Eduardo García Herranz - How to raise the number of nZEBs in Europe? Experts provide their insights into probing questio

Eduardo García Herranz - Eduardo is the Regional Energy Efficiency Manager at CLECE covering services in Madrid, Castilla la Mancha and Extremadura regions

Do you think there is a real market for nZEBs in Europe in the short term?

I have my doubts about this because the investment required is outweighed by social awareness for this type of construction dealing with minimum energy consumption. Also, we have to remember that the actual construction process comes with a price tag that is rarely quantified. This energy efficiency philosophy carries with it the cost of producing the building materials required. These materials – cements, concrete, glass, bricks, and even the more active components such as solar cells - all require energy to be produced.

How could nZEBs become more appealing to public and private developers and End Users?

Personally I can understand that it's undoubtedly the economic argument that would make these buildings more attractive to investors and end-users. But it's the same goes for fair trade, as everyone knows. If a kilo of fair-trade oranges costs me €4.5 and in my regular supermarket I can get them for €3, then naturally only those customers with a certain level of social awareness about fair trade would be willing to pay the higher cost, but these customers are a minority.

This example is similar to buying an nZEB house or one with similar features but with a (Spanish) C energy rating. If the high cost of purchasing an nZEB isn't offset by quantified energy savings over the building's lifetime, the market will remain limited to the more knowledgeable customers with high disposable incomes. And customers with such incomes tend to have a mentality of "here I have a socket, so here I have an energy source at my disposal". As a general rule, I think this leaves us with an nZEB market that would attract only those who are in the medium to high income bracket and who are highly sensitive to energy issues. Unless perhaps we introduce a form of positive discrimination for nZEB buildings, thus reducing the appeal of less energy efficient buildings.

To conclude, the ways to make nZEB buildings more appealing are:

Create greater social awareness of energy issues at all levels.

Make nZEBs more affordable compared to low energy efficient buildings.

Do you think governmental initiatives (regulation, public funding, etc.) are enough to ensure the growth of the nZEBs market or does the private sector need to take the lead? Why?

In the public arena, at least in Spain, the country I know best, I think there is still a long way to go in order not just to promote and develop nZEBs, but also to optimise energy consumption in general. From what I can see in Spain, the public authorities are the major consumers of energy in buildings. I think it is up to the authorities to take leadership and raise social awareness of energy issues. Until then, there won't be much scope for this type of building technology in Spain. This doesn't actually mean there isn't scope, because the largest direct profits are made by private businesses when they are able to control energy costs, and even taking advantage of how their own offices have been built. I'm of those who think that if businesses were more aware about how much energy they use in order to operate, they would realise that cost efficiency wouldn't come from having their employees work longer hours to increase production, but from wasting less energy during the actual production process. For example, we can take two businesses that are equipped with a lighting system based on LED technology to control lighting levels. The one saving money will be the one with an annual intensive workday system in place that makes use of natural daylight.

Do you believe your company would benefit from a higher market share of nZEBs compared to traditional buildings?

Absolutely. We have to remember that what we do to enhance different processes doesn't work on its own. Buildings don't operate in isolation, especially when it comes to maintenance. My business provides maintenance services, and this type of building should have, wherever possible, more maintenance than classic buildings, because of the operational adjustments that need to be made continuously.

I happen to work in the Energy Services Department, and nZEBs need to have all their energy parameters controlled in order to check any deviation, and to maintain optimal energy consumption.

Which are, according to your expertise, the main regulation barriers currently hampering the design and construction process of an nZEB? How could these barriers be overcome?

I don't think there are any regulatory barriers. For me, the main barriers for this type of building are:

a real lack of knowledge about energy needs and determining factors within the whole field.
a lack of control in implementing regulations.

For example, heating in buildings isn't understood because it is expressed in terms of CO2 emissions, and end-users don't realise that a class A building, with its lower energy costs, would provide greater economic benefit than a class C building.

Basically, end-users just want an energy rating for their building in order to comply with regulations thus avoiding fines. However nobody I've dealt with would be able to explain why his/her house costs more as a class A building, than one with a class C rating for example.

The government should set up a good technical team to assess needs, and then to determine the approach to implemented to meet them. To achieve this, it should always draw on various stakeholder groups: associations, energy providers, construction companies, installers, maintenance specialists etc. Once the government defines clear objectives that it is able to achieve, it will need the WILL to achieve them. This involves the government setting up the necessary means to apply the regulations.

More information:
Contact: DIRECTION Communication Secretariat – email: secretariat@direction-fp7.eu.

DIRECTION is coordinated by Fundación CARTIF (Boecillo – Valladolid) and developed in cooperation with other 10 partners: DRAGADOS and 1A Ingenieros ; EURAC, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and Claudio Lucchin & Architetti Associati; Domagk Gewerbepark, Fraunhofer Institut für Bauphysik and FACIT; Enginsoft SpA ; youris.com G.E.I.E .

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No. 285443

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