A massive housing renovation is expected so that homes become energy efficient to the maximum. The European Union has marked the year 2050 when every building in Europe must have achieved decarbonization. But what does this mean? This means that fossil fuel consumption that releases polluting energy must have been eliminated from every building. Undoubtedly, it is an ambitious challenge which is essential to carry out because we depend on it to achieve economic and energy savings that are crucial for the sustainability of our real estate system. We must bear in mind that housing which is not energy efficient causes a daily waste of energy and money. If a house is not well equipped then each time we turn on the heating or the air conditioning an important part of the energy that is generated will be wasted, with the economic and environmental cost that this will entail. One has only to consider that 40% of the European energy spending is because of the buildings and in addition, these buildings produce more than 35% of the greenhouse gases. These facts and figures show that the environmental impact caused by buildings is important enough for us to take matters into our own hands.

2021, THE STARTING POINT

In this blog we wrote an article about certificates that measure the sustainability of buildings. In that article we said that every new building that was constructed from 2021 onward must have almost zero energy consumption. This has already become a reality and we can state that this year is an important starting point in our real estate system towards achieving sustainability as well as energy efficiency. If we add to this that by 2050 we expect to achieve total decarbonization, then we can affirm that we have ensured a much more ambitious challenge: making all housing energy efficient. In order to succeed in doing this, great efforts are needed: in Spain, it is estimated that around 30.000 homes are renovated each year. However, these facts and figures are much lower than they should be if we want to have general rehabilitation in every residence in Spain. The European Commission has proposed to achieve general restoration in every building; this means that in our country, thousands of buildings must be restored from now until 2050. Currently, in Spain more than 170.000 Gigawatt hours are consumed and they must be reduced to 108.000 by 2050. On the other hand, around 72.000 Gigawatt hours which are generated by fossil fuels must be eliminated.

2030, A KEY YEAR

It is calculated that from 2030 onward, 300.000 houses a year must be renovated in order to meet the challenge of the European Union for 2050. In order to achieve this, it is imperative that integral reforms are undertaken that will make our buildings energy efficient. The investments to restoration will be a fundamental issue. Nonetheless, the key to achieve this is that energy efficiency permeates on society and that we all play our part by commiting ourselves to this objective. Only in this manner, and between all of us, will we be able to achieve it.