New buildings and RT 2020

The 2020 Thermal Regulations (RT 2020 or RE 2020) aim to design and build the future living spaces of the French by pursuing three major objectives supported by the government:

• energy sobriety and decarbonization ;

• reduced carbon footprint ;

• guaranteed comfort in hot weather.

Its aim is to build positive-energy buildings, in other words, buildings that produce more energy than they consume. This is based on the BEPOS principle (positive-energy buildings), thanks to equipment that allows heat and cool to be restored.

These homes feature minimal energy consumption, which is subsequently offset by the use of renewable resources. RT 2020 targets zero energy waste and energy production. It is the future environmental regulation for all new construction.

This is the first French regulation, and one of the first worldwide, to introduce environmental performance into new construction via life-cycle analysis (figure 1 ).