Buildings modernisation strategy: Roadmap 2050. Summary

Abstract

The construction sector is the most energy consuming in Europe. According to the European Commission, its share of the total final energy consumption in the European Union (EU) is almost 40%, which accounts for 36% of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions* . In most countries on the Old Continent, buildings constructed before the implementation of the first panEuropean standards for greenhouse gas emissions are still among the top emitters.. Poland is no exception. While energy efficiency standards for new buildings are becoming more and more stringent, the existing facilities, both public and private, are often inadequately heated and consume lots of energy. This difference in the level of energy consumption is mainly due to the weaknesses of existing energy efficiency schemes, which have usually been fragmentary and supported only selected technologies (e.g. wall insulation or window replacement). Practical experience proves that this approach has been wrong. Economically and technologically effective thermal modernisation cannot just involve the replacement of individual building components. It requires a holistic approach to the issue of renovation, which focuses on the energy performance of different buildings, as well as the issue of energy generation, with renewable sources taken into account. The successful implementation of an integrated thermal modernisation scheme covering one geographical region or the whole country, a selected segment of the market or all buildings, is a difficult, timeconsuming and costly process. The main challenge faced by the initiators and coordinators of the process is to precisely define the goal, nature and scope of works to be conducted in such a way that the total benefits which arise from increasing the energy efficiency of a building outweigh the benefits derived by individual investors, i.e. in most cases, property owners or users (read more in ‘Definition of Deep Thermal Modernisation’). As far as state funded schemes are concerned, an additional challenge is to determine the level of support for different groups of beneficiaries and to adjust the model for the distribution of these resources to the characteristics of their recipients and the applied funds. The aim of this paper is to define the potential scope of a comprehensive scheme to improve the energy efficiency in buildings, indicate the segment in which thermal modernisation could bring the greatest benefit, and also to propose a framework for a system of financial support for such actions.