Location data for buildings related energy efficiency policies

Based on the priority currently given by the European Union to the energy efficiency topic through its Energy Union Package, this feasibility study has focused on the role of location data in support of energy efficiency policies, taking into account the requirements of INSPIRE, EPBD and EED Directives, as well as the CoM initiative. The EU Member States are already due to implement such Directives according to different roadmaps, but there are benefits to be gained from a coherent and consistent approach. Moreover, data is not always available in consistent form and with good quality. The monitoring and reporting requirements set by the CoM need real data and models, that can be used and that should work consistently across different administrative levels. The analysis reported in this document support these statement, showing that there is lack of data quality and reliability. These aspects might hinder the effective application of the energy efficiency policies at the municipal, district and national level. Geospatial technologies in general and accurate location data in particular can support this field, because they can significantly support efficient processes related to data collection, elaboration and communication to be executed in all the phases of energy efficiency policies life cycle; and effective decision-making. INSPIRE has a role to play as it can provide common data models and common data access rules adopted by all EU MS and a roadmap to provide interoperable datasets of high relevance with energy efficiency. The study has identified areas of development and analysis that can be useful to fill the recognised “data gap”, and proposed an initial pilot activity as a start-up project to investigate concretely these ideas with a limited number of pilot cities.