1

Analysis and evaluation of 3 rd draft criteria for Buildings and next steps

Alicia Boyano Larriba & Oliver Wolf

October 2010

2

THE APPLICATION OF THE ECOLABEL REGULATION (EC 66/2010) TO BUILDINGS

DRAFT PRELIMINARY STUDY TASK 1 PRODUCT GROUP DEFINTION AND PRIORIZATION ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS DRAFT CRITERIA STUDIES

October 2010

A. Boyano and O. Wolf JRC (IPTS) 2010

3

Table of contents

Abbreviations 6 1. Introduction 7 2. Main environmental impacts of buildings 9

2.1 Energy consumption and environmental performance of buildings 9

2.1 Environmental impacts due to the energy consumption 12 2.2 Environmental impacts due to the indoor air quality 16

2.3 Environmental impacts due to the water consumption and pollution 18 2.4 Environmental impacts due to resource depletion and waste generation and management

18

3. Relevant Legislation for buildings 25 3.1 Key environmental aspects to be regulated in the building sector 25 3.2 European Legislation Framework 27

3.3 Initiatives in the Member States 30 3.4 European Association working for the harmonization 35

3.5 European Ecolabelling in non­residential buildings 36 3.6 Ecolabelling initiatives outsides Europe 37

3.7 international Energy Conservation Code 40 4. Product definition and categorization 42

4.1 Conclusions 47 5. Analysis of member states Ecolabel criteria for Buildings 49

5.1 Analysis of the energy consumption criteria 49 5.2 Analysis of the selection of material criteria 55

5.3 Analysis of the water consumption and pollution criteria 58 5.4 Analysis of the waste generation and management criteria 59

5.5 Analysis of the construction and demolition criteria 60 5.6 Analysis of the indoor air quality criteria 63

5.7 Summary of the main criteria pointed out by the MS and Third Country Ecolabels for Buildings

64

6. Analysis of the criteria proposed by the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for Buildings

68

6.1 The selection of materials 68 6.2 Energy consumption 73

6.3 Water consumption and pollution 75 6.4 Waste management (operation phase) 76

4

6.5 Health and well­being 76

6.6 Facilities provided 79 6.7 Operation and maintenance 80

6.8 Documentation 81 6.9 Planning, project and construction 81

6.10 Impacts onsite 83 7. Summary, conclusions and recommendations 85

7.1 Project planning and future points to be addressed 87

Tables Table 1 Total energy consumption (Estimate from IMPRO­Building) 10 Table 2 Average of energy consumption on the building type and the climatic zone 11

Table 3 Breakdown of surface and energy consumption by subsector of the non­ residential sector

11

Table 4 Differences between some features of thermal comfort and indoor air quality with important relevance for standard setting

17

Table 5 Typical composition of the household wastewater 18 Table 6 Typical composition of C&D waste 21

Table 7 Embodied energy values of some construction materials and products 21 Table 8 Summary of Environmental categories and issues in the code for

sustainability 31

Table 9 German sustainable Building certification criteria 32

Table 10 Classification of types of constructions (CPC) 42 Table 11 Ecolabel developed by Member States and Third Countries depending on

the type of the building 44

Table 12a Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Building (Energy consumption related criteria)

52

Table 12b Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Energy consumption related criteria)

53

Table 13 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Material related criteria)

55

Table 14 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Water consumption related criteria)

58

5

Table 15 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Waste related criteria)

59

Table 16 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Construction and demolition phases related criteria)

61

Table 17 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Indoor air quality related criteria)

63

Table 18 Summary of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings

65

Table 19 EU Ecolabel criteria related to material selection 71

Table 20 EU Ecolabel criteria related to energy consumption 74 Table 21 EU Ecolabel criteria related to water consumption and management 75

Table 22 EU Ecolabel criteria related to waste management 76 Table 23 EU Ecolabel criteria related to health and well­being 78

Table 24 EU Ecolabel criteria related to common facilities 80 Table 25 EU Ecolabel criteria related to operation and maintenance 80

Table 26 EU Ecolabel criteria related to documentation 81 Table 27 EU Ecolabel criteria related to planning, project and construction 82

Table 28 EU Ecolabel criteria related to impacts onsite 84

Figure Figure 1 Waste management for C&D waste 22 Figure 2 Classification and re­arrangement of assessment items into Q (building

environmental quality and performance) and L (building environmental loadings)

38

Figure 3 Environmental labeling based on building environmental efficiency (BEE) 39

6

ABBREVIATIONS

A Area

CC Classification of types of construction CDD Cooling degree days

CPC Central product classification) C&D waste Construction and demolition waste

ECA European Collaborative Action EPA Environmental protection agency

HDD Heating degree days HVAC Heat, ventilation and air conditioning

IAQ Indoor air quality IEBC International existing building code

IECC International energy conservation code IPP Integrated Product Policy

Q Heat transferred (kW) T Temperature (K or C)

U Heat transfer coefficient (kW/m 2 /K or kW/m 2 /K UN United Nations

UNCDB United Nations Common Database VOCs Volatile organic compounds

WHO World health organization

7

1. INTRODUCTION

At the mandate of the EU Ecolabelling Board in 2007 the development of a product group "Buildings" was initiated and carried on a voluntary basis by the Italian Ecolabel Competent Body ISPRA in 2008­2009. After a number of ad­hoc working group meetings and 3 drafts of the document the development of criteria proved to be more time demanding and complex than initially expected. Therefore, at the request of EUEB and the Commission, Buildings criteria development work was further taken up by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

This report summarises the most important points of this Ecolabel product groups and provides for an analysis of the work done so far as well as a proposal for the next steps to be taken.

"Buildings" covers a large variety of constructions used in diverse environments such as the industrial, tertiary and residential sectors. These products are estimated to consume around 40% of the total energy consumption in Europe. Moreover, they may cause other negative environmental impacts during their life­cycle due to their material content, the water consumption and the production of construction, household and demolition waste. While designing the buildings, architects and designers usually focus on their style and functionality. However, the environmental impacts are becoming more and more important and especially the energy consumption of the buildings along their life­cycle. Many such initiatives for an environmental friendlier design may derive from national and international regulations, financial incentives and manufactures' commitment towards environment. The end­user, though conscious of the energy performance of these products (as they directly affect his electricity, gas or fuel bills) not always influences the purchase decision.

The European Directive 2002/91/EC was expected to improve the environmental performance of new and existing building by improving their energy performance. The Member States must apply minimum requirements as regards the energy performance of new and existing buildings, ensure their certification in relation to the energy performance and require the regular inspection of boilers and air conditioning systems. The Directive concerns the residential and tertiary sectors (offices, public buildings, etc). The scope of the provisions on certification does not, however, include some buildings, such as historic buildings, industrial sites, etc. It covers all aspects of energy efficiency in buildings in an attempt to establish a truly integrated approach. The Directive does not lay down measures on moveable equipment such as household appliances. Measures on labeling and mandatory minimum efficiency requirements have already been implemented or are envisaged in the Action Plan for Energy Efficiency.

Ecolabel Regulation (EC 66/2010) is expected to improve the environmental performance of major environmental impact products in the EU through ecolabelling. In all Ecolabel studies, a common and coherent methodology is used for analyzing environmental impacts and improvement potentials of the products and Ecolabel options are analyzed from life cycle perspective. This methodology consists of several tasks which will be conducted in an iterative manner.

As mentioned above, the objective of this study is to follow up on the work reported in the 3 rd draft criteria of EU Ecolabel for buildings. In this study, chapter 2 provides an overview of

8

the main environmental impacts caused by buildings. This section should be considered for a better understanding of the Ecolabel criteria proposed and discussed in the following sections. The aim of the chapter 3 is to provide proper definitions and classifications of the building product group. This section presents the complete canvas of relevant building products, to define and describe these products and to prioritize the products that deserve further analysis. Further analysis will be decided according to their market coverage, environmental impact, improvement potential and harmonization potential with other product policies such as member states Ecolabels or Green Public Procurement. Chapter 4 presents relevant legislations, voluntary agreements and labeling initiatives at EU level, in Member States and in third countries. The aim of this section is to identify the common points and differences of the current regulations for each kind of building. In chapters 5 and 6 a revision of the criteria of the main MS labels as well as of those of the 3 rd draft criteria of EU Ecolabel for buildings is carried out and discussed. Chapter 5 compares the environmental criteria and identifies the common points and differences in the benchmarks while chapter 6 presents a revision of the comments provided by the stakeholders and some improvements for the 3 rd draft criteria of the EU Ecolabel for buildings are suggested. Finally, chapter 7 summarizes the main conclusions and suggests some points to be addressed.

9

2. MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF BUILDINGS

This section aims to facilitate the understanding of the environmental performance of buildings. It introduces the main components of this product group, identifying their role in the overall environmental aspects of the main product. The environmental impacts of the building sector are focused in several areas, among them the energy consumption, water quality, waste generation and depletion of resources are the most important ones.

2.1 Energy consumption and environmental performance of buildings In most countries, residential buildings are responsible for a major part of the energy consumption of the building sector, even if the share of commercial buildings such as offices is also important. Studies indicate that, on average, buildings in Europe account for 36% of the energy use: the non­residential sector accounts for 8.7% and the residential sector for 27.5% of the total 1

First and foremost, the pattern of the energy consumption of a building depends on the building type and the climate zone where is located. In addition, the level of economic development in the area is also influential in shaping the energy use pattern. Climate zones are defined according to the number of heating and cooling degree day values (HDD and CDD). Heating degree days are calculated by adding the temperature differences between indoor temperature and outdoor temperature for each day over the heating period. Similarly cooling degree days are calculated by adding cooling demands. The breakdown these climate zones could be listed as follows:

­ cold (Zone 3): above 4200 heating degree days

­ moderate (Zone 2): between 2200 and 4200 heating degree days and ­ warm (Zone 1): below 2200 heating degree days

The values are relating to long­term average heating degree days (1980­2004) and characterise the coldness and country specific useful heat demand. For Bulgaria, Romania, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Croatia own values have been assumed respectively compared to countries with similar climatic conditions. The warmest countries are Malta and Cyprus, whereas Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland belong to the coldest countries in Europe.

Moreover, construction techniques developed in different periods may play an important role on the buildings' energy consumption balance. In Finland, for instance, buildings that were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s can be considered as more efficient, compared to more recent ones. On average, they consume more limited amounts of energy (97% of them consume less than 60 kWh/m 3 /year), although this may imply that comfort requirements in these buildings are not always met in the best way.

In this study, residential buildings were categorized, as reported previously, under a further aggregation into single, multi­family and high­rise houses. Due to regional differences in each country, it can be observed that some countries have almost the same share of single and multi­family buildings, e.g. Portugal, Spain, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Germany and a projected equal share in Croatia. In the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Ireland,

1 (Earth trends 2005: Atlas 2006).

10

Norway and United Kingdom the amount of single family buildings per capita is much higher, meanwhile the amount of multi­family buildings in almost every new EU Member State is twice as high or more than single­family buildings. This is to be observed especially in the Baltic countries and in Poland. Relating to the climate zones, an overview about the split of the European building stock, residential as well as non­residential buildings, shows that about 75% of single family buildings and nearly 66% of multi­family buildings exist in the moderate climate zone. The share of non­residential buildings in these countries is as high as for single family buildings. 19 respectively 33% of single and multi­family buildings are located in the warm climate zone and 19% of non­residential buildings, whereas the share of the cold climate zone is only approximately 5%. The total amount of living area (m 2 per capita) will grow by 2030. Based on national statistics from Croatia, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, it is projected that in general the total number of households will grow but the number of inhabitants per household will decrease by 2030 due to the demographic and social changes. The outcome of this is that an increasing size of new dwellings is projected until 2030. The total increase of the floor space is 29% between 2004 and 2030, and an increase of average living area from 88 to 97m 2 per dwelling in 2030 is projected. This increase is expected to be different depending on the countries. The Baltic countries and in Poland an increase of approx. 25% of the average living area per dwelling is expected, whereas in North­West Europe and in Scandinavia, France and Germany the average increase is about 5 to 7%. In terms of international averages, most residential energy in developed countries will be consumed for space heating (60%, although not as important is in countries with a warm climate, where energy may be used for cooling proposes), followed in order by water heating (18%) and domestic appliances (6% for refrigeration and cooking, 3% for lighting) with other uses accounting for 13%. An estimation of the energy consumption of the residential building depending on their type has been carried out in this study. The estimation is based on the data provided by IMPRO­ building study and further assumptions: the previously energy consumption distribution during the operational phase and other building life­cycle phases. Further information can be found in [IMPRO­Building] 2 .

Table 1 Total energy consumption (Estimate from IMPRO­Building)

TWh/a Single family Multi­family High raise % of total Zone 1 (Warm) 1.822,24 823,82 204,71 23,06 Zone 2 (Moderate) 5.728,71 2.360,18 251,86 67,47 Zone 3 (Cold) 878,39 286,25 5,47 9,47 % of the total 68,19 28,07 3,74

The global energy consumption of single­family houses in comparison to the other kinds of dwellings is shown in Table 1. As shown, the majority of the energy consumption is due to the single­family houses (around 68% at the EU level), followed by multi­family houses (28%). High­rise buildings account for 4% of the energy consumption only. Single­family houses exhibit higher relative shares in energy consumption than their shares in living area would suggest. This is due to their relatively higher environmental burdens per m 2 living area in contrast with multi­family houses and especially with high­rise buildings.

2 IMPRO­Building

11

Table 2 shows the average energy consumption related to just the heating and cooling requirements for each residential building type and climatic zone. The major contribution to the energy consumption of single­family houses is done in cold climatic areas reaching a value of 627kWh/m 2 a. However, this contribution does not represent a significant value in the whole Europe as the amount of dwelling located in cold climatic zones is much smaller than those located in middle and hot climatic zones. When the buildings are grouped according to geographical zones, the majority of the energy consumption can be seen to occur in Zone 2 (middle European countries) with 67% of the energy consumption at EU level. Zone 1 (southern European countries) is responsible for 23% of the consumption. Zone 3 only plays a minor role (9%).

Table 2. Average values of energy consumption depending on the building type and the climatic zone kWh/m 2 a Single family Multi­family High raise Zone 1 (Warm) 286 156 93 Zone 2 (Moderate) 494 311 186 Zone 3 (Cold) 627 329 241

The breakdown of the non­residential sector in Europe is presented in Table 3

Table 3. Breakdown of surface and energy consumption by subsector of the non­residential sector Subsector % total area % total consumption Ratio Energy/Area Retail 24 23 0.96 Office 24 18 21 1.17 Sport facilities 4 7 1.75 Education 20 13 0.65 Health care 11 13 1.18 Hotel and restaurants 6 9 1.50 Residential community buildings 14 10 0.71 Transportation buildings 3 4 1.33

As seen, energy consumption in the non­residential building sector is dominated by the retailers and the offices. For the first group, some regulations are being developed such as EMAS. Offices are usually included into residential buildings as they are mainly located in mix buildings (buildings that hold, generally, office, small retailers and apartments).

In refurbishment processes, basically the same principles apply as in new construction. The operational energy is the major cause for CO2 emissions in houses to be renovated and this should be the first issue to be addressed. This can be achieved by using, among others: energy­efficiency envelope, good insulation level, modern window technology, controlled ventilation and heat recovery of the exhaust air, low­temperature systems in the heat distribution, energy­efficient electrical appliances and hot water production using renewable or regenerative sources (solar, heat pumps, waste heat from industry, etc)

Improving the thermal properties of the existing building envelope is, in many cases, one of the most logical solutions in order to reduce the building's energy consumption. As a consequence, this is also one of the most important strategies in building retrofit. The level of improvement achieved through a renovation of the building envelope often depends on a combination of factors. Interventions may involve windows, doors, walls and roofs. An unbalanced intervention between different components can lead to unsatisfactory results

12

Adding insulation is found to always produce cost savings when the measures are done at the same time as other renovations are occurring. For example, the additional cost of upgrading the thermal properties of a roof will be less significant if it is done at the same time as the roof is being repaired. However, even when the action is done solely to upgrade the insulation levels it is often still cost­effective.

2.2 Environmental impacts due to the energy consumption in buildings Modern buildings consume energy in a number of ways. As analyzed by Jones 3 , energy consumption in buildings occurs in five phases. The first phase corresponds to the manufacturing of building materials and components, which are termed, embodied energy. The second and third phases correspond to the energy used to transport materials from production plants to the building site and the energy used in the actual construction of the building, which are respectively referred to as grey energy and induced energy. Fourthly, energy is consumed at the operational phase (operation energy), which corresponds to the running of the building when it is occupied – usually estimated at 100 years, although this figure varies from country to country. Finally, energy is consumed in the demolition process of buildings as well as in the recycling of their parts, when this is promoted (demolition­ recycling energy).

2.2.1 Embodied energy, grey energy and induced energy Buildings are large users of materials with a high content of embodied energy. Embodied energy corresponds to energy consumed by all the processes associated with the production of building materials and components. This includes the mining and manufacturing of materials and equipment. Every building is a complex combination of many processed materials, each of which contributes to the building's total embodied energy. Embodied energy is proportional to the level of processing required by a material. The more complex the material is and the greater the amount of processing is required; the higher is the amount of energy consumed. High levels of embodied energy imply higher levels of pollution at the end of the production line, as the consumption of energy usually results in emissions. Concrete, aluminum and steel are among the materials with highest embodied energy content and they are also responsible for large quantities of CO2 emissions. Plastic is another energy­intensive material: it needs about 15 stages of synthesis: at each stage energy is required and pollutants are generated. The final product contains only 0.002% of the raw material used for its manufacture 4 , although many other materials may simultaneously have been derived from the raw materials.

In aggregate terms, embodied energy consumption accounts for a significant share of the total energy use of a country: in the case of United Kingdom, estimates suggest that 10% of the total energy consumption is embodied in materials, i.e. used for their manufacturing. Dutch studies reveal that an increase in wood use could reduce CO2 emissions by almost 50% as compared with traditional construction 5 . Lightweight building construction materials can help to this reduction when compared to heavyweight construction. But, this is not necessarily the case if large amounts of light­ but high­ energy materials such as steel or aluminium are used. These figures should be used with caution because:

3 Jones, David Ll. 1998. Architecture and the Environment. London, Laurence King Publishing 4 Smith, M., John Whitelegg and Nick Williams. 1998.Greening of the Built Environment. London, Earthscan Publications Ltd. 5 Goverse T, et al. Wood innovation in the residential construction sector; opportunities and constraints resources. Conservation and Recycling 2001;34:53­74.

13

­ the variation can be big between different countries

­ the actual embodied energy of a material manufactured and used in one place will be very different in the same material is transported by road to another remote place

­ aluminium from a recycled source will contain less than 10% of the embodied energy of aluminium manufactured from raw materials

­ materials with high embodied energy, such as stainless steel, will almost certainly be recycled many times, reducing their lifecycle impact 6

Besides minimizing embodied energy, it is also important to produce buildings with a high recycling potential in order to reduce the use of energy and resources over an extended length of time. Recycling of buildings is a relatively new concept and has only been assessed in few studies. Some of these studies showed that the environmental impacts of reused materials corresponded to about 55% of the impact that would have been caused if all materials had been new. The reuse of clay bricks and roofing clay tiles accounted for the main decrease in environmental impact. In addition, these materials can be transported over quite long distances and still present environmental benefits 7 . Other studies show that by using recycled materials, between 12% and 40% of the total energy used for materials production could be saved (depending on the study). However, it should also be kept in mind that the single most important factor in reducing the impact of embodied energy is to design long life, durable and adaptable buildings 4 . By extending the life span of a building, the energy and costs associated with demolition and construction of new buildings are deferred until later. In conclusion, buildings should be designed with a design for long life and adaptability, using durable low maintenance materials, ensure materials can be easily separated and avoid building a bigger building than needed. Moreover, the following measures will save materials: modify or refurbish instead of demolishing, ensure materials from demolition of existing buildings, and construction wastes are re­used or recycled, use locally sourced materials when possible (including materials salvaged on site) to reduce transport, select low embodied energy materials (which may include materials with a high recycled content) preferably based on supplier­specific data, avoid wasteful materials use, specificy standards sizes, don’t use energy­intensive materials as fillers, finishes (paints) ensure that off­cuts are recycled and avoid redundant structures.

