Brussels, 9 March 2022 – EuroWindoor along with other European Window Stakeholders published a joint position on the Commission proposal to recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). As buildings account for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions the European associations give important input and more insight into this issue.
ARGE, European Aluminium, EPPA, ES-SO, EuroWindoor and Glass for Europe are strong supporters of the EPBD, but see the need for improvement to achieve the European Union climate targets from the Paris agreement. An important point is the reduction of the buildings energy use by improving the building envelope first which goes along with the Energy Efficiency First Principle.
EuroWindoor and the other European Window Stakeholder see three key objectives to optimise the EPBD.
Firstly, supporting the window replacement rate to accelerate the Renovation Wave. Currently the renovation rate is stagnating around 1% which is especially problematic considering that more than half of Europe´s buildings are fitted with inefficient windows.
Secondly, using the “Energy Balance” approach to assess the energy performance of windows. The “Energy Balance” takes energy (heat) losses as well as energy gains (solar heat gains) into account when calculating the energy performance of a building or building element. This is in contrast to the currently used method of only relying on the thermal transmittance (U-Value). This is a one-sided approach and does not give an accurate picture of the energy performance of building elements like windows.
Thirdly, defining and securing Healthy Indoor Climate. As people in the European Union spent up to 90% in their homes it becomes more and more important to adverse effect on health, well-being and productivity. Therefore, EuroWindoor and the other European Window Stakeholders strongly support the introduction of an ambitious Healthy Indoor Climate definition with measurable parameters.
For further information please see:
Joint position on the proposal to recast the EPBD (March 2022)
Joint position paper on the Renovation Wave (March 2021)
Press Contact:
Miriam Weppler
EuroWindoor General Secretariat
Walter-Kolb-Str. 1-7
60594 Frankfurt / Germany
Phone: +49 (69) 95 50 54 – 36
Fax: +49 (69) 95 50 54 – 11
Email: GS@EuroWindoor.eu