EuroACE Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary!
04/12/08

Brussels - On Wednesday, 3 December 2008, EuroACE celebrated its tenth anniversary with over fifty colleagues, friends, and special guest, Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

Mr. Gerben Stilma, CEO of CRH Insulation Europe, in his address, explained that EuroACE was formed ten years ago at the request of the European Commission who saw the need for greater input from European companies who provided products, technologies and services that could help Europe fulfill its Kyoto commitments. Four years later, the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD - 2002/91/EC) was adopted and provided the first legal impetus towards upgrading the energy efficiency of the EU's building stock.

Last month, the Commission presented an ambitious and thorough proposal to recast the EPBD. EuroACE calls on the European Parliament and the Council to endorse this EPBD recast proposal as soon as possible.

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Mr. Jørgen Mads Clausen, Chairman of the Board of Danfoss, explained that the "cheapest and cleanest energy...is the energy not used!". Building upgrades offer attractive payback periods, and the technologies exist already to enable Europe to save a significant portion of the 40% of total primary energy used in buildings today. Indeed, Denmark, his home country, has shown that it is possible to achieve economic growth and wealth while maintaining a constant energy consumption rate. Today, for every unit of GDP produced in Denmark, only 50% of the amount of energy used in the 1980's is consumed.

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Last but certainly not least, EuroACE was delighted to have Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, give a keynote address. Commissioner Piebalgs confirmed the importance of increasing energy efficiency across the EU, not just for business competitiveness, but, more importantly, for citizens in every Member State. Commissioner Piebalgs thanked EuroACE for its expertise and for its support of EU policy-making in this area.

EuroACE, in turn, thanked Commissioner Piebalgs for his commitment to energy efficiency and for the advancement of the energy efficiency debate at EU level over the last four years. We look forward to a continued fruitful cooperation.

Horst Biedermann, Rick Wilberforce and Andrew Warren / Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs / Stina Soewarta and Jørgen Mads Clausen