2.2.2 Operation energy Yet, by far most energy is consumed not for construction but during the use of the buildings. Energy is used for heating, cooling, lighting, cooking, ventilation and so on during the period that the building is in use. Over the years this adds up to significantly more energy than is used for the building itself. More in detail, the energy consumed in a building is mainly used for:

2.2.2.1 Heating and cooling

The ability to maintain temperatures is one of the most important accomplishments of modern technology. Keeping our living and working spaces at comfortable temperatures provides a

6 Milne Geoff. 2005. Australia's guide to environmentally sustainable homes. [Online]: http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/f s31.htm 7 Thomark C. Environmental analysis of a building with reused building materials. International Journal of Low Energy & Sustainable Building 2000.

14

healthier environment, and uses a lot of energy. Over half of the average home's energy consumption is for heating and cooling. The energy consumed in the heating and cooling as well as the environmental impact associated with it depends on the insulation of the building (walls, roof and floor), the energy efficiency of furnaces and systems, the type of fuel used and the design aspects of the buildings, among other issues. The three fuels used most often for heating are natural gas, electricity and heating oil. Today, natural gas is becoming more important and this trend seems that will continue, at least in the near future. Natural gas is the heating fuel of choice of most consumers in the west Europe as it is one of the cleanest­burning fuels. Most natural gas furnaces produced in the 70s and 80s were about 60% energy efficiency, being still in use today, since they can last over 20 years with a proper maintenance. New furnaces manufactured today can reach efficiency ratings of 98%, since they are designed to capture heat that used to be lost up the chimney. These furnaces are more complex and costly, but they save significant amounts of energy. Although, both the kind of fuel and the efficiency of the furnace are important to decrease the environmental impact of the building, they are out of the scope of this Ecolabel. The present Ecolabel for Building is just focuses on constructional aspects and not into thermal products, which are covered by other Ecolabels and regulations. The energy used for heating and cooling is highly dependant on the thermal insulation of the external envelop. Heat loss per unit time (in winter) or heat gain (in summer) is a function of the outside temperature, the desired inside temperature, area exposed, and the quality of insulation. The basic equation is

Q = AU (To­ Ti)

Where Q is the heat transferred (kW), A is the area exposed (m 2 ), U is the heat transfer coefficient (kW/m 2 /K or kW/m 2 /C) and (To – Ti) is the temperature difference between inside and outside of the building. In the last three decades an impressive progress has been made in enhancing thermal protection. This development is exemplified in the evolution of the legislative framework in Germany, which led to an increase of thermal insulation thickness from 5cm in 1975 to the current valid minimum of 20cm. As a result, the average specific annual consumption dropped from 300kWh/m 2 in 1970 to 50kWh/m 2 currently 8 . Given the fact that a building's orientation and its architectural features are subject to restrictions imposed by the densely built urban environment and also by architectural wishes and restrictions, thermal insulation remains the vital tool towards a better building's energy behavior. Another factor to improve thermal insulation performance is the avoidance of heat bridges. A heat bridge is a phenomenon where heat flows between housing inside and outside atmosphere. It occurs at balcony, roof and wall, etc. via the structure parts connecting both inside and outside. Essential countermeasures for heat bridge is to physically intercept the route of heat transmission. Concrete measures used in Europe are, for example, independent installation of the balcony by separating from the housing itself and minimization of the roof installation parts.

The placement, design and construction materials used can affect the energy efficiency of homes and buildings. Making optimum use of the light and heat from sun is becoming more

8 A.M. Papadopoulos The influence of street canyons on the cooling loads of buildings and the performance of air conditioning systems Energy and Buildings, 33, 2001, 601­607

15

prevalent, especially in commercial buildings. Many new buildings are situated with maximum exposure to the sun, incorporating large, south­face windows to capture the energy in winter and overhangs to shade the windows from the sun in summer. Using materials that can absorb and store heat can also contribute to the energy efficiency of buildings. For existing houses and buildings, there are many ways to increase efficiency. Adding insulation and replacing windows and doors with high efficiency models can significantly reduce energy costs. Adding insulated draperies and blinds, and using them wisely, can also result in savings. Even planting trees that provide shade in summer and allow light in winter can make a big difference.

2.2.2.2. Lighting

Lighting accounts for about 10% of the average home's electric bill, but for stores, schools and business, the figure is much higher. On the average, the commercial sector uses about 38% of its electricity for lighting. Most homes still use the traditional incandescent bulbs. These bulbs convert only 10% of the electricity they use to produce light; the other 90% is converted into heat. With new technologies, such as better filament designs and gas mixtures, these bulbs are more efficient that they used to be. Most commercial buildings have converted to fluorescent lighting, which costs more to install, but uses much less energy to produce the same amount of light. Buildings can lower their long­term lighting costs by as much as 50% with fluorescent systems. Windows are also strategically places around the buildings to make use of natural light, reducing the need for artificial lighting during the day.

2.2.2.3 Ventilation and indoor air quality

The indoor environment must be maintained at a comfortable and healthy temperature, have an adequate supply of fresh air, be free from damp, draughts and pollutants and be quiet and well lit. Therefore, a comfortable indoor environment has to rely on the use of energy for lighting, ventilation, heating and/or cooling. In this section, only the aspects related to the energy consumption of the buildings will be addressed. While heating has traditionally been the major cause for energy consumption in most European countries, HVAC systems for cooling have been installed in recent years at increasing rates in southern European countries. Also, cooling is often needed in office buildings all year round because of high internal gains due to computers and artificial lighting. For this kind of buildings, it is especially important the natural lighting strategies, too. Natural lighting is highly desired but it can have an important bearing on the balance between heating and cooling needs of a building in most latitudes. Air exchange between indoors and outdoors is crucial for both indoor air quality (IAQ) and the rational use of energy. Too little ventilation may result in poor indoor air quality, while too much may cause unnecessarily higher heating and cooling loads. There are two primary forms of ventilation: natural and mechanical.

Low­rise buildings often utilize natural ventilation, that is, air supplied and vented through operable windows. Most residential buildings rely exclusively on infiltration and natural ventilation strategies. High­rise buildings often use mechanical ventilation systems in the form of fans, air­inlets, ducts and registers, but may also rely on operable windows when

16

mechanical systems fail to provide adequate ventilation. The main drawback to this ventilation strategy is the lack of control. Unreliable driving forces can result in periods of inadequate ventilation followed by periods of over­ventilation which can cause excessive energy waste. Good design can provide some measure of ventilation control, but normally it is necessary for the occupant to adjust ventilation openings to suit demand.

When infiltration and natural ventilation systems are inadequate, mechanical ventilation should be installed. Mechanical ventilation systems are capable of providing a controlled rate of air exchange and should respond to the varying needs of occupants and pollutant loads, irrespective of climate vagaries. While some systems filter supply air, others have provisions for energy recovery from the exhaust air stream. The typical apartment building's mechanical ventilation system has a central supply system which conditions the air (e.g., heats, cools, and filters) and individual exhaust fans serving each apartment.

2.3 Environmental impacts due to the indoor air quality in buildings The quality of indoor air is determined by the level of pollutants present. Some pollutants may adversely affect the health of the occupants, such as CO and radon, others may have no health effects, but may influence comfort and perceived air quality, such as body odors. Pollutants may arise from a number of sources, e.g.: human activities, various materials and products including HVAC systems, combustion processes, microbiological organisms such as mould and dust mites, outdoor air pollution and the ground under the building. The indoor environment has to fulfill two requirements in order to satisfy the occupants. Firstly, the health risk should be negligible. Secondly, the indoor environment should be comfortable and pleasant. The degree of variation in human requirements can be quite large. This is because people have different sensitivities to the indoor environment and spend different proportions of their time there.

Exposure to pollutants in indoor air may cause acute or long­term effects. Among these, respiratory diseases, allergy and mucous membrane irritation have been reported in world literature 9 . Many chemicals encountered in indoor air are known or suspected to cause sensory irritation or stimulation at least at high concentrations. Some may give rise to a sense of discomfort and other symptoms commonly reported in so­called "sick" buildings. High humidity indoors increases the risk of allergy. It is also associated with an increased growth of micro­organisms such as mould and bacteria. Some micro­organisms can grow in air humidifiers and may result in pneumonia and "humidifier ever".

Humans perceive the indoor climate by several senses, i.e. olfaction, the general chemical sense, thermal senses, hearing and vision. The combined response of the olfactory and the general chemical sense determines whether the air is perceived as fresh and pleasant or as stale, stuffy and irritating. It is important to realize that the sensory effects of pollutants are not necessarily linked to their toxicity. Indeed, some harmful air pollutants are not sensed at all. Therefore perceived air quality is not a universal measure of adverse effects. Thermal balance may be established by behavioral action, e.g. adjustment of clothing or activity, or it may be influenced by environmental parameters: air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air velocity and partial water vapor pressure. In addition, in a moderate environment, man's thermoregulatory system will automatically try to modify the skin temperature and the sweat segregation to maintain the heat balance. Other causes of local discomfort are i) draughts; (ii) a too high vertical temperature difference between head and

9 World health organization http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/

17

ankles; (iii) a too warm or cold floor; (iv) a too high radiant temperature asymmetry. Recommendations in thermal comfort are given by ISO Standard 7730 (ISO, 1993) High temperatures may enhance sensory and physiological effects of VOCs and influence the perception of indoor air quality. Achieving good thermal comfort and good indoor air quality are basic requirements for an acceptable indoor environment. In the case of thermal comfort, the required thermal conditions are quite well known and defined and energy efficiency can be mainly achieved by good building design and location, thermal insulation, heating and cooling. However, in the case of indoor air quality, the required air quality and related air flow rates are not precisely identified as indicated in Table 4. This is reflected in the large variation in recommended air flow rates.

Table 4 Differences between some features of thermal comfort and indoor air quality with important relevance for standard setting

Features Thermal comfort Indoor Air Quality

Comfort range Relatively small range and identified optimum

Wide range and no identified optimum

Sensory warning to occupants Very pronounced Less pronounced and complex

Adaption possibilities by users Quite large by changing clothing and activities

Efficient odor adaptation but otherwise few possibilities

A better understanding of the required air flow rates for achieving good IAQ is crucial for achieving reasonable energy efficiency. For example, the European Collaborative Action (ECA) 10 recommendations give for single offices requirements ranging from 0.8 l/sm 2 to 7.2 l/sm 2 which is a variation of up to tenfold. The energy required to counteract ventilation thermal losses can vary by a factor up to the same magnitude. The preferred method for controlling the level of pollution depends on the pollutant(s) of concern. If the main pollutants are bioeffluents from human beings, dilution by ventilation is the only realistic method of improving the air quality. In contrast, combustion products are most efficiently removed by local ventilation at the point of generation. The preferred methods may also vary for different building types. Smoking areas with increased ventilation may be an option, e.g. in offices, but may be difficult to implement in meeting rooms. Differences in climatic conditions, as well as in available materials and socio­economic aspects are responsible for the diversity of architecture found through Europe. Traditional building styles reflect the climates of their regions. In Northern Europe, where heating seasons are long, the multiple­glazed windows, heavy curtains and entrances lobbies found in people's homes reflect their desire to keep cold draughts out. Here, mechanical ventilation may be most effective way of reconciling good IAQ and rational use of energy. In Southern Europe, on the other hand, the barrier between the indoor and outdoor environment needs to be much more permeable with priority given to encouraging the exchange of air between indoors in hot weather. These differences help to explain the actual discrepancies in the levels of energy used in EU Member States as well as the importance given to IAQ issues.

10 Report 17 Indoor air quality and the use of energy in buildings. European Collaborative Action: Indoor air quality and its impact on man http://www.inive.org/medias/ECA/ECA_Report17.pdf

18

In order to favor energy efficient buildings designs which reflect and make the best use of local climatic conditions, more and more refined data on regional climates and urban micro­ climates, in particular on solar irradiation and wind velocities, are needed.

2.4 Environmental impacts due to the water consumption and water pollution in buildings Reducing water consumption and protecting water quality are key objectives to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. Water consumption may be minimized by utilizing water conserving fixtures such as ultra­low flush toilets and low­flow shower heads, specify efficient plumbing fixtures, eliminate leaks, checking hoses and pipes annually, minimize water usage in landscaping through xeriscaping and use of non­sewage and grey water for on­ site use such as site­irrigation (if allowed by local code officials). For example, some of these water saving proposals are been promoting by means of the development of Ecolabels for taps and shower heads.

The water pollution is mainly measured by the strength of the inflow in terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) into an on­site system that will largely depend on the water usage in the house. For example, houses with dishwashers may have a wastewater BOD strength reduced by up to 35% due to the dilution even though the total BOD load to the treatment system (kg/day) remains the same. The minimization of the water is achieved by avoiding the discharge of surface water or run­off from paved areas to on­site single­house treatment systems, reducing runoff, eliminating lead­polluting materials and choosing non­hazardous or least hazardous cleaning products.

Table 5 gives the range of influent characteristics for raw domestic wastewater from IS EN 12566­3:2005. The CEN standard requires the wastewater treatment systems must be tested using influents in this range. The total design wastewater load should be established from the maximum population that can inhabit the premises, based on number and size of bedrooms. In order to calculate wastewater capacities, a typical daily hydraulic loading of 150l/person should be used to ensure that adequate treatment is provided.

Table 5. Typical composition of the household wastewater

Parameter Typical concentration (mg/l unless otherwise stated)

Chemical oxygen demand (COD) (as O2) 300­1000 Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) (as O2) 150­500 Suspended solids 200­700 Ammonia (as NH4­N) 22­80 Total phosphorus (as P) 5­20 Total coliforms (MPN/100ml)1 106­109 1 Not from IS EN 12566­3:2005 (MPN, most probable number)

2.5 Environmental impacts due to the natural resource depletion and waste generation and management in buildings The generation of waste is present in all the phases of a building. Construction waste is generated as a consequence of the construction works. Inhabitants generate household waste

19

that should be properly managed and finally demolition waste is generated during the dismantling phase.

Waste is defined as any substance which the holder discards or intends, or is required to discard. In other words any material that is surplus to the immediate requirements of a particular operation is by definition a waste. The fact that the material may be useful or have a monetary value has no bearing on whether it is a waste. ­ Waste Recovery is defined as any waste management operation that diverts a waste material from the waste stream and which results in a certain product with a potential economic or ecological benefit. Recovery mainly refers to the following operations: material recovery, i.e. recycling, energy recovery, i.e. re­use a fuel; biological recovery, e.g. composting or re­use. Direct recycling or reuse within industrial plants at the place of generation is excluded. Typical practical examples of C&D waste recovery activities are the crushing and screening of building rubble and the shredding of wood material. ­ Waste Disposal is defined as any activity as listed in the Third Schedule of the Waste Management Act 1996. This schedule describes the various disposal activities in technical terms e.g. deposit on, in or under land (including landfill). Typical practical examples of C&D waste disposal activities are the landfilling of spoil and demolition waste and the management of soil contaminated with hazardous materials. Construction waste: Construction waste consists of unwanted material produced directly or incidentally by the construction or industries. This includes building materials such as insulation, nails, electrical wiring, and rebar, as well as waste originating from site preparation such as dredging materials, tree stumps, and rubble. Much building waste is made up of materials such as bricks, concrete and wood damaged or unused for various reasons during construction. Construction waste may contain lead, asbestos, or other hazardous substances.

Observational research has shown that this can be as high as 10 to 15% of the materials that go into a building. Certain components of construction waste such as plasterboard are hazardous once landfilled. Plasterboard is broken down in landfill conditions releasing hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas. There is the potential to recycle many elements of construction waste. Rubble can be crushed and reused in construction projects. Waste wood can also be recovered and recycled.

Household waste is waste which is generated in the day to day operations of a household. It can include everything such as bottles, cans, clothing, compost, disposables, food packaging, food scraps, newspapers and magazines, and yard trimmings. It may also contain household hazardous waste.

Landfills are running out of space so we need to reduce our waste loads. By getting people to separate their waste for recycling, it will help to minimise the amount of waste requiring disposal. Waste separation in housing will be essential to ensuring the success of this goal. Various forms of domestic waste separation and recovery are convenient to residents, cost­ effective and best suit local needs.

It is difficult to compare recycling rates between countries as different measurements are used. Nevertheless, some EU countries such as the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium appear to achieve the highest levels of recycling: more than 50% is some cases.

Recycling is widely assumed to be environmentally beneficial, although collecting, sorting and processing materials does give rise to environmental impacts and energy use. The pros and cons of recycling some common components of household waste, that is, paper, glass,

20

metal cans and plastics, are summarised below. The elements of household waste most commonly collected for recycling are garden waste for composting then paper and third glass. Metal cans make up only 1% by weight of the material collected for recycling, but recycling those offers high energy and materials savings. Plastic recycling is becoming more popular, as facilities are being built.

­ Paper: almost any household waste paper can be recycled. Recycling paper requires 28­70% less energy, produces 95% fewer emissions, and requires less water and far fewer raw materials. However, paper cannot be recycled indefinitely. Every time paper is recycled the fibre length decreases. After being recycled about 6 times the fibres become too short for papermaking, so some virgin fibres will always be required to maintain paper strength and quality. Not all paper produced can be recovered and recycled such as toilet paper or paper stored as books, files and wallpaper.

­ Glass: Glass is practically infinitely recyclable with no loss in quality when reprocessed. Recycling involves collecting bottles and jars, crushing and melting them in a furnace. Using recycled glass reduces the amount of energy required and the amount of new raw materials needed. Recycling also reduces CO2 emissions. An alternative to recycling glass is re­using it.. Reusable glass bottles are designed to be repeatedly returned to the manufacturer, cleaned and refilled. However, they must ne stronger and heavier to withstand wear and tear. There are few disadvantages to glass recycling. Contamination of the recycling process with non­glass materials, such as Pyrex, is the main issue. Recycled bottles and jars can contain between 25­40% of unwanted materials, all of which must be removed, often by hand, prior to crushing. Colour contamination is also an issue particularly for clear glass.

­ Metal cans: the two most common metal items found in household waste are aluminium and steel cans, which together comprise 3% of the household waste. Aluminium and steel can both be recycled indefinitely as the metal can be re­melted without any loss of quality. Recycling aluminium is very energy efficient: producing aluminium from recycled materials uses only 5% of the energy used in primary production and generates only 5% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with manufacture from raw materials. Recycling steel reduces the need for raw materials, uses 75% less energy and thus produces fewer emissions. In 2003, 42% of aluminium cans and 44% of steels cons were recycled; steel has the added advantage that it can be sorted automatically and cost­effectively from the waste stream by magnetic extraction

­ Plastic: recycling plastic is complicated by the fact that there are about 50 different types of plastic. Currently, plastics must be sorted manually into the different types prior to recycling although technology is being introduced for automatic sorting. Following sorting, each plastic type can either be:

­ melted down and moulded into a new shape ­ or broken down into its chemical components and used again to make other

products (chemical recycling). Making carrier bags from recycling plastics consumes two­thirds less energy, releases lower levels of pollutants and uses nearly 90% less water than making them from new plastic. However, the need to separate plastics into the various different types means that in practice the most commonly recycled household plastic item is the plastic bottle. These area easy to segregate as they are made of only three types of plastic, and account for 40% of all household plastic waste.

