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Energy Cost and its Impact on Regulating Building Energy Behaviour

Abstract The need to improve building energy behaviour was born out of the price shock caused by the oil crises in the 1970s. The response was expressed by national legislative acts regulating the demand for heating and ventilation. The results were important, though not always without side effects, for example, in the field of indoor air quality. Furthermore, economic and environmental considerations played an important role in determining the policies applied, the latter particularly in the 1990s and as a result of the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols. Finally, new problems, like the increasing demand for air conditioning and its impact on national electricity systems began to influence the way in which a building's energy behaviour is considered. The enforcement of the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (2002/91/EC) seems to provide for the first time an integrated regulatory tool, enabling the simultaneous consideration of the energy, environmental and economic parameters of buildings design. Its implementation, which is still facing delays, will prove the degree of its efficiency. This paper discusses the evolution of these developments within the framework of energy regulation over the last 30 years, with specific examples from Europe. The discussion focuses on the thermal insulation of the building's envelope, the requirements for indoor air quality and the use of air conditioning, in order to narrow a subject that is too broad to be covered in its entirety. Developments from the first regulations in 1976 to Directive 2002/91 were neither straightforward nor solely driven by the rise of energy costs. They are based on the quest for an energy conscious, environmentally friendly and financially feasible building, which must also be friendly to its users.