The European Union has committed itself to increase energy efficiency with 20% up to the year 2020. A main instrument for reaching this target in the residential sector is the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), originally introduced in 2002 and recently recast by Directive 2010/31/EU. This European directive proposes, among others, the introduction of energy performance labels for dwellings in all European Member States. Such an energy performance label would have to be handed over when a dwelling is built, reconstructed, sold or rented out. This label shows the current energy performance status of the dwelling divided over energy efficiency classes A to G. In most Member States, this label comes with tailor-made advice for dwelling improvement measures that would reduce energy use.

In countries where the directive has been implemented for a while, the energy label hardly seems to motivate people to improve the energy performance of their dwelling. At the same time, however, improving the dwelling based on the label and the advice given can save the new owner large amounts of money in the long term.

The IDEAL-EPBD project was investigating why the response of households towards the energy label is limited so far:

• What are the reasons behind whether or not homeowners take the energy label into account?
• What are the reasons behind whether or not homeowners take the additional proposed measures?

The IDEAL-EPBD project was co-funded by the European Union under the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. The project was running from October 1, 2008 until October 1, 2011 and had project partners in 10 EU countries.