The main obstacles to recycling include a lack of viable markets for the recycled products and of collection facilities and reprocessing plants. Some materials, such as composite packaging,

21

present particular challenges. Moreover, there is a perception that recycled materials are lower quality than those made from virgin materials. For some specifications, such as packaging, strict colour requirements mean that recycled materials, such as glass, would have to be sorted by colour, which adds to the expenses. Reprocessing plants are built and run by commercial businesses that need to be sure of a market before they will invest. There may be insufficient reprocessing facilities for some wastes, or those facilities may be located far from the point of collection or use. In sparsely populated rural areas, large transport distances can quickly undetermined the benefits of recycling. In this case, it may be better to set up "bring sites" where householders can deposit recyclable materials. In some cases the social and environmental cost of collecting, sorting and transporting recovered materials may be greater than the savings that can be made by avoiding the use of primary materials. Demolition waste: Demolition waste is waste debris from destruction of a building. The debris varies from insulation, electrical wiring, rebar, wood, concrete, and bricks. It also may contain lead, asbestos or different hazardous materials. The composition is extremely similar to the composition of the construction waste and therefore both of them are usually treated together. Typical composition of construction and demolition waste is shown in Table 6.

Table 6. Typical composition of C&D waste 11

Type of Material Average % Type of Material Average % Wood 15.5 Scrap iron 4.8 Roofing 0.8 Asphalt 1.8 Concrete 66.8 Landfill debris 9.1 Brick 1.2

For most building materials, the major environmental impacts occur during the first two stages of the life cycle (construction and operational phase) but as waste­disposal problems increase, the demolition stage is becoming more and more important. It is apparent that the energy used to produce the building material (its embodied energy) is only an approximate indicator of its environmental impact. An Australian system 12 based on life­cycle analysis, has been developed to compare the relative ecological impacts of various types of wall, floor and roof assemblies. Some indicative results are as follows (NB: High numbers indicate greater environmental impact; lower numbers indicate lesser impact):

Table7. Embodied energy values of some construction materials and products 10

Embodied energy Timber Frame, Corrugated Steel 5.2 ROOFS Timber Frame, Terracotta Tile 20.6 Timber Frame, Plasterboard 7.2 Steel Frame, Plasterboard 7.4 AAC Blocks ­ rendered 20.6 WALLS

Clay Bricks ­ rendered 49.1 Timber, Brick Piers, Footings 41.9 FLOORS Concrete Raft Slab 74.4

Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is a very significant component of the overall waste stream in Europe particularly with the current high levels of building and development. The 1998 National Waste Database Report published by the EPA in 2000 estimated that C&D

11 Greening Federal Facilities http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/DOE/TECH/green.pdf 12 BMAS (Building Material Assessment System)

22

waste accounted for 17.5% of the total volume of non­agricultural waste produced annually. However, C&D waste can be up to 50% of all municipal type waste arisings produced in cities. With limited capacity at landfills throughout Europe for the disposal and recovery of C&D waste the construction industry must take appropriate actions to prevent and minimise waste production.

The flow charts below illustrate some of the potential waste streams that arise from a typical construction site operation and the demolition of a building. The charts highlight the numerous decisions that may have to be made in relation to the recovery, disposal and transporting of C&D waste. Disposal should be the last alternative and in theory only residual waste should be landfilled.

Construction waste

Excess Materials Damaged material Packaging waste

Re­use at another site Disposal Recoverable

material Residual material

Separate / sort

Transport Disposal at landfill

Processes: crunching, sorting, etc

Construction waste

Excess Materials Damaged material Packaging waste

Re­use at another site Disposal Recoverable

material Residual material

Separate / sort

Transport Disposal at landfill

Processes: crunching, sorting, etc

Demolition waste

Inert C&D Rubble/Waste e.g. soil, concrete, stone

Hazardous Waste Waste Electrical Goods

Recoverable Material

Disposal

Disposal or recovery Separate material on site

Processes: crunching, sorting, etc

Processes: crunching, sorting, etc

Residual material

Transport to local recycling centre for recovery or

employ contractor to remove and recover

Employ specialist waste broker or

Contractor to transfer to Authorised Facility

Demolition waste

Inert C&D Rubble/Waste e.g. soil, concrete, stone

Hazardous Waste Waste Electrical Goods

Recoverable Material

Disposal

Disposal or recovery Separate material on site

Processes: crunching, sorting, etc

Processes: crunching, sorting, etc

Residual material

Transport to local recycling centre for recovery or

employ contractor to remove and recover

Employ specialist waste broker or

Contractor to transfer to Authorised Facility

Figure 1. Waste management for C&D waste 9

Applying the waste management hierarchy to C&D waste the priority options should be: 1.­ Reduce: Includes building design and building life cycle assessment, design for deconstruction, adaptive reuse of existing buildings, use of new materials and technologies

23

with increased reliance on recyclable building components. There are increasing goals and requirements for reducing waste, some of then are listed below:

­ tight estimating and just­in­time delivery: contractors should make every effort to order the correct amount of materials to be delivered at the appropriate time. Excess purchases and early arrivals lead to extra materials that require on­site storage space. The risk of theft and product damage also increases

­ reduce packing waste: ­ proper storage and handling: materials should be stored in a secure place and in a

manager that wont damage them. ­ on­site recycling: clean wood, drywall cut­off waste, concrete and masonry are all

materials suitable for grinding and using on the job site. ­ recycling: recyclables can be collected for transportation to a recycler in separate

piles or containers (source separated) or together in one container (commingled). Different recyclables might also be separated for pickup at different points in the construction process.

­ avoidance of temporary structures: use of temporary structures during the construction or demolition process should be avoided to reduce waste

­ centralized cutting operations: set up all cutting in one area so off­cuts will be more available and workers will be more likely to use them

­ avoid of re­dos: quality work­ performed by workers who are skilled will save resources required to undo and redo work because of mistakes. Good communication among designers, project manager's and contractors is essential. 2.­ Reuse: Recovered construction and demolition waste particularly hardwoods and old warehousing or wharfing timbers. Direct reuse applications for non­segregated or unprocessed building waste are limited to land filling, site pre­loading or site contouring

3.­ Recycle: Road bases and sub­grade materials, drainage medium or backfill materials, civic construction such as parks and ovals, compacted hard stands and unsealed access roads

4.­ Disposal: Disposal in landfill

Very early decisions in a project's life affect its impact on the environment. While it may seem like the products that go into construction a building have little environmental influence, the composition of these materials actually is a major factor in a building's life cycle impact and indoor air quality. It is recommended to use recycled content and environmentally preferable products. Factors including waste prevention and recyclability such as use of recycled content, environmentally preferable and biobased products; and ultimate disposal should all be considered in writing specifications and making purchasing decisions.

Building demolition presents two primary issues related to environmental impacts: minimizing waste disposal through reuse and recycling and properly handling hazardous and regulated materials. Three basic demolition methods are employed to bring down buildings: ­ In deconstruction, when buildings are dismantled by hand, the waste can range from the soft­stripping of non­structural elements such as cabinets and plumbing to the full structural disassembly of the building. The deconstruction process is the opposite of the construction process – the last thing to go on is the first thing to come off. The five basic steps to deconstruction are: remove the trim work, including door casing and molding, take out appliances, plumbing, cabinets and windows, remove wall covering, insulation wiring and plumbing pipes, disassemble the roof and dismantle the walls, frame and flooring, one story at a time. While recycling and disposal may seem more convenient than deconstruction,

24

dismantling buildings for reuse presents many advantages, too, sparking its rebirth in recent years. Advantages include:

­ by optimizing reuse and recycling, deconstruction reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills

­ more than 1/3 of raw materials consumption in the global economy is attributed to the construction industry. Salvaging materials for reuse can reduce this demand and conserve natural resources

­ around 85% of the energy consumption in construction is devoted to the production and transportation of materials used in new construction, so reusing materials locally could significantly impact energy usage

­ dismantling, much of the it done manually, is a gentler process and causes less disturbance to work sites than typical demolition practices, as a result, deconstruction practices create fewer negative effects on surrounding vegetation and minimal impact on storm water runoff. Also, incidence of airborne asbestos, lead and nuisance dust is decreased. When deconstruction is used as an alternative to burning, it reduces outdoor air pollution as well. ­ Heavy equipment, such as bulldozers and wrecking balls, are faster and often required for stronger buildings, but these methods yield fewer reusable or recyclable materials.

­ Explosive demolition is the fastest, but it produces a mass of mixed materials very difficult to separate for salvage or recycling. Therefore, choosing deconstruction or a combination of deconstruction and heavy equipment demotions will be most beneficial for waste minimization.

25

3. REVELANT LEGISLATION FOR BUILDINGS

3.1 Key environmental aspects to be regulated in the building sector

Energy efficiency requirements for new buildings effectively reduce energy consumption in buildings. Building codes or standards for energy efficiency regulate on the efficiency of the building envelope, including the structures around heated and cooled parts of the building, but often they also regulate the efficiency of different parts of the heating, cooling and ventilation system and maybe even other energy using equipment.

The energy efficiency requirements of the building shell or envelope have historically been the first to be regulated and they are today an essential part of nearly all regulations for energy efficiency in new buildings. The other segments of constructions and installations that influence a building's energy performance can be addressed in the regulation of energy efficiency, but these parts are more rarely included in the requirements The building envelope is a term for the parts of the building which surround the heated and cooled parts of the building. This includes external walls, floors and ground deck, roofs or construction towards unheated ceilings, windows and doors. If a cellar is heated then the cellar walls and the cellar floor between the ground floor and the cellar are also considered into the building envelope. The building envelope may also address heat loss through foundations or other thermal bridges. Requirements of energy efficiency in external parts of the building, the building envelope, are generally set based on resistance to heat transparency through a unit by a specific temperature, a U­factor or a U­value. This value sets up the minimum resistance of the overall building to the heat transfer towards the environment. The heat transfer in building takes place by convention and radiation processes being dependant on the design variables, material properties, weather data and the building usage data. In cold climates, low U­values or high R­values prevent heat from escaping from buildings, and in hot climates they prevent heat from entering buildings. Windows, doors and other parts of buildings that include glass areas require special attention: beyond its role in insulation, glass provides buildings with daylight and heat from sunlight. In cold climates, solar heat gains can reduce a building's need for active heating. In hot climate, however, the heat from sunlight needs to be removed by cooling. The orientation of windows and glass areas should suit the different amounts of light approaching the building from the north, south, each and west and complement a building's needs for heating and cooling. Special glass constants (G values) for windows indicate the amount of sunlight that can penetrate each pane of glass. Shading, shutters and reflection can greatly reduce sun penetration of windows and other glass areas. Shading is a rather complicated issue which often requires complicated models which simulate three dimensions. For simple building these models can be complicated to use since they will require many information on the building for and shading parts which have to be calculated with concern of the movement of the sun on the sky in the actual building sight. Air filtration around windows and glass areas creates uncomfortably and indoor draughts. When considered thermally, the undesired air filtration is a loss of energy as it requires redundant heating or cooling. Similar filtrations come from the connection of building parts in general and for some constructions such as boards, which have contracted allowing small openings to appear.

26

Natural air filtration can provide some required ventilation. However, ventilation with natural air currents can entail large heat losses from constant air exchange and inconvenient timing and intensity. Natural air filtration is difficult to control and evaluate. Air tightness is often treated separately in building codes and can be assessed in a "blower door test". As buildings become more efficient, air filtration can be one of the major conduits for heat loss in an otherwise highly­insulated building. HVAC systems maintain a building's comfortable indoor climate through heating, ventilation and air conditioning (cooling). These systems profoundly influence energy consumption in buildings. Without heating, cooling and ventilation systems there would be almost no energy consumption in the building, since it would be totally dependent on outdoor conditions. There is an inverse correlation between the efficiency of the building and the need for HVAC systems: highly efficient building envelopes reduce the need for heating and cooling systems. Efficiency improvements in HVAC can lead to substantial savings, but these savings will also depends on the efficiency of the building in general and they are generally regulated by a different regulation as the whole building.

Well­insulated, airtight buildings often require active ventilation to remove used air and introduce fresh air for occupants. Natural ventilation, like the flow of air thorough open windows, and mechanical ventilation both circulate air. Ventilation can also be included in air­conditioners which combine simultaneous heating and cooling. There are many technologies to improve efficiency of ventilation systems, including heat exchangers and heat pumps.

For ventilation systems there is a need to be aware of both energy use in ventilation system it self for fans an preheating of the air, etc. but there is also a need to take concern for the heat losses which comes with the exchange of the air. Ventilation systems should hence effectively ensure the necessary air exchange, not more and not less.

In humid climates and in buildings producing much humidity, like swimming halls, moisture may need to be removed from inside buildings. This fact should be accounted for the energy involved in humidity control Because ducts and pipes determine much of the energy efficiency of heating and cooling system, ducts ad pipes should be carefully dimensioned, assembled, insulated and placed in the most efficient manner inside or outside the building shell Automatic controls of systems can largely determine or influence the efficiency of these systems. Individual systems as heating, cooling, ventilation or lighting systems can have individual automatics or the overall system can be controlled by individual systems this can in some cases lead to conflicts between for instance the heating and the cooling systems. Good and efficient automatics can ensure the optimal use of the HVAC systems can be addressed. In order to compare building codes, the different types can be simplified into two basic forms: ­ "U­value based building codes" U­value based building codes are based on energy efficiency requirements for individual building parts and consequently on standard maximum values for transmission, coefficients, energy efficiency values and similar values which can easily be compared. ­ "Performance based building codes" that set requirements for the overall frames in order to calculate global energy consumption.

27

The different methods have different advantages and disadvantages. U­value and efficiency based codes are generally the easiest to understand for constructors and installations can be given on a disaggregated level. Standard constructions and installations can be given which fulfill efficiency requirements, and buildings can be constructed without calculations or the use of computer models.

These methods develop standard solutions that can help to reduce costs on sight, but may lead to over optimization of particular parts of the buildings or installations, which can lead to increased costs for energy efficiency. However, the trade­off allows some flexibility and freedom in selecting methods and solutions or in optimizing energy efficiency performance, these possibilities for flexibility and optimization of costs for efficient solutions will increase. Using the performance model requires computer­based models and a deeper understanding of some of the principles. It is not easy to determine which type of code is best as it often depends on the actual experience on the country and the development of the construction industry. Often several types of energy efficiency requirements exist side by side as alternatives.

Comparison of building codes are difficult between the different types of codes and can only be justified for codes based either on individual values or performance and frame based values. Local conditions greatly influence the energy performance of buildings. When comparing building codes, the most significant considerations are climatic conditions, including local temperature, humidity and ambient natural light. In cold climates or in the heating season heating is the most important energy issue, and there is a direct link in the difference in temperatures and the loss of energy from buildings. In hot climates cooling is the most important energy use in buildings and outdoor temperatures will have a large impact on cooling needs. Cooling needs also depends on the hours sunlight, the intensity and how much the sunlight penetrates the building. Humidity is another climatic condition that influences buildings' energy consumption. In areas with a high rate of humidity, especially when both hot and humid, air conditioning must reduce indoor humidity both for comfort and to prevent moisture damage in buildings and installed equipment. There are other parts of energy consumption that are influenced by climatic conditions, such as lighting, which depends on the hours of light and the intensity of the sunlight, etc. Less daylight in polar areas in polar areas during winter will require more energy for lighting. For a general comparison of codes and standards and a selection of the best practices, heating and cooling and to some extend humidity are important to be considered.

3.2 European Legislation Framework

3.2.1.­ Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 16 December 2002 on the energy performance of buildings

The Energy Performance of Building Directive includes environmental information in energy certificates, particularly CO2 emissions. Environmental performance is a major driving force for energy saving (climate change, exhaustion of resources, nuclear waste, toxicity aspects, etc).The four key points of the Directive are:

­ a common methodology for calculating the integrated energy performance of buildings;

28

­ minimum standards on the energy performance of new buildings and existing buildings that are subject to major renovation;

­ systems for the energy certification of new and existing buildings and, for public buildings, prominent display of this certification and other relevant information. Certificates must be less than five years old;

­ regular inspection of boilers and central air­conditioning systems in buildings and in addition an assessment of heating installations in which the boilers are more than 15 years old.

The common calculation methodology should include all the aspects which determine energy efficiency and not just the quality of the building's insulation. This integrated approach should take account of aspects such as heating and cooling installations, lighting installations, the position and orientation of the building, heat recovery, etc. The minimum standards for buildings are calculated on the basis of the above methodology. The Member States are responsible for setting the minimum standards.

Energy performance certificates should be made available when buildings are constructed, sold or rented out. The Directive specifically mentions rented buildings with the aim of ensuring that the owner, who does not normally pay the charges for energy expenditure, should take the necessary action. Furthermore, the Directive states that occupants of buildings should be enabled to regulate their own consumption of heat and hot water, in so far as such measures are cost effective.

The Member States are responsible for drawing up the minimum standards. They will also ensure that the certification and inspection of buildings are carried out by qualified and independent personnel.

However, in the last year the EU governments and MEPs struck a political deal on plans to revise the 2002 energy performance of buildings directive that will force all new buildings constructed after 2020 to consume "near­zero­energy". Near­zero­energy buildings are defined under the agreement as constructions that have "a very high energy performance". The proposal was less successful in forcing governments to upgrade the efficiency of existing buildings. Governments agreed to "develop policies and take measures such as targets" to transform existing buildings into near­zero­energy buildings when they are refurbished.

The council rejected a proposal to immediately scrap a 1,000 square meter threshold above which existing buildings undergoing major refurbishment must meet minimum national efficiency standards. There was agreement on a new EU­wide methodology for setting national efficiency requirements on building components such as roofs and windows. But the details will only be agreed later through the EU's comitology procedure.

3.2.2.­ Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 6 July 2005; establishing a framework for the development of specifications for the design of environmentally friendly products that consume energy

The production, distribution, use and end­of­life management of energy­using products (EuPs) is associated with a considerable number of important impacts on the environment, namely the consequences of energy consumption, consumption of other materials/resources, waste generation and release of hazardous substances to the environment. It is estimated that over 80% of all product­related environmental impacts are determined during the design

29

phase of a product. Against this background, Eco­design aims to improve the environmental performance of products throughout the life­cycle by systematic integration of environmental aspects at a very early stage in the product design.

The Directive establishes a framework for setting Eco­design requirements (such as energy efficiency requirements) for all energy using products in the residential, tertiary and industrial sectors. The directive does not introduce directly binding requirements for specific products, but does define conditions and criteria for setting requirements regarding environmentally relevant product characteristics (such as energy consumption) and allows them to be improved quickly and efficiently. It will be followed by implementing measures which will establish the eco­design requirements. In principle, the Directive applies to all energy using products (except vehicles for transport) and covers all energy sources. A number of energy­using products were considered as priority in the working plan related to buildings in this European Directive. Some of these products are heating and water heating equipment, domestic lighting, domestic appliances, office equipment and HVAC system.

3.2.3.­ Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings (recast) The EU expects the recast measures to lower energy consumption by 5­6% across EU member states, slashing CO2 emissions by 5% by 2020 and to harmonize and strengthen EU legislation and methodologies across all member states.

A significant new requirement under the recast is that all new buildings across Europe must be built to a very low energy standard by 31 December 2020, with public buildings having to meet this level by the end of 2018. While no specific targets were set for the refurbishment of buildings, which account for 99% of the current building stock, all buildings undergoing major renovation will have to meet certain minimum energy performance requirements set by the Member States.

The recast also builds on the 2002 Directive by improving rules on inspections and on energy performance certificates. The new directive proposes that

­ in 2019, all new buildings produce at least as much renewable energy as they consume ­ in June 2014, EU member states abolish incentives to construct or renovate buildings not meeting minimum energy performance requirements. All buildings undergoing renovations that cost more than 25% of their value, or that cover more than a quarter of its surface, should meet national energy efficiency requirements. This removes the current < 1,000sqm exemption which accounts for 72% of existing building stock (EU).

