Hungary - Overview information
It contains overview information for Hungary regarding the current status of implementation of Directive 2002/91/EC in buildings. Links to further details and relevant information are available.
Table of Contents
The implementation of the EPBD („Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) in Hungary was the responsibility of the State Office of Housing and Building (Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) and the Ministry of Economy and Transport (Articles 8 and 9).
On Date, the national regulation, relating Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 has been issued in May 2006 (Ministerial Order TNM 7/2006). The rules are in force from 1 September 2006, from this date the fulfilment of the new requirements is the precondition of building permit, including new buildings as well, as major renovation of buildings beyond 1000 m2 floor area.
Regarding Articles 8 and 9 the Ministry of Economy and Transport is still collecting the proposals of professional bodies. The text of the national regulation relating Article 8 has been published in 2005. After having discussed by different professional bodies it has been approved, nevertheless it is not issued as ministerial order. The reason is an ongoing discussion, whether the issue of certification could be the precondition of the registration of the real estate ownership.
Calculation procedures
· The calculation procedures (Art. 3) have been adopted and the related national regulation is in force.
· A general description of the calculation method is given in www.egt.bme.hu. Information on software tool can be found in www.bausoft.hu
Requirements for new buildings
· Also the national regulation on minimum requirements for all new buildings are in force (www.egt.bme.hu). The requirements came into force for building permits requested after 1 September 2006.
· The type and level of requirements are function of the type of building (dwellings, office buildings schools, …) and the surface to volume ratio.
· and cover:
o Maximum U-value of each building element;
o Requirement on specific heat demand coefficient of the building (W/m3K), which includes transmission heat losses (incl. thermal bridge effect) and passive solar gains);
o Maximum primary energy consumption per m² of floor area.
· The first level (maximum U value of elements) is generally in force. On the second level the specific heat demand coefficient depends on the surface to volume ratio. The calculation method facilitates to apply a simple estimation and a more detailed calculation (including solar access) of passive solar gains. Simplified estimation self intended is on the safe side.
· Maximum primary energy consumption per floor area depends on the surface to volume ratio and the use of the building. Nevertheless, in case of multipurpose buildings (e.g. a wellness hotel) no figure is prescribed in advance, the requirement should be defined according to the state of the art, so that the requirements on the first and second level must be met and the primary energy consumption is to be calculated on the base of standardised (“notional”) mechanical systems.
· Requirements relating summer overheating are formulated as maximum of daily mean indoor-outdoor temperature, which depends on the provisions of natural ventilation and thermal mass.
· Requirements on each level must be fulfilled. The fulfilment of the requirements of a lower level (e.g. U value of building elements) does not guarantee automatically the fulfilment of other requirements on a higher level. Thus, unfavourable surface to volume ratio must be compensated by better U values in order to meat the overall heat demand coefficient requirement, or unfavourable HVAC systems must be compensated by better building.
· The compliance is the precondition of the building permit and will be checked again when the building is commissioned. Control of the regulation is the responsibility of the Commune where the building is located.
Requirements for existing buildings
· According to the quoted Ministerial Order in case of major renovation of existing buildings beyond 1000 sqm. floor area the same rules apply as for new buildings. The limitation of the U value of building elements automatically limits the selection of elements which can be used for renovation. The regulation is in force from 1 September 2006. Further details are available on www.egt.bme.hu
Certification of buildings
· The method regarding the certification of buildings have been adopted by the professional bodies and informally by the State Office of Housing and Building, but the related national regulation is not issued due to the before mentioned discussion (precondition of real estate ownership). It is expected that the ministerial order will be issued by the end of 2006.
· It is to be mentioned that asset method has been selected, thus the calculation method for design and certification overlap.
Inspection of boilers and air conditioning
· Discussions are in progress (Ministry of Economy and Transport, invited professionals).
Future planning
· It is expected that the certification will be implemented in 2007, while the execution order for the inspection of air conditioning systems will likely not started before the end of 2008.
· A revision of the requirements is foreseen every five years.
Detailed brochures as well as official texts and tools are available on the national websites. Several pilot course have been run, a textbook with the rules, input data, worked examples has been published, together with a hypertext on www.egt.bme.hu Software is available (developed in collaboration with the authors of the regulation).