Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86

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Energy and Buildings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Energy consumption and efficiency technology measures in European

non-residential buildings
Delia D’Agostino ∗ , Barbara Cuniberti, Paolo Bertoldi
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Directorate C–Energy, Transport and Climate, Energy efficiency and Renewables Unit, Via E. Fermi 2749,
I-21027 Ispra (VA), Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Reducing energy consumption in buildings and increasing renewable production are key goals of Euro-
Received 24 February 2017 pean policies to achieve a sustainable and competitive low-carbon economy by 2020 and beyond.
Received in revised form 21 June 2017 Non-residential buildings constitute a heterogeneity sector characterized by high energy consumption
Accepted 19 July 2017
and various building types, sizes and energy characteristics over Europe. This paper presents the overall
Available online 30 July 2017
results of the data collected by the GreenBuilding Programme (GBP), launched in 2006 to promote and
improve energy efficiency in new and existing European non-residential buildings. The GPB involved
Keywords:
building owners willing to adopt energy efficiency measures to decrease energy consumption of their
Non-residential buildings
GreenBuilding programme
buildings by of at least 25%. Based on voluntary participation, hundreds of partners joined the project,
Energy efficiency which collected data from more than a thousand buildings of different age, size, use and type (such as
Energy consumption offices, hotels, and industry). This paper provides an overview of the Programme and its main results up
Technology measures to its completion in 2014. The paper focuses on building characteristics, energy performance, efficiency
Best practices measures and energy savings, which are globally estimated to be around 985 GWh/year. A more detailed
Nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) focus is then given to office buildings, which represent the most frequent building category in the Pro-
gramme. Case studies are presented to show best practices in various countries with consolidated energy
efficiency policy strategies. The paper categorises the main technological measures related to envelope,
appliances and systems. It shows how a wide range of technologies are becoming an integral part of
buildings and how technology plays a major role in exploiting the massive potential benefits of reduc-
ing building energy consumptions. The analysis of the results generates a reliable snapshot of European
non-residential building stock.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction sector in Member States (MS) [2]. In Europe buildings consume

The improvement of energy efficiency and the promotion of
renewable energy sources (RES) are key components of European
energy policies [1]. The 2007 Climate and Energy package foresees a
20% reduction of primary energy consumption in buildings by 2020.
It also foresees a 20% increase of renewable energy production and a
20% decrease of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels. These
targets have been updated by the 2030 Climate & Energy frame-
work. This ambitious package fixes the reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions at 40% from 1990 levels, the share for renewable energy
at 27% and improvement in energy efficiency at 27%.
Special attention is devoted to buildings due to the large amount
both of energy consumption and estimated energy savings of this
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: delia.dagostino@ec.europa.eu (D. D’Agostino).
approximately 40% of primary energy, being among the largest end-
use consumer sector. Non-residential buildings account for 25%
of the European building stock [3]. The energy savings that can
derive from this sector through efficiency measures and RES are
considerable due to their typically high energy consumption. Tech-
nology innovation offers new solutions for new building concepts.
The envelope represents a key element to control the exchanges
between indoors and outdoors, thermal insulation can guarantee
less thermal losses, renewable energy production has to compen-
sate energy consumptions, ICT (Information and Communication
Technology) can provide a smarter use of energy, and technical
systems are becoming more and more efficient [4]. These solutions
enable more dynamic and interactive buildings, where technolo-
gies are used in conjunction with optimum design techniques that
minimize summer heat gains and winter heat losses, the use of
passive heating and cooling techniques, a better use of daylight to
reduce lighting, and the use of renewables. A new market is con-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.07.062
0378-7788/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86 73