­ Holiday homes used for less than four months a year brought within the EPBD (currently exempt).

­ Buildings should include EPC “labels” in all sales and rental documents, including advertisements. All public buildings over 250m² should display Energy Performance Certificate. Similarly, commercial buildings over 250m² if frequently visited by the public should display EPCs, but only where an EPC is issued as a result of sale, rent or construction

Moreover, it is proposed a better harmonize minimum requirements across all member states by developing a methodology to calculate the "cost­optimal" level of standards, against which member states would have to compare their actual requirements every three years.

30

3.2.4.­ Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end­use efficiency and energy services

In the European Union it is estimated to reduce overall energy consumption through energy saving measures by approximately 20%. One of the possibilities is increasing energy efficiency of end users. The Directive 2006/32/EC focussed on the introduction of measures for reducing the energy performance of end consumption, the unified methodology of calculation and for the evaluation of designated targets. Energy saving measures for reducing energy consumption at the end consumers are, for example, the provision of energy services, insulation of buildings, building passive solar elements in the outside constructions of buildings, installation of solar thermal systems, replacement of light bulbs with energy— saving bulbs etc.

For the member states, the directive stipulates a goal of achieving the minimum annual volume of energy savings in the amount of 1% and overall savings of 9% in the period 2008 — 2016 and duty in the years 2007, 2011 and 2014 to process and adopt national action plans for energy performance.

3.2.5.­ Directive 89/106/CEE of 21 December 1988, on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to construction products

This directive regulates the construction products that should allow mechanical strength and stability, security in the event of fire, hygiene, health and safety of use. Moreover, they should provide protection against noise and help to save energy and provide thermal insulation. Construction products may only be placed on the market if they are fit for their intended use. In this regard, they must be such that works in which they are incorporated satisfy, for an economically reasonable working life, the essential requirements with regard to mechanical strength and stability, safety in the event of fire, hygiene, health and the environment, safety in use, protection against noise and energy economy and heat retention, as set out in Annex 1 to the Directive. The essential requirements are defined in the first instance in interpretative documents drawn up by technical committees and are then elaborated further in the form of technical specifications.

Essential requirement about hygiene, health and the environment are also addressed on the article 3 of this directive. A healthy indoor environment can be achieved by the controlling of sources and by eliminating or limiting the release of pollutants into the air

The CPD has been amended by the Council Directive 93/68/EEC of 22 July 1993 and the Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 September 2003

3.3. Initiatives in the Member States (NATIONAL ECOLABELS)

In Europe, national efficiency standards that mandate the use of thermal insulation in the construction of the building's envelope were introduced over the past few decades, starting from northern countries during the 1950s.

Since then, a high number of Member States have launched voluntary programs to assess the environmental impact of the buildings. Generally speaking, these initiatives treat the building as a whole and are focused on its energetic performance

31

3.3.1. France The voluntary initiative "Haute Qualite Environmentalle"(HQE) was launched in France in the 90s and today it is the corner­stone of French green building design. Its objectives are to reduce the environmental impact of a building through eco­design and eco­management engineering, and improve comfort and health in 14 targets areas. HQE employs a global approach but more and more some targets like energy and water are becoming the main topics with greater demand for certification. The second scheme, called Qualitel, was created in 1986 and modified in 1991. While being voluntary, it is mandatory for all residential buildings in the public sector larger than 25 units. The organisation, Qualitel, is responsible for the label.

3.3.2. United Kingdom Table 8. Summary of Environmental categories and issues in the Code for Sustainability

In 2008 the UK government confirmed a mandatory rating system for new homes called Code for Sustainable Homes. This Code measures the sustainability of new home against categories of sustainable design, rating the whole home as a complete package. The code covers nine categories: energy, water, materials, surface water run­off, waste, pollution, health and wellbeing, management and ecology. Each category includes a number of environmental issues as shown in Table 8. All the criteria should be examined and reported at two different

32

stages: design and post­construction. Each issue is a source of impact on the environment which can be assessed against a performance target and awarded one or more credits. Performance targets are more demanding that the minimum standards needed to satisfy Building Regulations or other legislation. They represent good and best practice, are technically feasible, and can be delivered by the building industry. The Code is suitable for new homes, apartments and flats, houses, apartments and flats undergoing major refurbishment at the design stage and post construction.

Apart from this Code, a voluntary initiative called Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) exists. It is a green assessment whose goal is to assess the environmental impact of a building, across a range of indicators, and provide a single performance rating for that building. BREEAM aims to reduce the environmental impact of construction and building operation, recognise best practice, highlight the economic benefits to stakeholders and clients, provide comprehensive method of measuring and monitoring environmental performance and consider all areas of ‘Sustainability’ i.e. Economic, Environmental and Social. To reach this goal, BREEAM provides a set of predefined criteria. Many of the criteria set specific performance targets while others are more subjective and harder to quantify and does not cover every possible design solution

This assessment covers a wide range of buildings divided into different schemes but using a common scoring system. There is also BREEAM codes for non­residential buildings (as shown in Table 8) that can assess a large number of constructions. These BREEAM codes can be applied to new buildings, design stage and post construction stages and buildings undergoing major refurbishment. This BREEAM scheme is used by Government – Property Construction Panel for prisons, job and pension centres, MOD, NHS, Local Authorities, by Non­Departmental Public Body , Commercial developers and by Architects, M&E engineers, Directors of Estates.

3.3.3. Germany The German Sustainable Building Certificate was developed in 2008 firstly for office and public administration buildings and covers all relevant topics of sustainable construction, including ecology, economy, socio­cultural and functional topics, such as techniques, processes and location. The German certification evaluates the building's performance and not single measures, but they are based on a list of key topics with 51 corresponding criteria for sustainable construction which are weighted differently, depending on the building type to be evaluated. These criteria are merged in 6 topics: ecology, economy, social­cultural and functional topics, techniques, processes, and location, as reported in Table 9.

Table 9. German Sustainable Building Certification criteria Category Criteria

Ecological Quality

01 Global Warming Potential 02 Ozone Depletion Potential 03 Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential 04 Acidification Potential 05 Eutrophication Potential 06 Risks to the Regional Environment 08 Other Impacts on the Global Environment 09 Microclimate 10 Non­renewable Primary Energy Demands

33

11 Total Primary Energy Demands and Proportion of Renewable Primary Energy 14 Potable Water Consumption and Sewage Generation

15 Surface Area Usage Economical Quality 16 Building­related Life Cycle Costs

17 Value Stability

Socio­cultural and Functional Quality

18 Thermal Comfort in the Winter 19 Thermal Comfort in the Summer 20 Indoor Hygiene 21 Acoustical Comfort 22 Visual Comfort 23 Influences by Users 24 Roof Design 25 Safety and Risks of Failure 26 Barrier free Accessibility 27 Area Efficiency 28 Feasibility of Conversion 29 Accessibility 30 Bicycle Comfort 31 Assurance of the Quality of the Design and for Urban

Development for Competition 32 Art within Architecture

Technical Quality 33 Fire Protection 34 Noise Protection 35 Energetic and Moisture Proofing Quality of the

Building’s Shell

40 Ease of Cleaning and Maintenance of the Structure 42 Ease of Deconstruction, Recycling and Dismantling Process Quality 43 Quality of the Project’s Preparation 44 Integral Planning 45 Optimization and Complexity of the Approach to Planning 46 Evidence of Sustainability Considerations during Bid Invitation and Awarding 47 Establishment of Preconditions for Optimized Use and Operation 48 Construction Site, Construction Phase 49 Quality of Executing Companies, Pre­qualifications 50 Quality Assurance of the Construction Activities 51 Systematic Commissioning

Quality of the Location

56 Risks at the Microlocation 57 Circumstances at the Microlocation 59 Image and Condition of the Location and Neighbourhood 59 Connection to Transportation 60 Vicinity to Usage­specific Facilities 61 Adjoining Media, Infrastructure Development

3.3.4. Denmark In Denmark, energy label is statutory when selling and letting buildings and also ever 5 years for large buildings. Energy labelling of buildings serves two purposes: make visible the energy consumption and give an overview of which energy­related improvements will be cost­effective to implement. This regulation covers dwellings, public buildings and buildings for commerce and service.

34

Major energy savings can be gained by the improvement of windows and therefore energy aspects of windows is an important element in Danish energy conservation measures. Current measures consist of 3 elements:

­ large­scale replacement of windows in existing buildings will be subject to energy requirements in future

­ trade organizations have entered into a voluntary energy labelling scheme for windows and labelling schemes will be introduced for windows and internal double glazing.

­ the glass industry, glazier's trade organisation and window manufacturer's cooperation organization have entered into an agreement on the phasing­out of traditional sealed units and promotion of energy­efficient window solutions.

3.3.5. Switzerland

An annual performance of about 30kWh/m 2 is achieved by the Swiss "Minergie" (a voluntary Swiss standard and label for energy­efficient buildings has been in effect since 1997). Minergie buildings (new and renovated) consume just one third of the energy necessary in conventional homes and construction costs are usually no more than 2­4% higher.

The Minergie label is divided into several categories:

­ Minergie­standard certifies that the building requires a general energy consumption lower than 75% of that of the average buildings and that fossil­fuel consumption is lower than 50% of the energy consumption of this building

­Minergie­P defines buildings with very low energy consumption, it is specially demanding in regard to heating. This standard corresponds to the well­known passive house

­ Minergie­Eco adds ecological requirements such as recyclability, indoor air quality, noise protection, etc to the regular requirements

­ Minergie­Modules are building components and building equipment elements which are certified as being exceptionally well­performing with regard to energy efficiency

3.3.6. Nordic swan

The Ecolabel criteria for Small Houses were adopted in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland and it is valid until the March 2010. The requirements regarding the building process, materials and energy consumption are a combination of obligatory and point score requirements. To be awarded a Swan licence, the building should fulfilled all obligatory requirements and all requirements related to environment and quality management as well as a minimum of the 40% of the total point score

3.3.7. Green public procurement

For most public authorities, the construction of new and renovation of existing buildings represents a major share of annual expenditure – in some cases over 50%. "Environmental construction" means that one aims to minimise the environmental impact of construction

35

works in all phases of the lifecycle of a building, including planning /design, construction, renovation, use and disposal/deconstruction. Environmental criteria relate to energy consumption, the use of renewable energy sources (RES), construction materials and products, waste and water management as well as other aspects influencing the environmental impacts of construction: architect's experience and monitoring and user aspects.

GPP considers the overall environmental profile of the entire building. This implies the need to take into account many different issues, ranging from types of building materials used to various approaches to achieve high energy efficiency.

The criteria of the GPP are developed within the aim of being simple and universally applicable. In this sense, any European public authority could simply insert them into tendering documents. However, due to the complexity of the product group, the differing climatic conditions and the differing national legislative frameworks, this goal is hardly achieved.

The criteria presented in GPP regulation for constructions are a set of recommendations and guidelines, addressing the most common environmental issues that are applicable across the EU­27. These criteria should be addressed depending on the climatic zones where the buildings are located. Location substantially impacts on the energy demands of a building in terms of heating and cooling, the potential use of local renewable energy sources in the building and the use of materials.

From the above states, it comes out that the energy performance of a building strongly depends o the architects'' design. Therefore, it is important to focus on the integration of environmental requirements into the architect's competition procedure for construction work. For example, some aspects addresses on the building design phase are the net energy demand (for space heating, cooling, ventilation), selected materials (wood, glass, metal, etc), intelligent transport systems, waste generation, noise control, lighting services needed or potential for using localised renewable energy sources.

During the building construction phase other environmental aspects are required to be observed like the percentage of sustainable building materials, recycling of materials, reduction of dangerous substances and the energy demand for the construction plot. The building services installation is an additional phase where the final energy demand, the lozalised RES and the wastewater generation are asked to be taken into account.

The above mentioned tendering stages have been identified as the most common stages of procurement in the European building sector (DEEP 2007). However, this scheme may vary, both in terms of the exat stages gone through and the number of competitive tendering rounds. If there is only one tendering round including all stages, all approaches and criteria should be addressed inthis tendering stage.

3.4. Standards related to buildings

3.4.1. CEN TC 350­ Sustainability of construction works

To support the implementation of the EPBD, CEN develops standards covering 31 work items. CEN was asked to elaborate and adopt standards for a methodology, calculating the integrated energy performance of buildings and estimating the environmental impact, in

36

accordance with the directive. With the exception of one, all mandated EPBD standards have been approved and published. Five CEN technical committees have been assigned the task of developing the required standards: ­ CEN/TC 89 ­ Thermal performance of buildings and building components

­ CEN/TC 156 ­ Ventilation for buildings ­ CEN/TC 169 ­ Light and lighting

­ CEN/TC 228 ­ Heating systems in buildings ­ CEN/TC 247 ­ Building automation, controls and building management

3.4.2. ISO TC 59­ Building construction The scope of the ISO TC 59 on Building construction is the standardization in the field of building and civil engineering, of: general terminology for building and civil engineering, organization of information in the processes of design, manufacture and construction, the general geometric requirements for building, building elements and components including modular coordination and its basic principles, general rules for joints, tolerances and fits, general rules for other performance requirements for buildings and building elements including the coordination of these with performance requirements of building components to be used in building and civil engineering and geometric and performance requirements for components that are not in the scope of separate ISO technical committees.

3.5. European Ecolabelling in non­residential buildings

3.5.1 European Ecolabel on tourism accommodation service

The EU Ecolabel is an official sign of environmental quality that is both certified by an independent organisation and valid throughout Europe. The European Ecolabel was originally created to reward products with an outstanding environmental performance. One example are tourist accommodation services that respect the environment and signals environmental good performance as it is an added quality value when consumers are choosing a resort. Some of the advantages of awarded the European Ecolabel are: the recognition of being an accommodation with higher quality and environmental performance, Eco­efficient and with sense of well­being.

3.5.2 Eco­Schools

The Government in England wants every school to be a sustainable school by 2020. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) launched their Sustainable Schools Framework in 2006. Eco­Schools is an international award programme that guides schools on their sustainable journey.

Schools work towards gaining one of three awards – Bronze, Silver and the prestigious Green Flag award, which symbolises excellence in the field of environmental activity. The Eco­

37

Schools Programme is focused around nine key environmental topics: Water, Biodiversity, Energy, Global Perspectives, Healthy Living, Litter, School Grounds, Transport and Waste

3.6. Ecolabelling initiatives outside Europe

3.6.1 Green Star New Zealand

Green Star NZ is a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating scheme that evaluates the environmental attributes and performance of New Zealand's buildings using a suite of rating tool kits developed to be applicable to each building type and function. Green Star NZ was developed by the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) in partnership with the building industry in order to:

­ Establish a common language and standard of measurement for green buildings;

­ Promote integrated, whole­building design; ­ Raise awareness of green building benefits;

­ Recognise environmental leadership; and ­ Reduce the environmental impact of development.

Green Star NZ works by evaluating a building against a number of categories that assess the environmental impact that is a direct consequence of a building's site selection, design, construction and maintenance. The nine categories included within all Green Star rating tools are: Management, Indoor Environment Quality, Energy, Transport, Water, Materials, Land Use & Ecology, Emissions and Innovation

Credits are awarded within each of the categories based on the building's environmental merits in a range of areas and takes into consideration the unique development requirements and impacts of each sector. Points are then weighted and an overall score is calculated, determining the project's Green Star NZ rating.

3.6.2 Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme

NatHERS enables the design of a home to be assessed by skilled professionals using sophisticated computer modeling programs to improve the quality of design and achieve building approvals in Australia. NatHERS sets national standards for professionals offering assessment services as well as the software they use. Zero stars means the building shell does practically nothing to reduce the discomfort of hot or cold weather. A 5 star rating indicates good, but not outstanding, thermal performance. Occupants of a 10 star home are unlikely to need any artificial cooling or heating.

3.6.3 CASBEE Japan

CASBEE was developed according to the following policies: ­the system should be structured to award high assessments to superior buildings, thereby enhancing incentives to designers and others

38

­ the assessment system should be as simple as possible

­ the system should be applicable to buildings in a wide range of applications ­ the system should be take into consideration issues and problems peculiar to Japan and Asia

CASBEE covers the following four assessment fields: (1) Energy efficiency (2) Resource efficiency (3) Local environment (4) Indoor environment. The assessment categories contained within these four fields had to be examined and reorganized. As a result, the assessment categories were classified as shown in Figure 3 into BEE numerator Q (Building environmental quality and performance) and BEE denominator L (Reduction of building environmental loadings).

Q is further divided into three items for assessment: Q1 Indoor environment, Q2 Quality of services and Q3 Outdoor environment on site. Similarly, L is divided into L1 Energy, L2 Resources & Materials and L3 Off­site Environment.

Figure 2 Classification and rearrangement of assessment items into Q (Building environmental quality and performance) and L (Building environmental loadings)

BEE (Building Environmental Efficiency), using Q and L as the two assessment categories, is the core concept of CASBEE. BEE, as used here, is an indicator calculated from Q as the numerator and L as the denominator.

The use of BEE enabled simpler and clearer presentation of building environmental performance assessment results. BEE values are represented on the graph by plotting L on the x axis and Q on the y axis. The BEE value assessment result is expressed as the gradient of the straight line passing through the origin (0,0). The higher the Q value and the lower the L value, the steeper the gradient and the more sustainable the building is. Using this approach, it becomes possible to graphically present the results of building environmental assessments using areas bounded by these gradients (Eco­labelling). The figure shows how the assessment results for buildings can be labelled on a diagram as class C (poor), class B ­ , class B + , class A, and class S (excellent), in order of increasing BEE value.

39

Figure 3 Environmental Labeling Based on Building Environmental Efficiency (BEE)

3.6.4 EnerGuide for New Homes in Canada

Developed in partnership with Canada's residential construction industry, R­2000 is an initiative of NRCan's Office of Energy Efficiency. It is aim: to promote the use of cost­ effective energy­efficient building practices and technologies. Since being introduced over 20 years ago, the R­2000 Standard has set the benchmark for home building in Canada. The Standard is continually upgraded to include new technologies as they become established in the marketplace. And it is flexible enough to apply to any type of home. The R­2000 Standard includes requirements related to energy efficiency, indoor air quality and the use of environmentally responsible products and materials. It does not, however, specify exactly how a house must be built. R­2000 Homes are:

­ Energy efficient: The R­2000 Standard is based on an energy consumption target for each house and a series of technical requirements for ventilation, air tightness, insulation, choice of materials, water use and other factors. The requirements are rigorous – about 40 percent above building codes. The result is new houses that use at least 30 percent less energy than conventional new houses.

­ Comfortable: R­2000 offers Canadians the most comfortable and technologically advanced new homes on the market. They incorporate a whole­house ventilation system and low­ emissions building materials and finishes to ensure superior indoor air quality.

­ Environmentally friendly: Today, more than ever, an R­2000 home is the right environmental choice. By using less energy, R­2000 houses produce fewer greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

3.6.5.­ LEED

The US green building Council is a non­profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed,, build and operated. LEED is voluntary and with no third party assessment. LEED is required r under consideration as a requirement for certain buildings in many US localities. LEED assessments are developed and applied at the design, construction and operational life cycle stages. LEED considers a broad range of environmental impacts under the following issue categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy& atmosphere,

40

materials & resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation. Points are awarded in each of the above areas and the final overall score is calculated. The building is then rated on a scale from Certified (minimum acceptable) to Platinum (highest rating) and a certificate awarded to the development.

