Looking at the Success of Certification Schemes for Energy Use in Residential Housing

The housing sector accounts for a large share of the overall energy use and CO2 emissions in the European Union. In the light of the many environmental and economic problems that can arise from high use of fossil fuels, it is necessary to increase efficiency in this sector. In the Italian province of South Tyrol an environmental agency has designed a certification program for the heating demand in new residential houses that has been able to achieve a more sustainable building on a local level. In this thesis the methods adopted by the program will be described and analyzed, in order to point out guidelines for a successful certification scheme in the housing sector. For this purpose Systems Analysis has been applied, which is useful in describing the program from a holistic point of view and is capable of outlining the driving factors and weak points of a program. Furthermore, the fundamental calculation part has been further scrutinized in order to give information about its exactness. The analysis shows that a successful certification program for new houses has to include three factors. It has to consist of a calculation that is able to provide a framework with solid information about energy use. It has to create a demand for energy efficient houses by undertaking measures that achieve behaviour change and it also has to be apply measures that facilitate the introduction and development of sustainable technology for the building of new houses.