Preface

Contenu Principal

effinergie for a common action

From 2005, a national working party initiated an effinergie collective, the objective of which was to repeat the successful Swiss and German initiatives with, respectively, « Minergie » and the « three-liter house ». This committee is specifically adapted to the French requirements (construction methods, regulation, standards, climate, market…).

Unlike the central and northern European countries, it is here impossible to stick to a unique standard that would not take into account the various climate changes in France. A construction on the French Riviera cannot meet the same energy standards than in the North of France or in the Alps. For example, insulation will not meet equivalent requirements in terms of energy saving and comfort. This is therefore necessary for the French regions to get involved in the project in order to co-ordinate the housing stock and its characteristics.

The association plans to promote actively low-energy constructions and to develop referentials in terms of energy performance for new or existing buildings in France. To this end, it groups together the building industry professionals and the local authorities.
effinergie is working on a set of measures in order to reach a standard for new and renovated buildings that would both respect comfort and quality of life. These measures would also favour a real energy efficiency so that pollution produced by the use of energy could be reduced.

effinergie aims at 5 missions:

• Grouping together all the stakeholders of the construction sector for an energy optimisation of buildings: project managers, building companies, industrialists, banks, public local and national authorities… This is a win-win challenge for the construction sector.

• Managing and coordinating communication between the building industry professionals and the local stakeholders in order to strengthen synergy, to convey information, to share experiences and to organise necessary trainings.

• Managing a countrywide communication to inform about actions and to underline the noteworthy projects, the field staff,…

• Introducing a quality certification initiative that would enable to assess and qualify the buildings’ energy performance from referentials. It would therefore be more visible and identifiable by all the stakeholders.

• Implementing regional strategies adapted to each geographical area in favour of a share of experience, projects assessments and an active dissemination of good practices.

One of the very first actions of effinergie was to develop a first label for new buildings in partnership with the public authorities. This label was introduced by the May, 8th 2007 order published in the Official Journal dated from May, 15th 2007. It is communicated in the sector under the name BBC-effinergie. This guide provide the technical keys in reference to this label.

Thank you to the scientists, the professionals and to the politicians who allowed its achievement.

Antoinette GILLET
Chairwoman of the effinergie Collective
March, 28th 2008