Encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in the implementation of the EU energy performance directive

The recent EC Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (Directive 2002/91/EC, in short: EPBD) will urge member states to develop and design energy performance regulations before 2006. The international EC Fifth Framework Altener research project Build-On-RES2 was formulated with this objective in mind. The Build-On-RES project aims to develop the methodological and contextual framework to maximise the incorporation of renewable energy sources (RES) in an Energy Performance Method for both new and for existing residential buildings. Build-On-RES started by benchmarking energy regulations in five of the EU member states that have experience of energy performance regulations and scrutinised the extent to which they encourage the use of RES in buildings. In addition to energy regulations, other policy schemes that encourage use of RES techniques like financial incentives and schemes based on communication have been collected and described. On the basis of this collection of existing information, the project is designing a framework to maximise the incorporation of RES in an Energy Performance Method for use by member states that are in the process of (re)designing their (new) energy performance building regulations. This paper describes the results of the Build-on-RES research and presents in short the methodological and contextual framework to maximise the incorporation of RES in an Energy Performance Method.