ENERGY LABELING OF BUILDINGS IN AUSTRIA

Energy Labelling of Buildings

http://www.energielabel.at/energielabel/index.php?id=1185
http://www.energyagency.at/projekte/energieausweis.htm

Relevance

Wide national scheme in Austria. Presented information covers planned energy certification and audit schemes in Austria connected with implementation of Energy Performance Building Directive EPBD.

Target

Increase of energy efficiency and environmental performance in buildings.

Product/service group

The operational target of the building energy labeling scheme is the total coverage of all buildings concerning division into two groups:

• new and comprehensively refurbished buildings
• remainder buildings

According to the harmonised building codes, there is planned to establish one single calculation method considering two different approaches depending on the precision of calculation of Energy Performance Certificates EPC:
Detailed Energy Performance Assessment (based on detailed data collection) for an EPC, especially related to the new and comprehensively refurbished buildings (can be also applicable for existing buildings).
Simplified Energy Performance Assessment (based on simplified data collection) applicable for existing buildings where no refurbishment activities are planned.

The calculation of the Energy Performance Certificate based on a detailed building energy performance assessment will be applicable for all building types as well as for all different types of the building installation. Main objective of this approach is to calculate an EPC based on building plans which are submitted for the building permission.
In this approach, the main focus are buildings, which need an EPC for the building permit, in detail these buildings are new and existing buildings which undergo a major refurbishment (buildings more than 1000 m2). It is assumed that no additional cost would be spent for this kind of certificates because as it would be the outcome of planning and preparation of the modernization process. This approach can also be applied at existing buildings for which no renovation activities are planned. In this case the calculation can be based on existing plans and on on-site measurements at the building.

For EPC in residential buildings, just heat demand and losses of the heating system will be taken in to account. In non-residential buildings heat and cooling demand as well as losses of the whole buildings installations would be calculated. The result is the final energy demand of a buildings. Further calculations to receive data of primary energy demand or a CO2 indicator are voluntary for each federal state due to the administration structure of the country.
The indicator on the energy performance label (part of the EPC) would be calculated on the basis of heat demand. Energy efficiency of the buildings installations and systems would not be considered.
The proposal of ratings, presented on Figure 1 for different classifications (A – G) do not depend neither on the building category nor on the building size.

Figure 1. Proposal of ratings of buildings for different classifications. Energy label and scale of energy performance classes.

Furthermore, an energy performance rating for the final energy demand is in process. Another label, different to the CEN proposed label, should declare the efficiency of the building envelope and installations systems.
Currently, just design rating (based on a calculation) are illustrated in a label. Operational rating is in discussion. By now, a methodical approach doesn’t exist.
The current draft of the Austrian certification scheme includes almost all and the same elements as indicated in EPBD. Nevertheless, the following are going not to be considered:
Calculation of the one global indicator representing the energy performance of the whole building
Recommendations for cost effective improvement of the energy performance
The calculation of the Energy Performance Certificate based on a simplified building energy performance assessment would use use the same calculation method and the same certification prototype as the detailed energy performance assessment. In this case the building geometry and the energetic quality of the building components would be assessed on the basis of  rough estimations of the geometry of the building. The size and shape of the building should be the key input. For energetic quality of building component u-values of the respective year of construction would be used for the calculation. On the same basis the heating system would be taken into account.
The target group for this EPC approach are existing buildings (especially residential buildings, and non-residential buildings without any cooling and ventilation systems). At least, the process of issuing the EPC should include an on-site audit, calculation the energy performance and describing recommendations for energy-efficient measures.

Awarding Institution & criteria

According to article 7 of the EPBD in Austria, issuing EPC for new and existing buildings which undergo a major refurbishment is mandatory, based on the building codes of the federal states. After implementation of EPBD, for every building permission an EPC is necessary. For existing buildings (without refurbishment activities) a national act on issuing the energy performance certificate is in development. Regarding technical regulations this act on national level refers to the regulation on regional level. For this regulations both, the detailed and simplified assessment for calculation EPC are possible approaches.

Control mechanisms and quality assessment

Especially, minimum standards for new and refurbishment of buildings have to be established and furthermore inspected by the adequate building authorities.

Charges

For new and existing buildings which undergo a major refurbishment, no additional costs are expected. The EPC should be the outcome of the preparation process and included in the planning costs. For existing buildings (without planning activities) the energy certificate will cost about 700 to 1.500 EUR (based on a calculation of about two man-day for making the certificate, costs depend on the size and complexity of the building).

Relevance on the market

Date of market introduction, relevance for providers and consumers, credibility, awarding statistics (if available).

(Label description prepared by KAPE on the basis of information materials from Austrian Energy Agency)