Building for sustainable development

In terms of sustainable development, the building sector is strategic because it is the most energy-intensive, accounting for nearly 44% of final energy consumption and 21% of greenhouse gas emissions in France. For this reason, the Sustainable Building Plan was created in 2009, bringing together a large network of building and real estate stakeholders around a common mission: to achieve energy efficiency targets in this sector. In September 2012, Philippe Pelletier, its president, was reappointed to implement and lead a new building energy performance plan. The challenge is industrial, economic, societal, and cultural. There are many avenues for progress, most of which have already been identified. The strategy must be implemented at the local level. In particular, the issue of renewable energy production at the building, neighborhood, or regional level is becoming paramount. Indeed, the regulations for 2020 (RT 2020) must aim to generalize the construction of positive energy buildings (BEPOS). They could include new consumption items (specific uses), evaluation criteria (LCA of buildings, environmental indicators), and requirements in terms of energy production, acoustic quality, indoor air quality, etc.

Furthermore, as the potential for energy savings lies mainly in existing buildings – 31.3 million homes and 875 million m ² of office space –, the Sustainable Building Plan has made energy renovation a priority. This must be based on renovation solutions that are mastered by building industry players, economically competitive, and reproducible across a wide range of building types. In September 2013, the government launched the Housing Energy Renovation Plan (PREH) to encourage French people to undertake energy renovation work in their homes to reduce their energy bills and improve their comfort, while increasing the value of their property.