Press release: Green groups demand new EU laws to end energy waste in buildings
PRESS RELEASE
GREEN GROUPS DEMAND NEW EU LAWS TO END ENERGY WASTAGE IN BUILDINGS
[BRUSSELS, 13th October 2009] – A coalition of environmental NGOs, including members of the "Coolproducts for a Cool Planet" campaign [1], will launch its new Cool Products, Warm Homes Manifesto [2] Wednesday at a conference in the European Parliament in Brussels. The coalition will ask EU institutions and Member States to urgently put in place new, more ambitious legislation to reduce energy demand for heating and cooling our buildings. The EU’s energy consumption for heating and cooling buildings accounts for about one quarter of all energy consumed in Europe [3] - as much as all EU transport combined.
“Europe needs to massively boost its efforts to reduce energy demand for heating and cooling buildings, including long awaited minimum efficiency requirements for boilers, water heaters, and air conditioners,” said Edouard Toulouse from ECOS. Truly ambitious measures for those products could cut Europe's CO2 emissions annually by 230 million tonnes by 2020.
Most buildings are still poorly insulated and use oversized and inefficient heating and cooling systems that unnecessarily waste energy, contribute to climate change and air pollution, which add billions of Euros to Europe’s energy spend.
Moreover, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) fails to introduce enough measures that will really improve the energy performance of our houses, offices and of all the buildings we use. The revised EPBD needs to close this gap by requiring that all new buildings are net zero energy by speeding up the renovation of existing buildings and through enhancing the role of the Energy Performance Certificate which would allow customers to make informed choices regarding the energy consumption of buildings. Discussions will continue Wednesday at a second ‘trilogue’ meeting between governments and MEPs.
"Buildings and their equipment are the fabric of our society: the way they are designed, built and maintained determines whether they are an asset to our well-being, our planet and our economy or whether they contribute to fuel poverty, urban sprawl and wasted resources,” says the European Environmental Bureau’s (EEB) Secretary General John Hontelez.
Supported by a cross party group of Members of the European Parliament (4), the Cool Products, Warm Homes Manifesto strongly urges the European Commission, Member States and MEPs to:
1. Adopt a mandatory 20% energy saving target for Europe by 2020 to support their commitment to energy conservation.
2. Establish more coherent legislation to close gaps and set clear responsibilities.
3. Boost the energy performance and renovation rate of existing buildings in the EU.
4. Allow only the greenest heating and cooling products to reach the market.
5. Redirect finance where it matters.
Major windows of opportunities are about to close. Discussions on the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings directive are soon to be over, as this is to be adopted by the end of the year. Energy efficiency requirements for boilers, water heaters and air conditioners will be voted on in the first half of 2010 under the Ecodesign of Energy-Using Products directive. Meanwhile, the European Commission is also revising the EU’s Energy Efficiency Action Plan.
-------------------------- END -----------------------------
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
• Gunnar Boye Olesen, INFORSE-Europe, +45 86 22 70 00 (Danish, English)
• Catherine Pearce, Climate and Environmental Policy Officer at EEB, +32 (0) 2 2891302 (English, French)
• Edouard Toulouse, Ecodesign Officer at ECOS, +32 (0)2 894 46 57 (French, English)
• Christian Noll, Policy Officer at Friends of the Earth Germany (Bund), +49 179 149 57 64 (German, English)
• Talitha Koek, Climate policy Officer at the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment (Stichting Natuur en Milieu), +31 (0) 30-234 82 30 (Dutch, English)
• Hannah Hislop, Green Alliance +44 207 6304529 (English)
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
[1] The Coolproducts for a Cool Planet coalition campaigns for ambitious policies for green products, especially through the EU Ecodesign of Energy-Using Products Directive (EuP), voted in 2005, which provides the framework for setting mandatory ecological requirements for a huge range of products. The campaign includes among its founding members ECOS, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Friends of the Earth Europe, INFORSE Europe. National supporters include BUND – Friends of the Earth Germany, The Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment, Green Alliance in the UK, FOCUS in Slovenia and other groups. To launch this Manifesto, it has teamed up with other organisations, such as WWF, who are campaigning for the adoption of strict legislation on energy conservation.
Follow up: http://www.coolproducts.eu (for general information) and http://www.env-ngo.eup-network.eu/ (for position papers).
[2] The full text of the Manifesto is available on http://www.coolproducts.eu/manifesto
[3] Calculations based on Ecodesign preparatory studies on Lot 1(boilers and combiboilers), Lot 2 (water heaters) and Lot 10 (room air conditioning appliances) – see http://www.ecoboiler.org/public/ecoboiler_executivesummary.pdf, http://www.ecohotwater.org/public/ecohotwater_executivesummary.pdf and http://www.ecoaircon.eu/
[4] Members of the European Parliament supporting this initiative are Anni Podimata (S&D), Fiona Hall (ALDE), Claude Turmes (GREENS) and Dr. Peter Liese (EPP). The conference will take place on 14th October in the European Parliament, 9.30–17.30. Full programme and venue details here. http://www.coolproducts.eu/cool_blog_archive_Conference_announcement_14_October_in_the_European_Parliament_57.aspx