European actions to improve the building energy efficiency: state of the art of the technical standards

This paper is aimed at reviewing the state of the art of the European technical normative implementation during the last decades concerning the building energy efficiency. Indeed, it is well acknowledged that the present building stock is largely obsolete and inefficient: in the European context alone, around 75% of the buildings is not energy efficient and most are expected to be in use until 2050. Consequently, buildings require not only a general rehabilitation, to extend, or even avoid, its end-of-life time, but also a complete afterthought of their energy performance. That is extremely urgent to improve the overall sustainability of the construction sector that, alone, is one of the main energy consumers. Improving the building energy efficiency means decreasing the overall energy requirement that, in turn, will generate less pollution connected to electrical production, thus a more sustainable society in line with the European Green Deal and the Agenda 2030.