The EU Commission is preparing to revise the directive on Energy Performance in construction, with a proposal that makes people discuss. Since 2027, public buildings that belong to the lowest energy class (the ‘G’), they will have to go to the next higher one (the ‘F‘), to get to the’E‘by 2030. Residential buildings, on the other hand, must be at least in the’ F ‘class from 1 January 2030 and in the’ E ‘class from 2033. But there is another novelty that, in Italy, is inevitably intertwined with the knot of Super bonus al 110%: the EU Commission – if the advances are confirmed – proposes that from 31 December 2025 the certification of suitability of the property follows a pre-established European model. So, if today in Italy the Energy Performance Certificate (Ape), which ranks performance on a scale of 10 classi, from A4 (which consumes the least energy) to G (the least performing), it is mandatory for sell, rent or submit renovations facilitated a building, the Commission provides for the obligation for buildings and houses to be built, sold, renovated or even in the case of a simple renewal of the lease. Ergo: ‘G’ class buildings will be out of business, albeit with exemptions. In Italy, the percentage of properties belonging to the energy class G is still the highest: about one third of residential buildings, against 4%, for example, of houses in the Netherlands.
The role of the Superbonus – In spite of the most critical reactions to the novelty due to the possible impact on the European real estate market, in Italy the Super bonus can represent one effective tool to reduce the share of buildings with less efficient performance. “It will help to lower the share of buildings with the lowest energy class, but only on condition that the measure is not resized and that some changes are made” he explains to ilfattoquotidiano.it Katiuscia Hero, manager of the Energy Office of Legambiente, which has long been pushing for ‘adjust the shot‘of the Superbonus. President Stefano Ciafani he defined it as “the only concrete measure put in place, to date, to achieve the objectives of reduction of greenhouse gases by 2030, which also makes it possible to tackle the growing problem of energy poverty “. But, in the meantime, the official status of the maneuver is expected for the definitive confirmation of the extension.
The Commission proposal – “The Commission’s proposal, obviously with wide-ranging objectives, is absolutely valid and can work – explains the manager of the Legambiente Energy Office – just think about what happened in the energy sector home appliances with the energy label that has moved the market towards more performing products but, for example in Italy, the right tools must be developed “. In the seventy-page draft that is due to be presented next week, ‘stakes’ are foreseen. In addition to the gradual introduction of mandatory minimum energy performance standards, historic buildings, dedicated to worship, officially protected or temporary, or smaller than 50 square meters, are excluded from the measure. For the older buildings‘, the scope of the mandatory renewal of the energy class must be proportionate and feasible with respect to that from which we start. The costs of the intervention should come into the sales contract. The new directive will aim to remove the most common obstacles to retraining and will indicate new tools to facilitate homeowners’ renovations. Several options are on the table, from the leverage of credit to the possibility of encouraging the interventions of electricity and energy companies, which can take on the risk of the initial financing and repay the investments with energy savings. According to the president of Confedilizia, Giorgio Spaziani Testa, the hypothesis of tying the sale of properties to certain energy standards “it would infringe the rights of the owners“, while Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers Union announced “barricades against any law that prevents the free sale of a house just because it has a low energy class”. The goal, however, is precisely to drastically reduce buildings with worse energy performance to get closer to the target of cutting net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. And buildings are responsible for 40% of the total energy consumption and 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union.
The current situation according to Aeneas – That in Italy there is a long way to go is confirmed by the data of Aeneas and of Information system on energy performance certificates (Siape) available online, even if they do not concern all buildings, but only those for which a certification has been submitted. Out of approximately 1.9 million Ape present in the system, the85,4% relating to a residential building, the 34.5% belong to class G, 23.2% to F, 16.4% to E, 11.3% to class D, 5.2% to C, 2.8% to B and the remaining 6.6% to four classes A. So the first classes (from A4 to C) represent only the 14,6% of the certificates analyzed. On the other hand, most of the buildings considered (almost 761 thousand) were built between 1945 and 1972, while another 395 thousand date back to before [1945. The system includes Ape for just 220,000 buildings built after 2006.
The Superbonus tool – How do you achieve higher energy classes? What role can the Super bonus? “It can help achieve the Commission’s objectives, but several obstacles need to be removed,” he explains Katiuscia Hero, according to which “all citizens must be able to access this type of tools, regardless of the ISEE and the place where they live”. At the moment with respect to the changes, however, there are limitations. “Starting with the fact that over the years the percentages have been reduced – he adds – and it is not certain that a family with Isee higher than 25 thousand euros, given the current economic crisis, is able to deal with an investment of this kind. Exactly the limit that the eco-bonus also had, which has never towed such a high number of construction sites as the one presented by Enea a few days ago “. As can be seen from the latest report, in fact, if in the last 15 years in Italy more have been invested 53 billion euros in energy efficiency, about 45 relate to 2020 with 65% eco-bonus and 8.28 only for interventions already carried out with the Superbonus 110%. Regarding the latter, as of 30 November 2021 they were in progress 69.390 incentivized building interventions, for approx 11.9 billion in investments which will lead to deductions of over 13.1 billion. 10,339 condominium works have begun (62.9% already completed), representing 49.7% of total investments, while works in single-family buildings and functionally independent real estate units are respectively 35,542 (75.9% already completed; 31.5% of total investments) and 23,508 (75.5% realized; 18.8% of investments).
The Budget Law and the knots that remain to be resolved – But precisely for the villette, at first the government had decided to limit the work to June 30 and then subordinate the bonus to income limits. In recent weeks, Ciafani had expressed his fears regarding the announcement of the end of the measure in 2023, especially for the smaller interventions “which only affect families and artisan businesses”. The amendments to the budget law seem to converge for one possibly full extension of the measure, while the request to eliminate the constraint is transversal Isee roof at 25 thousand euros for single-family houses or, in mediation with the Mef, raise it to 40 thousand euros. “I hope the super bonus be one structural tool at least until 2030 – adds Katiuscia Eroe – and that it is easy to access for everyone, overcoming a series of obstacles both from a bureaucratic point of view and with respect to the ‘post’ of the Isee roof ”. Which risks creating a gap between those who live in a condominium and can access the subsidy despite a possibly very high income, and those who live in a single-family house and instead can no longer do the work, even if the ISEE income is slightly higher. to the roof introduced by Mario Draghi. As confirmed by the head of the Energy Office of Legambiente, then, the measure still excludes houses that do not have a fixed thermal system, therefore the poorest families, “but also an important part of the building stock of Southern Italy” where many houses are heated “with less efficient systems and dangerous, such as gas and electric stoves “, precisely those that would be more appropriate to remove, guaranteeing farewell to class G. By linking the measure to the financing of individual interventions and” rewarding everyone in the same way, without taking into account the quality compared to efficiency ”, according to Legambiente, the risk is that of“ not supporting complex urban regeneration projects ”and making“ minimal projects more ‘attractive’, aimed exclusively at achieving the minimum result for access to the incentive. All this – concludes Katiuscia Eroe – without excluding support for fossil fuels, as in the case of gas boilers ”.