Romania will also have to deal with the efficiency of energy consumption in the private-own residential buildings, not just blocks of flats, because they are the most numerous buildings in the country. “We also have to look at the individual buildings. Unfortunately, at the moment, this component is being ignored,” said Mihai Moia, executive director of the Association for the Promotion of Energy Efficiency in Buildings (ROENEF), at the “Smart Cities” conference, organized by Energynomics.
Buildings generate the most energy consumption for heating and cooling and produce the most greenhouse gas emissions. The need to renovate and make these buildings more efficient is “huge” because Romania has a stock of very energy-inefficient buildings, yet they will have to be renovated according to nZEB standards.
“We have set some national targets, and that means we need money. If you want to build now, new buildings must have near-zero energy consumption. But how many of the market players know what this means? Unfortunately, I think very few, and that’s the first challenge: how do we promote what the requirements for new buildings really mean,” added Moia.
Renovating the building stock is a prerequisite for achieving any of the EU’s environmental targets, with buildings responsible for 40% of primary energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions.
The energy demand of the EU’s building stock must be reduced by 80% by 2050 to meet the EU’s long-term climate neutrality goals and meet the Paris Agreement commitments.
The National Long-Term Renovation Strategy foresees a necessary budget of 13 billion euros for the renovation of buildings until 2030 in order to comply with European commitments regarding the renovation rate, the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. “It was misunderstood that NRRP is a panacea for solving all problems. It must be used as a complement to private investment. A long-term vision is also needed in terms of renovations and the construction of new energy-efficient buildings”, continued Moia.
He added that, in recent years, several pilot projects in the field of green constructions have been carried out in Romania, but they have not been replicated at the national level because the know-how accumulated in this field has not been passed on widely enough.
According to ROENEF, every million euros invested in the energy renovation of buildings generates on average 18 new jobs.
The “Smart Cities” conference was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners, among them ABB, ENGIE Romania, Finder, Flash Lighting Services, Photomate, REI Group, SIXT.