forming to the new building target promoting integrated solutions The RED establishes a strategy for the production and promotion
and packages for buildings [5]. of energy from renewables in MS. It specifies national renewable
Among the initiatives to promote energy efficiency in Europe, energy targets for each country, taking into account its starting
the European Commission has been promoting the GreenBuilding point and overall potential for renewable production. These targets
Programme (GBP) [6] aimed at improving energy efficiency and range from 10% in Malta to 49% in Sweden.
the use of renewables in non-residential buildings [7]. The main In relation to policies on products, the Energy Labelling Directive
requirement of the project is the reduction of at least 25% primary (2010/30/EU) [16] focuses on labelling and standard product infor-
energy in a new or refurbished building. The importance of col- mation on energy consumption, while the Eco-design Directive
lecting data in relation to non-residential buildings is highlighted (2009/125/EU) [17] creates the criteria for eco-design requirements
by the heterogeneity of this sector that presents various building identifying specific product categories.
types, sizes and energy characteristics all over Europe. After an
assessment related to the first four-years of operation [8], this paper
3. The non-residential building sector in Europe
presents the overall results of the data collected by the project.
A focus is given on building characteristics, achieved energy sav-
3.1. State of the art of definitions
ings and implemented efficiency measures that are discussed in
depth. The paper aims at identifying the main technological mea-
The diversity in terms of building typologies within the non-
sures adopted across Europe in new constructions and refurbished
residential sector in MS is huge [18]. There are different definitions
non-residential buildings. It identifies best practices, performance
for non-residential building in MS which demonstrate a non-
levels, energy savings and implemented solutions to encourage
harmonised approach to this sector and the necessity to have more
energy efficiency and fostering the market uptake.
information and data.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), in a non-residential building the minor part
2. European building policies
of the building (i.e. less than half of its gross floor area) could be used
for dwelling purposes. Non-residential buildings cover the follow-
The European policy framework aims at creating the conditions
ing sectors: industrial, commercial, educational, health and other
for improving the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings in
buildings [19].
MS. To this end a major step forward is represented by the Energy
Another definition is given by Eurostat. It states that non-
Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD, Directive 2002/91/EC),
residential buildings are buildings other than dwellings, including
and its recast (EPBD recast, Directive 2010/31/EC) that states the
fixtures, facilities and equipment, which are integral parts of the
implementation of nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) as the
structures and costs of site clearance and preparation. Examples
building target from 2018 onwards [9] [10]. Article 9 of the EPBD
include warehouse and industrial buildings, commercial buildings,
recast states that MS shall ensure that new buildings occupied by
buildings for public entertainment, hotels, restaurants, educational
public authorities and properties shall be NZEBs by December 31,
buildings, health buildings.
2018 and that new buildings shall be NZEBs by December 31, 2020.
According to Ecofys, the non-residential category should be
A recent assessment has shown that the NZEB topic has gained a
divided into: non-government owned offices, trade facilities,
growing attention in the last decade, but the achievement of an
gastronomic facilities, health facilities, educational facilities, indus-
agreed and approved NZEBs definition is not yet reached [11].
trial buildings, public buildings [20]. The analysis shows that a
The EPBD recast also introduces the concept of cost-optimality,
detailed composition of the European non-residential building
which implies energy efficient solutions with minimal life-cycle
stock especially related to retrofit is not completely assessed. It
costs. Delegated Regulation No 244/2012 supplementing the EPBD
is therefore important to gather more information about building
recast establishes a comparative methodology framework to derive
characteristics, energy performance, and retrofit through specific
cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements
programmes, studies and surveys. Setting up compulsory databases
for buildings and building elements [12,13]. Moreover, the EPBD
to analyze and evaluate energy certificates could be an approach.
Directive (article 11(9)) requires the Commission to adopt a Volun-
An agreed definition for non-residential buildings has not
tary Common Certification Scheme for non-residential buildings.
reached. Because of the broad variety of uses and associated
The system is currently being developed and will be based on the
characteristics, defining typologies for this sector is difficult [21].
new CEN-standards for the calculation of energy performance of
Databases to collect benchmarks or data from energy certificates
buildings. The aim is to have a more harmonised EU label on a
have been set up in some countries, such as Austria and Poland. In
voluntary wide scheme.
Germany, studies on this sector concerning possible structures of
The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) [14] and the Renewable
non-residential building typologies, benchmarks, and end energy
Energy Directive (RED) [15] set out a package of measures that
uses have been carried out.
create the conditions for significant and long term improvements
in the energy performance of the European building stock. The
EED deals with a more efficient use energy throughout the energy 3.2. Overview on energy consumption
chain, from its production to its final consumption. It states that
the public sector should purchase energy efficiency in buildings, Non-residential buildings account on average for 25% energy
products and services in all MS. The Directive introduces sev- consumption of the total European building stock, representing a
eral measures, such as legal obligations to establish energy saving heterogeneous sector compared with the residential (Fig. 1).
schemes in MS, energy efficiency national incentives, energy ser- According to a BPIE (Buildings Performance Institute Europe)
vices and audits. According to the Directive, energy distributors or survey [23], European non-residential buildings can be divided in
retail energy sales companies have to achieve 1.5% energy savings the following categories: wholesale & retail (28%), offices (23%),
per year through the implementation of energy efficiency mea- educational (17%), hotels and restaurants (11%), hospitals (7%),
sures. Moreover, according to article 4 of the EED, MS have to sport facilities (4%), other (11%). This sector holds a big percentage
stablish a long-term strategy beyond 2020 for mobilising invest- of total European final energy consumption, especially in relation to
ment in building renovation to improving the energy performance commercial and hospitals buildings [24] (Fig. 2a). The average spe-
of the building stock. cific energy consumption in the non-residential sector is on average
74 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86
Fig. 1. Share of buildings in final energy consumption (2012). Source: modified from [22].
280 kWh/m2 (covering all end-uses), which is at least 40% greater
than the equivalent value for the residential sector.
In the non-residential sector (e.g. offices, shops, schools, hospi-
tals) consumption related to lighting, ventilation, heating, cooling,
refrigeration, IT equipment and appliances vary greatly from one
category to another [25]. Over the last decade, electricity consump-
tion has increased in average by 74% (Fig. 2b). This is mainly due to a
growing number of new appliances, IT devices, new telecommuni-
cation types, as well air conditioning [25]. Non-residential buildings
require on average 55% more electrical energy than residential
buildings (286 kWh/m2 compared to 185 kWh/m2 ) [24]. This spe-
cific consumption varies significantly among EU countries: it is
80% lower in Bulgaria and Spain than in Finland. Such differences
are partly explained by climatic conditions, country energy depen-
dence and imports [27]. Energy consumption in non-residential
buildings rapidly increased by 2.5% per year between 2000 and
2008 at EU level [28]. Since then it has continued growing but at
a slower pace (1.1% per year), despite the economic downturn. In
2012 the average annual specific consumption per m2 was assessed
around 210 kWh/m2 .
As information on European non-residential buildings are nei-
ther harmonised nor exhaustive, the GreenBuilding Programme
aimed to contribute with data and analysis of this building category
[29].
3.3. Building data collections
At European level there are several databases aimed at collecting
data on buildings with several purposes.
Eurostat provides data for statistical analysis at different levels
[3]. BPIE provides data on building stock of European countries.
The database contains information on energy policy, energy uses,
envelope, performance, systems, climatic zones, and the existing
stock across Europe [31].
The Odysee-Mure database, managed by Enerdata, contains data
on energy consumption drivers by end-use, efficiency and CO2 indi-
cators. It allows analysis, interpretation and comparison of energy
consumption and efficiency trends by sector for industry, transport
and buildings [26]. The MURE (Mesures d’Utilisation Rationnelle de
l’Energie) database provides information and data on energy effi-
ciency policies and measures to enable comparison of their impact.
The Table web tool within the Intelligent Energy Project Table
(Typology Approach for Energy Building stock Assessment) gives
data on building stock, reference buildings, construction elements,
energy consumption by energy carriers, and energy savings [32].
In the last decade, data collections and programmes have been
specifically focused on NZEBs. Among these, the Zebra data tool
enables displaying relevant indicators for NZEBs and high efficient
buildings [23]. This tool aims at providing information of best prac-
tices in Europe, showing most frequent technologies, materials and
strategies towards NZEBs.
A detailed database on high performing buildings in the
Mediterranean climate has been developed by Rehva and Aircarr
to give practical guidelines to design NZEBs at European level [33].
The aim of this data collection is to facilitate the NZEBs diffusion giv-
ing detailed and complete information on high efficient buildings
in Mediterranean countries.
A database of NZEBs throughout Europe has been created by the
International Energy Agency (IEA) that also provides the Building
energy efficiency policies database (BEEP) [34]. The website tes-
tifies that built examples are diffusing in many countries, but a
considerable number of projects are located in Austrian, Germany
and Sweden.
Although the available databases provide important informa-
tion, there is still the need of quantitative and comparable data on
buildings. One of the main issues around the database is that infor-
mation is often fragmented, sometime overlapped. Energy data of
available case studies often reflect the uncertainty of calculation
methodologies and accounted energy flows. It is also frequent that
criteria are neither coherent nor harmonised among different data
collections.
3.4. The GreenBuilding Programme
The GreenBuilding Programme ran between 2006 and 2014 and
has encouraged the adoption of measures to enhance energy sav-
ings on a voluntary basis. It has been managed by the Joint Research
Centre (JRC) of the European Commission [35] and it has been oper-
ational in European Union MS as well as European Economic Area
(EEA) countries.
The procedure of becoming a partner started from an energy
audit performed by a building owner followed by an action plan
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86 75

