Energy performance certificates in the USA and in France—a case study of multifamily housing

In the USA and the European Union, buildings account for more than 40% of total energy use and a large proportion of buildings are energy inefficient. Countries address these inefficiency challenges with various initiatives and strategies. One of them relies on rating buildings with energy performan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergy efficiency Vol. 15; no. 5; p. 26
Main Authors Lartigue, Berangere, Biewesch, Laura, Marion, Flore, Cochran, Erica, Thellier, Françoise
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2022
Springer Nature B.V
Springer
Subjects
Building envelopes
Buildings
Case studies
Certificates
Civil Engineering
Design of experiments
Economics and Management
Energy
Energy conservation
Energy consumption
Energy Efficiency
Energy Policy
Engineering Sciences
Environment
Environmental Economics
Housing
Multiple dwellings
Original
Original Article
Renewable and Green Energy
Retrofitting
Sustainable Development
France
United States > US
Diagnostic de Performance Energétique
Energy performance certificate
Multifamily housing
Energy policy
Design of Experiments
Energy Star score
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Summary:In the USA and the European Union, buildings account for more than 40% of total energy use and a large proportion of buildings are energy inefficient. Countries address these inefficiency challenges with various initiatives and strategies. One of them relies on rating buildings with energy performance certificates, with the goal that awareness on energy consumption would lead to an efficient retrofit. In this article, we analyze the different methods chosen by the USA and France to rate multifamily buildings, i.e., the Energy Star score and the Diagnostic de Performance Energétique. We conduct a case study of a multifamily housing using a Design of Experiments to determine what inputs are the most influent on the output. In the French certificate, the results show that the climate, ventilation system, and building envelope are the most influent inputs on the energy consumption. In the USA certificate, the actual energy consumption and the climate are the most influent factors on the building score. We then discuss the significant differences in the two approaches, and the consequences in terms of accuracy, as well as how the DPE and ES scores are used as a tool in public energy policy to propose energy conservation measures and reduce energy consumption.
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PMCID: PMC9061229
ISSN:1570-646X
1570-6478
DOI:10.1007/s12053-022-10036-x