New energy efficiency plan for homes

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has presented an update to its energy efficiency and renovation agenda for homes, which will affect 1,200,000 households

The Government of Spain has presented to the European Commission the update of its energy efficiency and renovation plan for homes, called ‘Long-term strategy for energy renovation in the building sector in Spain’, which aims to tackle one of the main decarbonisation challenges facing European countries. the year 2050, and more specifically in relation to the energy efficiency of buildings.

This update, preceded by the pioneering one presented in 2014 and its predecessor in 2017, comes to update, as dictated by European regulations once three years have passed, measures and scenarios that will affect, according to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda itself, up to 1,200,000 homes in the country, as well as contribute to creating up to 80,000 jobs during its period of validity. Thus, the main points of this directive focus on the adaptation of these buildings and their heating and air conditioning systems, with a total investment of 25,951 million euros

This roadmap, which goes hand in hand with the National Energy and Climate Plan, focuses on one of the points with the greatest potential for improvement in terms of energy efficiency and consumption. 30% of the country’s energy consumption occurs in buildings, whether residential or tertiary economic activity, reaching the current figure of 304,276 GWh. A consumption that the plan aims to reduce by 36.6% to 192,728 GWh in 2050, when energy sources must be completely clean of emissions into the atmosphere.

The European Investment Bank and the Mortgage Credit Union are committed to energy efficiency

Last May, the news broke that, in order to support the climate objectives of Portugal and Spain, both the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Mortgage Credit Union (UCI) would begin financing a macro-energy efficiency project in both countries with a budget of 100 million euros. This would focus on the renovation of buildings, as well as the construction of new properties with practically zero energy consumption and would allow, as reported by Europa Press, the creation of up to 1,230 jobs.

According to the figures offered, the project will contribute to the construction of 25,000 square meters of new low-climate impact buildings and the rehabilitation of another 450,000 square meters of existing properties. Thus, up to 3,000 people would benefit from these investments, generating savings of 43.7 gigawatt hours once the project is fully completed.