Setting minimum energy performance requirements through reference buildings with reference technologies

The minimum energy performance requirements as requested by Article 4 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive are in most countries set by limiting the net, final or primary energy demand or the CO2 emissions of a building depending on the building type and/or building geometry. Some countries have additionally defined maximum U-values for single components or the whole building envelope. A new way of limiting the energy demand of buildings is to define reference buildings with reference technologies that are used for comparison with the planned building characteristics.