Legal regulation of energy efficiency and energy performance certificates in Estonia distorts reality
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PhD, Energy Expert
It is in the best interests of both the owner of the building and society as a whole that buildings require less energy for heating and cooling, as well as for the work of technological systems. It is also important to classify buildings based on the energy use efficiency.
Energy efficiency of buildings depends on three factors. 1. Thermal insulation of external perimeter. 2. Technological systems. 3. Number of people using the building and type of use. There is a large difference if the same premises are used by one person or five, etc.
The first two factors reflect the building’s objective energy efficiency traits. However, the smaller the energy costs related to them, the larger the impact of the third factor, which fluctuates greatly, has on the amount of energy consumed.
Grading and classifying the level of energy efficiency of a building should be based on the first two factors that are objective.
Legal regulation of energy performance certificates and energy efficiency of buildings in Estonia distorts reality. The main issue with the methodology lies in the fact that the energy costs of a building, be they real, calculated, or measured, are multiplied by randomly chosen coefficients, which are called energy carrier weighting factors. For example, the weighting factor for thermal energy procured from district heating is 0.65 and 0.9, whereas the weighting factor for electrical energy is 2.0.
Based on the coefficients, the difference between efficient district heating and electrical heating is threefold. Therefore, when switching from electrical heating to efficient district heating (where the central boiler plant produces not only heating, but also energy), it looks as if the building now requires three times less heat and becomes three times more energy efficient.
If the boiler plant stops producing electricity, the efficiency of district heating drops from ‘efficient’ (0.65) to ‘average’ (0.9), which artificially increases the heating costs for all buildings connected to said plant by 1.4. Conversely, the grade of the energy performance certificate also drops.
Calculations to determine the level of energy efficiency and energy performance certificate are predominantly performed by using distorted amounts of energy and do not reflect the amounts of energy objectively required to use the building.
Therefore the regulations of ministers regarding the energy efficiency and energy performance certificates that are currently in force should be revoked, and it is necessary to start developing a new, objective regulation for energy efficiency of buildings.