New buildings
A building may last 50-100 years or more. Therefore, it is extremely cost-effective to incorporate energy efficient technology from the beginning – and very expensive not to. Today, many countries have standard insulation requirements for new buildings, but in most cases these requirements are far too slack to utilise the full potential.
Several countries are speeding up energy efficiency in new buildings. In 2012, Ireland plans to introduce energy requirement on passive house level.
The EU plans to introduce mandatory nearly zero-net-energy requirements for homes by 2020. For public buildings this requirement is projected to become mandatory by 2018.
