EU requirements for energy efficiency

 In the summer of 2021, the EU presented a proposal for a large climate package where the goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from the year 2021 to 2030 through a series of bills. They even came up with a really clever name "Fit for 55".

In this proposal, there were measures that entail requirements for the energy efficiency of buildings. 
Those who have followed along here, understand that this is probably something that German houses need - even if they would not appreciate the law. This is because it does not only apply to new constructions, but also to existing houses, where the idea is to require an energy class of level E by the year 2033. For those of you who did not follow my debate about it, you can read this: House hunting 1/2 - The dream and location control
If you want, you can read a little more about this bill at privataaffarer.se (Swedish), which this post is based on. 

Reducing emissions via the energy efficiency of houses feels like something that lands right in the lap of the Germans, as many houses are heated with gas or oil.
Lets have a look at some math with a small calculation of an oil-heated house of 100m2, with an energy class somewhere between HG, say 250kWh/m2 (ie, a rather bad house, but still a fairly common one). 

Yes... I know this one is with gas but couldn't find another picture.. (reuse)

Then it can look like this (fairly rounded for simplicity):

Oil consumption can be calculated by calculating energy use, the amount of energy in oil and the efficiency of an oil burner.
We get energy use (kWh per year) via the energy value we set at 250kW/m2 multiplied by the area.

(250kWh/m2) x (100m2)  = 28,000kWh / year

An educated guess of efficiency for an oil boiler is approximately 0.85-0.95 kWh per litre.

Assume: 0.90 kWh per liter. Then the calculation is as follows:

How large our oil consumption in liters per year we then have, is obtained by dividing the need [ (kWh/m2 per year) x Living area (m2)], with the energy we get from our energy source (kWh per liter). In other words:   

 (250 kWh/m2 per year x 100 m2) / 0.90 kWh/liter  = 28,000 liters per year. 

Now this means absolutely nothing to anyone. Especially not who have hardly heard of using oil for house heating. If you want to give some comparison, it can then be explained by the fact that an average carbon dioxide emission factor of around 2.5 kg CO2 per liter of fuel is usually used for oil.
The sum then gives roughly 70 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Now this doesn't mean anything to anyone either. How much much is it? Some simple comparisons:

• You need to fell about 21 hectares of forest (210000m2). Or,  
• If you were to sit in a petrol car, you would need to spend about  300 435  kilometers  (186411 american miles)  on the road.
  (ie 185 times from south to north of Sweden). Or you can,
• Fly round trip Stockholm - Malaga 56 times . Or 
• Cover the energy consumption of 14 Swedish households for a year.
  (i.e. the entire energy consumption, heating + electricity). Alternatively,   
• You can produce about 233 tons of steel , if you want.  

ToR 56 times??

In other words, if you want to reduce the climate impact, this is perhaps the perfect area to target, for households like those in Germany. However, Sweden switched from oil and gas already in the 80s. So it's pretty relevant for us. Rock heat, air source heat pumps, district heating or biorenewable fuel such as pellets and wood cannot really be put in the same category.  

"Sweden is the country with the second lowest climate footprint per household in the EU, corresponding to roughly 26 kilos of carbon dioxide annually. "

Hål i huvudet? - A hole in the head?

Other posts like this:  

• The electric mentality of the Germans
• House hunting 1/2 - The dream and location control
• House hunting 2/2 - Economy