Fig. 2. a) Total energy consumption and b) electricity consumption in the non-residential sector in Member States (Modified from: [30]).

defining the scope and nature of a project. A report had to detail
the improvements made to the performance of a building as well
as information on achieved savings and a description of the imple-
mented measures [36].
The main requirement to join the GBP was the reduction of at
least 25% primary energy. For retrofit projects, energy consump-
tion before and after the renovation was to be provided together
with the applied measures. For new constructions, a building had
to be designed using at least 25% less energy than requested by the
country’s building codes.
Business organizations, contributing to energy efficiency in the
non-residential buildings with their products or services, could join
the project as endorsers. They helped the project promotion and
supported already registered partners in their efforts to reduce
energy consumption. The endorsers had to assist at least one build-
ing owner in becoming a partner and had to submit a promotion
plan specifying further activities to promote efficiency.
National Contact Points (NCPs) were also established in the
countries participating to the GBP. They represent the main inter-
mediary between the JRC, partners and endorsers. They assisted the
organizations in their efforts to join the GBP, provided information
about the Programme and organized promotional activities.
Among the advantages accruing to the participants from the
GBP there are: support from NCPs, public recognition of environ-
76 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86
Fig. 3. The GreenBuilding methodological approach.
mentally friendly behaviour, media coverage in newspapers and
magazines, presentation at conferences, newsletters, brochure and
catalogues of successful projects, corporate social responsibility,
reduction of CO2 emissions and saving money.
Starting from 2008, an annual award was established in order
to highlight the most performing buildings. Criteria of evaluation
took into account absolute and relative savings of primary energy,
percentage savings, innovative measures and implemented RES.
The novelty of the GreenBuilding Programme is clearly notice-
able considering that the project was launched before the EPBD
recast. It represents one of the first initiatives aimed to improve
energy efficiency in non-residential buildings at European level.
The success of the project is highlighted by the increasing number of
partners that every year joined the programme with the motivation
of improving energy efficiency in their buildings. The project was
pioneered at European level in the context building data collections
previously described.
The present paper analyses the results of the GBP achieved
during the whole period of its operation. It analyses real perfor-
mance data from over a thousand buildings. It focuses on the data
provided by the participants, achieved energy savings and imple-
mented efficiency measures that are deeply analysed. The data
collection allowed to obtain consistent and quantitative data on
energy efficiency in non-residential buildings supporting EU poli-
cies implementation [37].
4. Methodology
This analysis is based on the data provided by the 533 part-
ners that took part in the project during its operation. As shown in
Fig. 3, a building proposal has to be submitted with a specific form
which had to detail the building project. Each partner has filled in
an application giving information and data about the building, such
as achieved savings and energy efficiency measures through which
these have been achieved. The building has been described in a
project report containing details on geometry, materials, systems,
and on-site renewable generation.
The full methodology is summarised in the scheme reported in
Fig. 3.
Depending on the project type (new or retrofit), the application
should demonstrate to fulfil the GreenBuilding main requirement
of reducing of at least 25% primary energy consumption. In case
of positive evaluation of the proposed project, it was accepted in
the programme. The collected data have been used for statistical
analysis, periodical evaluations, catalogues, and reports. An annual
award was also established to recognise the most performing build-
ings during a dedicated ceremony.
Table 1 reports the main categories of the GPB in relation to
prevalent building use.
A database has been created with the data of the 1054 build-
ings that joined the GBP during its operation. In addition to general
information about partner, category, project type, area, geometry,
year of construction or refurbishment, data have been provided on
energy consumption, primary energy demand, and energy savings.
These have been analysed in absolute (kWh/y) and relative terms
(kWh/m2 /y) as well as in terms of percentage of savings (%).
Energy consumption has been compared to the pre-
refurbishment state for existing buildings. Previous consumption
had to be specified in the submission. Values in kWh/y for primary
energy consumption (PEC) have been declared in the form, follow-
ing the disaggregation according to standard EN 15603 [2]. These
values related to the pre-refurbishment state can be compared to
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86 77

Table 1
Building category according to GBP.

