In France, the building sector accounts for more than 25% of CO2 emissions and 44% of energy consumption. Since 1974, the government has therefore put in place various regulations to control the thermal efficiency of this sector. Since 2020 we have moved from thermal regulations to an environmental regulation. But what do they provide for? What changes have taken place?
The existing regulatory framework
Following the 2007 Grenelle de l'environnement, France set itself the ambitious objective of reaching, by 2050, a level of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 25% of the 1990 emissions level.
This objective was to be achieved through:
- New buildings producing more energy than they consume from 2020;
- Massive renovation of existing buildings, in order to reach a good level of energy performance.
It is in this context that the RT 2012 appeared, a new version of the RT 2005. This thermal regulation is built around three pillars:
- the minimum energy efficiency of the building, Bbio (bioclimatic need of the building);
- the maximum conventional primary energy consumption, Cep (consumption for heating, cooling, lighting, domestic hot water production and auxiliaries such as pumps and fans);
- summer comfort in non-air-conditioned buildings, Ticref, limiting the maximum indoor temperature the building can reach over a sequence of 5 very hot summer days.
Each of these pieces of information therefore had to be calculated and provided when the building permit was drawn up.
The RE 2020
The Environmental Regulation (RE) 2020 replaces the RT 2012 and gives the sector a genuine environmental roadmap. It is built around 3 major points:
- Continuing to improve the energy performance and reduce the consumption of new buildings. The RE2020 goes beyond the RT2012 requirement, insisting in particular on insulation performance regardless of the heating method installed, thanks to stricter requirements on the bioclimatic need indicator, Bbio.
- Allowing occupants to live in a home and workplace adapted to future climate conditions by pursuing the objective of summer comfort. Buildings will have to better withstand heatwave episodes, which will be more frequent and intense due to climate change.
- Reducing the climate impact of new buildings by taking into account all of the building's emissions over its life cycle, from the construction phase to end of life (construction materials, equipment), including the operation phase (heating, domestic hot water, air conditioning, lighting…), via an LCA.
This last point therefore establishes that, to supply your products to a player subject to the RE2020, you must now, as a manufacturer, carry out a Life Cycle Assessment of your products, with all the scalability challenges this measure entails. This LCA will result in a document called a PEP.
What is a PEP?
A PEP, or Product Environmental Profile, is the environmental identity card of a piece of electrical or electronic equipment, which is based on the results of an LCA and established with a view to calculating the environmental performance of a building.
These PEPs, the results of LCAs, are certified by a body called PEP eco-passport. This body sets the product evaluation rules, category by category, to ensure that each one is assessed according to a dedicated and suitable process.
This document gathers the following information:
- A characterisation of the equipment: constituents, complementary products for installation, packaging…
- The functional unit of the product and its lifespan
- Its environmental profile: a set of environmental indicators calculated over the product's entire life cycle
- The identity of the PEP issuer
It therefore makes it possible to situate the product's level of environmental impact and to integrate it into the overall impact calculation of the building.
Compliance with the RE 2020 for EEE manufacturers whose products are intended for the building sector is therefore a two-step process:
- Carrying out, on your side, an LCA that complies with the rules set by PEP eco-passport.
- Certification by one of the verification bodies of the environmental impacts calculated in the first step.
Qweeko Pro is the tool that supports you in carrying out this first step, by calculating the environmental impacts of your products.