The Energy Transition in the Built Environment – Towards Positive Energy Districts

A substantial part of energy in the EU is consumed by households, for powering electric appliances and for heating and cooling. This presents an opportunity to reduce the consumption of (fossil) energy, with the built environment becoming a key-sector in the energy transition. Buildings, both houses and buildings that are used for other purposes, can be retrofitted and isolated to reduce the energy consumption (energy efficiency) and they can be equipped with small-scale renewable energy production units, such as solar cells (energy production). Combined, these measures may make a building “energy positive”, when the production of energy in a building is higher than its consumption. This energy can also be shared over a larger area, creating so-called “positive energy districts”. This blogpost first explains what positive energy districts are and why a focus on positive energy districts is a good idea, after which an analysis of the current regulatory framework for positive energy districts is provided