Building sector: ENEA in project for quality data on European housing stock

Supporting member states in providing data on their building stock to the EU BSO (Building Stock Observatory), which provides reliable information on the European building stock, is the aim of the EU LIFE project OBSERVE ^[1], which comprises ten partners ^[2] including ENEA.

 “Policy makers need reliable data to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of energy policies and strategies related to the building sector. Data heterogeneity among member states, coupled with lack of standard approaches and models, creates an urgent need for more efficient data management procedures,” said Francesca Pagliaro, researcher at the ENEA Energy Efficiency Department.

The new revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires European states to have national databases on the energy performance of buildings, a tool similar to the National Portal on the Energy Performance of Buildings (PnPE2) ^[3] developed by ENEA. In addition, member States shall ensure the transfer of information to the BSO at least once per year.

 “in order to achieve this goal, OBSERVE will directly support six European states (Cyprus, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy and Spain) anlysing existing data management strategies, filling any gaps and developing a model of best practices and strategies to harmonize information transfer techniques. In addition, the project will promote the sharing of best practices and virtuous processes to facilitate data collection on the building stock, which will benefit both individual member states and the EU,” the researcher said.

The standardized dataset model to be transferred to the BSO will take into account information on the size and energy performance of the European building stock, and will enable more effective comparisons between different national contexts, contributing to the development of more targeted and consistent data management strategies.

ENEA will evaluate and test collection methods, ensuring alignment with European, national and BSO requirements. “These activities,” Pagliaro explained, ”are crucial to ensure that the national collection model is technically robust and in line with sector stakeholders’ needs and policy objectives.

ENEA expertise, also in developing platforms like the SIAPE ^[4] and the PnPE2, will be a major contribution to the project. Moreover, OBSERVE is an opportunity for Italy to test innovative frameworks and create replicable models to address the challenges of the national building stock, among the most diverse and complex in Europe.

 “These activities will bring additional value to the Italian experience, fostering better coordination among international, national and local authorities and ensuring more effective data management,” Pagliaro concluded.