ISO And CEN, The Road Ahead

General

CEN is the European Committee for Standardization, an association that brings together the National Standardization Bodies of 34 European countries. The work of preparing European standards is normally carried out through CEN technical committees.

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees.

EN ISO standards are the product of collaboration between CEN and ISO. They are published as CEN standards (EN ISO xxx) and as ISO standards (ISO xxx).

The EPB standards

Several EPB standards have been prepared or revised as combined EN ISO standards under the so-called Vienna Agreement between CEN and ISO.

Some other CEN and ISO working groups have decided, for practical reasons, for the time being to work in parallel on separate CEN and ISO EPB standards, aiming to keep these as similar as possible, with the aim to merge these to EN ISO standards when the drafting has reached a more mature stage.

Up until now, 17 of the EPB standards are EN ISO standards: the overarching EPB standard, plus the EPB standards on building and building components (ISO/TC 163 in cooperation with CEN/TC 89). The other 30 EPB standards are up until now only available at European (CEN) level.

The intention is to come (eventually) to a complete and consistent set of ISO (EN ISO) standards on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPB).

Road ahead: ISO 52000‑ series

The numbers ISO 52000 through ISO 52150 are reserved for the EPB standards in ISO. So in the near future the term ISO 52000‑series of standards will become equivalent to the term EPB set of standards. In the European CEN area these standards are mostly indicated as EN ISO 52xxx standards.

Only standards that meet specific requirements will be awarded such number. Currently, only 15 numbers are issued, mostly general EPB standards, or for building (thermal, solar) calculations. In 2017/2018 some 30 standards might become an ISO 52xxx standard, making use of the work already done in Europe.

The ISO 52000‑series is modular and flexible, making it the perfect basis for future developments like innovations, new insights and new market demands.

New developments

EPB standards already published in CEN that are now being developed in ISO as well:

• ISO 52031, Energy performance of buildings -- Method for calculation of system energy requirements and system efficiencies -- Space emission systems (heating and cooling)
  by ISO/TC 205, published in April 2020
• ISO 52032, Energy performance of buildings -- Method for calculation of system energy requirements and system efficiencies -- Space distribution systems (DHW, heating and cooling), Module M3-6, M4-6, M8-6)
  by ISO/TC 205, since October 2019
   
• EN ISO 52120-1, Energy performance of buildings -- Contribution of building automation and controls and building management -- Part 1: Modules M10-4,5,6,7,8,9,10
  by ISO/TC 205 in collaboration with CEN/TC 247, since February 2018
   
• CEN ISO/TR 52120-2, Energy performance of buildings -- Contribution of building automation and controls and building management -- Part 2: Explanation and justification of ISO 52120-1
  by ISO/TC 205 in collaboration with CEN/TC 247, since April 2018
   
• EN ISO 52127-1, Energy performance of buildings -- Building automation, controls and building management -- Part 1: Building management system (Modules M10-12)
  by ISO/TC 205 in collaboration with CEN/TC 247, since Febr. 2018
   
• CEN ISO/TR 52127-2, Energy performance of buildings -- Building automation, controls and building management -- Part 2: Explanation and justification of ISO 52127-1
  by ISO/TC 205 in collaboration with CEN/TC 247, since April 2018

Additional new ^a) EPB standards in preparation:
^a): topics not yet covered in the current set of CEN or ISO EPB standards

• EN ISO 52016-3, Energy performance of buildings -- Energy needs for heating and cooling, internal temperatures and sensible and latent heat loads -- Part 3: Calculation procedures regarding adaptive building envelope elements
  by ISO/TC 163/SC 2 in collaboration with CEN/TC 89, since May 2018
   
• EN ISO 52016-5, Energy performance of buildings -- Energy needs for heating and cooling, internal temperatures and sensible and latent heat loads -- Part 5: Specific criteria and validation procedures
  by ISO/TC 163/SC 2 in collaboration with CEN/TC 89, since September 2019

Overview

See the Documents page for an overview of all EPB standards and technical reports. Or see EPB standards and technical reports per topic (select topic in the footer of this page).