The European Commission has highlighted improvements to energy efficiency as vital in its Second Strategic Energy Review with improvements in energy performance of buildings and products two key areas to be addressed. This has resulted in calls for swift and effective energy efficiency legislation since there is currently a ‘gap between the Member States political commitment to energy efficiency and their actions’.

There is therefore pressure for a recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, with increased efforts needed in realising the enormous savings potential of buildings. It is estimated that the recast proposals would mean a reduction of 5-6% in energy consumption by 2020, with the changes also seeing energy performance certificates becoming compulsory.

These certificates will have to be included in all advertisements for sales or renting meaning concrete energy performance requirements with a benchmarking system in place. Any buildings that wish to undergo renovation should also meet such energy requirements, and not just those over 1000m² as proposed in the current Directive.

As part of improvements to products’ energy efficiency, fuel consumption can be lowered by implementing the right set of tyres. These more fuel-efficient tyres could lead to 10% savings in the fuel bill and would need to adhere to a labelling scheme, which would have to be displayed at the point of sale. These improvements could be made by increasing wet grip performances of tyres as well as by reducing their external rolling noise, two elements which are not as fuel-efficient as they could be.

A more general revision of the Energy Labelling Directive has also been suggested, which would see the Directive applying to industrial and commercial sectors, as well as all energy related products with an impact on energy consumption. This extends the existing provision for labelling, which currently essentially only covers household appliances.