It's commonly known that half of energy consumption in Europe comes from important fossil fuels, and that the energy produced in this way causes high emissions of CO2, that is the biggest greenhouse effect gas known as responsible for our planet climatic change. Since 1997 CEE, with the Kyoto Protocol, is committed in reducing energy demand and, as a consequence, the greenhouse gas emissions, putting in use legislative measures to motivate energy saving and efficiency optimisation in all sectors interested in energy consumption. European Commission launched a new campaign for energy efficiency use with the goal of reducing 20% of annual primary energy consumption, enhancing renewable energies use up to 20% and cutting of 20% CO2 emissions within 2020.
Nowadays European Commission is working to increase the 2005/32/CE EUP Directive about products that use energy. We will have products labelling with different system configurations in order to set the best global efficiency in heating systems.
European Directive 2005/32/EC on Energy-using Products (EuP)
This directive provides the introduction of a normative context suited to regulate the energy consumption of those products, specifically addressable to domestic sector, that exploit energies as gas, electricity and oil. It is promoting the introduction of energetic labellings on those products that use energy in order to boost the use of higher efficiency products and progressively get rid of low efficiency products on the market.
Italy too, in the last years, began a big revision in energetic policy. The recent race of the European Directive about Buildings Energetic Efficiency (EPBD) through the Law n°192/05 and n° 311/06, leaded up to a big innovation in the new building market and also in installation market for domestic and commercial heating.
This innovation trend was also encouraged from the recent financial measures turned to economically push more energetic efficient solutions about heating and domestic hot water production.
The Directive 2005/32/EC on the eco-design of Energy-using Products (EuP), such as electrical and electronic devices or heating equipment, provides coherent EU-wide rules for eco-design and ensure that disparities among national regulations do not become obstacles to intra-EU trade. The Directive does not introduce directly binding requirements for specific products, but does define conditions and criteria for setting, through subsequent implementing measures, requirements regarding environmentally relevant product characteristics and allows them to be improved quickly and efficiently. Products that fulfil the requirements will benefit both businesses and consumers, by facilitating free movement of goods across the EU and by enhancing product quality and environmental protection. The Directive constitutes a breakthrough in EU product policy and introduces many innovative elements together with concrete application of the principles of the "better regulation" package.
European Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC
This directive aims to limit the flow of electrical and electronic equipments toward the dumps, encouraging the possibility of recycling and reusing those components that form the equipments themselves.
European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) 2002/91/EC .
European directive that regulates the Energy Performance of buildings.