The decree for the ELAN act is published!
Very much awaited, the application decree for the ELAN act was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic of the 25th July 2019.
The ELAN act stands literally for Evolution of Housings, Development plan and Digitalization.
This decree clarifies the obligatory consumption reductions that will be imposed to any buildings which surface exceeds 1 000 m².
♦ First step: 40% energy consumption reduction before 2030, compared to 2010;
♦ Second step: 50% energy consumption reduction before 2040, compared to 2010;
♦ Third step: 60% energy consumption reduction before 2050, compared to 2010.
This obligation applies to all owners and lessees.
It concerns the final energy consumption (versus the primary energy consumption in the Thermal Regulation Act), and comprises all types of consumption (versus what was called the conventional consumptions in the Thermal Regulation Act : heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water, lighting).
If the building has been refurbished after 2010, the real consumptions will be compared to targets that will be defined in a future decree.
The only exclusions are for the places of worship, the technical buildings related to the country safety, and data centers.
Some modulations might be accepted in case of architectural constraints, if the buildings have a very high rate of utilization, or if the ROI is too low. The future decree will clarify these points.
Sanctions will be limited to a maximum fine of 7 500 €. But the real consumptions will have to be registered on a governmental platform, together with a reduction action plan.
We hope that the declared ambition, combined with the obligation for public records, will lead to a real mobilization of the construction sector.
As a matter of fact, 40% reduction is already a huge challenge. As per the OID (Observatory for Sustainable Real Estate), the offices built in 2000 (before the impact of the Thermal Regulation Act in France) have an average final energy consumption of 174 kWh/m²/year. The Office Buildings that were awarded labels such as BREEAM, LEED or HQE declare an average of 141 kWh/m²/year in 2018. That means that the effect of the Thermal Regulation is at best of 20% of the energy consumption, whereas it is obvious that it has considerably improved the construction quality, the material selection, and the insulation practices.
This illustrates how this decree will require significant works on buildings, on the envelopes as well as on the MEPs, and most probably on end uses.
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