Buildings are responsible for up to 35 % of the total energy consumption in many of the IEA participating countries. The EU Parliament approved in April 2009 a recommendation that member states have to set intermediate goals for existing buildings to fix minimum percentage of buildings to be net zero energy by 2015 and 2020.

A few exemplary non-residential renovation projects have demonstrated that total primary energy consumption can be drastically reduced together with improvements of the indoor climate. Because most property owners are not even aware that such savings are possible, they set energy targets too conservative. Buildings renovated to mediocre performance can be a lost opportunity for decades.

The objectives of this new Task are to develop a solid knowledge base on how to renovate non-residential buildings towards the NZEB standards (Net-Zero Energy Buildings) in a sustainable and cost efficient way and to identify the most important market and policy issues as well as marketing strategies for such renovations.