3.7. Other international activities

The international energy conservation code 2004 (IECC 2004) is a model building code or standard for energy efficiency of new buildings. It was devised by the international code council (ICC), and is based on US conditions and traditions for energy efficiency regulation. This code IECC 2004 sets rules for residential (with less than 4 floors) ad for small and less complicated commercial buildings while it contains a reference for the ASHRAE for large and complex buildings. There is an emphasis on new buildings. Rules are based on climatic zones, which are set based on cooling and heating degree days (CDD and HDD) and some humidity conditions. Rules are set as prescriptive values for building parts, heating and cooling systems, ventilation and lighting. Insulation requirements are set as R­values or U­factors for each climatic zone separately. These values have to be fulfilled for each building part in the prescriptive model. Some specific regulations are given fro pipe and duct insulation, air tightness, sealing, hot water systems, mechanical ventilation and circulation of hot water. Rules for heating and cooling equipment are only given as sizing requirements.

IEEC also includes a trade­off model where some parts can be made with less energy efficiency as long as the total building still fulfils the same overall requirements which would be the result of fulfilling each single demand. The energy efficiency requirements for residential buildings and those for new commercial buildings are indicated in two separate chapters. The IEEC apply for major renovation and refurbishment project too. The values R­ values and U­factors in the regulation have to be fulfilled in some renovations projects, for example a full exchange of windows must comply with the energy efficiency requirements for windows. A special standard is developed for refurbishment of existing buildings, international existing building code (IEBC)

3.7.1.­ "United Nations Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative SBCI". 13

SBCI works to promote sustainable building practices around the world. This is a join effort with the stakeholders in this sector (industry, business, governments, local authorities, research centers, etc). To achieve its final objective, SBCI is implementing the following process. ­ Provide a common platform for the stakeholders for addressing sustainability issues of global significance, especially climate change. ­ Establish globally acknowledged baselines based on the life cycle approach, with a first focus on energy efficiency and CO2 emissions. ­ Develop tools and strategies for achieving a wide acceptance and adoption of sustainable building practices throughout the world. ­ Implementation through pilot projects: to evaluate the above tools and strategies

13 http://www.unep.org/sbci/index.asp

41

3.7.2.­ World Green Building Council WGBC 14 ­

Green Building Councils (GBCs) are member­based organizations that partner with industry and government in the transformation of their building industries towards sustainability through the adoption of green building practices. On the ground in nearly 70 countries, GBCs create change in their local markets as a way to globalize environmentally and socially responsible building practices The WorldGBC is, thus, a union of national Green Building Councils from around the world, making it the largest international organization influencing the green building marketplace. Its mission is to be the global voice for Green Building Councils and to facilitate the global transformation of the building industry towards sustainability. WGBC foster new and emerging Green Building Councils by providing them with the tools and strategies to establish strong organizations and leadership positions in their markets. Once established, it works closely with councils to advance their common interests by promoting local green building actions as solutions to address global issues such as climate change. By driving collaboration between international bodies and increasing the profile of the green building market, they ensure that green buildings are a part of any comprehensive strategy to deliver carbon emission reductions. The ongoing projects to further the green building agenda include: World Green Building Day, Common Carbon Metrics project, and collaborations with international bodies such as UNEP SBCI, Sustainable Buildings Alliance (SBA) and the International Union of Architects (IUA).

3.7.3.­ Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment CSTB 15 ­ CSTB works alongside its subsidiaries to support innovation and act as a trustworthy third party in the building industry, to develop, capitalise and share essential scientific and technical knowledge with its partners and customers so that buildings and their environment provide solutions to sustainable development challenges. It is one of the major players in innovation for the quality and safety of sustainable construction. Its missions are 1) to provide a solution to sustainable development challenges by implementing an integrated approach to construction, to improve environmental and energy performances taking account of safety and health, adapting to users’ needs and achieving economic competitiveness and 2) to innovate confidently, from the conception of a product / process until feedback from experience. Research workers, engineers and experts in evaluation and certification, specialists in dissemination of knowledge gather, optimise and apply research results. Accompany all construction players at all scales of the structure during construction from facilities, products and materials to buildings and their integration into districts and towns.

14 http://www.worldgbc.org/ 15 http://international.cstb.fr/

42

4. PRODUCT DEFINITION AND CATEGORIZATION

"Buildings" as a product group is defined under the D2002/91/EC as a roofed construction having walls, for which energy is used to condition the indoor climate; a building may refer to the building as a whole or parts thereof that have been designed or altered to be used separately. However, in the international classifications there are other definitions referring to the same product group. Some examples are exposed below:

­ the United Nations Common Database (UNCDB) defines a Building is any independent free­standing structure comprising one or more rooms or other spaces, covered by a roof and usually enclosed within external walls or dividing walls that extend from the foundations to the room

­ similarly for the United Nations Statistical Commission and Economic Commission for Europe a building is defined as any independent structure containing one or more dwellings, rooms or other spaces, covered by a roof and enclosed within external walls or dividing walls which extend from the foundations to the roof, whether designed for residential or for agricultural, commercial, industrial or cultural purposes or for the provision of services. Thus a building may be a detached dwelling, apartment building, factory, shop, warehouse, garage, barn, etc.

The classification of the different buildings falls down the classification of the types of constructions. Classification of types of construction, abbreviated as CC is based on the provisional Central product classification (CPC) published in 1991 by the United Nations (UN), and accordingly subdivides constructions in the main categories of buildings and civil engineering works, as shown in the following Table7.

Table 10. Classification of types of constructions (CPC)

As seen in Table 10, the classification principles of CC are based mainly on the technical design resulting from the special use of a structure and, particularly for buildings, on its main

Category Code Subcategory 1110 One­dwelling building 1121 Two­dwelling building 1122 Three and more­dwelling building

Residential building

1130 Residences for communities 1211 Hotel building 1220 Office building 1230 Wholesale and retail trade building 1241 Communication buildings, stations, terminals and associated buildings

Non­residential building

1242 Garage buildings 1251 Industrial buildings Industrial buildings

and warehouses 1252 Reservoirs, silos and warehouses 1261 Public entertainment buildings 1262 Museums and libraries 1263 School, universities and research buildings 1264 Hospital and institutional care buildings

Public entertainment, education, hospital or institutional buildings

1265 Sport halls 1271 Non­residential farm buildings 1272 Building used as places of worship and for religious activities 1273 Historic or protected monuments

Other non­residential

buildings 1274 Other buildings not elsewhere classified

43

use (e.g. residential, non­residential). The site of a construction, its ownership and the institution to which it belongs are normally irrelevant criteria. Moreover, buildings can be classified into new and existing buildings.

Moreover, Table 11 shows a summary of the Ecolabel classifications developed by several Member States and Third Countries for classification of the building depending on their functionality. As observed in this table, some kinds of buildings such as educational or healthcare buildings are addressed in all national Labels while some others, such as prisons, restaurants or courts are just addressed in one or two national labels. This fact points out the importance of firstly developing EU Ecolabels for residential buildings, educational, healthcare and office buildings. The development of these kinds of Ecolabels will promote the harmonization between the different national Labels.

As seen, the collected classifications in Table 8 are really close to the classification presented in Table 7. Following this scheme, in this study, buildings will be classified according to different criteria. Firstly, buildings will be classified according to their functionality into residential and non­residential buildings. Residential building group consists in all the buildings used for residence proposes as well as those with a mix functionality as for example residential and offices. On the other hand, non­residential building group consists in buildings devoted to other issues such as educational proposes, public entertainment, health care, tourism accommodation, business, etc

Secondly, the residential buildings will be categorized in order to group the European buildings stock into clusters that could subsequently be described in accordance with the datasheets; the statistical data will be further aggregated into three major groups:

­ single­family houses (including two­family houses and terraced houses): Official definitions consider that a single family house is a separate building that either has open spaces on all sides or is separated from other structures by dividing walls that extend from ground to roof. Single­family homes include:

­ Detached houses: This is a 1­unit structure detached from any other house; that is, with open space on all four sides. Such structures are considered detached even if they have an adjoining shed or garage. A one­family house that contains a business is considered detached as long as the building has open space on all four sides.

­ Attached houses: This is a 1­unit structure that has one or more walls extending from ground to roof separating it from adjoining structures. In row houses (sometimes called townhouses), double houses, or houses attached to non­residential structures, each house is a separate, attached structure if the dividing or common wall goes from ground to roof.

In this study a single­family house includes all individual houses that are inhabited by one or two families. Also terraced houses are assigned to this group.

­ multi­family houses: Generally speaking a multi­family house is a type of residential structure with more than one dwelling unit in the same building and traditionally multi­family housing is divided into 2 categories:

­ 2­4 dwelling units: Duplexes triplexes, and quadruplexes

44

­ 5 or more units: apartment buildings

Multifamily housing may be tenant­occupied, owner­occupied or mixed (as many duplexes with the owner occupying one side). The separation to the next group – high rise­building­ is either not made or made differently from one country to another. In this study, it is considered that buildings with fewer than 9 storeys are regarded as multi­family buildings.

­ High­rise buildings: High­rise buildings receive a large variety of names such tower block, apartment tower, apartment block, or block of flats, and it is considered to be a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building. In some areas they may be referred to as "MDU" standing for "Multi Dwelling Unit".

In this study high­rise buildings will be defined as buildings that are higher than 8 storeys. One special building type, the panelized structure buildings, is found in most (especially eastern European) countries. In literature and statistics they are accounted for amongst high­ rise building or multi­family building.

In the EU­25, altogether 34 million dwellings or 17% of the whole buildings stock are included in panel buildings. In each country where these buildings exist, one to three different building types were defined.

Thirdly, the non­residential building group will be further classified into: educational buildings, offices, sport facilities, health care, hotel and restaurants, residential community buildings and transportation buildings.

Finally, buildings can be classified according to the construction period. In this sense, buildings can be divided into two big groups: new and existing buildings. This classification is also followed by official statistical data such as Eurostat. The data provide building age groupings for all EU­25 countries. The data were used for defining age groups where no other data were available. The three categories for buildings are set as the highest aggregated level for each country:

­ until 1945 (old buildings) ­ between 1946 until 1990 (post war buildings)\ ­ after 1991 (current and new buildings)

It is possible to identity typical construction systems in some countries or zones and for certain periods. It has to be noted that besides some factors such as population and economic growth, the building activities are also heavily influenced by the national housing policy and the funding policy.

The grouping into the three age categories can be seen as a way to simplify the overview but may mask such specificities. Some of the identified building types especially show an overlapping of these age groups, meaning that one building type represents buildings form the other groups, e.g. the group of the "post war buildings" (1945­1990) and the "current and new buildings" (after 1990).

45

Table 11. Ecolabel developed by Member States and Third Countries depending on the type of the building

BREEAM HQE DGNB CASBEE GREEN STAR LEED RESIDENTIAL

Single family EcoHomes new and refurbished housing

Houses (NF Maison Individuelle HQE env option

Homes covering all homes and residential buildings

Multi­family

Multi­residential multi­ occupancy buildings student residences, care homes, key

workers housing, etc

Residential (NF Lodgement HQE Env Option)

Neubau Wohngebäude, Version 2010 (NWO10) Apartments Multi­unit

residential

NON­RESIDENTIAL Courts Courts all court buildings

Education Education schools and further education colleges Schools Neubau Bildungsbauten,

Version 2009 (NBI09) Schools education Schools covering schools and higher education project

Healthcare healthcare hospital and other healthcare buildings Healthcare Neubau Krankenhäuser Healthcare

Healthcare covering hospitals and other healthcare projects

Office commercial office buildings Offices

Neubau Büro­ und Verwaltungsgebäude, Version 2009 (NBV09)

Modernisierung Büro­ und Verwaltungsgebäude, Version 2010 (MBV10)

offices Office existing building / Office

Prisons Prisons and other secure accommodation

Retail all retail building Commercial centres Neubau Handelsbauten, Version 2009 (NHA09) Retail Retail centre

Retail covering the refurbishment, construction and fit­out of all retail

buildings Leisure halls Sport buildings Neubau Sportstätten Halls Restaurants Restaurants

Hotels Hotels Neubau Hotelgebäude, Version 2010 (NHO10) Hotels

Industrial/ storage

Industrial light industrial and storage/distribution building

Neubau Versammlungsstätten

Neubau Produktionsstandorte

Neubau Industriebauten,

Factories Industrial

New construction covering newly constructed and

refurbished commercial and institutional projects

46

Version 2009 (NIN09)

In Use management of all existing building types (to replace

management& operation version) in Use

Others developments development / neighbourhood scale impacts /

issues Operational buildings

Neubau Infrastrukturbauten Neubau Terminalgebäude

Neubau Parkhäuser Architekturnahe Objekte Filialen/ Mieterausbau Stadtquartiere Neubau

Laborgebäude

Mixed use

Existing buildings covering existing operational

buildings Neighbourhoods covering development/ neighbourhood scale impacts / issues

47

The non­residential buildings are generally classified depending on their function into several categories. As seen in Table in most of the European Labels and international classifications the non­residential buildings are divided into educational, healthcare, commercial and office and hotel and restaurants buildings. Some Labels divided the non­residential buildings into more detailed groups which include courts, prisions, sport facilities, etc. The definition of each kind of non­residential building is proposed according to the definition provided by general building classifications. In this study, non­residential buildings are divided into educational, commercial, office, sport facilities, health care, hotel and restaurants and transportation buildings as follows.

4.1 Conclusions: In this study, the following definitions will be considered: ­ Single family houses include all individual houses that are inhabited by one or two families. Also terraced houses are assigned to this group. ­ Multi­family houses are buildings inhabited by several families but with fewer than 9 storeys ­ High­rise buildings are buildings inhabited by several families that are higher than 8 storeys The non­residential building group will be further classified into: ­ Educational building: an educational building is any place designated for learning. The institutions covered by the term are among others: libraries, museums, schools, colleges and universities ­ Commercial buildings: a commercial building is an enclosed location where a specific activity is carried out. In this group, banks, markets, shops, shopping malls, stock exchange and supermarket are included. ­ Office building: An office building is a form of commercial building which contains spaces mainly designed to be used for offices. Whilst offices can be built in almost any location in almost any building, some modern requirements for offices make this more difficult. These requirements can be both legal (light levels must be sufficient, for example) or technical (requirements for networking). Along side such other requirements such as security and flexibility of layout, this has led to the creation of special buildings which are dedicated only or primarily for use as offices. ­ Sport facilities could be indoor or outdoor. Outdoor facilities are usually called stadium.

­ A modern stadium is a place, or venue, for outdoor sports, concerts or other events, consisting of a field or stage partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.

­ Indoor sport facilities are any enclosed facility for competitive sports where sports are played, can host sports events. ­ Health care buildings are institutions for professional health care provided by physicians and nurses ­ Hotel and restaurants:

­A hotel is an establishment that provides lodging, usually on a short­term basis. Hotels often provide a number of additional guest services such as a restaurant, a swimming pool or child care. or even conference services

48

­ A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to be consumed on the premises. Restaurants are sometimes a feature of a larger complex, typically a hotel,. ­ Transportation buildings are airports, bus stations and rail stations. Some definitions corresponding to this group of buildings are:

­ An airport is a designated location for aircraft to take off and land. While smaller airports might include short grass runways, larger airports for international flights normally feature paved runways several kilometers long

A bus stop is a place where a public transport bus stops for the purpose of allowing passengers to board or leave the bus. The simplest kind has just a sign saying "bus stop", but often line numbers and/or destinations are indicated. There may be a shelter, a bench, lighting and a garbage box.

A train station or railway station is a point of call for trains, allowing the loading or unloading of goods, or allowing passengers to board and alight. Generally stations are sited next to a railway or railroad line, or form the terminus for a particular route. Usually platforms are present to allow passengers easily and safely access trains. Platforms may be connected by tunnels, bridges, and/or level crossings to the main part of the station; passenger facilities such as shelter, ticket sales, waiting rooms and benches are partly there, partly on the platforms.

49

5. ANALYSIS OF MEMBER STATES ECOLABEL CRITERIA FOR BUILDINGS

In this section, a first comparison of the main criteria of the some Member State Labels and the proposed 3 rd draft criteria for the EU Ecolabel of new and existing buildings is carried out. This comparison is intended to include the criteria related to the office buildings and those related to residential single­family houses. The aim of this section is pointed out the key points to be focused on in order to develop a harmonized EU Ecolabel addressing the main environmental impacts of buildings as well as setting up suitable thresholds. Each criterion will be analysed in more detail in the following tasks.

5.1 Analysis of the energy consumption criteria of the Member State Ecolabels

The importance of legislating buildings for the environmental protection is supported by the development of specific criteria related to the energy consumption in the national Ecolabels, European Directives and other legislation tools. Table 18 summarized the main criteria addressed in different countries inside and outside the European borders.

More in detail, Tables 12a and 12b shows the main criteria related to the energy consumption in buildings and addressed in three Member States Labels: the German "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen", the French "Haute Qualité Environnementale" and the British "BRE Environmental Assessment Method" and the criteria proposed in the 3 rd draft criteria for the EU Ecolabel of new and existing buildings are shown in the last two lines of these tables.

In these MS labels the limits of the energy consumption are set up in two different ways: either the maximal total energy consumption for the whole building or the maximal energy consumption for heating. Both criteria are more or less equivalent as heating and cooling accounts for the highest energy consumption and it usually represents around 60% of the total one. Comparing the values for the total energy consumption, we observed that awarded buildings should have total energy consumption close to 50kWh/m 2 /year in all cases, being adapted depending on the climate or altitude in some MS Ecolabels. However, the 3 rd draft criteria for the EU Ecolabel of existing buildings proposes benchmarks that are at around twice the energy consumption of the buildings (120kWh/m 2 /year). These values are significantly lower than the average energy consumption in Europe (see Table 12a) regardless the climatic area where they are located and suggesting an important improvement potential of this criterion.

In addition, these values are further compared to the values proposed by the Swiss regulation Minergy and the Sweden one. Swiss regulation is much stricter than the MS labels as it sets up a maximal energy consumption of 38 kWh/m 2 /year. Just on the contrary, Sweden regulation permits higher energy consumption to the awarded buildings, reaching a value above 100 kWh/m 2 /year. This variety can be explained if the climatic differences between the geographical regions are taken into account. Sweden belongs to a cold region where the average energy consumption of buildings is higher than in other regions.

50

Apart from the total energy consumption, most of the exposed MS labels set up criteria for the internal lighting and some of them even for the external lighting. Internal lighting influences not only in the energy consumption but also in the well­being and indoor quality of the building. Minimum daylight factors, minimal percentage of energy efficient fittings and automatic controls in the common areas should be fulfilled to be awarded. Most of the MS labels set up a minimal daylight factor between 1.5 to 3% depending on the use of the room. This limit is increased up to 5% in the case of the 3 rd draft criteria for new buildings. In addition, the use of low energy lightings is also strongly recommended in the MS labels as it provides great energy savings.

The energy consumption of the inhabitants can be decreased if the building is able to favor the use of public transportation or more sustainable means of transportation such as bicycles. Criteria about both facts are addressed in all MS labels. The use of bicycles is promoted by a proper storage and the proximity to bicycle lines. On the other hand, the use of public transportation is favored by the proximity to the public transportation network and the lack of car parking around building. These measures are generally taken into account in the labels, although the management of the public transportation is out of the scope of the building performance.

The promotion of renewable energies is considered a way of decreasing the environmental impact caused along the operational phase. The promotion of renewable energy in the residential sector does not reduce the total energy consumption, but at least, ensures a lower environmental impact. In these MS Ecolabels, the promotion of renewable energies is addressed under two criteria, the use of low or zero carbon energy technologies and the use of renewable energies for hot water production.

Finally, two further important issues are taken into account: ventilation and heat transmission. High ventilation rates favor a better air indoor quality but it also increases the total energy consumption of the building. Moreover, if the ventilation is carried out mechanically, the energy consumption of the electrical equipments will increase the total energy consumption of the building. Ventilation is controlled by two criteria: first the limitation of the total air renovation or air velocity and second the promotion of natural ventilation.

