, by using double windows, economical lighting, etc.