The new regulations on the energy performance of buildings introduce a series of requirements to be phased in gradually. One of the main changes is the one related to the new form of the energy performance certificate or the energy certificate, without which no construction or renovation work can be carried out and no sale-purchase or rental contracts can be concluded. An advantage is that this certificate could become useful, following a decision by the local authorities to offer the owner of a building tax reductions based on the energy efficiency of the building.
“[The new regulation Mc001] is one of the five most complex regulations in Romania at the moment, it has over 600 pages. Tax exemptions may be established on the basis of the energy performance certificate. At the European level, tax exemptions are even recommended for energy efficient buildings”, said Cătălin Lungu, PhD engineer university lecturer at UTCB and president of the Romanian Order of Energy Auditors (OAER), at EnergynomicsTalks.
The new legislative provisions are included in a normative act published in the Official Gazette of January 17, 2023. This revised version of the regulation includes numerous technical novelties that will come into force gradually.
According to the new procedures, the format of the energy performance certificate changes “substantially”. This document must be drawn up by the beneficiaries of a building when they sell or rent it. At the same time, the certificate is also required when renovating an existing building.
The methodology for calculating the energy intensity of buildings was developed by a group of experts from a consortium led by the Technical University of Construction in Bucharest and will be the basis of a paradigm shift in the field of building construction.
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“A building falls into the same energy class from the point of view of energy consumption, but also of pollution. There are situations where a building can consume a lot of energy from renewable sources, but that does not make it an energy efficient building, it makes it a less polluting one,” said Lungu.
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In the new form of the energy certificate, the pollution classes will also be included, this being an additional element compared to the old document. The legislation also introduces more energy efficiency classes, one more than previous legislation. Thus, 8 energy classes will be nominated, the novelty being the implementation of the A+ class reserved for buildings with exceptional energy performance.
“Energy classes will be delimited by primary energy consumption and energy losses along the entire circuit, for example, from the oil well to the heater in the apartment,” added Lungu.