Glossary

From the end of 2018 all new public buildings in EU countries must be nZEBs, while the same rule will apply to ALL buildings from the end of 2020. Each country is free to come up with its own definition of an nZEB, within certain parameters.

Ireland is proposing that for dwellings, nZEBs must have an energy performance co-efficient (EPC) of 0.3 or less in the Deap software, which is used to calculate building energy ratings and demonstrate compliance with Part L of the building regulations (which deals with energy consumption).

Because Deap uses Ireland’s 2005 version of Part L as a reference, this means that a house with an EPC of 0.3 uses, in theory, 30% of the energy of a house built to the 2005 regulations.