The recast Directive on the energy performance of buildings (EPBD) stipulates that by 2020 all new buildings constructed within the European Union after 2020 should reach nearly zero-energy levels. This means that in less than one decade, all new buildings will demonstrate very high energy performance and their reduced or very low energy needs will be significantly covered by renewable energy sources. Such change is affecting both the nature of the built environment as well the actual method of designing and constructing a facility. The economic feasibility to realize a sustainable construction need to have a clear support by adequate analyses connected to the energy consumption and consequently to the new target reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for buildings. Life Cycle Methodologies (LCMs) are currently not considered in details on the EPBD recast, but according also to recent researches, they might be important tasks in a future recast. The paper analyses this challenge providing an overview on the main LCMs to individuate principles, limitations and implications of these approaches to design a Nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB).

Lack of information and transparency increases risk and undermines investor confidence. Therefore, a systematized and optimized capture and processing of information also supports investment decision making and creates opportunities for innovation and uptake of energy efficiency and sustainability measures, processes and designs. Building passports could play a valuable role in boosting the availability of information to a wide range of market participants. Better information flows are a necessary part of improving the quality assurance system for buildings and the construction industry market overall. The aim of the paper is firstly to set a Building Renovation Passport (BRP) definition, to explore the potential role of a voluntary scheme across EU as a key tool to help overcome this information imbalance by providing all market stakeholders, including financing institutions, providers of mortgage credit, investors and insurers with access to key building related documentation and information to properly assess the many factors impacting the overall quality of buildings. Within the presented study three initiatives currently developed across EU (Flanders, France and Germany), have been selected to be investigated in details providing an extensive overview of the process supporting the creation of a Building Renovation Passport and covering the main issues necessary for its development and implementation.

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