New Policy Brief on investments and possible rebound effects in decarbonising the Buildings Sector

A key reason behind the buildings sector’s persistently high emissions is its diversity and complexity. This Policy Brief by Faidra Filippidou (E3Modelling) attempts to identify viable socio-technical strategies for buildings transformation to achieve the sector’s decarbonisation. To do so, the evolution of the sector for the European Union (EU27) was modelled with PRIMES BuiMo1, where detailed analyses of potentials and boundary conditions for the implementation of various technological options such as electrification of heating, energy efficiency improvements including deep building retrofits, the changing role of gas, and integration of renewable energy technologies are examined and included.

Results drawn from this study show that EU energy policy measures should be further developed focusing on energy demand reduction, establishing strategies promoting energy efficiency renovations via, for example, financing and awareness campaigns, and on both electrification and high energy efficiency of the buildings technical equipment, along with the extension of carbon pricing in the buildings sector. In other words, despite the rapid development of clean and sustainable solutions of technical building equipment – for all end uses – the principle of energy efficiency first is of great importance to achieve demand reduction.

For more details, read the full policy brief here.