CrossCERT

The updated Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires the development of a new generation of energy performance certificates, reflecting the penetration of new technologies and new regulatory requirements regarding the energy efficiency in buildings and achieving greater comparability of assessments of certified buildings in different European countries. 

The EC's Horizon 2020 program supports a large group of research projects dedicated to this topic, one of which is CrossCERT, where EnEffect is partnering with organisations from ten other European countries. The main focus of the project is related to the implementation of bilateral international cross-tests of the national energy performance certification methodologies through the application of a foreign methodology to certify a building which is already certified according to the national norms of its location. The project analyses 10 buildings in each of the ten participating European countries. The buildings are grouped according to heating and cooling degree-days calculated under the same boundary conditions and with climate data from the same source. Bulgarian buildings fell into a cross-test group with buildings from northern Greece, northern Spain and Scotland. From the tests carried out it became clear that the methodologies in these countries have some sufficient differences and the results obtained cannot be compared. A significant difference between the Bulgarian methodology and those in the other three countries is that the assessment of the integrated energy performance of the building in Bulgaria includes the energy consumption of appliances and other electricity consumers, including those that are outside the building, while in the other countries the appliances are not included, but only heat inputs influencing the thermal balance of the building are taken into account. Cross-testing will also continue by applying various tools developed within Horizon 2020 sister projects dedicated to the new generation of energy performance certificates topic. Based on the results of the research and the analyses made, the project will prepare and propose policy recommendations that will include possible improvements in the accuracy, applicability and international harmonization of certification schemes.

Website: https://www.crosscert.eu/

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This project has received funding from the European Union's HORIZON 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101033778.