Under the Kyoto protocol, Europe is committed to reduce CO2 emissions seriously. One instrument to achieve this is the directive 2002/91/EC „Energy Performance of Buildings Directive“of the European Parliament and Council. The directive’s requirements hold for both new and to be renovated buildings and for both residential and non-residential buildings.
Member states of the EU were committed to implement this directive into national right. As a guideline the EU created a general framework for the calculation of energy performances of buildings, which stated which aspects the calculation methodology must include at least. These aspects particularly are heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, hot water supply and lighting.
To support the implementation of the directive in the EU member states, the european committee for standardization CEN created a set of CEN standards. This set consists of more than 30 parts, includes more than 40 standards and drafts and covers 5 CEN technical committees. A good overview can be found in http://www.buildingsplatform.eu/epbd_publication/doc/P02_EPBD_CEN_Standards_p2370.pdf.
The part concerning lighting is EN 15193: „Energy performance of buildings – Energy requirements for lighting“.
Besides the European implementation there are national implementations, for example in Germany the DIN 18599: “Energy efficiency of buildings”. This standard uses an integral approach for the calculation of the energy balance. That is a joint evaluation of energy demands for all parts of the building (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, cooling, humidification, domestic hot water and lighting), taking into account interactions between them and impacts on others. For example, the energy consumption for lighting is not only part of the energy balance for lighting, but also an inner heating source and so an important part of heating and cooling.
For more information about the directive please visit site www.buildingsplatform.eu. This site really covers everything about the directive that is worth knowing.
