Brussels, 11/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - As announced, we shall be looking in detail at the key elements of Friday's Energy Council in Luxembourg (see EUROPE of 8 June, pages 8 and 9):
Liberalisation of electricity and gas markets: The Commission presented to the Council in Luxembourg proposals that it had adopted last week with a view to amending the directive on liberalisation of the electricity and gas markets. EUROPE will come back to the amended proposal in detail.
Energy efficiency of buildings: The Council adopted a common position on the Commission's proposal aimed at promoting improved energy efficiency in buildings. It set a 36-month period in which to apply the Directive from the date of taking effect, with a further four years for inspections of boilers and air conditioning installations to be carried out if the States concerned do not have qualified or approved experts available. The Parliament is now to give its opinion in second reading on the Council's position. The main amendments made by the Council are:
- The Member States must take the measures needed to guarantee that the minimum requirements are fixed with regard to energy efficiency in buildings. These requirements (bearing in mind the climatic conditions inside, local particularities, the age and the use of the building) will be reviewed at regular intervals in order to be updated in the event of technical progress in the sector. The Member States may decide not to apply these requirements to different categories of buildings, such as officially protected monuments, places of worship, provisional constructions (industrial sites, workshops, etc.), and residential buildings used less than four months a year, etc.
- New buildings must respect the minimum requirements for energy efficiency whereas the energy efficiency of existing buildings of over 1000 square metres must be improved only in the case of major renovation work. Work is considered "major" when the total cost equals at least 25% of the value of the building or if over 25% of the building is to be renovated.
- The duration of validity of the certificate of energy efficiency is increased from five to ten years. Certification of the apartments (or units) in one and the same building designed for separate use is established either on the basis of common certification as the building is equipped with a common heating system, or on the basis of assessment of another representative apartment located in the same building.
- Boilers of nominal 20-100 kW power must be inspected at regular intervals. Inspections must be made twice a year when the power of the water heater exceeds 100 kW.
- Member States ensure that the certification of buildings, the elaboration of recommendations and the inspection of appliances must be done by independent experts.
Use of biofuels in transport: The Council sketched out an agreement on a new text drawn up by the Spanish Presidency. The proposal must, however, still be submitted to the opinion of the Parliament and to the agreement of the Ecofin Council on the taxation aspect (application of a reduced rate of excise on biofuels). The main changes are: 1) the addition of "bio-mtbe" (methyl-tertio-butyl-ether), a fuel produced from biomethanol and synthetic biofuels (synthetic hydrocarbons or mixtures of hydrocarbons produced from the biomass) to the list of products considered as biofuels; 2) the Member States should ensure that the minimum indicative share of biofuels and other renewable fuels is placed on sale on their national markets. Reference values for these objectives are set at: 2% for 31 December 2005 at the latest and 5.75% for 31 December 2010. When Member States fix their national objectives, they may establish differentiation compared to these reference values depending on national situations. Nonetheless, such differentiation must be based on justified elements (such as specific characteristics of the national market of fuels used for transport); 3) the Commission should present a report to the Parliament and Council on progress made before 31 December 2006, mainly on the effectiveness of measures taken by the Member States for promoting the use of biofuels, the economic aspects and the environmental impact of this use. The report may later lead to adjustment of the objectives.