Towards nearly zero-energy residential buildings in Mediterranean countries: The implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2018 in Spain

The new Basic Document on Energy Saving of the Technical Building Code (CTE-DB-HE) provides the necessary requirements to achieve nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) and promotes the use of renewable energies in the Spanish building sector. In addition, the new CTE-DB-HE, transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2018, introduces specific requirements for the implementation of electric vehicle charging in-frastructures in building car parks. The objective of this study is to analyse the energy and environmental impacts of the application of the new CTE-DB-HE in the residential sector. Different multi-family buildings in the most representative cities that meet the requirements for new and renovated buildings and use different heating and domestic hot water systems, as well as photovoltaic solar systems, are studied. The results are compared with those obtained by applying the previous regulations. Compared to the previous NZEBs, the new NZEBs achieve reductions by at least 46% in non-renewable primary energy consumption and 13% in total primary energy consumption. In addition, the changes introduced are shown to have helped prompt significant progress in the achievement of a highly energy-efficient and decarbonized building stock, achieving a reduction by at least 19% by 2050 in the main energy and environmental indicators.