Energy efficiency of buildings in Central and Eastern Europe: room for improvement

Abstract

Following the invasion of Ukraine and the associated energy policy tensions with Russia, the EU began looking at how it could replace Russian energy sources. One of the proposed solutions is to decrease energy consumption. Buildings have been the principal target, owing to their high energy usage – especially of natural gas, which the EU is particularly keen on reducing. This literature review article summarises existing knowledge on the potential energy savings that can be made through energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings in Central and Eastern Europe. The countries in this region share common traits due to their Communist past and associated legacy of poor energy efficiency, both generally and in buildings in particular. At the same time, Central and Eastern Europe contains a range of geographical and climatic regions, and so, the findings of this paper are applicable to other regions. This bibliometric analysis identifies three main areas (insulation, heating source and policy) in which the academic literature has identified potential for energy efficiency improvements to buildings. On the basis of these findings, this paper looks at the policy implications for reducing energy consumption in buildings and thus helps the EU to become less dependent on energy supplies from Russia.