Energy efficiency in buildings requires concrete and coordinated actions from central authorities, the private sector and the general public, were the conclusions of the conference “Energy efficiency in buildings: Good practices and challenges,” organized by BCR and the ECOTECA Association, in partnership with EFdeN. The event is part of the “Investing in the future” series and aimed to explore the general context of constructions in Romania, alongside examples of sustainable practices in the energy field and solutions for accessing funds by companies.

Meeting participants discussed strengthening community education efforts, as citizens still do not understand that investing in energy efficiency involves a short-term budget drain, which in the medium and long term translates into much lower monthly bills. Another important point is related to the increase in the number of construction specialists, which is necessary for the development of energy efficient buildings.

Last but not least, it is necessary for the state authorities to collaborate with the private business environment in order to propose effective and easily implementable laws, from which the final consumers will benefit in particular. Public and private financial institutions must work together to solve the problems of financing programs for the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as those of evaluating submitted applications.

“The subject of climate change is a priority on the international agenda – we must have permanent communication about how we can reduce energy consumption or at least how we can use it as efficiently as possible, especially in the context where 40% of energy consumption comes from buildings. To this end we have implemented several projects and launched a series of green products to reduce the carbon footprint of our activities, alongside investments in green energy and green buildings. We know that sustainability is a dynamic concept, which is constantly changing, but at BCR, we want to support as many companies as possible towards their green transition and to see as many new constructions as possible, which are energy efficient,” said Ioana Voinescu , Head of the Sustainability Department, BCR.

In Romania, energy consumption in the housing sector and the tertiary sector (offices, commercial premises and other non-residential buildings) together represent 45% of total energy consumption. At the national level, the built surface is 493,000,000 m2, of which 86% is represented by residential buildings. Our country has an important heritage of buildings built mainly between 1960 and 1990, with a low degree of thermal insulation, due to the lack of regulations regarding the thermal protection of buildings and perimeter closing elements. However, even after 1990, buildings retain the same low energy performance.