Soaring energy prices put spotlight on Europe's draughty buildings

Value Exchange International

25/10/2021 06:00

* Renovation could cut EU households' gas bills - industry
study 
    * Governments seek solutions to cushion future energy price
spikes
    * Fossil fuels provide 75% of buildings' heating in EU

    By Kate Abnett
    BRUSSELS, Oct 25 (Reuters) - As European governments
scramble to shield households from energy price spikes,
advocates say renovating draughty buildings could help pull down
consumer bills and cut countries' reliance on fossil fuels.
    Buildings produce more than a third of the European Union's
greenhouse gas emissions, with around 75% of their heating
provided by fossil fuels.
    To stop the sector from thwarting the EU's climate change
goals, Brussels plans to renovate 35 million buildings by 2030,
out of a total of around 250 million - a major increase from the
0.2% of EU buildings currently renovated each year to
significantly cut their energy use.
    According to analysis by consultancy Cambridge Econometrics,
due to be published on Monday, meeting the EU target could knock
218 euros ($254) off the average EU home's annual heating bill,
based on 2021 gas prices - roughly halving the average amount
households spend on gas heating. 
    Renovations like better windows, roof insulation, or
renewable heat pumps are unlikely to be rolled out fast enough
to save consumers money this winter.
    But by 2030, hitting the goal for deep energy-saving
renovations could also cut projected EU gas consumption by
43,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year, according to the study,
which was commissioned by insulation manufacturer Rockwool.
    "Done correctly, building renovation can literally insulate
people from high energy prices," Rockwool Group CEO Jens
Birgersson said.
    European gas prices have surged to record highs this year,
prompting governments to roll out tax breaks and subsidies to
quickly reduce households' heating bills. 
    The price spike has also ignited resistance from some
governments to EU plans to impose CO2 costs on heating fuels - a
policy which, if approved, would aim to incentivise much faster
renovations of buildings.
    Some governments are already moving. Poland, Germany and
France are among the countries to earmark billions of euros from
their share of the EU's COVID-19 recovery fund for renovations.
    "We are seeing a massive uptake in public support," said
Andreas Graf, energy policy expert at think tank Agora
Energiewende, though he added it was not yet clear if this extra
cash was reaching vulnerable households without the means to
invest in renovations.
    Claire Roumet, director of Energy Cities, an association of
local authorities, said the biggest challenge was a lack of
skilled staff to coordinate renovation projects on the ground.
    "The massive money that we are putting into renovation
programmes never invests into those local coordinators," she
said, and urged governments to channel their "huge interest" in
building renovations into providing this technical support.
    "There is no reason not to do it," Roumet said.
    ($1 = 0.8598 euros)

 (Reporting by Kate Abnett
Editing by John Chalmers and Mark Potter)
 ((Kate.Abnett@thomsonreuters.com;))