PROGRESS OF THE GREEN CASE DIRECTIVE AND THE KEY ROLE OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT EXPERTS
The Green Homes Directive has made significant progress since its approval by the European Parliament on March 14. The Dec. 7 meeting may be the last before arriving at an agreed-upon text.
The most significant change in recent weeks concerns Article 9 of the Directive. The Parliament’s initial proposal included a goal of achieving energy class E for residential buildings by 2030 and class D by 2033. This approach has been superseded in favor of a more open system of rules, in which the role of individual member states become key, giving them more discretion. Each state will be required to develop a roadmap for upgrading its housing stock, outlining a trajectory of gradual reductions in building energy consumption up to 2050, with the goal of achieving zero emissions.
It aims to reduce average primary energy use by measuring consumption per square meter of buildings from 2020. Countries will have to specify the annual number of buildings and housing units to be renovated. In Italy, for example, with about 12 million residential buildings, about 5 million buildings will be focused on the priority targets.
The Directive also includes the possibility of contributing to energy efficiency goals through the rehabilitation of buildings affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. This allows resources earmarked for extraordinary interventions to be used to help meet community goals.
Precisely with respect to energy assessments, the Energy Management Expert (EGE) is a professional related to the Green Economy and is the professional figure who possesses the knowledge, experience and skills necessary to manage energy use efficiently. EGE certification attests to the skills of the professional figure involved in the efficient management of energy use. The UNI CEI 11339:2009 standard, defines the general requirements and procedures for the qualification of the professional figure of the EGE who must have the ability to combine knowledge in the energy and environmental field, with management, economic and financial skills. Depending on the scope of activity, two types of professionals certified under accreditation are distinguished:
EGE – industrial sector, whose skills are aimed at industrial applications and production processes;
EGE – civil sector, whose skills are aimed at uses in the civil and public administration fields.
He must be able to intervene to support organizations in order to improve the level of energy efficiency and reduce consumption and gas emissions in order to promote the rational use of energy.
In addition, he or she verifies consumption, optimizes it, promotes interventions aimed at energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources, or even better, designs performing processes that use latent energy from other processes.
By addressing a topic of such high relevance as energy efficiency and environmental impact, professionals who certify their expertise on Energy Management Systems will be able to provide a higher level of assurance to their clients. This will enable organizations to adopt a systematic approach aimed at continuously improving their energy performance.