Education From kindergartens to universities.

Building category Definition
Healthcare & Social Work Hospitals, but also clinics, day care and rehabilitation centres.
Hotel & Restaurant Hotels, restaurants, B&B, accommodations.
Institutional Prisons, municipality offices and representative places.
Manufacturing & Industry Warehouses, production halls, manufacturing buildings, workshops.
Logistics & Storage Storage, distribution areas, parking areas of manufacturing industry.
Offices Buildings mainly for office use.
Sport & Leisure Swimming pools, sport centres, resort centres.
Transport Infrastructure Airports, railways stations, bus stations.
Wholesale & Retail Shopping malls, supermarkets, smaller retails. Commercial centres often comprehensive of restaurants, offices, etc.
Other Religious buildings, social housings, canteens, technology centres, libraries, fire stations, etc.

the values related to the final status. In this way absolute, relative
and percentage savings can be calculated.
In case of new buildings, the estimated energy consumption
based on energy simulation models has been compared to legal
requirements or reference energy consumption values of the coun-
try in which the building is located.
In order to be harmonised among MS, the implemented energy
efficiency measures have been divided into: heating, cooling, ven-
tilation, lighting, RES, control system, and envelope (walls and
windows).
Before being accepted within the GBP, submitted reports have
been checked for consistency and quality by NCP and by the JRC.
Nevertheless, some information may be absent in some reports.
For example, the costs of the retrofit projects have not been always
provided by the Partners.
Based on the experience and the positive achievements of the
GreenBuilding Programme, the European Commission (JRC) has
planned to open another data collection. This will focus on retrofit
buildings as this appears to be one of the biggest challenge in
Europe. It will include both residential and non-residential NZEBs
and retrofit buildings. The importance of this data collection is in
the provision of a harmonised database that can provide a com-
prehensive reference guideline about retrofit. The tool will also
support the implementation of EU directives and boost NZEBs
retrofit progress in Europe.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Building features
The GBP has welcomed both new and refurbished buildings.
Refurbishing activities can involve the whole building or part of
it. The buildings under construction at the time of submission have
been considered as new. In case of new buildings, the achieved pri-
mary consumption must be 25% below the building code in force
in the MS where the building is located. The requirement has to be
compared to standard new buildings if there is no building code
available. In the case of refurbishment, the energy consumption
of the proposed building must show at least 25% of improvement
before and after the intervention.
A total number of 1054 buildings have been welcomed by
the GBP through the years of its operation progressively increas-
ing over time testifying a spreading interest in the project. A
total of 533 new and 501 refurbished buildings have been certi-
fied as GB in different MS. The buildings which joined the GBP
are located in: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italia, Latvia,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, United Kingdom. China, Turkey and Croatia have also par-
ticipated to the GBP, but they are not included in this analysis. The
first two countries are not part of the European Union while Croa-
tia joined in 2013. The overall absolute savings achieved amount to
985 GWh/y. Fig. 4 shows a map of the number of partners divided
by country.
The highest number of Partners has been registered in Germany
(180), Sweden (145) and Austria (69) (Fig. 4). Most buildings
(around 80%) belong to private organizations, mainly hotels, com-
mercial centres, industry, and offices. Each partner could submit
one or more buildings to the GBP and Sweden is the country who
submitted the highest number of projects (445), showing on aver-
age three buildings per partner. Germany registered 340 buildings
and 180 partners, with approximately two buildings per partner
on average. However, in most countries the number of buildings
reflects the number of partners. In the southern area of Europe,
Spain is the country with more partners (25) and buildings (34)
(Fig. 5b).
The buildings that joined the GBP have been classified in 13
different categories (Table 1) as shown in Fig. 5. The majority of
the buildings (49% of the total number of buildings) are offices,
both new (251 buildings) and refurbished (271 buildings). The sec-
ond largest category is represented by wholesale & retail, which
includes different type of commercial buildings, from big commer-
cial centre (the biggest has a total surface of 70,000m2 ) to little
retail shops (the smallest has a total surface of 430 m2 ). Most of
these buildings are located in Germany and are new (135 build-
ings). The third diffused category is educational buildings, which
include kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and univer-
sity. The oldest building belongs to the cultural category and dates
back to the XIII century.
The graphs in Fig. 6 report an assessment of the buildings in
relation to year of refurbishment (Fig. 6a) or construction (Fig. 6b).
The majority of refurbished buildings (176 buildings) belong to
the period between 1961 and 1980 (Fig. 6a). In this period less
attention was given to insulation and energy saving measures in
most MS, due also to a lower cost of fuel for heating.
Buildings built before 1900 represent a very small fraction (18
buildings) of overall GB buildings. Ancient buildings were often
excluded from refurbishment in order to protect the cultural and
historical value of the building with a special regard to external
envelope where most of energy efficiency actions usually take place
during renovation.
Buildings between 1981 and 1990 represent the second most
common category of refurbished constructions (56). Although in
this period energy performance started to be an added value in the
construction sector, the most effective energy efficiency technolo-
gies were not yet on the market. The newest refurbished building
was built in 2003. 34 buildings belonging to the period between
2001 and 2013 were refurbished in 2014. This reflects the diffus-
ing importance of energy improvements in this sector, with new
technical solutions available for building not older than 10 years.
Most new GB buildings were constructed between 2009 and
2011, 54 in 2009, 55 in 2011, and 298 buildings in 2010, show-
ing that the number of new buildings is almost equal to that of
refurbished buildings (Fig. 6).
78 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86

Fig. 4. a) Partners per country and b) building per country.

