Europe’s aged building stock is normally considered the energy sector with the greatest mitigation potential, not only because of buildings’ share of overall energy use (above 40%¹), but also due to the significant cost effectiveness of energy efficiency measures. What does this mean? That each euro invested in buildings is a euro put into real, long-lasting solutions for climate change mitigation and a better future for everyone. To do this, we must first understand how energy is used and why this is related to carbon emissions.
Energy use across buildings varies significantly across Europe, both in end use and total amount used. As economic activity has normally been tightly coupled to energy use in virtually all sectors, buildings in richer countries also tend to use more energy overall.
The Portuguese average dwelling has one of the lowest energy-use profiles in the EU. Both climate and historical energy poverty are strongly related to this outcome. However, this is not in itself positive, but poses exciting challenges and opportunities for the coming years: how will the country keep growing its economic income and improving human indoor comfort, while at the same time curbing building-related emissions?
VP for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said about the European Renovation Wave: “We want everyone in Europe to have a home they can light, heat, or cool without breaking the bank or breaking the planet.” In our view, three areas of action stand out:
- Decarbonising the sources
- Increasing building efficiency
- Generating on-site
At Dosta Tec, we develop solutions to act on all three. We identify mitigation pockets in all phases of a building’s life cycle. And we guide designers and users through the challenge of growing, adapting, and becoming energy-positive.
Mateo Barbero
co-founder
[1] ODYSEE: Energy Efficiency Trends in Buildings, published 2018.
