Project description
New approach to make energy efficiency interventions affordable
More than 50 million households in the EU are unable to keep their home adequately warm. People in the central and eastern European (CEE) region, southeastern Europe (SEE) and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – formerly the Soviet Union, are most at risk of energy proverty. Energy inefficient buildings and appliances and high energy expenditures are the main factors contributing to energy poverty for low-income households. The EU-funded ComAct project will focus on these two regions to identify the underlying causes and develop new approaches to reduce the high levels of energy poverty. Specifically, the project aims to reduce the costs of high-impact/high-cost energy efficient improvements in multi-family apartment buildings in CEE and CIS. Five pilot cases will be conducted in Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia and Ukraine.
Objective
The countries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region and in the former Soviet Union republics (CIS region) have the most energy-poor people in Europe. Main reasons contributing to energy poverty for people with low income are due to high energy prices and poor energy efficiency of the buildings, building heating systems and household appliances. The ComAct project is focusing on these regions and in particular on their specificity that the housing stock (characterised with large percentage of multi-family apartment blocks) is predominantly in private ownership and consequently energy-poor households live in their privately-owned apartments. To address the complex roots of energy poverty, there is a need to develop a new approach in order to influence the energy costs substantially and make the energy efficiency (EE) interventions affordable, and consequently reduce the high energy poverty level in the CEE and CIS region.
The ComAct project aims to make high-impact/high-cost energy-efficient improvements in multi-family apartment buildings in the CEE and CIS regions affordable and manageable for energy-poor communities as well as to create the necessary assistance conditions for lifting them out of energy poverty.
To achieve this main goal, firstly, an approach to identification and selection of energy-poor communities is developed, followed by interventions in three main dimensions: 1) empowering and activating the communities of homeowners’ associations; 2) developing/adapting financial tools that provide financing for low income families; and 3) optimising technical solutions that provide most favourable cost-benefit ratio for the energy efficient improvements at a multi-family apartment building level. In order to demonstrate applicability, benefits and potential for alleviating energy poverty, 5 pilot cases take place in Hungary, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Lithuania and Ukraine.
Fields of science
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Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator
821 09 BRATISLAVA
Slovakia