The housing stock in the European Union is outdated, the situation is a little worse than in Hungary
And by 2050, all buildings should be committed to zero emissions. We learned about an ambitious program plan.
Zsuzsa Koritár, a Hungarian Energy Efficiency Institute issued a package of energy proposals on 15 December as part of the European Union’s Fit for 55 program. The event is hosted by Péter Vígh, a One and a half degrees, was the founder of a climate change portal.
The presentation was about the fact that the building stock of the whole Union is very outdated, Hungary is also the fifth in this ranking. To achieve the climate neutrality goals by 2050, these buildings need to be deeply renovated.
How big a problem this is, you need to know that forty percent of all current emissions are related to the building sector. This is more than one emissions from transport or even industry, and the problem is very complex.
In Hungary, for example, 100-130 thousand buildings need to be renovated each year to meet their goals.
The plans and criteria are quite ambitious: a new energy efficiency rating would be introduced, which will finally be uniform throughout the EU, with buildings located between Classes A and G. The goal is for the minimum energy standard for residential buildings to reach category F by 2030, and by 2033 all buildings should catch up to at least level E. But development doesn’t end there: we need to move up gradually so that by 2050, all buildings in the EU have near zero emissions.
There was a worrying phrase here that the worst performing buildings would be “taken out”. When asked, Zsuzsa Koritár was able to say that in a better case we can mean a deep renovation, but if it is not worth renovating the building, it must be demolished.
There are obviously social issues here, because we have all seen buildings in a terrible condition where families live, and it is precisely they who cannot afford to move into a new house. Certainly, as with families in need, the energy program itself must operate on a social basis. This is what the Social Climate Fund, they would probably receive support to move here as well. This fund may help poor families even if the more expensive building services equipment (heat pump, inverter) is later destroyed and worn out.
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If we stop here for a moment, it is not difficult to see that subsidies generously included in energy renovations are very rational decisions.
Achieving climate neutrality is a global goal with no less than a livable future for the planet. From this point of view, it is understandable that those in need must be supported by all means to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 with them.
Since the level to be achieved with deep renovation from 2030 will be zero emissions, it has also been defined exactly what this means.
Zero emission building:
a building that has a very high energy performance (i.e., low consumption).
Where the remaining amount of energy is fully covered
– locally, from renewable energy sources
– on site, from a renewable energy community
– energy from district heating and cooling
Annex III to the Directive under the conditions set out in Annex I.
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By definition, in Hungary, for example, which is classified in the continental category, this requirement is met by a residential building with an energy consumption of no more than 65 kWh per square meter per year. In Hungary, nearly zero emissions can be achieved with an energy consumption of 100 kWh / year / m².
The concept of deep renovation has also been defined, which means that a building is renovated to the level of energy efficiency expected in a given period. This is close to zero before 2030, but after 2030 it is already zero.
A building renovation passport will be introduced, which will include a series of overlapping renovation steps with the aim of transforming it into a zero-emission building by 2050 at the latest. This should be implemented by Member States by the end of 2024. The use of a passport is not mandatory, but it will be a precondition for the use of financial incentives for deep renovations.
And if we are talking about financial incentives, this is the most important part of the package, as its success depends on setting up the right support systems. The following resources and funds are currently being considered:
– Recovery and Resilience Fund
– Social Climate Fund
– the cohesion funds
In addition, emissions trading will be extended to buildings, and the resulting auction revenues will enrich the above funds, as well as attract private capital through other public funding funds.
Zsuzsa Koritár considers this proposal ambitious enough, but also noted that in its current form there is a danger that the building will “get stuck” at a certain level of renovation (lock-in effect).
For example, if someone puts on only 10 inches of insulation because it still meets current standards, it will be cumbersome and expensive to move on to a thicker insulation later on. Furthermore, it can be worrying to approach the final destination in many small steps instead of a deep renovation, because even then the renovations can easily lose momentum.
He also said about the domestic environment that we can already do more to achieve climate goals. For example, the very popular non-refundable energy modernization grant, which is just entering the first wave, serves these purposes, as opposed to the Home Renovation Grant, which does not require any energy efficiency targets to be eligible for the grant.
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