Fig. 7 reports the number of buildings divided by area intervals 1001 m2 and 5,000 m2 and the majority of them are refurbished
(a) and the average heated area per category of the GB buildings (191 buildings out of 374). The average area of the GB buildings
(b). The highest number of buildings fits into the interval between is 10,797 m2 , but the 682 buildings are less than 10,000 m2 . The
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86 79

Fig. 5. New and refurbished building categories.

Fig. 6. Number of GB buildings by year of construction for: a) refurbished and b) new buildings.

biggest and the smallest GB buildings are both office (250,722 m2 Table 2
Absolute savings for new and refurbished GB buildings.
and 36 m2 respectively). Healthcare & social work is the category
which shows the largest average area (17,520 m2 ), while restaurant Building type Building number Total Savings (GWh/y) Savings (%)
& catering presents the smallest (1176 m2 ). New 553 535 54.3%
Refurbished 501 450 45.7%
5.2. Energy savings Total 1054 985 100.0%

The partners have usually reported their savings in two ways:

either as absolute (kWh/y) or as relative (kWh/m2 /y).
Fig. 8a shows the average relative savings achieved in kWh/m2 /y
per five construction periods. Most savings have been obtained in
buildings built before 1900. The second largest savings achieved
are related to the constructions built between 1946 and 1980. This
range also includes the greatest number of buildings, confirming
that this is the period where refurbishment has been more pro-
moted. Fig. 8b shows how relative savings per business category
have been highest in restaurants (average 622 kWh/m2 /y). Trans-
port & infrastructure and manufacturing reached the same relative
savings (298 kWh/m2 /y) followed by healthcare (281 kWh/m2 /y)
and hotels (276 kWh/m2 /y).
As regards average relative savings, institutional and office
buildings show 167 kWh/m2 /y and 87 kWh/m2 /y respectively.
Table 2 displays the total annual savings (%) for new and refur-
bished buildings.
80 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86

Fig. 7. a) Average area, and b) average heated area per category of the GB buildings.

Table 2 shows that the overall savings of the GB programme are
balanced between new and existing buildings as 54.3% of savings
is obtained in new buildings and 45.7% in refurbished buildings.
New buildings are responsible for the most savings and many
partners reported that the monitored consumption was actually
lower than predicted. Maximum savings have been achieved in
Germany (315 GWh/y) and Sweden (303 GWh/y), with an average
saving per building of 891 MWh/y and 706 MWh/y respectively. The
largest total saving (26,192 MWh/y) has been achieved in a bank
located in Germany, a building that reached 42% of saving obtain-
ing a primary energy demand of 240 kWh/m2 /y. The highest saving
percentage (97.6%) has been achieved in a new German office build-
ing that showed a primary energy demand of 23 Kwh/m2 /y (11.8
GWh/y absolute savings and 961 kWh/m2 /y relative savings). Apart
from a few buildings, most of the buildings achieved savings beyond
minimum GB requirements. About half GB buildings showed sav-
ings equal of beyond 35% while average savings achieved amounts
to 39%. Institutional buildings reached 36.8% average savings, office
38%, hotels 41%, and sport 44%. It is noteworthy to point out that the
absolute level of savings did not correlate with the year of construc-
tion or the relative level of savings. Therefore, potential savings did
not increase with building age.
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86 81

Fig. 8. Average relative savings per: a) year and b) category.

5.3. Energy efficiency measures Table 3

Implemented measures and savings from GB buildings.

Energy savings have been achieved through the adoption of Measures number Buildings number Average savings
different efficient technological measures. The implemented mea- (kWh/m2 /y)
sures have been categorized into seven main categories. For each 1 59 92.1
group of measures, different typologies of equipment have been 2 151 92.2
identified: heating (e.g.: district heating, heat pumps, boilers); 3 227 94.6
4 225 90.3
ventilation and/or air-conditioning (e.g. with or without heat
>5 114 89.6
recovery); envelope (e.g. summer heat protection, insulation);
lighting (e.g. fluorescent lamps); RES (e.g.: photovoltaic-PV panels,
solar panels, biomass boilers); control systems (e.g. smart sensors
glass surface, details on glass type and frame (double glass, triple
and devices) and others (e.g. water saving systems, efficient appli-
glass, low-e coat glass, etc.) and transmittance level could be also
ances).
provided for windows. Many buildings are equipped with sum-
Each participating building can implement one or more mea-
mer heat protection which includes external shading devices aimed
sures. On the overall GB building stock, 878 buildings detailed the
at protecting the building from solar radiation. Control systems
type of implemented measures (from 1 to 7).
are nearly always present in heating, cooling systems and venti-
The envelope includes walls, roofs, basements, and windows
lation, and are frequently applied to lighting (e.g. daylight control
surfaces. Partners gave information on transmittance (U) values
or occupancy control). Table 3 reports the number of implemented
and/or materials used for construction and insulation. U value of
measure in the GB buildings.
82 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86

Fig. 9. Type of measures implemented.

Table 4 the development of specific analysis or simulation techniques [36].

