The European Commission has published in June 2019 the second part of its Guidance Note on the implementation of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) Directive. ECF is pleased to see that it also recommends Member States to include provisions for (electric) (cargo) bicycles!

What is the EPBD about?

The EU has the objective of improving overall energy efficiency by 2030 by at least 32.5% (Energy Efficiency Directive). The buildings sector is regulated through the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844. The Directive requires that all new buildings must be nearly zero-energy buildings as of 31 December 2020.

E-mobility

Next to provisions on smart grid, insulation, heating and cooling, the Directive for the first time also introduces requirements on e-mobility. For example, for all new non-residential buildings and those that undergo major renovation having more than 10 parking spaces, at least 1 recharging point needs to be installed.

While this provision clearly focusses on e-cars, the European Commission, now also recommends Member States, when transposing the Directive into national Law, to incorporate:

(d) requirements related to dedicated parking infrastructure for electrical bicycles, including (electric-) cargobikes, and for vehicles of people with reduced mobility

Bicycle Parking

Beyond the context of e-mobility, the Directive also requires Members to consider the need for coherent policies for buildings, soft (or active) and green mobility, and urban planning (Article 8(8)).

The Commission guidance note connects the dots to improve the overall quality of the transport system by developing and implementing Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. In addition, the Commission follows up on a key recommendation of the ECF parking report by stipulating that “Member States without requirements or guidelines on bicycle parking should develop as a minimum, guidelines to local authorities on the inclusion of bicycle parking requirements in building regulations and urban planning policies. These guidelines should include both quantitative (i.e. number of parking spaces) as well as qualitative elements.”

What about car parking in general?

There is a lot of academic evidence that access to private parking increases car ownership and car use. Consequently, car households consume considerably more energy than non-car households. This element regrettably has not been addressed by the revised EPBD.

ECF’s parking report however recommends authorities to overturn the long-established principle of minimum car parking norms and replace it by maximum norms. Minimum norms, certainly in inner-city locations, usually lead to the effect that developers have to provide capacity beyond demand, hereby unnecessarily increasing building costs. The cost of underground parking equals about 12.5 % of the price of an average housing unit.

Last but not least another piece of good news: The coalition agreement of the new Brussels government decided to revise its building code and replace minimum car parking norms in new buildings by maximum norms!

Notes:

ECF Parking report: Making buildings fit for sustainable mobility, here

Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844, here

European Commission guidance note on the implementation of the EPBD, Commission Recommendations (EU) 2019/1019 of 7 June 2019 on building modernisation, here

Coalition agreement 17/7/2019 Brussels Capital Region, here (in Dutch)