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Efficiency means getting more for less. If we are efficient with energy, we can enjoy the same
levels of comfort or more, while using less! The EU energy labels offers an easy to use and
understand colour-coded system that helps you to identify the energy efficiency of many
devices and household appliances.

Over the period 1990-2016, the energy efficiency of end-use sectors improved by 30 % in
the EU-28 countries at an annual average rate of 1.4 %/year. These improvements were
driven by improvements in the industry sector (1.8 %/year) and the households sector (1.6
%/year). However, half of the efficiency gains achieved through technological innovation in the
household sector were offset by the increasing number of electrical appliances and by larger homes.
The rates of improvement were lower in the transport sector (0.9 %/year) and services sector (1.1
%/year).

Energy efficiency improvement for households

Space heating represents a decreasing share of household energy consumption; 67 % in 2016,
compared with 69% in 2005 and 72 % in 1990. Electrical appliances and water heating
represent around 15 % and 13 % respectively (against 8 % and 13 % in 1990). Cooking stands
at 5 % and lighting at 1.6 %. Air Cooling only represents 0.4 % of household energy consumption but
2.8 % of the specific electricity from households (0.7 % in 1990).

Lighting consumption per dwelling has decreased by 1.2 %/year since 1990, because of the
deployment of efficient lighting equipment (see Section 3 about Light Pollution).

Energy efficient buildings – Key Pillars

1. Energy performance of buildings directive: Revised in 2018, the directive will help reach the
building and renovation goals set out in the European Green Deal. The building sector is crucial
for achieving the EU's energy and environmental goals. At the same time, better and more energy
efficient buildings will improve the quality of citizens' life and alleviate energy poverty while
bringing additional benefits, such as health and better indoor comfort levels, green jobs, to the
economy and the society.
2. Renovation wave: Renovating the EU building stock will improve energy efficiency while driving
the clean energy transition.
3. Long-term renovation strategies: EU countries have submitted strategies that foster investments
in the renovation of residential and commercial buildings. The long-term renovation strategies
must include: i) an overview of the national building stock, ii) policies and actions to stimulate
cost-effective deep renovation of buildings, iii) policies and actions to target the worst performing
buildings, split-incentive dilemmas, market failures, energy poverty and public buildings and iv)
an overview of national initiatives to promote smart technologies and skills and education in the
construction and energy efficiency sectors.
4. EU Building Stock Observatory: The EU Building Stock Observatory (BSO) web tool monitors the
energy performance of buildings across Europe and aims to provide a better understanding of the
energy performance of the building sector through reliable, consistent and comparable data.
5. Nearly zero-energy buildings: The EU has proposed to move from the current nearly zero-energy
buildings to zero-emission buildings by 2030. Nearly zero-emission building (NZEB) means a

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the

information contained therein.
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