Measures in buildings, types and percentage.
Type of implemented measures Number of buildings % of buildings that
that implemented the implemented the
measures measures
Ventilation/Cooling system 629 59.6
Heating system 597 56.5
Envelope 429 40.6
Lighting system 352 33.3
Control system 196 18.5
Renewable energy sources 154 14.5
Others 140 13.2
Only one technical measure has been applied in 59 build-
ings. In the majority of buildings (227 buildings), three energy
efficiency measures have been implemented (Table 3). 28 build-
ings achieved 80% primary energy savings and the implemented
measures included envelope, heating system, and lighting. An edu-
cational building from 1876 in Austria reached 81% saving with
the implementation of three measures (envelope, heat recovery,
daylight control). 225 buildings adopted four measures, while six
measures have been applied in 47 buildings. Table 3 shows the rel-
ative saving achieved in relation to the number of implemented
measures. The best result is obtained through the implementation
of three measures. However, the number of implemented measures
does not appear to correlate with the obtained average savings.
Table 4 reports the type of implemented measures in GB build-
ings. The heating system has been implemented in 629 buildings.
The reported measures within the heating system category
include: district heating (178 buildings, mostly in Germany and
Sweden), heat pumps (167 buildings) and efficient condensing
boilers, often supplied with wood chips and biomass (77 build-
ings). District heating often recovers energy from renewable energy
sources (biomass) or from co-generation. Other measures are ther-
mostatic valves, outdoor temperature regulation, floor heating, and
co-generation or tri-generation plants. In retrofit projects, fossil
fuel boilers have been mostly replaced by gas or biomass boilers.
352 buildings have adopted an energy efficient measure for lighting
that often involves efficient fluorescent lamps (102 buildings).
The most commonly implemented measure is envelope insula-
tion followed by heat recovery of the ventilation plants. A summary
of the measures is given in Fig. 9.
The dynamic assessment of the impact of such measures in the
overall energy consumption of a building is crucial and demands for
Apart from all the mentioned applied technologies, the energy per-
formance of a building can be influenced by several other factors,
such as the building geometry and orientation, as well as the usage
of the building. Occupancy behaviour and auxiliary gains appear to
impact overall energy consumption.
5.3.1. Envelope
Building facade technology presents a great opportunity to
address energy efficiency. Innovative building facades that inte-
grate different technologies contribute to the overall energy
performance of a building.
429 buildings report indications about the improvement of the
envelope. 241 interventions are related to the insulation of opaque
elements. Insulation can interest the whole building or only a part,
such as external walls or roof surface. Measures include: elimi-
nation of thermal bridges, air tightness control, and PV façade. A
common implemented measure within the envelope is the instal-
lation of external shading devices on windows. Shadings can be
permanent or movable, automatic or manually controlled. 86 build-
ings report this measure to avoid solar gains through the glasses.
The use of these devices to reduce sunlight during summer, and
maximise gains during winter is becoming more widespread.
Provided data on insulating materials are reported in Fig. 10 for
walls and roofs.
EPS is the most used material used in walls while stone wool is
preferred in roofs (Fig. 10).
In relation to thermal transmittance (U), provided values
ranged between 0.12 and 0.25 W/m2 K for walls, between 0.08 and
0.22 W/m2 K for roofs, and between 0.13 and 0.30 W/m2 K for floors.
5.3.2. Windows
190 buildings installed high performing windows. Different
window types have been selected, such as double and triple glass
units.
Windows provide a central contribution to the envelope per-
formance. Double or triple glazed windows with low emissivity
reduce energy consumption per m2 of glazed surface by more than
40% depending on the material and structure components. Average
windows thermal transmittance range between 0.7 and 1.5 W/m2 K.
Thermal transmittance of argon-filled double glazing is on aver-
age 1.1 W/m2 K while argon-filled triple glazing can reach values of
0.7 W/m2 K.
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86
Fig. 10. Envelope insulating materials: a) walls, b) roofs.
Films and coatings can be used on existing glazing to limit solar
gains.
5.3.3. Renewables
In the view of the NZEBs requirements foreseen in the EPBD
recast, it is crucial to integrate renewables in NZEBs. 153 buildings
have adopted RES, primarily PV panels (35%), geothermal or ground
source heat pumps (12% and 18%). Other used sources are biomass
boilers and solar thermal plant (Fig. 11 a).
Photovoltaic (PV) systems are becoming ubiquitous and effi-
cient, stimulating architects to integrate them as a building
material. PV can produce electricity to cover a building’s energy
needs, above all installations and appliances, for direct consump-
tion or to delivery to the grid or local storage for later consumption.
Biomass products (e.g. wood logs, pellets) are used in heating
systems, and heat pumps (geo- and aero-thermal energy) are often
used in buildings for ground-coupled and air-to-air heat exchange.
5.3.4. Systems
Efficient and smart systems contribute to the energy per-
formance. Different systems can supply heating, cooling, and
ventilation. The use of a particular technology usually depends on
available energy resources. For example, electricity might be more
convenient for heating in one country (e.g. France) than in another
where more biomass or gas is available (e.g. Finland).
The majority of buildings use one system both for heating and
DHW. One of the most diffused systems for heating and DHW are
heat pumps (Fig. 11b). Heat pumps can be used for space heating
and hot water, increasing the amount of renewables. Condensing
boilers are an efficient heat-generation system that uses an addi-
tional heat exchanger to extract extra heat by condensing water
vapour from combustion products. Also district heating is a diffused
implemented technology. Chillers, which produce chilled water
rather than cooled air for use in large residential and commercial
buildings, can be up to three times more efficient than typical air
conditioners. Electricity (35%) is the most diffused energy carrier
