Mc 001-2022: where to find the official text (PDF) and what the methodology contains

Mc 001-2022 is the document on which every energy performance certificate issued in Romania rests. This guide does not replace the methodology: it shows how it is organised, what each chapter covers and where to look, in the nearly 600 pages of the Official Gazette, for the information you need. Figures should always be read from the official text, not from summaries.

Where do you find the official text of Mc 001-2022 (PDF)?

The official text is the one published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 46 bis of 17 January 2023, as an annex to Order MDLPA no. 16/2023. The ministry makes available free of charge, on the page of the technical regulations on the energy performance of buildings, both the facsimile from the Official Gazette (OG no. 46 bis, PDF) and an edition of the ministry (Mc 001-2022, PDF). The same page (domain XXVII) also lists the regulations that it repeals: Mc 001/1-2006, Mc 001/3-2006 and Mc 001/5-2009 as of 16 February 2023, and Mc 001/2-2006 and Mc 001/4-2009 as of 16 July 2023. Art. 3 of Order MDLPA no. 16/2023 also repeals annexes D and L of the C 107-2005 normative. The status of the act is checked on legislatie.just.ro, under Order MDLPA no. 16/2023.

The names used in searches, "Mc 001-2022", "Mc 001/2022" or "Mc 001 of 2022", designate the same document. The European standards to which the methodology refers (for example the SR EN ISO 52000 series or SR EN 12831) are not included in full in the PDF (the methodology reproduces only fragments, with the agreement of ASRO): they are adopted Romanian standards, distributed by ASRO. If a figure matters for a certificate, open the table in the official text: reproductions from other sources, including this guide, may contain transcription errors.

What it is and who approved it

"Metodologie de calcul al performanței energetice a clădirilor, indicativ Mc 001-2022" (Methodology for calculating the energy performance of buildings, designation Mc 001-2022) is a technical regulation approved by Order MDLPA no. 16/2023 and published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 46 bis of 17 January 2023. The title page bears the date December 2022.

Law no. 372/2005 requires this methodology in art. 5: the competent ministry prepares it and approves it by order, and its content must include, among other things, the thermotechnical characteristics of the envelope, the heating, hot water, air conditioning, ventilation and lighting installations, the indoor climate conditions and the minimum requirements for nearly zero-energy buildings. Art. 6 para. (3) specifies that the methodology is prepared on the basis of the set of European standards of the 52000 series.

Object and scope (§1.1)

According to chapter 1, the object of the methodology is, in particular:

• the assessment and certification of the energy performance of new and existing buildings: single-family and collective dwellings, offices, education buildings, hospitals, nurseries and polyclinics, hotels and restaurants, buildings for sports activities, commercial buildings, as well as other buildings with human occupancy in which at least heating, domestic hot water and lighting are provided, including building units and apartments;
• the energy auditing of buildings that are to be energy-modernised;
• the establishment of minimum performance requirements for existing buildings and for new nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB);
• the definition of the usual measures and packages of measures for increasing energy performance and the way their costs are quantified.

The scope covers the assessment and certification of new and existing buildings and building units, the certification of apartments and the thermal and energy analysis within the energy audit of existing buildings that are to be modernised. The notes at the end of the subchapter add, for example, that for existing buildings declared "ruin" in the land register, certification or energy auditing is not mandatory.

The six chapters

• Chapter 1, General provisions: object, terminology, indoor comfort parameter requirements, applicable European standards.
• Chapter 2, The thermal envelope of the building: envelope elements, minimum thermal and energy performance requirements (§2.2), additional considerations for nZEB (§2.3), thermal resistances, air permeability, calculation of the energy demand for heating and cooling by the monthly method (§2.6-2.12).
• Chapter 3, Assessment of energy consumption for installation systems without renewable sources: heating, ventilation and air conditioning, domestic hot water and lighting installations.
• Chapter 4, Assessment of the energy produced with installation systems using renewable sources: heat pumps, solar thermal systems, cogeneration, district heating and cooling systems, photovoltaic panels, wind plants.
• Chapter 5, The energy performance certificate: the types of certificate and their content (§5.1), the reference building (§5.2), the energy classes (§5.3), assessment of primary energy consumption and of CO2 equivalent emissions (§5.4).
• Chapter 6, The energy audit: preliminary investigation, assessment of the current condition, determination of performance, energy renovation measures, economic efficiency indicators, the audit report and file (§6.7), with annexes 6.1-6.3.

The five annexes

• A: calculation summary for energy certification, example;
• B: calculation summary for energy auditing, example;
• C: summary annex;
• D: climatic parameters for Romania;
• E: bibliography.

The regulation of climatic parameters also appears as a separate document, Mc 001/6-2013, in the Ministry's list.

Where do you find the nZEB requirements

The minimum requirements for new nZEB buildings are in §2.2.1. For new residential buildings, §2.2.1.1 groups them into three: the maximum permitted values of total primary energy consumption (table 2.10a), the maximum values of CO2 equivalent emissions (table 2.10a) and a primary energy consumption covered by at least 30% from renewable sources, including sources located on site or nearby, within a radius of 30 km from the GPS coordinates of the building. For existing buildings that undergo major renovation, the values are in table 2.10b. The tables are differentiated by building category and by the five climate zones. Details and values are in the guide nZEB building: the legal definition and the compliance report.

Where do you find the certificate model

Chapter 5 specifies that certification means assessing the energy performance (total annual primary energy consumption) and the environmental performance (total annual CO2 equivalent emissions) and placing the building in one of the 8 energy classes. The certificate is completed according to the object assessed: figure 5.1 presents the certificate for a building or building unit, and figure 5.2 the one for an apartment. Subchapters 5.1.1-5.1.4 detail page 1 of the certificate, the recommendations for reducing consumption (Annex 1 to the CPE) and the technical data (Annex 2 to the CPE), separately for buildings and for apartments. The legal rules for issuing are in the guide The energy performance certificate.

For an energy audit that goes coherently through all the steps, from the building data to the certificate, Annex 1, Annex 2 and the calculation summary under Mc 001-2022, you can see the complete workflow in the Zephren calculation program.