What about energy efficiency in Spain
Spain is a country of contrasts in every way and this also carries over into our way of thinking, and in this case, I wanted to focus on how we act when we want to buy a home.
Recently, a report of how we Spaniards decide to buy a home (issued by the General Council of Technical Architecture of Spain - CGATE) and some quite interesting points are outlined, which, at the same time, from my point of view, contradict each other.
Directly and without preamble … "The main element of the purchase decision is relative to the property price, but also to the state of conservation of the building and the quality of the construction materials", that is, the Money it is our weakness.
And so that you can understand the Spanish culture of theMoney. I am throwing you the following image provided by Idealista where the difference between the price at which the homes are for sale and the purchase offers sent by users to the seller is confirmed. In short, it is How much would you pay for that property?
By communities and on average, we are willing to pay 20% less. I do not know if the offers that are launched have their effect or not, but we once again show that the Money It's very important.
Obviously, and I think that by now we all know it, euros cost a lot to earn and therefore we don't like scratching our pockets, but, nevertheless, we bought a property “haggling” to the maximum - which I would also try - and we do not directly think about the monthly expenses that will come from it.
That is, by going back to the CGATE report and looking with a little more subtlety we can see that; Among all the determining elements in the purchase decision, the aspect of the energy efficiency in the house that we are going to acquire is in last place:
To make it clear and in case anyone has doubts, a prior … "Spaniards don't give a damn that their monthly bill is high" as long as they buy a cheap apartment and, apparently, the building is in good condition (not being a technician in the sector construction, I highly doubt that you can understand if a building is in good condition just from looking at it for a while).
Whoops! Something is not going well, because, in addition, when we buy a home, to the question of … Would you be willing to make an investment in your current home to optimize your energy consumption (reduce the amount of the energy bill)? Almost a 70% directly say NO. It is few words, and by logic in most cases, we have money for the initial investment but afterwards we will need "X" years to recover, where the possible reforms in the house will be displaced to a more prosperous future, which will be further than nearby Unfortunately !.
So, as a summary, the savvy shoppers who take great care of the MoneyThey may have spent a decade paying an excess in electricity or gas bills for not worrying about the energy efficiency of the property they bought. Not counting the expenses of the community of owners or the famous IBI, which, in some cities of Spain, can be a good scare.
But… Why does this happen? In this sense and according to data, 51% of those surveyed affirmed that they knew the document of the Energy Efficiency Certificate, however, and to repeat myself, almost the 70% say they would not invest in optimizing their consumption to reduce the energy bill.
This is when I start to head butt, I DON'T-UNDERSTAND. From the start; we fight, we argue, we launch the offer with the counter re-offer, etc., all for the Money, and afterwards, we both relax when we have achieved the objective or is it really Nobody has explained to us that when we buy a home we have to look much further than we apparently see.
In relation to the conservation of the building, almost a 57% of those interviewed do not know the Technical Inspection of the Building, which rises much more, to 65% in the knowledge about the Building Evaluation Report, mandatory for properties with an age of more than 50 years. Also, 60% of those surveyed would not be willing to make an investment in their current home to maintain and improve the conditions of the building.
And as a technician, I am angry and disappointed with myself because I believe that I have not been acting correctly, or, at least, I have not been able to explain the importance and scope of energy saving in homes and in people's daily lives . And of course, I look with great suspicion, not to mention something outrageous, at all those administrations involved in the issue that have not put in the necessary means and efforts so that the people on the street, the pedestrian, understand that energy efficiency is not only refers to a paper with a letter and a color in the washing machines, for example.
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