Giving an average heat transmission coefficient through the building shell (average U­ value) represents a preliminary level of integration, which allows more flexibility. Instead of standardizing each building component, it is sufficient to give a single value for the building shell. This results in a greater flexibility as a higher heat transmission through one component (e.g. the walls) can be compensated for the better values of other components (e.g. the roof or the windows). The disadvantage of the average transmission is that it can be more difficult to prove the regulation have been kept than with the unitary approach.

The degree day figures for the individual countries indicate that the thermal insulation regulation cannot be directly compared with each other and therefore the set up of an only minimal thermal insulation is not fair for all the countries. The largest differences between the thermal insulation regulations in the EU are to be found in the classification according to their integrative nature. Whereas the regulations traditionally start from the unit approach (easily comprehensible for the building designers and the legislators), some countries have already shown strong tendencies towards an integrative regulations. Other countries have extended the unit approach, or at most permitted global transmission coefficients, in order to

51

incorporate more flexibility into the system. The system in France, England and Germany have progressed the most.

With respect to the applicability of the regulations, there are no differences between the countries: in all the countries, regulations are restricted to new buildings, or new extensions to existing buildings. Old buildings are not subject to any regulation in any EU country. The reason for this is that fact that the additional costs can be compensated via planning measures in new buildings whereas, in old buildings, the scope is much smaller. Social factors may play an additional role here.

52

Table 12.a Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Energy consumption related criteria)

Energy / CO2 Internal lighting Heat loss parameter heat island

Drying space

Ecolabelled white goods

External lighting

Low or zero carbon energy technologies

Cycle transportation

DGNB Single family houses

55­90 kWh/m 2 a electric heating

< 1% heating needs, avoid cooling

Recommendations: use daylight, low energy

lightings and automatic controls. Living room: 300lx & Pmax=15W/m 2

Optimal netzstruktur, pipes and duct insulation,

account of solar gains, automatic controls

Labelled appliances and avoid the use

of private machines

Minimal energy consumption in external lighting

Preference for cogeneration systems and renewable energies

Connection to pedestrian and cycle lines

DGNB Office buildings

HQE Single family houses

50 kWh/m 2 a (new)* 80 kWh/m 2 a (existing)

< 20­10 kg eq CO2/m 2 a SHON

Ubat< Ubat, base I4 < I4, reference

Save > 20%, Use of appliances of low energy consumption

Different combinations to ensure 50% of hot water and/or heating coming

from RE

Promotion of bicycle use, provide cycle

storage

HQE Office buildings

< 20­10 kg eq CO2/m 2 a SHON

Ubat< Ubat, base I4 < I4, reference

BREEAM Single family houses

43 kWh/m 2 a, insulation material with GWP<5 and

zero ozone depleting potential

40­75% of energy efficient fittings, minimal daylight

factor of kitchen =2% and living room=1,5% kitchen, living rooms and studies to be designed to have a view of the sky

U = 1,3­1,1

drying space and efficient laundry

Use of appliances of low energy consumption

Energy efficient luminieres controlled

for the presence of daylight

10­15% of total energy supplied

by local renewable energy

0 to 4 storage

BREEAM Office buildings

53

3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

70 kWh/m 2 a (mandatory heating), 15­50kWh/m 2 a (voluntary)

Common areas: daylight factor > 3% and automatic control,

Other rooms: daylight factor > 2%. Offices and school used DGI < 20

Passive systems in areas classified from Af to Aw and from Cwa onwards

> 25% energy from RE sources

Adequate dry storage of bicycles

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

30 kWh/m 2 a (mandatory heating),

15kWh/m 2 a (voluntary heating)

Common areas: daylight factor > 5% and automatic control,

Other rooms: daylight factor > 3%. Offices and school used DGI < 20

Passive systems in areas classified from Af to Aw and from

Cwa onwards

> 50% energy from RE sources

Adequate dry storage of bicycles

MINERGIE 38 kWh/m 2 a Sweden 110­130 kWh/m 2 a

* Adaptation depending on the climate and the altitude. ­ 65kWh/m 2 a if the building is located in the north of France ­ 40kWh/m 2 a if the building is located in the south of France ­ 55kWh/m 2 a if the building is located at higher altitude than 400m ­ 60kWh/m 2 a if the building is located at higher altitude than 800m

Table 12.b Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Energy consumption related criteria)

Public transportation Home office / outside space Hot water Ventilation

DGNB Single family houses

Minimum car parking, promotion of public transportation,

minimum emissions Solar hot water 10­20 m 3 /h/m 2

DGNB Office buildings

HQE Single family houses

Ensure the proximity of public transportation

50% of hot water under different combinations

V < 0,15 m/s, limitation of velocity in big rooms

HQE Office buildings

Ensure the proximity of public transportation

Control the transportation making more convenience the public

transportation

54

BREEAM Single family houses Home office

BREEAM Office buildings

3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

Accessibility to disable persons, 1 car­place for flat or for the 30% of

employed persons

rooms for placing machines generating dust (printers, copy machines, plotters, etc),

trees preserved and used of local species, common recreational areas

> 25% satisfied by passive systems EN 15251,

natural ventilation but sanitary and kitchen areas

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

Accessibility to disable persons, 1 car­place for flat or for the 30% of

employed persons

rooms for placing machines generating dust (printers, copy machines, plotters, etc),

trees preserved and used of local species, common recreational areas

> 50% satisfied by passive systems

>50% ventilation & cooling needs satisfied by passive systems,

only ventilation systems (but sanitary and kitchen areas)

55

5.2 Analysis of the criteria for the selection of material in the Member States labels

The importance of the materials used in the construction is addressed by the development of specific criteria. Materials influence the environmental performance of buildings along the whole life cycle: construction, operation phase (energy consumption, water quality and air indoor quality) and demolition.

In MS labels, importance is given to the construction material for the reduction of the environmental impact of the buildings. First of all, MS labels propose to evaluate the necessity of a new building and try to avoid its construction by reusing old ones. However, once the necessity of new buildings is unavoidable, all MS labels propose criteria to select the most suitable materials and especial attention is paid for wood based and wood materials, paintings and coverings.

The knowledge of the environmental impact of the construction materials is pointed. In this sense, criteria to favor the use of low environmental impact materials, long life constructions and the choice of those materials awarded with Ecolabels are proposed.

Especial attention is paid to wood related materials. Wood materials and wood based materials are required in different percentages to be originated from reused­recycling and/or sustainable managed forest.

The environmental impact caused by the transportation of materials is also considered by means of criteria that promote the use of local produced construction materials or limit the amount of construction materials coming from far locations.

The 3 rd draft criteria of the EU Ecolabel for building are especial tough by developing criteria related to the choice of the construction materials. EU Ecolabel draft suggests the necessity of providing a list with environmental impacts of most of the materials used, the GWP, use plastic visible label, use of coverings and paintings awarded with the Ecolabels and a high amount of reused or recycled materials.

The environmental impact of the construction and end­of­life (dismantling) phases is closely related to the chosen materials. MS labels develop criteria in order to reduce the environmental impact of the construction phase due to the typical construction activities such as the soil excavation, the transportation of materials, the generation and management of construction waste and water waste, the generation of noise and the reduction of the visual impact. Other criteria deal with the depletion of resources, the separation of construction waste or the protection of the nature during the construction phase.

Finally, the 3 rd draft criteria of the EU Ecolabel propose the performance of a LCA study, a high percentage of reutilization and recycling of the construction waste and further information about the reuse and recycling of the used materials for the dismantling phase.

56

Table 13. Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Material related criteria)

Planning Easy maintenance Knowledge of environmental impact Transportation Wood Choice of materials

DGNB Single family houses

Avoid new constructions by reusing the old ones

Promotion of long life constructions Use of recycled materials

DGNB Office buildings

HQE Single family houses

Promotion of the expansion or reduction

of the building,

Low environmental impact materials and designs

during the operation phase (maintenance)

50­80% of materials from 3­6 material families,

choice of low environmental impact

materials, Promotion of long life

constructions

Strategy to reduce the transportation of materials

Min volume of responsibly sourced wood = 30dm/m 2 SHON,

wood treated with certified preserves

HQE Office buildings

Choice materials that promote a long­life and easy to be adapted

building

Low environmental impact materials and designs

during the operation phase (maintenance)

BREEAM Single family houses

knowledge of the environmental impact

responsibly sourced, 80% of site timber is reclaimed, reused or responsibly sourced

responsibly sourced (primary and finished materials)

BREEAM Office buildings

3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

list with > 90% wt of materials used,

GWP assessment and energy embodied

declared for > 25%wt, internal partitions should

be removable, reusable of recyclable

piping and cabling of easy maintenance

materials > 10 years service life

Structural materials <300km,

Non­Structural materials <500km

>30% wood­based and > 60% solid wood materials originate from reused­recycling

and/or from sustainable managed forests

> 15%wt originate from re­used or recycled materials not containing asbestos,

PCB or heavy materials, > 10% from producers with SA 8000

standard, >10%wt awarded the EU Ecolabel or

national ISO I TYPE Ecolabels >25%wt of paintings and covering materials

awarded with Ecolabels,

57

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

list with > 90% wt of materials used,

all materials used for interiors shall be

reported, GWP assessment and energy embodied

declared for > 50%wt, internal partitions should

be removable, reusable of recyclable

piping and cabling of easy maintenance

materials > 10 years service life

Structural materials <300km,

Non­Structural materials <500km

>30% wood­based and > 60% solid wood materials originate from reused­recycling

and/or from sustainable managed forests

coverings and partitions, doors, windows and plants declared according to technical specifications provided by producers, > 90% wt plastics visible labelled for

recycling, >30% from producers with SA 8000

standard, > 30%wt originated from re­used or

recycling materials, >20%wt awarded the EU Ecolabel or

national ISO I TYPE Ecolabels >50%wt of paintings and covering materials

awarded with Ecolabels,

58

5.3 Analysis of the water consumption and water pollution criteria in the Member States labels

Water consumption and pollution is a common concern in all reviewed MS labels. The reduction of water consumption is promoted by setting maximal water consumption in taps and toilets or in the personal consumption of the inhabitants. In addition, the use of rainwater for several proposals such as irrigation or toilets is also considered in most of the MS labels. The quality of the water is preserved by harvesting rainwater and water waste separately, reducing the probability of flooding or promoting on­site water waste treatment.

Table 14 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Water consumption related criteria)

Interior potable water consumption

Exterior potable water consumption Infiltration streaming

surfaces water waste treatment

DGNB Single family houses

Taps: max 6l/min Toilets: waterless or minimal consumption Proper choice of pipeline materials

Optimization of the layout of pipelines,

when possible separating the waste and rainwater, use rainwater for irrigation

Wastewater suction and pipelines should not be underneath backwater level to avoid the use of

pumps #

DGNB Office buildings

HQE Single family houses

70­40% reduction in toilets

50­100% reduction of leaks

20­40% reduction in watering and in energy

systems

improvement of the impermeable coefficient

x When possible a

treatment / reuse of the water waste

HQE Office buildings

BREEAM Single family houses

120­80 l/p/d

providing a system to collect rain water for

irrigation, reduction of surface water

run­off from site

building locates in a low annual probability

of flooding, ground level of buildings,

car parks and access routes are above the

flood level, mitigation of residual

risk

BREEAM Office buildings

3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

taps and showers < 9l/min (but kitchen and bath tub taps), 95% of WC with dual flushing: 6­3 l/flush

Rainwater harvesting system for toilet flushing, laundry and/or garden, etc

59

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

taps and showers < 8l/min (but kitchen and bath tub taps), All WC with dual flushing: 6­3 l/flush

Rainwater harvesting system for toilet flushing, laundry and/or garden, etc

5.4 Analysis of the waste generation and management criteria in the Member States labels

Waste is generated during all the phases of the building. Construction waste is proposed to be sorted and collected for a proper valorization. Most of the MS labels propose the elaboration of plans for sorting, collecting and valorization of the construction waste. Some of them set up minimum values than include the reuse and recycling of high amounts of the construction waste.

Along the operation phase, waste is generated by the inhabitants of the buildings. Criteria related to the operation phase are focused on the household garbage separation by ensuring the proper installations, the accessibility of inhabitants to these installations and the possibility of enlargement in the future. Garbage separation is proposed to account with at least paper, colour glass, biowaste, packaging, compost (in most of the cases) and non­ recycled rubbish. A reduction of the waste generated is promoted by reducing the capacity of storage bins, as proposed by the British label.

Table 15 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Waste related criteria)

Compost Garbage separation Construction Treatment Installations

DGNB Single family houses

Promotion of compost by

construction of the system and expert

advice

Provide separation for at least: paper, colour glass, biowaste, packaging and non­recycled rubbish

sort and collect provide enough surface to allow a future enlargement

DGNB Office buildings

HQE Single family houses

Separation into: packaging, industrial, electronic, danger and

organic

sort and collect, ensure valorisation

(30­70%), reduction of generation

Choice of the most suitable valorisation

Proper installations, protection from wind and rain in outdoor

storage, design allowing an ease renovation

HQE Office buildings

BREEAM Single family houses

composting facilities are provided in

houses with gardens or a communal

composting service

3 internal storage bins for recyclable waste with min total capacity of 30­1800l, no individual bin smaller

than 7­40l, depending on local authorities collection

plan including procedures to sort, reuse and recycle construction wastes

through a licensed external contractor or on site (construction

waste)

all bins in a dedicated position that is accessible to disabled people

60

BREEAM Office buildings

3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

common waste areas for domestic and special wastes (but single­family houses not located in condominium)

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

common waste areas for domestic and special wastes (but single­family houses not located in condominium)

5.5 Analysis of the construction and demolition phases criteria in the Member States labels

Construction and demolition phases are key phases for the generation of debris, general waste as well as other environmental impacts. For this reason, MS labels set up specific criteria to reduce the environmental impacts during these phases such as: ­ planning of both phases to promote the minimum soil excavation, an optimal layout of pipelines and land use, and site management to reduce the CO2 emissions, especially from transportation and construction works.

­ before the construction phase, it is proposed to carry out different evaluations related to the economic and environmental performance of the building. These evaluations should address points such as the protection of nature, the integration of landscape or the disturbance of the ecosystem by the works.

­ Noise and visual impacts are also analyzed in the MS Ecolabels. Development of strategies to reduce the noise, such as higher standards of sound insulation and other related to visual impacts during the construction phase are proposed. ­ The waste generated by the construction phase should be sorted and collected. Some MS labels proposed a high ratio of reuse and recycling for the collected construction waste. Water consumption reduction is also proposed.

­ The demolition phase is a difficult point to be addressed in the Ecolabel of buildings, due to the long life of this kind of product. However, some MS labels propose some criteria related to this phase such as provide information about the disassembly; reuse and recycling of the materials used in the building construction or the recovery from the plant cover and destroyed materials.

61

Table 16 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Construction and demolition phases related criteria)

Planning Water / Air Transportation Waste Evaluation Noise / visual impact Resources End­of­life

DGNB Single family houses

minimum soil excavation,

optimisation of the pipeline layout

Provide: fire water, collection of rainwater for

irrigation, minimum waste production,

Optimization of transportation along of construction phase

separate and collect

Economic and environmental evaluation of buildings

Recovery from the plant cover and destroyed materials

DGNB Office buildings

HQE Single family houses

optimization of the land use,

Reduction the water / air pollution,

collection of water waste during the construction

phase, ensure treatment of water waste of construction

Decrease air pollution during the

construction phase

easy separation (50­100% completely separated),

protection of the nature,

integration of landscape,

adaptability of the construction

develop a strategy to reduce the noise during the construction phase, reduce the visual impact

of the construction

Reduction of the resources: water, energy

and soil

HQE Office buildings

BREEAM Single family houses

site management procedures to for CO2 or energy arising from site

activities

best practice water/ air pollution controls

site management procedures for CO2 arising from transport

to and from site

development land is of low ecological value, ecologist confirms that the site will remain

undisturbed by the works

higher standards of sound insulation than required by Part E of building regulations

62

BREEAM Office buildings

3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

LCA study

Information for disassembling, reuse and recycling

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

LCA study, Companies in charge of the construction shall have an EMAS

regulation

> 75% of construction and demolition waste in construction phase shall be reused or recycled

Information for disassembling, reuse and recycling

63

5.6 Analysis of indoor air quality criteria in the Member States labels

As commented in the previous section, indoor air quality depends on different aspects such as the thermal conform and the concentration of pollutants. The criteria related to the thermal conform have been presented together with the energy consumption related criteria while those concerning the concentration are presented in this section, in Table 17.

Table 17 Comparison of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings (Indoor air quality related criteria)

TOLUENE NOx PENTACLORPHENOL CO CH2Cl2 STYROL Content of Ag

DGNH (new) 3 0,5 (1/2H) or 0,06 (1week) 1 µg/m 3 60 (1/2)

or 15 (8h) 2 (24h) 0,3 0,35 µg/m 3

DGNB (existing) Single family houses

0,3 0,1 µg/m 3 6 (1/2) or 1,5 (8h) 0,2 0,03 0,035 µg/m 3

DGNB Office buildings HQE Single family houses HQE Office buildings BREEAM Single family houses

from heating < 100 mg/kWh

BREEAM Office buildings 3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

EN 15251 EN 15252 EN 15253 EN 15254 EN 15255 EN 15256 EN 15257

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

EN 15251 EN 15252 EN 15253 EN 15254 EN 15255 EN 15256 EN 15257

TVOCmg/m 3 Formaldehyde CO2 Radon C2Cl4 PCB Carcinogenic DGNB Single family houses

0,2­0,3 0,1ppm 0,15% 0,1 mg/m 3 < 300 ng/m 3

DGNB Office buildings HQE Single family houses

Floor = 1­0,25 Wall= 1­0,5

floor =62,5­10 µg/m 3

wall= 125­10 µg/m 3 400­100 Bq/m 3 5­1 µg/m 3

HQE Office buildings BREEAM Single family houses BREEAM Office

64

buildings 3 rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (existing)

EN 15258 (mandatory),

EN ISO 16000­9 to ­11 (voluntary)

EN 15251 EN 15252 < 360 Bq/m 5 EN 15251 EN 15252 EN 15253

3rd Draft of EU ECOLABEL (new)

EN 15258 (mandatory), EN ISO 16000­9 to ­11 (voluntary)

EN 15251 EN 15252 < 180 Bq/m 6 EN 15251 EN 15252 EN 15253

5.7 Summary of the main criteria proposed by MS and Third Countries Ecolabels for Buildings

A summary of the criteria addressed in each MS labels as well as in other Ecolabels from Third countries is shown in Table 18. Apart from the environmental related criteria commented previously, most of the Ecolabels deal with economical issues as well. The reason is that MS and Third Countries labels are developed to promote sustainable buildings and therefore economical and social aspects should be included.

