Overview and future challenges of nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) design in Eastern Europe

The European Unions' ambition for the construction sector is to be carbon neutral by 2030 new construction. Since 2021, all buildings in EU should have been constructed as nearly zero-energy (nZEB). However, Eastern countries struggle implement 2018 Energy Performance of Building Directive recast requirements. Next economic challenges, equally essential factors hinder renovating existing residential building stock and adding newly high-performance sourced primarily from renewable energy sources. Therefore, this study provides a cross-study identify barriers nZEB implementation ten countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia. was conducted between 2019 2021 an overview prospects Europe. examines challenges plans faced those constructive recommendations. regulations definitions regarding performance, cooling heating demand, thermal comfort, onsite renewables, quality were analyzed. Results show that most are unprepared comply with EPBD guidelines cost-optimality approach. paper ranks each country recommends specific measures refine definitions. thorough comparative assessment benchmarking select geography can help shift identified gaps into opportunities future development climate-neutral buildings.