Photovoltaic systems could become standard in new European buildings, says EPIA

8 December 2009

Solar photovoltaic technologies could be set to become standard for new buildings in Europe, according to solar trade association the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).

The updated Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) dictates that any new buildings constructed within the European Union will be required to be close to energy neutral by 2020, presenting a lot of scope for small-scale renewable power development.
According to the EPIA, solar photovoltaic technologies are among the best suited to be integrated into buildings, which as a decentralised and sustainable energy technology is easy and quick to install in housing.

The new directive stipulates that ‘the nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should to a very significant extent be covered by energy coming from renewable sources, including renewable energy produced on-site or nearby.’ However no target has been set for existing buildings which currently represent about 99 per cent of the building stock.

‘If well implemented by the 27 EU countries, this new piece of legislation will be essential to meet the target set by EPIA to reach 12 per cent of Europe’s electricity demand by 2020 with photovoltaic energy,’ said EPIA policy director Eleni Despotou.

The EPIA also recommended that, when applying the directive to national law, policy makers should focus on the development of on-site renewable energy sources instead of more centralised sources, which could potentially leave a proportion of energy consuming buildings independent of external sources.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: energy efficiency, solar

This story was published on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Europe, Features, energy efficiency, policy, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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