EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

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Interesting, detailed summary (with lots of links to further discussion) of the what, why and how of the recently enacted EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which mandates national governments to develop building standards that require:

# End 2018: Public buildings to have nearly zero energy standards.
# End 2020: All new buildings to be nearly zero energy.

Market forces will ensure that the economic realities will align with this very ambitious schedule, apparently:

The additional costs of improving the insulation of all building components and installing new systems have been estimated to make very energy-efficient buildings up to 10% more expensive to build than traditional buildings, depending on local conditions. However, experiences from Germany and Austria, where the lion's share of Europe's low-energy housing has been built, have shown that increased competition in the market brings down costs closer to those of standard buildings.