used by thermal plant systems, followed by natural gas (25%).
One of the most applied energy efficiency measure is related
to ventilation and cooling systems. The most common measure
related to ventilation is heat recovery (from 75% to 90%) on ventila-
tion plants (197 buildings), while mechanical ventilation without
heat recovery is assessed at 10%. Heat recovery plants can reduce
energy consumption of HVAC systems as they use heat exchangers
to recover hot or cold air from ventilation exhausts and sup-
ply it to the incoming fresh air. Other implemented measures
include: adjusting operating times for handling units, smart meter-
ing, reduction of flow temperature and air volume optimization,
frequency controlled fans motors, HVAC systems with integrated
83
evaporative cooling, demand controlled ventilation, direct driven
fans with frequency-inverters, variable air volume ventilation sys-
tems with rotary heat exchangers. In relation to cooling, the
following measures have been introduced: ground source heat
pumps, free cooling, district cooling, design orientation, selective
glazing and centralized cooling plants with room air condition
machines.
5.3.5. ICT and smart metering
Control automation and smart metering devices for interaction
with utilities are among the most rapidly developing smart tech-
nologies in buildings. These devices allow the control of the energy
demand/supply through ICT technologies considerably decreasing
energy consumptions. Furthermore, they allow field data gather-
ing to be gathered for use in performance calculations and dynamic
simulation modelling.
Requirements related to energy performance, indoor air qual-
ity, comfort level, and monitoring are becoming more and more
important [38].
Control systems (87 buildings) include daylight responsive
control, presence control and motion control. The most diffused
control system used by GB Partners is building energy manage-
ment systems (BEMS) able to monitor building equipment, such as
ventilation, heating and lighting.
Several techniques contribute to manage the overall energy per-
formance of a building, integrating materials and techniques in the
envelope. Among these, there are: ventilated facades and windows,
solar chimneys, infra-red reflective paints, humidity control foils,
and solar energy absorbing thermal mass for natural night venti-
lation. Other diffused implemented passive strategies are: natural
ventilation, green roofs, sunshade, and thermal mass.
5.4. Office buildings
Office buildings are the most frequent building type in the GBP,
corresponding to 49.7% of overall building projects. The number
of offices is 522, comprising 251 new buildings and 271 existing
buildings. This category shows an average consumption of 91.44
kWh/m2 /y. Therefore this sample was further analysed to give a
deeper overview on savings, consumption and measures imple-
mented in the GBP.
5.4.1. Existing office buildings
The importance of existing office buildings is stressed by the
potential amount of savings that are possible from this category.
The average saving is estimated at around 60%, but it is higher for
public buildings built before 1980 that are characterized by a poor
energy performance.
84 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86
Fig. 11. a) renewables types, b) systems for heating and DHW.
Fig. 12. Average primary energy demand of newly constructed office building and related reference value (KWh/m2 /y).
The average consumption of existing GB offices before refur-
bishment is 203 kWh/m2 y. The average percentage saving achieved
in all refurbished offices is 38.3%. The lowest value belongs to a
building constructed in 1980. After refurbishment, a passive house
standard has been achieved with 10.9 kWh/m2 /y. The maximum
energy demand before refurbishment is 765 kWh/m2 /y for an office
located in Sweden. The building with the highest saving percent-
age of 83.7%, reached a primary energy demand of 22 kWh/m2 /y. It
is located in Latvia and it implemented different measures. Among
them, a new ventilation system with heat recovery, a ventilated
facade system on the south side, roof, basement and façade insula-
tion, new windows with solar selective glazing, and solar collector
systems. The building with the lowest saving percentage saved
26.2%.
Most of the refurbished office buildings are located in Sweden.
The average savings for these buildings is 37.6%. The average num-
ber of efficiency measures implemented in refurbished buildings is
three. Only six building implemented six measures. 60% of build-
ings adopted an energy efficiency measure on ventilation or cooling
systems, and 52.7% implemented a measure in heating. The most
common measure is heat recovery on ventilation, followed by shad-
ing devices to avoid excessive solar gains.
The oldest building of this category is located in Sweden and
belongs to the XII century when it was used to be a church.
It decreased its consumption by 37.4%, reaching a final energy
demand of 88.8 kWh/m2 y. There are 18 refurbished buildings that
date back to 2010. In absolute values, the major saving achieved is
19,205,688 kWh/y. This building has the biggest heated area having
a total surface of 250,727 m2 .
5.4.2. New office buildings
The average consumption of GB new office buildings is 122.9
kWh/m2 /y. This value corresponds to an average saving of 101.7
kWh/m2 /y compared to the standard in force for buildings in the
year of construction. The overall average percentage of savings of
new office buildings amounts to 38.8%. The greatest saving has been
achieved by the Test Center for Transformers − Prüffeld Nord in
Germany. The maximum annual primary energy demand according
to German Energy Saving Ordinance (2007) was 984.3 kWh/m2 /y.
The building achieved an energy demand of 23.3 kWh/m2 /y with a
percentage of savings of 97.5%. The main efficiency measure is the
connection to a district heating, the adoption of fluorescent lamps
with dimming and improved thermal insulation of the envelope.
Fig. 12 shows the positive results of new office buildings in the
countries that have the most GB offices. The new buildings consume
an average of 82.7 kWh/m2 /y below the respective national stan-
dards. The major difference between reference and average values
in real buildings is achieved in Poland: 131.53 kWh/m2 /y.
5.5. Best practices
An annual award started in 2008 identifies the most ambitious
projects that have been recognised as best practices. 58 buildings
have been awarded during the GBP. The award has been given to
 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86 85

