Construction

FRANCE COMMITTEDTO SUSTAINABLE
HOUSING
Housing is the key to ensuring
quality of life for everyone and social
cohesion among all communities. We
must work together to build sustainable
cities based on our vision that fosters
resilience, comfort, solidarity, and socialand functional diversity.

EMMANUELLE COSSE

Minister for Housing andSustainable Habitat

France hosted the COP21
Climate Change Conference atthe end of 2015, and is currently
working to rapidly implement
the Paris agreement. TheFrench government has taken
the initiative to create a global
alliance for buildings andconstruction and is committed todrawing up new environmental
regulations for the constructionindustry to include more stringent
energy performance and low
greenhouse gas emission
requirements.

SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL

Minister for the Environment,
Energy and the Sea,
responsible for international
climate relations.

Posi

LOW-CARBON BUILDIN

By 2018, the energy transition law
promoting green energy growth
awill enable the implementation oftalmen
new and ambitious environ
ic
standard. The Government, econom
arestionocia
ass
stakeholders andjoining forces to achieve this goal andwill be focusing on two key aims:
W idespread positive energy
buildings;
 he deployment of a low-carbon
Tstrategy, which will reduce thecarbon footprint of buildings bydetermining their environmental
impact at all stages of their life
cycle, from their design to theirdemolition.

Landfilling

E n e rg

-END OF LIFEy recove

5ry

Recycling

Demolition, recycling

LIVING CONDITIONS
Daily energy savings

43 ACTIONSPROMOTING POSITIVE ENERGY BUILDINGS
1

Bu ilding on current commitments

Thermal regulations currently in force (RT2012) have led to an increase in the numberof low-consumption buildings and a two-thirds' reduction in the energy consumption of
new buildings in relation to previous regulations. Future regulations will make positiveenergy buildings more widespread. In addition to having a more efficient structure andenergy systems, these buildings will be supplied with renewable energies: photovoltaicpanels, geothermics, supply by a renewable heat system, etc.

2DID YOU SAY PEB?
Positive energy buildings (or PEBs)
are buildings that produce as muchenergy or more energy than they
consume. They do this by:reducing their energyr consumption;
 rioritising renewabler penergy
consumption (heat,electricity);
to the production
r cof ontributing
renewable energy.

Implications for all communities

Energy self-consumption will be one of the driving forces behind the rolling outof positive energy buildings, promoting better alignment between the needs of users
and the production of renewable energy in all neighbourhoods and blocks.
This strategy will also be beneficial in getting neighbourhoods behind energy transition
and the gradual greening of local energy networks:
injection of biogas in gas networks, biomass heating, geothermics, renewable electricity.

3Adapting regulations to the local context

The energy transition law makes it possible for local communities to support
neighbourhood-wide projects that use renewable energy sources.
By the same token, regulations will be adapted to local contexts.
Different levels of "positive energy buildings" will be proposed to make themaccessible to everyone regardless of geographical or climatic constraints.
Therefore, an isolated building not connected to a local energy supply can be "a positiveenergy" building with a lower level of requirement than a block of flats designed ina more favourable environment.

itive energy

NGS ON THE HORIZON!
Saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
throughout a building's life cycle

1Raw material
extraction

PRODUCTION
Manufacturing

2 TRANSPORT
3PROJECTDistribution between
each stage

Construction

3 GOALS
TO PROMOTE LOW-CARBON BUILDINGS
1gas emissions
Tothroughout
reducea greenhousebuilding's life cycle

Adopted by France in November 2015, the national low-carbon strategy sets out
the goal to halve greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector by 2030 and
to cut these emissions by 87% by 2050. This strategy involves a new methodof calculating a building's carbon footprint, which is now assessed at each stageof its life cycle: beginning with the manufacture of components, going throughcomponent implementation, use of the building and its demolition and finishingwith the recycling of rubble.

2

the carbon footprintTo
determinefrom the construction of a building

The impact of the construction of a building and the use of a building's energy systems
is practically the same in terms of emissions. The only difference is that in terms of thetotal life of a building, the construction stage is very short. The environmental calculation
method will therefore assess the impact of the construction phase, which will require
the use of innovative materials and products with a low-carbon content.

3

reusable materials
Torecoverand develop a circular economy

To consider the full environmental impact, the regulations take the complete
life cycle of a building into account in order to support and develop
the material recyclability sector.

CONSTRUCTION
AT THE HEART OF THE
ENERGY TRANSITION

123MILLIONTONNES OF C02

are emitted per annum
by the construction sector.

75,000JOBS

could be created in the construction
sector due to the acceleration ofenergy renovation.

44%

OF ENERGYCONSUMED

in France is produced by theconstruction sector (compared with31.3% for the transport sector).

From 2017,

500,000
DWELLINGS

will be thermallyrenovated each year.

A TRANSITION ALREADY IN PROGRESS400POSITIVE ENERGY
NEIGHBOURHOODS

benefiting from funds amounting
to 750 million Euros over 3 years
resulting in a drop in CO2 emissions.

A tr ial phase

TO CREATE IMPETUS
The Government wants to help willing developers to anticipate future regulations.
These developers will therefore test the technical and financial feasibility of building
construction in accordance with future regulations. In this respect, public developers
intend to pave the way by integrating renewable electricity production systems
into their buildings and by developing low-carbon construction processes. A test
observatory will collect feedback and best practices to refine indicators and establish
future regulatory thresholds.

A permanent dialogue
WITH INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS

The mobilisation of all professionals will play an essential role in ensuring thesuccess of the "building" part of the energy transition and green growth law. In
this regard, discussions have been taking place over the past year with builders,developers, energy specialists, NGOs and ecolabel associations.

A label

TO REWARD PILOT PROJECTSTo reward the first buildings constructed under the new regulations, theGovernment has introduced a new label that will assess the technical and economic
feasibility of the new requirements. Intended to distinguish positive energy buildingsin the same way as low-carbon buildings, this label will incorporate several
performance levels. The values to be achieved are adapted according to the climatezone or type of building.

CLIMATE-FRIENDLY CONSTRUCTION
Spurred on by the presidentof the COP 21 conference, theconstruction sector is pulling
together to tackle climate change
and to move towards a lowcarbon society. This strategy
falls within the sector's policy ofcooperation on an international
scale. To coincide with COP
21, at the end of 2015, France
launched a global Building andConstruction Alliance, bringing
together twenty countries,
8 major groups and over 50organisations. The United Nations
Habitat III conference, due totake place in Quito, Ecuador, inOctober 2016, constitutes thenext step in defining sustainableurban development policies
and in preparing for COP 22,
which is scheduled to takeplace in Marrakesh, Morocco, inNovember 2017.

Design, pre-press and infographics:, Paris. Translation: LCI. Photos : Arnaud Bouissou/Terra,
iStockphoto. Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea. Ministry of Housing and Sustainable Habitat- Planningand Nature Conservation General Direction-92055 La Défense cedex, France.

THE ENTIRE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR IS READY
TO TRIAL THE BUILDING OF THE FUTURE