What is the feedback received from the (inter)national workshops?

The report presents the feedback from the ‘Dialogue on the Green paper and Concepts’. It provides a summary on each national workshop collecting the Stakeholder feedback for the proposed policies, tools and concepts of the Green paper on good practice in EPC assessment, certification, and use, as well as the feedback of the EU workshop. The proposed policies and concepts are:

• A text-based list of deep energy renovation recommendations,
• The concept for an online tool development,
• The concept for a Deep Renovation Network Platform,
• A universal, enhanced user-friendly EPC form template and background on the proposed content,
• A general policy proposal for regular mandatory EPC assessor training, and
• A general policy proposal for advertisement guidelines and for actions to improve the compliance with the mandatory use of EPCs in real estate advertisements.

The stakeholder feedback, the national workshops, and the EU workshop were then summarized regarding common suggestions for improving the proposed policies, tools and concepts. The most important suggestions were:

• The list of renovation recommendations needs to be checked on conveying its intended purpose, e.g. by clarifying that it is not a strict checklist, not ranked and that EPC issuers may also use similar energy-efficient options for deep energy renovation.
• Statements regarding the accuracy and the intended usage should accompany the information given in the online tool.
• The concept of the deep renovation network platform may be extended by including links and description for including manufacturer and supplier associations’ information and background information on further benefits of building renovation.
• For the mandatory regular training of EPC issuers, the alternative of mandatory exams that may replace mandatory training should be added to its description.
• The EPC form template may be slightly redesigned to include, for example, CO2 emissions and savings, an up-to-date picture, an nZEB checkmark for existing buildings, and a statement on the period of validity of the EPC.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 847100

• For the advertising guidelines, a consideration of the availability of space in printed media should be more explicitly added.
• The description of improving the compliance with advertising guidelines should be made more explicit regarding the penalty system, with more emphasis on controls but lower fees for first offences.

Together with the findings of the testing in around 100 pilot buildings, the improved proposals and concepts will then be published in the White paper on good practice in EPC assessment, certification, and use, of the QualDeEPC project.