The ESFA’s focus on public buildings

By focusing on the public buildings stock (excluding social housing), the ESFA project chose a field which is not very well known and studied (only about 10-15% of surface areas), but which represents a particularly interesting potential for energy efficiency savings. Thus, the present work allows to refine a useful mapping of the public stock and to analyze the most profitable energy savings and volumes of operations which are at stake, by distinguishing between several renovation types based on their cost and energy performance (light renovations on regulation works or equipment, or heavier packages involving works on building envelopes). The analysis of the potential for ER and of priority targets is thus currently the subject of further research.

The 335 million square meters of public buildings cover a wide variety of typologies, uses and categories of public entities. Education accounts for about 40% of surface areas, but public buildings also include hospitals, sports facilities, offices, military or cultural buildings. Local authorities account for about 60% of surface areas, most areas being in municipalities.

Energy shift projects are now a priority. Among all these major projects the thermal renovation of buildings has the advantage of being easier to secure than investments in the energy production sector and of creating more jobs than the energy shift in transports. Thus, many reasons lead us to see in the EE of public buildings a priority objective of public policy:

• A project that does not worsen the budget deficit. On the contrary, its indirect effects should help the public budget recovery;
• A substantial impact on the trade deficit, which would contribute to achieve the GHG reduction and energy independence objectives of European countries (relatively high share of gas and oil heating);
• The duty of the State to be exemplary[1] at a local, national, European and international level (COP 2015);
• The possibility to quickly implement the scheme as a political recovery project;
• EE with a limited rebound effect (in comparison with investments in residential buildings);
• Public actors are usually owners and not tenants of the buildings, thus facilitating operations;
• A low rate of turnover, again facilitating operations.