Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE)

BPIE is an independent not-for-profit think-tank, created in 2010 in Brussels, now with additional offices in Berlin, Bucharest, Warsaw and London. As a European organisation, BPIE runs projects in several countries, often in close collaboration with national partners.
BPIE provides open-source research, analysis, knowledge-sharing and advisory activities to the European Institutions, policy-makers in EU Member States and neighbouring countries, the scientific community as well as private sector stakeholders and the civil society. 
The focus is put on analysing the effectiveness of policies and programmes aiming at increasing renewable energy use and reducing energy consumption in the building sector across Europe. BPIE has established a reputation as a credible centre of expertise and research, working impartially at the crossroad of different interests. To stimulate debate and agreement, BPIE convenes relevant stakeholders and decision-makers at various occasions.
BPIE has four major focus areas, each of which contains several resources and publications:
New Buildings: Europe aims for a nearly-Zero Energy Building standard (nZEB) by 2020. BPIE’s research supports the development and implementation of such a standard, alongside monitoring the legislative progress and support programmes in the EU. The next milestone includes positive energy buildings (PEBs), which produce more energy than they need, playing a crucial role in speeding up the integration of renewable energy systems and turning buildings into energy sources.
Renovating the EU Building Stock: Deep renovation of buildings could cut 36% of their energy consumption by 2030, while reducing EU energy import dependency, creating growth, innovation and employment, reducing fuel poverty and resulting in more comfortable and healthier buildings. BPIE develops scenarios and recommendations to overcome major barriers to renovation and monitors progress across Europe
Supporting Policies and Instruments: Legislation alone will not be sufficient to improve the energy performance of buildings. BPIE is involved in a range of projects identifying additional measures and programmes to overcome the many barriers, such as market incentives or financial support schemes.
Buildings Data and Tools: BPIE runs an open-source Data Hub providing country statistics on buildings, information about policies, a global glossary and access to many information sources provided by partner organisations. BPIE is working for the European Commission on a Buildings Observatory as a tool to monitor policy implementation in the Member States and to document policy failures and successes across EU, based on the Data Hub model.