Italy suffers from inefficient buildings

The situation is slightly improving compared to 2022: Ape households falling into class A increased by four percentage points, while those belonging to classes F and G fell by six points. Comparison with 2019, the last pre-Superbonus year, shows the impact of the measure: in this case, class A increased by seven points, while classes F and G fell by nine points.

At the regional level, analysing the period 2015-2023, the highest number of class G and F Ape are found in Lazio (65%), followed by Liguria (62%), Tuscany (62%), Umbria (61%) and Molise (61%). While, looking at the sum of class A, the most virtuous territories are in the North: Valle d'Aosta (20%), the autonomous province of Trento and Lombardy (both 15%).

"Energy efficiency is one of the fundamental challenges for the sector and more generally for our future," said Michele Ottomanelli, Technical Director of Saie _. As the Siape data show, we are in an improved situation in recent years, especially thanks to the action of incentives and bonuses. However, we must continue along this road and not abandon the path we have taken. From this point of view, Saie stands as the point of reference for discussion between the parties, a crossroads of ideas and projects aimed at spreading a true culture of building and living. Our aim is to encourage the transition of the sector towards a more sustainable building industry in line with the European objectives for 2050'.

Saie, the reference exhibition for the construction market and system in Italy, returned to BolognaFiere last October after the success of 2022 (which had recorded over 430 exhibiting companies and 37 thousand visitors) and was attended by 560 exhibitors, 232 educational conferences, 29 special initiatives and the support of 48 sector associations.

Around 180 billion euros. This is how much it would cost us to adapt to the EU Green House Directive (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive), according to a model drawn up ad hoc by Energy&Strategy of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano. A figure comparable with what has been spent in the last three years between superbonus, ecobonus and home bonus, but which to be effective would have to be 'spread' over a much larger number of buildings, particularly those in the worst condition belonging to class G, which number around 5 million (40% of the entire Italian building stock) and almost half of which would have to be adapted.

According to Casa Green, which has defined requirements and targets to be achieved by 2030 for residential and non-residential, new and refurbished buildings, we should reduce primary energy consumption for residential buildings by 16 per cent compared to 2020, i.e. by 6.32 Mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent, from 39.49 Mtoe to 33.17) and as much as 55 per cent of this saving (3.46 Mtoe) should be in class G buildings, which should be at least 43 per cent efficient, in terms of either square footage or number of buildings.

An intervention that would cost between EUR 93 and 103 billion, according to the analysis contained in the latest Energy Efficiency Report 2024 by E&S, to which about another 80 billion would have to be added to cover the remaining 45% of the target by intervening on buildings in the other energy classes. The total bill would thus be around EUR 180 billion (between 169 and 187).

"Unlike in the recent past, it will be necessary to intervene much more extensively on the territory in terms of the number of buildings," commented Vittorio Chiesa, director of E&S, "assuming that the building sector can handle a huge number of construction sites in such a few years, and also that the products and materials are available, and at a price in line with estimates. Part of these resources could (or should) come from a major new European funding plan, but it is not enough, we need careful planning and the development of tools to support the energy upgrading of buildings, which is not part of our political agenda today. Without interventions on the building stock,' it should be remembered, 'the country's decarbonisation objectives will never be achieved and therefore Italy will still have to provide itself with the necessary resources to make those investments, even if they are spread over a longer period of time'.

But how did it go in 2023? Investments in energy efficiency in Italy amounted to approximately EUR 85-95 billion, driven by the residential sector, which, with the effect of the Superbonus, made up the lion's share (EUR 55-59 billion, three times the scarce EUR 20 billion spent in 2022), and by the tertiary sector (EUR 25-29 billion). On the other hand, the Public Administration, whose investments are mainly supported by Prepac, Pnrr and the Conto Termico, and the industrial sector, which nevertheless recorded a 20% increase compared to 2022 (data from the same research), were decidedly insignificant.

The boom in investments in the residential sector has undoubtedly represented an opportunity for the energy efficiency sector, pushing in particular those interventions that before the Superbonus were relegated to a more marginal role, such as thermal insulation and windows and doors, now almost 50% of the total. But what will happen?

"The picture is rather complex and uncertain _ explains Federico Frattini, deputy director of E&S and in charge of the Report _: on the one hand, Europe has raised the bar in terms of objectives, with the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and above all with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive; on the other hand, the propensity to invest in energy efficiency as measured by our survey is definitely falling and there are many concerns among operators about the future of the market.

It is no coincidence that if we look at the future of energy efficiency through the Odyssee-Mure index (calculated on the average of 3 sub-indicators - current level, trend and policies - measured from 0 to 1) Italy ranks 22nd among the 27 EU countries.

Uncertainty threatens to halve photovoltaic adoption and process interventions. E&S conducted a survey on the state of energy efficiency in Italian companies, collecting responses from 454 companies in different industrial sectors between April and May 2024: around 45% of respondents did not make any investments at all in 2023, while the 55% that did did so purchased mainly (43%) hardware technologies, with a meagre 9% also investing in software.

But the real wake-up call concerns investment intentions for the next five years, from which a slowdown, even a halving or more, in overall investment in energy efficiency clearly emerges: a comparative analysis between the survey results and the data contained in the previous Energy Efficiency Report 2023 in fact shows a significant drop in interest in focusing on technologies such as photovoltaics and compressed air systems, and in intervening in production processes.

On the other hand, awareness of energy efficiency in buildings is increasingly evident in the context of buyer behaviour. Wikicasa states that. "In recent years, we have witnessed a profound change in the choice process of users. According to data collected on Wikicasa.co.uk, there has been a 72.5% increase in searches for energy-efficient properties," explains Pietro Pellizzari, CEO of Wikicasa.

The data from Wikicasa differs somewhat from those mentioned above in that they are based on advertisements published on portals. Compared to 2019, in the top 10 Italian cities, the percentage of energy-efficient properties increased from 3.2 per cent to 5.4 per cent. The cities with the highest percentage of class A properties include Bologna (19.72%), Milan (8.81%) and Bari (9.93%). Further behind are the other southern cities, such as Catania (0.74%) and Palermo (1.20%).

"The real estate market is showing increasing focus on quality, not only on the demand side but also on the supply side. In a competitive scenario where the purpose of buying a property is increasingly becoming a long-term sustainable investment, a class A property is certainly more attractive. At the same time, the premium price reserved for energy-efficient properties moves potential sellers towards upgrading in the presence of incentives, which make buying and selling quicker and more convenient,' adds Pellizzari.

As things stand, class A properties are on average worth 26 per cent more than low-energy efficiency properties, confirming that the new EU directives, if properly supported with appropriate bonuses and incentives for improving energy performance, represent a great opportunity for the revaluation of the national real estate stock. Wikicasa is the Italian proptech company specialising in the collection, processing and distribution of online real estate information, aimed at making the buying and selling process faster and more transparent.