65

Table 18 Summary of the environmental criteria to be fulfilled to award an Ecolabel for Buildings

THEME CATEGORY ISSUE SUB­ISSUE BREEAM HQE DGNB ITACA CASBEE GREEN STAR LEED

Drying space x Environmental impact of materials x x x Other emissions x Greenhouse warming potential x x x Primary energy x x x

Climate change Greenhouse gas and other emissions

Renewable energy use x x x Material selection

Responsible sourcing of major building elements / operational materials x x x x x x

Non hazardous waste disposal x x x x x Waste prevention Hazardous waste to disposal x x

Use of freshwater resources x x x x x x x Waste consumption Monitoring of water use x x x

Reuse of previously developed sites x x x x x Development footprint x x x

Resource use

Land consumption Contaminated land, bioremediation and

soil reuse x x x x

Environmental management

Environmental policies/ certified environmental management system x x x x

Minimizing regional specific climatological risk (flooding) x x x x x x

Environment

Environmental management and geophysical risk

Climatic & Geophysical risk Minimizing regional specific

geophysical risk (seismic) x x

Lighting and visual comfort x x x x x x x thermal comfort x x x x x x x ventilation conditions x x x x x x acoustic comfort x x x x x

Building user comfort

occupant satisfaction x x x x x x private space x Spatial

access outdoor space x x x x x

Social Occupant well­ being

Health & materials/substance exclusion x x x x

66

indoor air quality x x x x x x quality of drinking water x

Safety

building safety x x x key amenities ­ provision and proximity x x x x x Accessible

public services and amenities

public transport ­ frequency and proximity x x x x x

accessible pedestrian networks

Provision of safe and adequate pedestrian route ways x x x

accessible bicycling network

Provision of safe and adequate lanes and cyclist facilities x x x x x

Accessibility

alternative transport modes

Facilitate encourage use of alternative means of transport x x x x x

building management building user education x x x x

Communication building design information dissemination x x

site security and spatial arrangement x x x Security designing out crime building security x x x x

community impact consultation x x social cost benefit analysis social and

ethical responsibility Socially responsible and ethical

procurement of goods/services x

considerate constructors x x x x x sensitivity to the local community External neighbourhood impacts x x x x x

Social & cultural value

building aesthetics and context

design quality x x x

function analysis x Financing and management

value management risk& value management x

Economic

Whole life whole life cost WLC Appraisal ­ strategic level x x

67

WLC appraisal component level x x option appraisal x exchange value added value asset value building adaptability x x

value

maintenance design for maintainable buildings / Ease of maintenance x x

Local employment opportunities/ use of local services x local and

regional impacts Specification/use of locally produced

materials x x Externalities

image value Branding and external expression

68

6. ANALYSIS OF THE CRITERIA PROPOSED BY THE 3 RD DRAFT CRITERIA EU ECOLABEL FOR BUILDINGS

The development of a EU Ecolabel for Buildings was started by the Italian Competent Body two years ago. Following the Ecolabel methodology, the work was presented twice for comments to the EU Ecolabel Board. This section aims to analyse the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings to identify the points that potentially should remain, be improved or additionally be taken up.

6.1 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on selection of materials

The number of criteria dealing with material selection is larger in the draft criteria EU Ecolabel than in other MS labels. Criteria in the 3 rd draft EU Ecolabel are divided into mandatory and optional criteria, depending on their importance.

6.1.1 Mandatory criteria related to material selection There are the criteria proposed as mandatory to award the EU Ecolabel of Buildings: 7) Elaboration of a list of materials/products that should contain materials and products used for the building manufacturing and related quantity at the least for the 90% by weight (all materials used for interiors should be reported). This criterion has received two important comments from stakeholders: ­ The information of some finished products related to the materials used for their construction is in some cases difficult to achieve ­ The environmental improvement purpose of this criterion is not clear. In general, criteria which are based on providing information without setting up a benchmark or a % of improvement seem to be meaningless.

8) At least 30% wood­based material shall originate from reuse­recycling and/or from sustainable managed forests which have been certified by independent third party schemes fulfilling the criteria listed in paragraph 15 of the Council Resolution of 15 December 1998 on a Forestry Strategy for the EU and further development thereof.

9) At least 60% of solid wood shall originate from reuse­recycling and/or from sustainable managed forests which have been certified by independent third party schemes fulfilling the criteria listed in paragraph 15 of the Council Resolution of 15 December 1998 on a Forestry Strategy for the EU and further development thereof. Stakeholders suggested that if only wood materials are limited, the use of other non­ renewable materials such as concrete or cement will be favoured. However, criteria about the selection of wood and wood based materials are addressed in most MS labels. The main reason for establishing environmental criteria for wood materials is due to the use of preserves and the preservation of forest by a sustainable management. In order to avoid a biased selection of non­renewable materials, further criteria concerning the selection of other materials are recommended. The selection of responsibly sourcing primary and finished materials and a maximum environmental impact benchmark for construction materials could be some examples.

69

Other stakeholders suggested that these benchmarks are too low. Several proposals are suggested: ­ A requirement of at least 40% for wood based and 70% for wood materials

­ A minimum of 70% of virgin solid wood in the end­product and 50% of the input wooden ingredients / input material used to produce wood based panels shall be third party certify as to originate from sustainably managed forest Also a simple reference to the council resolution is meaningless as it contains only some generic principles forest certification schemes that should comply with. The ecolabel should precisely mention the certificates which are acceptable. General requirements on chemicals should also apply for recycled or reused wood based materials.

10) For external and internal coverings and partitions, doors, windows and plants the service­life shall be declared according to technical specification provided by producers. Materials and products having a service life lower than 10 years shall not be used. Stakeholders suggested a longer service life of painting and indoor materials although it is difficult to predict the duration of a material as it depends on the use, maintenance, wear and tear. This criterion shall be focused on the design and provide a list of products and applications with their respective service lifetime MS labels don’t suggest any minimum for the service life of the materials. However, they encourage building up constructions with a long life, avoiding new constructions by reusing the old ones and the promotion of the renovation of the building.

11) At least 90% by weight of plastic parts/products used for the building manufacture shall be visibly labelled for recycling according to ISO 11469 standard. The use of labelled plastic materials makes easier a proper disassembly and collection of the materials in the dismantling phase and the correct identification of the plastic to ensure their reuse or recycling in future. Stakeholders suggested that the threshold is too low.

6.1.2 Optional criteria related to material selection

39) Energy embodied values shall be declared for at least 50% by weight of materials/ products reported in the List of materials. Energy embodied values are a measure of the environmental impact of the materials until they are part of the building. Generally speaking, the higher the embodied energy of the material, the higher is its environmental impact. Therefore, it is not only important to report the embodied energy of the materials but also to establish a criterion to promote the selection of materials with lower environmental impacts. For example, the French label imposes a selection of low environmental impact materials when possible.

However, it is suggested that energy embodied is not a global indicator and the future standards of CEN/TC350 including the related environmental indicators are proposed to be used instead of just the energy embodied in materials. The proposed indicators have been chosen as they are representative and quantifiable.

Moreover a mere list of the energy embodied values without setting up any value is not an optimal criterion.

70

40) At least 30% by weight of materials/products used for building's manufacturing shall originate from re­used or recycled materials. Re­used/recycled materials/products must not contain asbestos, PCB or heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, lead). (2 points) Stakeholders suggested that this criterion is rather difficult to be reached because of the lack of recycled products in the market. They expressed a disagreement with the prohibition of using PCB, as it is used in the insulation materials and window frames and is considered to be a non­hazardous material. They express also that a recycled content is not a meaningful environmental significance for metals. Moreover, recycling should be part of the LCA so as to compare the environmental effects of recycling with those relating to the use of virgin metals. Recycling makes sense if its impact is lower.

The criterion of using reused/recycled materials/products is addressed in almost all MS labels, although they don’t impose any benchmarks.

41) At least 30% by weight of products/materials used for building's manufacturing shall come from producers operating according to the SA8000 standard. (2 points)

The benchmark is considered to be too low and better to set up benchmarks in combination to other criteria (60% of materials must either be locally sourced or recycled or…). However, it is also stated that it is highly complex to ensure an appropriate tracking of the raw materials and especially for those supplied by the SMEs

42) At least 30% by weight of products/materials used for non­structural functions shall come from a distance not longer than 500 km. (2 points) 43) At least 30% by weight of products/materials used for structural functions shall come from a distance not longer than 300 km. (2 points) Stakeholders suggested that, the criterion "building materials cannot come from distances more than a few hundred km" is not workable. For example, stainless steel is a high value material with a global raw material base and a global market, not local or national. Moreover, there are not more than approximately 10 melt shops in the EU producing stainless steel. The proposed limitations would effectively restrict free competition and trade.

The energy used in the transportation of the materials is included in the embodied energy of these materials. Therefore, the establishment of a new criterion setting up the preference of using lower embodied energy materials will give the preference of selecting locally produced materials.

These criteria clearly violate LCA principles: the main idea of using LCA methodology is to assess an overall impact of something, including the whole life cycle and not making prejudgement on any single part of that the life cycle. In addition, transport is just one piece of an assessment showing that it has practically no impact in the total environmental performance of a building.

44) At least 20% by weight of all materials/products used in the building shall have been awarded the EU Ecolabel or other national or regional ISO Type I Ecolabels. (2 points) At present, there is a lack of heavy EU Ecolabelled construction products. Thus, it could be rather difficult to achieve 20% wt of EU Ecolabel products. Generally speaking, EU Ecolabel awards those materials with an outstanding environmental performance. Therefore, in most of

71

the cases, the selection of materials with lower embodied energy would imply the selection of EU Ecolabel awarded materials. Ecolabel products don’t ensure a better environmental performance of buildings. Construction products are intermediary products. Their performance can only be assessed at the level of the building. Otherwise, it would be impossible to determine how much of a specific is needed to meet the design requirements and what are the knock­on effects if that specific product was used as compared to another.

Moreover, it is very difficult to fulfil this criterion based on weight/volume as only a few of the heavy materials are type I label certified. The set up of a product specific approach and establishment of minimums for each product group, by including a list of EU Ecolabelled product categories in this criterion and specify a ratio of their use, could be a solution.

45) GWP assessment values (as CO2 eq) shall be declared for at least 50% by weight of materials/products reported in the List of materials. (2 points) GWP assessment values will be really close to embodied energy values since energy consumption is the key factor to be accounted in the GWP assessment values. Therefore, this criterion doesn’t neither give extra information about the materials used nor suggest the possibility of choosing materials with lower environmental impact. Future standards (CEN/TC 350) including the related environmental indicators should be used for any assessment of environmental performance better than partial indicators such as GWP or energy embodied.

46 a) At least 50 % by weight of the indoor and/or outdoor painting used in the building shall be awarded with the EU Ecolabel or other national or regional ISO Type I eco­ labels (1 point). 46 b) At least 50 % by weight of covering materials used in the building shall be awarded with the EU Ecolabel or other national or regional ISO Type I eco­labels (1 point).

Three main drawbacks are suggested: ­ The figure of 50% is too low ­ It is not ensured that the Ecolabel criteria address properly indoor air emissions and other properties ­ The ambition level in various schemes will be quite different Therefore, the introduction of clear­cut product specific rules taken over from existing labels can help to improve the criterion

Table 19. EU Ecolabel criteria related to material selection EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements Mandatory criteria 7 List of materials (90%wt + indoor materials) Too much materials??

8 Wood based materials from reuse/recycling or sustainable managed forests

Limits favour the use of other non­renewable materials à preference of low environmental impact materials Benchmarks too low Precisely mention to the certificates which are accepted General requirements on chemicals should also

72

applied for recycled and reused wood based materials.

9 Wood materials from reuse/recycling or sustainable managed forests

10 Long life service materials

Longer service life for painting and indoor materials Criteria focused on design as span life depends on use, maintenance, wear and tear Provide a list of products and applications with their respective service lifetime

11 90% wt visibly labelled plastic parts/products Benchmark too low Minimize the use of PUR­foams, silicon jointing sealants, PVC, etc

Optional criterion

39 Embodied energy in materials/products

Set up of benchmarks or preference for low environmental impact materials Future standards of CEN/TC350 better than partial environmental indicators

40 Use or re­use of recycled materials/products

Lack of recycled materials in the market Disagreement with prohibition of PCB and recycled content in metals Recycling should be part of the LCA and compare by means of this tool their environmental benefits Criterion limited to solid building materials

41 Responsible resourcing of materials Benchmarks too low Highly complex to ensure tracking Certification is difficult to be provided by SMEs

42 Use of materials locally produced – non­ structural functions

Criteria not workable for some heavy materials such as stainless steel Environmental impact of transportation already included into the embodied energyà promote selection of materials with low environmental impact Against LCA principles: transportation is just a part of the life cycle and no limits are set up for other steps

43 Use of materials locally produced –structural functions

44 Labelled construction products

Lack of EU Ecolabel for most of the heavy construction materials Enlarge criterion to national labelled construction products Ecolabelled products don’t ensure a better environmental performance Few of the heavy materials are type I label certified. Set up a product specific approach and minimums (%) for each product groups

45 CO2 embodied in materials/products

Indicator really close to embodied energy (avoid duplicate the work). Set up of benchmarks Future standards of CEN/TC350 better than partial environmental indicators

73

46 Indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes, coverings materials

Benchmarks too low Set up clear­cut product specific rules taken over from existing labels

6.2 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on energy consumption

6.2.1 Mandatory criteria related to energy consumption

12) The primary energy requirement for heating shall be not higher than 30 (new buildings) or 70 kWh/m 2 *year (old buildings) Just one energy consumption benchmark for all new/ existing buildings seems to be unfair due to the high diversity of climatic areas in Europe as well as the different functionalities of the buildings. It is suggested, the energy consumption benchmark could be modified by correction factors that include different aspects such as the climatic area where they are located, the hours that are used (function), etc. In this way, efforts to achieve a EU Ecolabelled building are homogenous across Europe and EU Ecolaballed buildings will not be concentrated in one area or building type. In addition, a correction factor for the used fuel can be considered. This factor can promote the use of zero and low carbon technologies in the building sector. It is not sufficient to consider the energy consumption for heating only. The EPBD (2010/31/EC) states explicitly that the overall efficiency of a building has to be considered. However, the method of this directive is rather vague and leaves too many options to MS. The reference to an existing label could be an improvement. That means to include all energy uses such as heating, cooling, ventilation, water heating, lighting, auxiliary devices.

Most of the MS Ecolabels set up limitations to the total energy consumption and not just to the heating energy consumption. In this sense, global index should include the cooling necessities that are present in southern European countries. A proper definition of the kind of energy is helpful. Primary energy is widely used although would distort the result. The calculated energy need of the building is the most important characteristic and should therefore be taken into account in the process of awarding a building with the Ecolabel. The use of primary energy may distort the results because the environmental impact of a technology or building does not only depend on the amount of energy consumed to get the desired result but also on other factors such as the kind of fuel used (burning heavy oil has a higher environmental impact than natural gas and obviously higher than renewables energies) Moreover, a clause limiting the use of cooling in buildings or at least, include mandatory requirements on cooling energy efficiency is another propose to improve the criterion.

13) At least 25 or 50 % of the energy used for all purposes shall come from renewable energy sources. The benchmarks related to the use of renewable energies proposed by the EU Ecolabel are higher than those proposed by the MS labels.

74

The transformation of this criterion into a building related one by referring to photovoltaic devices, solar thermal systems or other renewable sources of energy which are an integral part of the building is proposed.

6.2.2 Optional criteria related to energy consumption

47) The primary energy requirement for heating shall be not higher than 15 or from 15 to 50 kWh/m 2 *year depending on the kind of building. (3 points) Stakeholders suggested that this criterion is written in a more general way than many others, and thus cannot be assessed in practice. Actually, the main point should be focused on avoiding unnecessary heating and cooling loads (both by means of architectural and technical means)

48) At least the 50% of the annual needs for ventilation and cooling shall be satisfied through the use of passive systems. (3 points) Better establishing total requirements on the total primary energy consumption 49) At least the 50% of the annual needs for hot water production shall be satisfied through the use of passive systems. (3 points) If thermal solar panels are considered passive systems, then fulfilling this criterion partially implies fulfilling criteria 48 and 13. Moreover, countries from a Mediterranean climatic area such as Spain, Italy or Portugal can reach this criterion easier than Nordic countries. The influence of the climatic area is proposed to be introduced by means of a correction factor.

Table 20. EU Ecolabel criteria related to energy consumption EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements Mandatory criteria

12 Energy efficiency – Heating

Correction factors to adequate the energy consumption benchmark to: ­ climatic area ­ used fuel ­ function of the building (operational time) Not only based on heating but on the total energy consumption Energy consumption should be clearly set up as primary or final energy consumption Clause limiting the use of cooling

13 Renewable energy sources

Benchmark higher than in other MS Ecolabels Transformation of this criterion into a building related one by referring to renewable sources (solar photovoltaic and thermal, geothermical, wind in extreme)

Optional criteria

47 Energy efficiency – Heating Criterion written in a more general way Set up criteria to avoid unnecessary heating and cooling loads

48 Energy efficiency – Cooling and ventilation

49 Energy efficiency – Hot water Correction factor to adequate the % of hot water produced by passive systems to the climatic area Promotion of low energy consumption lighting and automatic controls in common and exterior

75

areas Recommendation of using daylight Encourage of pipes and ducts insulation

Other MS Ecolabels promote:

­ drying spaces and efficient laundries ­ the use of ecolabelled white goods: labelled appliances and appliances of low energy consumption and avoid the use of private machines

6.3 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on water consumption and management

6.3.1 Mandatory criteria related to water consumption and management

14) The building shall have a rainwater harvesting system. The collected water shall be used for toilet flushing and/or laundry and/or garden, etc. Stakeholder suggested that the obligation of using rainwater must depend on the availability of clean water. Sometimes is much more expensive to use/clean the rainwater than use the clean water. Moreover, this obligation can be against of the local regulation. The scarcity of rain water is a well­known problem in some zones of the Mediterranean countries. This fact should also be taken into account. More important is also the focus to drain rain water, and not let it into public sewage treatment, but instead to soil. This should be mandatory, unless local authorities/regulation do not give this opportunity

15. A) The average water flow of the taps and shower heads, excluding kitchen and bath tub taps, shall not exceed 9­8 litres/ minute. B) 95­100%WCs shall be dual­flushing toilets consuming 6 liter / 3 liter per flush. Stakeholders suggested that toilets should be restricted to dual­flushing toilets consuming 4l – 2l / flushing.

Table 21. EU Ecolabel criteria related to water consumption and management EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements Mandatory criteria

14 Rainwater use Depending on the availability of clean water and the economic situation Not to let drain rain water into public sewage treatment

15 Water saving systems Restricted to dual­flushing toilets consuming 4­2l/flushing

Other MS Ecolabels propose the optimization of the pipeline layout in order to: ­ separate the waste and rainwaste water collection

­ avoid flooding in the ground levels of a building, car parks and access routes ­ promote the on­site water waste treatment or reuse

76

6.4 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on waste management (operational phase)

6.4.1 Mandatory criteria related to waste management

16) The building shall have common waste areas in order to differentiate domestic and special wastes, produced by the building's users, in accordance with local regulations. The criterion does not apply to one­family houses if they are not part of a condominium. The number of proposed criteria to reduce the environmental impact of the buildings due to the waste generation and management is scarce. In the EU Ecolabel waste separation takes just into account the domestic and special wastes while other MS labels differentiate the domestic waste into paper, glass, biowaste, packaging and non­recycled rubbish. Obviously, the sorting of the waste should depend on the local authorities, as there is no point in sorting the domestic waste if it will not be valorised.

The reduction of waste generation is addressed by imposing limitations to the bins where the domestic waste should be stored. In addition, MS labels guarantee the composting activities by means of the advice of an expert and providing composting facilities in houses with gardens.

Table 22. EU Ecolabel criteria related to waste management EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements

16 Recycling facilities ­ Sorting out domestic waste into: paper, glass, biowaste, packaging and non­recycled rubbish ­ Limitation of bins capacity

6.5 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on health and well­ being

6.5.1 Mandatory criteria related to health and well­being

17) The building shall have apposite service rooms for placing machines generating dust (such as printers, copy machines, plotters, etc.). The criterion shall only apply to offices and schools. This criterion does not apply for residential buildings, as rooms are used depending on the owner's wishes. However, MS labels promote the use of home office to avoid the energy consumption spend on commuting and then, it could be appropriate to set up this criterion for residential buildings as well.

18) Radon concentration shall be at least 10% lower than the limit indicated by the Commission Recommendation 90/143/Euratom of 21 February 1990 on the protection of the public against indoor exposure to radon for New Buildings, namely < 180 Bq/m3

19) The Daylight Factor in every common areas (e.g. Halls, Staircase, ..) shall be > 5%. Stakeholders suggested that maximise natural daylight should be encouraged where possible through the use of modern technologies in the areas of sun control windows, films and glazed or fabric owning. This suggestion is taken into consideration under criterion 20. Comparing the daylight factor, the EU Ecolabel proposes a much higher one.

