Timepac

Towards Innovative Methods for Energy Performance Assessment and Certification of Buildings (TIMEPAC) is a Horizon 2020 research project.

Europe’s building stock covers some 25 billion square metres of floor space, of which 75% is residential. Therefore retrofitting plays a major role in achieving the climate targets set for 2050. The ongoing revision of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is therefore crucial for tackling climate change and energy poverty.

This is TIMEPAC’s starting point – turning goals into action by transforming the entire Energy Performance Certification (EPC) process. 

As valued as the EPC is, some doubt exists as to whether it actually reflects real building conditions. There is clearly a trade-off between the cost of issuing a detailed and tailored EPC and the willingness of customers to pay for it. Current EPCs are cheap, but they are not investment-grade documents and follow a static approach.

The EU Green Deal and its amended Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) have created a strong new wave of renovation in buildings – which are still responsible for about 40 % of energy consumption and 36 % of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.

Clear, solid and easy-to-implement solutions are needed to reduce these numbers even further.

TIMEPAC will help improve existing energy certification processes and move from single, static certification to more holistic and dynamic approaches. At five demonstration sites, TIMEPAC is developing new methods and tools to provide an improved basis for data collection and analysis. As a result, Energy Performance Certificates will be enriched with concrete retrofitting solutions and experts can be better trained to make our homes fit for the future.