Portugal on the path of energy efficiency
Produce, consume, store and sell renewable electricity. According to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the regulatory frameworks in force in the various Member States must ensure these four rights to self-consumers of renewable energy without being faced with disproportionate burdens, and can be exercised by the citizen either individually or collectively within a renewable energy community (REC).
In the planet sustainability marathon, whose goal is the year 2050, we have to be more ambitious. To achieve carbon neutrality in less than three decades, the European Union (EU) has presented successive documents with increasingly demanding and ambitious goals, placing the old continent at the head of the environmental agenda.
Recently the European Commission presented yet another challenge to all Member States, the Suitable for 55, the new legislative package to ensure that a Europa meets the climate goals by 2050. Looking at the main ideas in the document, I would say that the Fit for 55 it is not just a plan that combines quality reduction measures with nature conservation measures, but also a kind of instruction manual aimed at fulfilling Europe’s climate ambitions, with a strong emphasis on energy efficiency.
O Fit for 55 points to renewable energies as the path to greater energy efficiency, with buildings having to meet the benchmark of 49% use by 2030 and increasing the use of renewable energies non-heating and cooling by 1.1 points percentages also 2030. And because the State must set an example, the Fit for 55 mandatory obligation for all Member States to renovate at least 3% of the total surface area of public buildings per year.
The environmental revolution is already underway and Europe assumes that this change will be made at an accelerated pace by stating that it will reduce its CO2 transfers by 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 figures). Portugal is among the European countries that have contributed the most to this change, having been the first country in the world to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050, during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in 2016. Examples such as the Roadmap for Carbon Neutral 2050 or the National Plan for Energy and Climate (PNEC2030) are demonstrations of this green ambition.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said on several occasions that Portugal is on “the right path” to achieve cleaner energy and, last July, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said that “ Portugal is a European leader in the green energy transition and the work carried out by the government in this area is a good example for other European countries”.
Looking back over the last few years, we can conclude that the instruments for the paradigm shift exist and are consolidated. In Portugal, we will only achieve the proposed goals for the next 30 years if we invest in the renovation of the built-up area. And, indeed, we have reasons to believe. With the funds coming from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), a unique opportunity for guaranteed investments emerges for the coming years.
Financial instruments exist and are already on the ground. A second phase makes More Sustainable Buildings Program, from the Environmental Fund, which has the technical support of ADENE, has already started and will help families to remodel or carry out works at home to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. The new program is part of the PRR, which identifies a commitment to energy efficiency in buildings as a priority for economic recovery in line with a climate transition. The PRR predicts that the renovation of buildings will have to go through the use of more sustainable recycled materials, in order to make their use more efficient in terms of energy and improve environmental performance.
The publication, on July 1st, of the pieces of legislation that complement the Energy Certification System (SCE) comply with Decree-Law no. º101-D / 2020. Aware of the enormous expectation and some concern of construction and real estate technicians and professionals with the new legislation, ADENE, as the managing entity of the Energy Certification of Buildings, has developed a close work with all skaters in the sector , providing information and carrying out training activities.
The ADENE Academy has developed training and qualification actions for the main SCE agents, having carried out more than 25 involving more than a thousand Qualified Experts (PQ). In the close relationship that an ADENE has with the various Professional Orders, multiples of work were divided that involved close to 1,500 specialists and had more than 3,000 views on social networks. Because municipalities are crucial not complying with the procedures of the new legislation, ADENE carried out training training, involving more than 300 municipal technicians.
At the origin of the changes to the SCE legislation is the urgent need to reduce the CO2 bases associated with the energy consumption of buildings in the EU. The solution to this global challenge involves a major renovation of the building, so that solutions can be designed and adopted with a view to promoting thermal comfort and interior quality, as well as reducing energy needs and consumption in buildings.
Over time, the requirements were gradually increased, the thermal quality and energy performance requirements of the buildings being revised. If, in 2006, they were only applicable to new construction and major interventions, in 2015 they are now applicable to any intervention, provided that a building component with an impact on energy performance is intervened. The requirements on energy performance have intensified even more and, from 1 January 2021, the entire building stock must be progressively made up of buildings with almost zero energy requirements (NZEB). Nearly zero energy building it is the european standard that, as the name indicates, foresees that the requirements need almost nil energy needs, and that the satisfaction of these needs must be done mainly by energy from renewable sources, preferably produced on site or nearby. Electric mobility also emerges new rules. As of July 1, all new buildings must guarantee infrastructure for charging stations for electric vehicles.
Achieving the goals defined by the EU is a huge challenge for Portugal, whose built-up stock is mostly old. ADENE, the managing entity of the Energy Certification of Buildings, has a database that guarantees that around 50% of the properties claim to have an inefficient energy class with classes ranging between F and D. Consulting these data, we see that there is a huge potential for growth in the application of energy efficiency solutions, through building changes, or through the application of measures to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. ADENE technicians have identified more than 2.6 million energy efficiency improvement measures that, if implemented first, will allow two-thirds of properties to be certified in classes C or even B-. The great asset of rising in the class is the reduction of the energy bill, since the rise to class C or B- represents, on average, a reduction in estimated consumption for heating and cooling by around 44% and 75 %, respectively.
If we want to achieve European and national goals, we have to work together. Dialogue, monitoring and collaboration between all those involved in the building design process is essential, namely architects, designers and PQ.
The new legislation has the merit of uniting professionals and PQ in the building design process. This is the big change that will allow the construction of buildings that are more efficient in the use of energy and the remaining resources. Throughout this process, I highlight the role of the SCE QP, which is responsible for confirming compliance with thermal comfort and energy performance requirements, issuing the respective energy pre-certificate and, subsequently, the energy certificate.
I am confident that Portugal, by prioritizing the renovation of public and residential buildings, increasing thermal comfort and supporting the most vulnerable consumers, will accelerate the achievement of decarbonisation goals. I believe in a future with greater energy efficiency.