Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs welcomes the political agreement on energy performance of buildings reached yesterday by representatives of the European Parliament and the Council. The agreement will greatly contribute to achieving EU Climate and Energy objectives for 2020 and to boost European economy. The agreement will strengthen the building codes and energy performance requirements for buildings across the EU and fixes 2020 as deadline for all new buildings to be nearly zero energy buildings. Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "Energy performance of buildings is key to achieving our EU Climate & Energy objectives for 2020, namely the reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions and the achievement of a 20% of energy savings. By this agreement, the EU is sending a strong message to the forthcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Improving the energy performance of buildings is a cost effective way of fighting against climate change and improving energy security, while also boosting the building sector and the EU economy as a whole."

"The political agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on the Labelling Directive is a significant contribution towards reaching our energy savings target. This agreement paves the way to adopt legislation on a wide range of products in the future that helps us to honour our commitment on the reduction of CO2 emissions". With these words Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs welcomed the outcome of the last trialogue held by Council, Parliament and Commission. This political agreement clears the way to extend the scope of the framework directive, which currently covers household goods only, to all energy-related products. The directive will outline the main elements of the new energy label: an A-G scale with the possibility to open it up to A+++ if technological development so requires, the dark green colour of the scale always indicating the most efficient class and thus guiding consumers to the most efficient products. Member States will consider procuring the best performing products provided it ensures good use of public money. With the view of further enhancing information and awareness for consumers, the Parties also agreed to require that advertisements where they contain energy-related or pricing information should also include a reference to the energy efficiency class of the product. As the text will be adopted formally after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December, the Institutions will further refine some provisions to adapt to the new applicable procedures.

Source: European Commission

The European Commission adopted today four ecodesign regulations 1 to improve the energy efficiency of industrial motors, circulators, televisions, refrigerators and freezers. The regulations lay down energy efficiency requirements which will save about 190 TWh per year by 2020, which is comparable to the combined annual electricity consumption of Sweden and Austria. "This package is a milestone on the road to achieving our energy efficiency, climate change and economic recovery objectives. It will save impressive amounts of electricity, CO2 emissions and electricity costs, while creating jobs and boosting the deployment of highly innovative technologies," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. The regulation on motors sets energy performance requirements for most of the electric motors used in industrial applications . Furthermore it will foster the use of "variable speed drives" adjusting the motor output to the actual needs, instead of operating always at full capacity. The energy savings triggered by the motor regulation are about 135 TWh per year by 2020.

The regulation on circulators will shift the market to "intelligent" high efficiency circulators capable of adjusting their performance to the needs of the heating system. Circulators can be found in almost every building's boiler or heating system, and the electricity savings are expected to be about 25 TWh per year by 2020. The two regulations on televisions and refrigerators/freezers will leave only the efficient products on the market. The expected annual electricity savings by 2020 are about 30 TWh. In total nine ecodesign regulations have now been put in place 2 , which are expected to save about 315 TWh electricity per year by 2020 if fully implemented. This is more than the annual electricity consumption of Italy. Further information on Ecodesign is available here.

Source: European Commission

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs attended today the Energy Efficiency Global Forum in Paris, where he accepted the Energy Efficiency Visionary Award. This award is bestowed upon three recipients from different regions of the world (the Americas, Asia-Pacific/Africa, and Europe) in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the advancement of energy efficiency. In his acceptance speech, Commissioner Piebalgs outlined the European Commission's vision for energy efficient European markets and policies. He pointed out that the recent price volatility of oil has highlighted the fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource, becoming increasingly concentrated in few hands, and that endless supplies of cheap oil and gas could no longer be taken for granted.

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