Table 5
Best practices examples: new buildings.

Partner Hubert Haupt Immobilien KPC Fabege Gold-Kraemer-Stiftung

Holding
Building name NuOffice Højhus Værkmestergade Uarda 5 Kindertagesstätte
Hürth-Hermühlheim and
Hürth-Efferen
Country Germany Denmark Sweden Germany
Category Office Office Office Education
Area (m2 ) 10,067 27,168 48,734 1060
Reference value (kWh/m2 /y) 152.5 63.5 109 89.8
Real value (kWh/m2 /y) 45.3 34.9 39 48.9
Saving (%) 70.3 54.9 65 54
U-value envelope (W/m2 K) 0.18 0.14 0.6 0.24
U-value windows (W/m2 K) 0.75 1.2 0.7 1.85
Heating District heating & cogeneration District heating Heat pump District heating
Ventilation Heat recovery Heat recovery Heat recovery Heat recovery
Cooling Ground source heat pump Selective glazing & centralized Shading devices & ground Shading devices
cooling plant source heat pump
RES Geothermal system Photovoltaic plant Photovoltaic plant Wind generation &
Photovoltaic

Table 6
Best practices examples: existing buildings.

Partner MA 34 Bld & facility Derag Hotels Leibniz-Institut für ökologische Svenska Kyrkan I Göteborg
management Raumentwicklung e.V. (IÖR)
Building name Amtshaus Schlargasse Hotel Campo dei Fiori IÖR Näset 51:54
Country Austria Germany Germany Sweden
Category Office Hotel Health Care Church
Area (m2 ) 1,500 1,400 2,644 9,419
Reference value (kWh/m2 /y) 153.3 271.71 262.70 278.4
Real value (kWh/m2 /y) 49.4 68.06 40.6 105.1
Saving (%) 68 75 85 63
U-value envelope (W/m2 K) 0.48 0.28 0.57 n/a
U-value windows (W/m2 K) 1.2 1.1 1.03 n/a
Heating Condensing boiler Hybrid solar system & Heat pump District heating Heat pump
Ventilation Heat recovery Heat recovery Heat recovery Heat recovery
Cooling Shading devices Air-water heat pump External shading Ground source heat pump
RES No Photovoltaic plant Photovoltaic plant Solar thermal & geothermal

both new and refurbished buildings. The criteria for awarding new
include:
large percentage of energy savings, more than 50%, compared
to legal reference value in force in the Member States (e.g. 2014
selection: between 56% and 79%);
low final primary energy consumption (e.g. in 2014 selection:
between 22 kWh/m2 /y and 53 kWh/m2 /y);
performing envelope insulation (e.g. in 2014 selection between
0.1–0.5 U value);
use of renewable energy source and innovative technologies,
such as heat pumps, PV, biomass, geothermal, heat recovery;
at least four energy saving measures among HVAC systems,
lighting, smart metering, envelope.
Selection criteria for refurbished buildings include:
• percentage of energy savings, more than 50%, compared to con-
sumption before refurbishment (e.g. in 2014 selection: between
56% and 84%);
• use of innovative technology with the aim of improving the
energy performance of HVAC systems, lighting, smart metering,
envelope;
• use of renewable sources;
• at least four energy efficiency technical measures;
• respect of esthetical integrity of the existing structure if of his-
torical value.
The awarded new and refurbished buildings could be taken as
reference in the European scenario in terms of integration of effi-
cient technologies and architecture design. A few examples are
reported in Tables 5 and 6.
6. Conclusions
Buildings are of strategic importance of European policies aimed
at limiting resource depletion and environmental pollution. The
Green Building Programme is one of the key actions launched to
promote energy efficiency. The project encouraged energy con-
sumption decrease in non-residential buildings. The data collected
by this project allows having detailed information from a large
sample of this building category in European Member States.
A total of 533 Partners and 1054 buildings joined the Pro-
gramme, achieving 985 GW/year total savings. Office buildings
are the most represented building type, comprising around half
of the overall projects. Among countries, the highest savings have
been achieved in Germany, Sweden and Austria, together account-
ing for more than half of the savings. The average percentage
savings amounts to 38%, a value above the project requirements
(25%). The highest average relative savings have been achieved
in commercial and resort centres (57%). A combination of energy
efficiency improvements and renewable energy sources has been
implemented. In relation to technical measures, the majority of the
building implemented three measures. The most used renewable
technologies are PV, solar thermal, air- and ground-source heat
pumps, geothermal, and heat recovery.
The GreenBuilding Programme highlighted how a wide range
of new technologies are becoming an integral part of buildings.
Technology plays a major role in exploiting the massive potential
benefits of reducing energy consumptions in buildings. The use of
renewables together with an improvement of both insulation and
systems in buildings are among the components that contribute to
the achievement of the EU 2020 goals.
86 D. D’Agostino et al. / Energy and Buildings 153 (2017) 72–86
Following the achievements of the GreenBuilding Programme,
another project is expected to be launched by the European Com-
mission to collect data on retrofit projects implemented in both
residential and non-residential buildings. This new project is part
of the European Energy Efficiency Platform, an instrument con-
sisting of an IT platform to collect data and knowledge on energy
efficiency topics at EU level. Based on the experience of Green-
Building, this new project will focus both on NZEBs that represents
the new building target from 2018 onwards and on retrofit that
is one of the biggest challenges faced by Europe. The importance
of this tool is in the provision of a harmonised NZEBs database
that can furnish a comprehensive reference guideline about NZEBs
retrofit. The collected data will deliver a harmonised overview of
the European status on retrofit buildings supporting EU policies,
good practices on building energy performance, interventions, sav-
ings and costs.
Moreover, this initiative is also in line with the European
Roadmap 2050 of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least
80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. It provides scientific and
technical support towards a low-carbon Europe in which buildings
are built with a new concept, which considers the lifecycle and its
impact on the environment, and a new role, which includes relia-
bility, energy security, economic growth and prosperity, combining
high efficiency technologies with renewable production.
Author contribution
Delia D’Agostino carried out data processing and analysis, she
wrote and revised the manuscript. Paolo Bertoldi coordinated the
project, he commented and revised the manuscript. Barbara Cunib-
erti contributed to data collection and analysis.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the partners that joined the Pro-
gramme. They thank Katalin Bodis for the help in creating maps
and Albana Kona for data processing.
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