Energy Policies for Northern European Building Stock
Energy use in residential and non-residential building stock accounts for a large part of the total energy use in Europe and considerable attention is put into increasing the energy efficiency of the existing building stock. In almost all European countries there is a proliferation of initiatives; the introduction of the EPBD labelling is an example. High potential energy savings are claimed, but there is little evidence that the effectiveness and efficiency of these policy instruments are measured in a robust and systematic manner.
CAR has contributed to the publication Towards a Sustainable Northern European Housing Stock, an inventory of data on the existing northern European building stock and related policy developments (ISBN 978-1-58603-977-6). It gives a realistic impression of what is known about the quality of the building stock, the type of renovation activities currently being undertaken and the policies being implemented. It also makes recommendations to improve the present situation.
This book is the result of a study that was undertaken under the umbrella of Erabuild and covers eight Northern European countries: Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The study was coordinated by the Research Institute OTB of the Delft University of Technology. Cambridge Architectural Research was responsible for data for Finland and Sweden as well as the United Kingdom.