The new standards on rehabilitation and energy efficiency are changing the concept of buildings, urban development and spatial planning of the cities. Javier García Breva, Energy and Sustainability expert, hosted a breakfast with reporters in which he stressed that European policies will change the economic model of buildings and cities.
Javier García Breva , president N2E , Fundación Renovables (Renewable Energy Foundation) and expert on Energy and Sustainability , yesterday organized the third IPM Trends in Energy Press Breakfast, entitled New Economy of the Cities, where he argued that, with the new European regulations on rehabilitation and energy efficiency, the electric bill of the end consumer could achieve savings above 20 %.
The energy sector around the world is at the beginning of a change era, as a result of technological advances, and threatens to transform the business for the decades to come.
Electricity from decentralized sources
García Breva said that ” the XIII World Electricity Industry Survey , conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, confirms that decentralized electricity generation is already starting to capture a portion of the proceeds from the conventional centralized generation. In fact, in 2030, electricity from decentralized sources could reach 20 % of global generation. North America and Europe are the most clearly committed regions to a future mix of centralized and decentralized power distribution on a large scale. ”
Thus, energy efficiency of cities is gaining momentum, and in fact, according to García Breva “before April 2014 the EU member countries have to pass their National Energy Efficiency Plans according to the template imposed from Brussels, where commitment to self-consumption is clearly enshrined”.
Targets of the European directives
The European directive on Energy Efficiency 2012/21/EU incorporates several objectives such as 20% savings in a building’s energy consumption, savings of 1.1% in the final consumer’s bill to be allocated by marketers to an Energy Efficiency Fund, creating green banks, financial institutions that invest in research in this area and real-time meters for net metering as opposed to approximate metering.
For García Breva the most interesting of the European directives is that ” they also include comprehensive policies for neighborhoods and large areas of the city and above all, a clear commitment to self-consumption, an aspect that strikes directly against the energy reform that is about to be approved by the Government “.
The energy rehabilitation of buildings is a key element, according to García Breva, because “at least 20 % of the ERDF will be used for energy efficiency, and that means between 3,000 and 4,000 million euro to be granted to Spain from Europe.” According to his data, the certification companies in Madrid estimate at 95% the buildings rated below “C “, but let us not forget that “we are talking about technological innovation and about competing under better conditions compared to other developed countries, such as Japan and the U.S.”.
Change in energy consumer profile
One change that García Breva foresees in Spain’s immediate future is one in demand, ” which will continue to decline in consumption with a new consumer profile that will spend less and be more demanding, which will impact the energy business and obviously, impact the city, because besides, those not achieving good energy efficiency levels in their buildings will witness a depreciation in the market value thereof”.
In fact, the president of the Renewable Energy Foundation highlighted the fact that the sectors of real estate and construction are increasingly interested in the energy sector because they see it as a niche business that has upside in the future.