77

20) The lighting system present in common area of the building (such as staircases, hallways, bathrooms for offices and schools, etc.) shall be equipped with automatic shutdown.

21) Offices and school rooms and rooms used during the day in residential building shall have a Daylight Glare Index (DGI)5 lower than 20. Criterion out of scope for residential buildings.

22) The building indoor environment shall comply with the EN 15251 standard, integrating thermal environment, indoor air quality and ventilation rates, humidification and dehumidification, lighting and noise indicators. Stakeholders suggested that ventilation by means of passive systems is not acceptable from indoor climate and energy perspectives. In addition, they suggested that explicit criteria for IAQ and emissions from construction products should be developed. Ventilation is a difficult task to deal with. MS labels set up limits for the air renovation or the air velocity depending on the size and function of the room. More parameters, such as TVOC and formaldehyde, microbiological contaminants and particles should be measured and limits set up. Only buildings with EN 15251 Category I, which is recommended for a high level of expectation, should be labelled

23) The Daylight Factor in each room of the building shall be > 3%. Criterion does not apply to store­rooms and other service­rooms. This criterion seems to be the most relevant on for residential buildings. The use of light factor and the related criteria (daylight factor and glare control) are highly depending on the use of the building, the requirements of the owner and the constraints of the site.

24) Materials and products used for interiors (floor coverings, windows, doors, partitions, paint and varnishes, plasters and their components and auxiliary materials ­ glue, resins, foams, ..) shall not contain substances or preparations/mixtures meeting the criteria for classification as toxic, hazardous to the environment, carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction (CMR), in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1., or substances referred to in Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals The fulfilment of the current legislation does not imply an environmental improvement. Therefore, emission limits and the limits of indoor pollutants concentration should be set up regarding the 10­20% better performance of the buildings.

25) The VOC emissions from the building products used for interiors shall comply with the EN ISO 16000­9 to ­11 standard. The fulfilment of the current standards does not guarantee an environmental improvement. Therefore, emission limits should be set up regarding the 10­20% better performance of the buildings.

78

6.5.2 Optional criteria related to health and well­being

50) Plants and equipment in the building shall be controlled and managed by domotic systems. In particular domotic systems shall be foreseen (up to 3 points): ­ for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (point 1); ­ for Lighting (point 0,5); ­ for Natural lighting (point 0,5); ­ for Audio and Video (point 0,5); ­ for Security, including Fire protection (point 0,5).

The use of domotic systems should not be limited to HVAC, it should also apply to natural ventilation. Hence it is suggested to add "for natural ventilation (point x)"

51) The building shall adopt only natural ventilation systems, with the exclusion of sanitary and kitchen areas (3 points). Stakeholder suggested that this criterion is written in such way that, especially in Northern Europe, it is impossible to fulfil most of the criteria under "Health and well­being", at least without excessive energy use. In Nordic climate, practically all new buildings (plus all renovated office building and an increasing number of residential building renovation) are equipped with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. Mechanical ventilation systems and equipment are continuously developing to meet simultaneously the more and more stringent requirements for both indoor environment and energy saving. These developments include less energy­consuming and less noisily fans, demand­controlled ventilation, high­efficiency filtration of incoming air, and various system integrations (ventilation­ heating­ cooling). The many problems taken up with people in favour of natural ventilation are mainly not due to mechanical ventilation itself, but faults in design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance. So, this criterion should be completely changed, not to mention any type of ventilation systems, but focusing on the indoor environmental quality issues and energy performance of ventilation, plus paying attention to proper care of the systems throughout the building process and the whole lifetime of the building.

This conflicts with many national regulations and is in fact impossible to execute when taking into account the requirements of the EPBD recast. It is better to define an upper limit of primary energy use than forcing to use natural ventilation.

The requirement runs against the building of highly heat recovery. In some assessment schemes, such systems are even obligatory (including efficiency criteria for energy recovery). Bearing in mind that modern buildings are almost air tight, a high quality of the indoor air can only be achieved by using ventilation (or opening frequently windows which reduces energy efficiency).

Table 23. EU Ecolabel criteria related to health and well­being EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements Mandatory criteria

17 Dust Criterion should be applied for residential buildings when a home office is provided

18 Radon 19 Day lighting – common areas Above the average 20 Lighting system control 21 Day lighting – Glare control

79

22 Integrated indoor well­being

Ventilation passive systems are not acceptable for indoor climate and energy perspectives Explicit criteria in IAQ and emissions from construction products should be developed Further parameters: microbiological, particles, formaldehydes, TVOC Fulfilment of EN 15251 Category I

23 Day lighting factor Limitations depending on the use of the building, the requirements of the owner and the constraints of the site

24 Materials used for interiors Set up stricter limits than the current legislation or standards

25 VOC emissions in indoor environment Set up stricter limits than the current legislation or standards

Optional criteria 50 Domotic systems Not only restricted to HVAC

51 Natural ventilation systems

Impossible to fulfil in cold climatic areas Better to limit total energy consumption Requirement runs against the building of highly heat recovery

6.6 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on facilities provided

6.6.1 Mandatory criteria related to facilities provided

26) The TV antenna, or equivalent equipment, shall be centralised. Stakeholders suggested that this criterion is only important if the human health is highlighted

27) Transport facilities. The building shall have: ­ for residential buildings no more than 1 car­place for flat; ­ for offices/schools buildings no more than 1 car place for the 30% of employed persons. The building shall have facilities for charging electric vehicles and open­space parking for LPG vehicles. Car places shall include a percentage reserved to pregnant women and disabled persons (5%). Electric vehicles are not proved to cause a lower environmental impact than other kinds of vehicles and the criterion to have facilities for charging electric vehicles is not feasible in practice. The need for this kind of facilities is not an issue of criteria for buildings

A better environmental criterion would be the proximity of the building to public transports or access to bicycle lanes instead. However, this criterion is a characteristic of the site and not an election of the building design.

28) All building users shall have adequate cycle storage facilities, either indoor or outdoor to ensure dry storage of bicycles.

29) The building book shall contain evidence of final tests carried out on the structure of the building and on its equipments.

80

6.6.2 Optional criteria related to facilities provided

54) The building shall have common recreational area. Rules of their use shall be reported in the User's Guide. The criterion does not apply to one­family houses if they are not part of a condominium. (1 point)

Table 24. EU Ecolabel criteria related to common facilities EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements Mandatory criteria 26 Common TV antenna Only to be set up when the human health is highlighted

27 Transport facilities Proximity of the building to public transports or access to bicycle lanes Charging electric vehicles is not feasible in practice

28 Cycle facilities 29 Test of building and equipments Optional criteria

54 Open spaces, green areas and common areas

6.7 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on operation and maintenance

6.7.1 Optional criteria on operational and maintenance

52) Internal partitions and walls, without structural functions, shall be: removable and reusable (point 2); or removable and recyclable (point 1).

This criterion is most relevant for non­residential building. Limitation to office buildings or replacement with one for accessibility is recommended.

53) Building utility systems (water, heating, ventilation, cooling, electrical) shall be planned and installed to facilitate ease of maintenance, monitoring and replacement. Piping and cabling shall placed in accessible spaces (such as service ducts, countertops, etc) with regular access points. ­ water system (point 1); ­ heating / ventilation­cooling system (point 1); ­ electrical ­ ITC plant (1).

Minor issue for residential buildings and should be limited to office buildings.

Table 25. EU Ecolabel criteria related to operation and maintenance EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements

52 Internal partitions and walls Limitation to office buildings or replacement with one for accessibility

53 Piping and cabling Limitation to office buildings

81

6.8 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on documentation

6.8.1 Mandatory criteria related to documentation

1) The building shall have an information and description document (Building book) where are reported all information and technical characteristics about the building.

2) The building shall have an explicit plan for maintenance and efficient operation of the facility, covering all technical systems, system maintenance and replacement guidance over at least a 10­year period. Maintenance plan shall guarantee the adequate working of filter systems.

It is better to set maintenance periods in relation to the specific product/device e.g. adjusting each period tot eh respective service life.

3) The building shall have a User's guide giving information on the use of the building and on its equipments.

6.8.2 Optional criteria related to documentation

30) The building shall have an ISO type I environmental certification according to: A) if the certification is a Threshold Level (like the EU Ecolabel) ­ 3 points; B) if the certification is a Rating System; ­ B1 ­ 3 points for the first upper level; ­ B2 ­ 2 points for the second­upper level; ­ B3 ­ 1 point for the third­upper level.

Table 26. EU Ecolabel criteria related to documentation EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements

Building Book Maintenance plan Set maintenance periods in relation to the specific product/device User's guide Other environmental certification systems

If the owner has already another label, he will not probably apply for the EU Ecolabel

6.9 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on Planning project and construction 6.9.1 Mandatory criteria related to planning, project and construction 4) The List of materials shall indicate, for each kind of materials or products, information for disassembling, reuse, recycling. It is impossible to predict what will happen in 100 years time. Moreover, the material list is not enough. It needs to be proven whether the assembly itself allows for recycling and reuse

82

6.9.2 Optional criteria related to planning, project and construction

31) The site location shall prefer: (2 points) abandoned areas (residential or industrial) or fringe areas in urbanised zones. It is really difficult to have public transportation closed to abandoned areas and therefore, in general, the construction of these buildings doesn't promote an energy consumption reduction of the inhabitants

32) The design's team shall demonstrate experience with environmental building design in at least two projects carried out in the last five years. (2 points)

33) Companies in charge of the construction of the building shall have a Quality Management System according to the ISO 9001 standard. (2 points) Management system is out of the scope of the EU Ecolabel but it is important to keep the inhabitants informed

34) A Life Cycle Assessment shall be produced for the building according to the ISO14040 standard. (3 points) A well­done LCA is expensive and time­consuming: results should be used to improve the environmental performance of the building in any way. Use results of LCA to improve building design and environmental performance

35) Companies in charge of the construction of the building shall have an Environment Management System according to EMAS regulation (2 points) or ISO 14001 standard (1 point). (up to 2 points) Companies awarded with EMAS regulation or ISO 14001 does not perform a better work than companies without the award.

36) At least 75% of construction and demolition wastes generated during the construction phase shall be reused or recycled. (3 points) This criterion is impossible to be assessed. Moreover, EU Ecolabel is only hold for 3­5 years while the buildings have a life of around 100 year. This criterion will probably be never fulfilled Moreover, the criterion should split into two: waste for the construction phase awarding the avoidance of waste and waste for the demolition without a limitation as the recyclability depends on the existing construction works on the site.

Table 27. EU Ecolabel criteria related to planning, project and construction EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements

4 Design for disassembly, re­use, recycling The assembly itself should allow for recycling and reuse

31 Site selection Difficulty of having public transportation

32 Experience of designers in environmental construction

33 Quality Management System Out of scope of the EU Ecolabel but important to inform the inhabitants

34 Building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

A well­done LCA is expensive and time­ consuming: results should be used Use results of LCA to improve building design and performance

83

35 Environmental Management System Does not influence the final results

36 Construction and demolition waste

Impossible to be assessed after 100 years Avoidance of waste during the construction phase No limitation for the demolition waste recyclability as it depends on the site Reduction of water and air pollution as well as the collection and treatment of water waste and waste during the construction phase Optimization of transportation along the construction phase Protection of the nature

Other criteria proposed

Minimum soil excavation and optimization of the land use

Other MS Ecolabels suggest:

­ reduction of water and air pollution as well as the collection and treatment of water waste and waste during the construction phase

­ optimization of transportation along the construction phase ­ protection of the nature

­ strategies to reduce the impact by noise and visual impact ­ reduction of resources during the construction phase: water, energy and soil

­ minimum soil excavation and optimization of the land use

6.10 Comments of the 3 rd draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings on impacts onsite 6.10.1 Mandatory criteria related to impacts onsite

6) In order to avoid the Heat island effect, for areas classified from BWh to Csb according to the Koeppen Climate Classification System4, the building shall use passive systems. The mitigation of the heat island effect can be achieved by means of several measurements as reported in previous sections of this document. Avoiding cooling loads is a measure of key importance as the cooling system consumes fourfold the energy of the heating ones. From our point of view, this criterion should enhance the implementation of passive systems in order to decrease the energy consumption. This benchmark can be proved by a computer simulation.

6.10.2 Optional criteria related to impacts onsite

37) In the green areas, existing trees shall be preserved and species belonging to the local dynamic series shall be used. (1 point)

38) In order to avoid the Heat island effect, for areas classified from Af to Aw and from Cwa onwards according to the Koeppen Climate Classification System, the building shall use passive systems. (1 point)

84

Table 28. EU Ecolabel criteria related to impacts onsite EU Ecolabel Criteria Proposed improvements

6 Heat island Avoiding cooling loads Fit the surrounding architecture

37 Green areas 38 Heat island

85

7. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The overall objective of this research activity was to evaluate the work so far completed on the development of EU Ecolabel criteria for "Buildings" as well as to advice on the next steps to be taken and improvements to be made in order to put forward a Commission Decision on Buildings for adoption. Within this group, a number of individual building products have already been addressed by one or more policy schemes, and especially by the individual member states' buildings certification schemes such as BREEAM, HQE, ITACA or DGNB among others. This report aimed at defining a new scope for the product group "buildings" and to prioritize the individual building products, in order to provide technical support in identifying the most suitable building systems for which to develop Ecolabel and GPP criteria. The priorization criteria are focused on significant environmental impact, the potential for environmental improvement in the EU that the adoption of the Ecolabel may bring and the contribution to a greater harmonization betwee different policy instruments under IPP. Among the type of buildings, office buildings are expected to significantly increase its global energy consumption and environmental impacts in the near future. Moreover, this kind of buildings has also been regulated by different schemes in member states' and presents the highest harmonization potential with regard to other product policies such as GPP. For these reasons, the office building type offers a good potential for the development of new and harmonized EU Ecolabel criteria.

Office buildings are projected to increase not only with regard to the floor area but also to the energy demand in the next future 2000­2030. In the coming years, the non­residential building sector is expected to increase its floor area. However, this growth will not be uniform across the different services sectors but focused on the commercial and office one. Moreover, the energy consumption in lighting and heating is also expected to be increase, in particular due to the extensive use of HVAC and office equipment (i.e. information and communication technologies). Office buildings present an important potential for reducing their energy consumption, reaching a decrease of 70% of total emissions. In addition, commercial and office building are more frequently refurbished, what can achieve reductions of 50% of the GHG emissions on average The development of EU Ecolabel and GGP criteria for office buildings is proposed to be addressed as a first attempt trying to develop Ecolabel criteria in a very new area as compared with the traditional Ecolabel product groups. The main reasons for this suggestion are that a EU Ecolabel for office buildings presents a higher harmonization with other member states schemes and policies.

One of the key aims of any comparison work should be to be able to identify not only the differences but also the common ground and the shared concerns, in order to get a EU Ecolabel that helps to the harmonization of all member states schemes. What is instantly apparent from this analysis is that the majority of the issues covered by most of the systems are either classified as environmental (i.e., those relating to greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, etc) or quasi­environmental (i.e. those relating to building user comfort, accessible public transport, etc) in that they have a combined social and environmental impact.

86

Among the environmental issues, benchmarks concern to greenhouse gas emissions, materials consumption and water consumption are approached in all of them. Minimum values to limit the use of non­renewable primary energy, promote the use of renewable energy, enhance a responsible selection of the materials by avoiding natural resources depletion and the use of hazardous substances as well as limits to use freshwater resources are common criteria.

Moreover, among the quasi­environmental issues, benchmarks dealing with the lighting, visual and thermal comfort as well as the ventilation conditions are present in all member states schemes. These findings should be confronted with the efforts currently undertaken to standardize the description and assessment of the environmental performance of buildings: in Europe under CEN/TC 350 and at the international level under ISO TC 59 SC 17.

As commented, Member States schemes address the most important environmental impacts. Among them, there are no doubts that the energy consumption during the operational phase of the buildings is the most important. That means that, member states Ecolabel criteria should pay especial attention to this point.

The global energy consumption of the buildings during the operational phase can be regulated by means of either a unit approach or an integrative one. The unit approach was traditionally used and is easily comprehensible for the building designers and the legislators. However, some countries have already shown strong tendencies towards an integrative regulation, by just setting up a maximum energy consumption or by extending the unit approach and permitting global transmission coefficients, in order to incorporate more flexibility into the system. By the integrated approach member states schemes set up maximum energy consumption thresholds. Moreover, this procedure is followed regarding other environmental impacts. In member states schemes, credits are awarded in each of the environmental areas according to performance. A set of environmental weightings is then applied to each category before the calculation of the final overall score. In addition, in some cases, a "minimum environmental profile" is required. Prior to this work, draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings were developed. In this previous study, buildings were split under new and existing ones and slightly different criteria were proposed for each type. In comparison to the member states schemes, the draft criteria for EU Ecolabel addresses less issues related to water pollution and consumption and waste management while it proposes new criteria related to the planning and demolition phases of the building. What concerns the energy consumption of the building, the proposed criteria do not point out overall energy consumption limits, but limits depending on the use such as heating, introduction of renewable energies, ventilation systems or hot water production.

After the revision and comparison of the proposed draft criteria for energy consumption, it can be observed that benchmarks for heating are just a single figure regardless some aspects such as: ­ the climatic area where the building is located

­ the function of the building (operational time per year) ­ the fuel used

Consequently, the effort that designer and constructors should make to achieve a EU Ecolabel awarded building is not comparable in all countries of Europe. Moreover, there is a lack of

87

mandatory criteria related to cooling needs which in general consumed fourfold the energy of heating. The cooling loads are becoming more and more important in the southern European countries and office buildings in the last years.

Energy consumption criteria related to lighting are in general slightly stricter than those pointed out by other member states schemes. However, a lack of criteria to enhance the use of low energy consumption lighting and appliances as well as the automatic control of the electrical appliances in common areas is detected.

The reduction of waste and a proper management is a key issue addressed in all member states schemes. Waste is generated along the whole building life. Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is generated during the construction and dismantling phases, while household waste is generated during the operation phase. The sorting, collecting and proper management of the waste is, thus, important in all life stages. A lack of criteria to guarantee the best management of the household waste is appreciated in the draft criteria EU Ecolabel, as it is not proposed the garbage separation into paper, glass, biowaste, etc. A summary of the comparison of the draft criteria EU Ecolabel for buildings and three of the most important member states schemes is presented in Tables 19­28. Although these tables propose some improvements for the suggested criteria, changes should be done taken into account the results of the LCA studies and focused on the environmental aspects that cause the highest environmental impacts.

7.1 Project planning and future points to be addressed Due to the complexity of the EU Ecolabel for buildings it is recommended to develop differentiate EU Ecolabel and GPP criteria based on the type of building. In this sense, it is advisable to categorize the buildings according to their functionality and age of construction. Based on functionality, buildings can be categorized under residential and non­residential ones. Each group should be divided into different sub­categories in order to develop criteria that fit better their characteristics.

In the light of the environmental impacts caused by the building sector, the environmental improvement potential and the harmonization potential with other MS schemes and other product policies (GPP), the EU Ecolabel for office buildings is proposed to be addressed first. Finally, in the longer term it is recommended to take up background research, regarding the development of a "framework Ecolabel criterion" which could be applied to all kind of buildings as one common group. Once a framework criterion is developed, it would be adopted for different types of building depending on their function. This framework criterion should be based on a sort of harmonized definition of efficiency or maximal energy consumption to reach zero or nearly zero CO2 buildings. This objective is addressed in the EPBD recast launched recently. Other common criteria regarding waste generation and management and indoor air quality are recommended.

88

The mission of the Joint Research Centre is to provide customer­driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union policies. As a service of the European Commission, the Joint Research Centre functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy­making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.