Old furnaces will come back into favor. Owners will buy the cheapest and worst boilers.

• Organizations are protesting against new regulations regarding building energy ratings. They are demanding immediate corrections from the Ministry of Development and Technology.
• They point out that the new regulations will cause massive disinformation, misleading residents and property buyers.
• The changes may be detrimental to the fight for clean air and are inconsistent with EU regulations, notes the Polish Smog Alarm.

As a reminder, public consultations on the draft regulation of the Ministry of Development and Technology regarding the methodology for determining building energy performance concluded on Tuesday, July 1st.

- The project assumes the introduction of energy classes for buildings , following the example of classes commonly used in labeling household appliances - reminds the Polish Smog Alarm in a press release.

He also points out that the problem is that instead of clear and understandable information for everyone, we may receive completely contradictory assessments. How is this possible?

"The premise of the new regulations is this: the more energy-efficient a home is, the higher its energy class should be. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) point out that this is a very good approach: homeowners, renters, and buyers would know what class a given building has , how much energy is needed to heat it, and therefore what maintenance bills they have to pay. However, this will not happen," the organizations emphasize.

The signatories of the statement point out that after the Ministry of Development and Technology's proposed classification takes effect, bizarre situations will arise. The same building could simultaneously have the best class, Class A, and one of the worst, Class F.

This is all due to the fact that ministerial officials decided to include two separate classifications in a single document – the building's energy performance certificate : one based on the so-called non-renewable primary energy demand indicator (EP) and the other based on net delivered energy (ED).

While the latter reflects the actual energy needs of the building, the former is based on an arbitrarily determined conversion rate and is intended to reflect only the consumption of non-renewable energy, misleading the recipients of the information, experts point out.

For example, a decades-old house, poorly insulated , with leaky windows, heated by an old, wood-burning boiler, can achieve an EP index comparable to that of a modern building with very good insulation, heated by an efficient heat pump.

- explains legal counsel Miłosz Jakubowski from the Frank Bold Foundation.

- It's as if we listed the property at both a five and a two at the same time - adds the expert.

But where do these significant differences come from? The problem arises when the energy source is biomass (e.g., in homes heated by wood or pellet boilers). Biomass is treated as a renewable fuel, so only the small non-renewable energy input associated with its extraction and transportation is taken into account when calculating the EP index.

In practice, this means that the EP index when heating with biomass:

• is very low,
• does not in any way reflect the actual energy consumption of the building.

Non-governmental organizations suggest using one indicator, not two. An energy certificate should show the actual energy performance of a home . This should make it clear how much energy a given home consumes and, consequently, what its actual maintenance costs will be.

According to the organization, once the regulations come into force, it can be expected that homeowners will install the cheapest and most air-polluting wood stoves just to achieve a much higher energy rating.

- As a result, instead of improving energy efficiency and promoting lower heating costs, these regulations will contribute to the deterioration of air quality in Poland - says Andrzej Guła, president of the Polish Smog Alarm.

The regulation is intended to implement important provisions of the Building Directive, but in reality, it is inconsistent with it. Energy class A, according to the directive, is reserved for zero-emission buildings with very low energy demand, and according to the ministry's proposal, it will be awarded to an old, under-insulated house with smokestacks.

- explains Miłosz Jakubowski.

The protest against the implementation of the discussed regulations was signed by: the Frank Bold Foundation, the Polish Smog Alarm, the Instrat Foundation, the Tempo Project, the Reform Institute and the Institute of Environmental Economics.