Owners of apartment buildings in Lithuania are being encouraged to modernise their properties to make them more energy efficient. Aimed at buildings with low energy efficiency levels, the EU-funded project should reduce their energy use for heating by at least 40 %. In all, 1 400 apartment blocks are expected to be modernised with the support.
Lithuania makes its apartment buildings more energy efficient
- 29 August 2014
“The possibility of financing the renovation of multi-apartment buildings with EU funds once again confirms the importance, necessity and added value of this programme.”
Elements of the work covered by the funding include drawing up investment plans and compiling and issuing energy performance certificates for the buildings, both before and after modernisation.
The costs of preparing the technical aspects of the renovations, the supervision of the work and the performance of any necessary investigations are also covered, as are costs related to administration and building maintenance.
Tackling high consumption
According to the Lithuanian Environmental Project Management Agency, energy consumption in Lithuania is significantly higher than the EU average. Housing and public buildings account for a large share of consumption.
The country has nearly 38 000 multi-apartment buildings (defined as buildings with three or more apartments), which are home to almost two-thirds of the population. Of these buildings, about 35 000 were built in accordance with construction standards in force until 1993.
For heating purposes, the buildings built in line with these standards were designed to consume 160-180 kilowatt hours of energy per m² (kWh/m²) of useful floor area a year. The corresponding figure for buildings built in accordance with the standards that came into force after 1993 is 80-90 kWh/m².
Funding: an essential component
Studies demonstrate that energy efficiency upgrades to multi-apartment buildings can result in energy savings of over 40 %. However, appropriate conditions are vital to ensuring the success of energy efficiency modernisation programmes.
Provision of funding is one such condition. This was underlined by analysis of alternatives to the financial support model devised under the project in a May 2017 report on the use of European Structural and Investment Funds for housing renovation. The report highlighted that the model was the most attractive available option, both for the public authorities providing the financing and the recipients.
As shown in the Beacon newsletter, the current project is one in a series of actions undertaken in Lithuania – many of them funded by the EU – to increase energy efficiency in multi-apartment buildings. Since 2004, more than 3 000 buildings have been renovated, cutting CO2 emissions by 180 000 tonnes a year and heating bills by 50-70 % for the 100 000 families living in the buildings.
On 1 November 2021, the Environmental Project Management Agency, which falls under the Ministry of the Environment, took over the functions of the Lithuanian Housing Energy Efficiency Agency.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “State support for the technical part of the preparation and implementation of multi-apartment building renovation (modernisation) projects” is EUR 48 796 874 with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 48 796 874 through the “EU Structural Funds Investments” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors”.