Evolution of the Energy Performance of Flemish Dwellings

Abstract

The challenges of climate change and of the exhaustibility of natural resources made governments all over the world introduce energy performance regulations in order to make their building stock more energy efficient. In the EU, the EPBD of 2002 (with a recast in 2010) has been the steering directive for the regulations of its member states. In Belgium the energy policy related to energy consumption is a regional competence and hence, the Flemish Region has its own energy performance regulations. A first legislation, related to insulation, was imposed in 1992 and since 2006, many more energy related regulations have been imposed, both for new constructions and renovations, often combined with financial incentives, such as subsidies. In order to evaluate the impact of developments in the Flemish energy policy since 2006, this paper analyzes the evolution of the energy performance of Flemish dwellings through the comparison of data gathered from two Housing surveys, held in 2005 and 2013 respectively. Both in 2005 and 2013, the Housing survey consisted of 2 parts: (1) a questionnaire on the housing situation completed by 8242 Flemish households in 2005 and 10013 in 2013 (thus a subjective image)) and (2) data from an inspection by trained inspectors of 5216 and 5002 houses (thus an objective image of the housing situation of a subgroup of the surveyed households of (1)). Overall a positive tendency was observed in the use of floor, wall and roof insulation and insulated glazing. This trend can be observed in all types of dwellings, both new and old dwellings, apartments and single-family houses, rental houses and owner-occupied dwellings. The potential for growth is the strongest for rental dwellings, single-family houses and older dwellings especially for floor, wall and pipe insulation. In order to ensure the use of insulation in all dwellings, the Flemish government should continue its efforts to stimulate energy saving measures such as subsidies for renovation of older dwellings and financial compensation for landlords if they invest in energy saving measures to improve the insulation level of rental houses.