Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Under the European Green Deal and European Climate Law, the EU aims for climate neutrality by 2050, reducing emissions by 55% by 2030. Energy efficiency in buildings is a key focus, addressed through multiple regulations, including the revised Energy Efficiency Directive, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), Renewable Energy Directive and the extension of the Emissions Trading System, all supporting decarbonisation and renewable integration.

Europe's buildings and construction sector face critical challenges that demand innovative solutions to support the green transition. Buildings are a major contributor to global energy consumption and carbon emissions, accounting for 30% of global final energy use and 27% of energy-related emissions. In the EU, these figures are even higher, with 40% of final energy consumption and 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions attributed to buildings. As significant energy consumers, buildings play a key role in the push towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Additionally, the construction and operation of buildings require vast resources and generate significant waste, with construction and demolition waste making up nearly 40% of all waste in the EU. Europe's limited raw material production and reliance on imports heighten the environmental impact, leading to resource depletion, deforestation and water shortages. Urban buildings also contribute to the urban heat island effect, increasing energy demands for cooling and further straining local ecosystems and climate patterns.

Established in 2016, the Implementation Working Group (IWG) on energy efficiency in buildings works to unlock the energy savings potential of the building sector. This includes boosting the potential of existing and new buildings.

To achieve this, the working group is divided into two subgroups:

• Sustainable materials and technologies for energy efficient solutions for buildings (5.1)
• Cross-cutting heating and cooling technologies for buildings (5.2).

As such, the IWG on energy efficiency in buildings has updated its Implementation Plan of 2018. The updated Implementation Plan (2024) promotes mainstreaming innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in buildings. The aim is to improve the renovation rate, while also considering resource efficiency, circularity and the flexibility potential of buildings. The updated targets of the revised Implementation Plan also align with the revised EPBD. Additionally, the Communication on the revision of the SET Plan takes into account the Green Deal and other respective strategies, such as the Renovation Wave and regulations linked to topics related to the energy efficiency in buildings IWG.

Some of the transversal and cross-cutting topics encompass the digitalisation of buildings, circularity and sustainability, industrialisation and standardisation.

The European Commission, in collaboration with the SET Plan Steering Group and stakeholders, has produced a list of research and innovation (R&I) targets for each sub-group. These targets aim to promote highly efficient material and technological solutions to increase energy efficiency in buildings.

The innovation targets for Action 5.1 have been updated and two new targets have been added (Target 5 and Target 6):  

1. Target 1: Reduce the energy use of buildings by 16% in 2030 with respect to 2020
2. Target 2: Develop and demonstrate solutions for zero-emission buildings by 2030 while retaining cost-efficiency
3. Target 3: Develop and demonstrate market ready solutions to reduce the average duration of energy-related construction works by more than 40% for renovation and for new buildings compared to current national standard practices
4. Target 4: Develop and demonstrate market ready solutions to reduce the difference between the predicted and the measured energy performance to maximum 15% after the commissioning period with the ambition to reach 10%
5. Target 5: Develop and demonstrate interoperable and data-driven applications with the ability to maximise the use of the flexibility potential of buildings (minimum of 20% flexibility capacity, without unacceptable impairments for users, of a minimum of 20% of all buildings on district level)
6. Target 6: Develop and demonstrate data-driven solutions to maximise the reusability and high-value recyclability of materials and building elements at end-of-life (50% upcycling in 2030).

The updated innovation targets for Action 5.2 are:

Target 5.2-T1: Heat pump systems: 

• Develop prefabricated, fully integrated 'plug in and play' hybrid/multisource heat pump systems and integrated compact heating/cooling plants based on a modular heat pump
• Full-scale demonstration of heat upgrade technologies for district heating networks with supply temperatures in the range of 90-160°C
• Increase the number of heat pumps across Europe to 10 million by 2030.

Target 5.2-T2: District heating and cooling (DHC): 

• Increase the share of district heating in the EU's heat demand to 20% by 2030, preferably using low temperature waste heat and renewable sources
• Integrate 8 million households into the district heating/cooling networks across Europe.

Target 5.2-T3: Micro combined heat and power (CHP) / combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP): 

• Integrate highly flexible CCHP systems with heat storage, heat pumps and renewable heat sources with the aim of reducing annual fuel consumption
• Develop CCHP technologies running on renewable gases (hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, synthetic gas, etc.) with comparable performances as running on natural gas
• Develop CCHP solutions with post-combustion treatments to reduce emissions by more than 50% and keeping operational flexibility.

Target 5.2-T4: Thermal energy storage:

• 100 new large thermal energy storages in district heating and cooling networks in progress in 2030
• 10 new demo systems with sensible thermal energy storage, using renewable energy sources and waste heat to more than 60% of the yearly heat demand
• 20 systems for compact thermal energy storage demonstrated at TRL 6/7 with a storage density at system level increased to 120 kWh/m³.

Target 5.2-T5: Solar thermal and photovoltaic thermal systems:

• Reduce cost for solar thermal combi-systems with high solar fraction (min. 60%), towards a range of 12-16 €ct/kWh
• Develop standardised solutions for easier integration of solar thermal in building renovation, particularly in active prefabricated building elements
• Reduce cost of PVT panels by a factor of 1.5 to 2 from the 2020 reference value of €1000/m² by ensuring easier installation.

The working group's R&I activities support these major drivers in transforming the building sector. 

Activities for Action 5.1 set out in the Implementation Plan:  

• 5.1-1: Sustainable materials
• 5.1-2: Active modules
• 5.1-3: Digitalisation of buildings. 

Activities for Action 5.2 set out in the Implementation Plan:

• 5.2-1: Heat pumps as an alternative for fossil fuel heating in the built environment
• 5.2-2: District heating and cooling
• 5.2-3: Combined (cooling) heat and power generation
• 5.2-4: Thermal energy storage (TES)
• 5.2-5: Solar thermal and PVT
• 5.2-6: Technology combination and integration.

The group is chaired by Germany and includes 26 other European countries. The working group is supported by the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC-ETIP) and the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP).

Participating SET Plan countries (in alphabetical order):

• Albania 
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czechia
• Denmark (Observer)
• Estonia 
• France
• Germany (Chair)
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland (Associated Country)
• Italy
• Luxembourg 
• Netherlands
• Norway (Associated Country)
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Türkiye (Associated Country)
   

• IWG energy efficiency in buildings website
• ETIP RHC
• European Construction and sustainable built environment Technology Platform (ECTP)
• IWG energy efficiency in buildings CSA
• European Partnerships: Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future (DUT), Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) and People-centric sustainable built environment (Built4People)

• IWG Secretariat: infoiwg5-buildings [dot] eu (info[at]iwg5-buildings[dot]eu) 
• IWG Chair: Annett Kühn, PtJ (Project Management Juelich, Energy and Climate) 
• IWG Vice-chair: Constanze Marambio, PtJ 

Sub-group 5.1 (Sustainable New materials and technologies for energy efficient solutions for buildings)

• IWG Co-chair (5.1): Petra Ruether, SINTEF
• IWG Co-chair (5.1): Francesco Guarino, UNIPA 

Sub-group 5.2 (Cross-cutting heating and cooling technologies for buildings) 

• IWG Co-chair (5.2): Teresa Cuerdo, IETcc-CSIC
• IWG Co-chair (5.2): Wim van Helden