The first United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Workshop on Energy Efficiency in Housing was held in
In general, retrofitting homes in an energy-efficient way and building new houses with energy-saving technologies also brings direct benefits both to families’ health and to their purses. In addition to improved indoor climatic conditions, it is estimated that each household can save from €200 to €1,000 a year.
Investing in energy efficient homes can provide tools to address both the financial crisis and climate change with some countries already seizing the opportunity to invest in housing refurbishment to create new jobs and boost their national economies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has singled out building as the sector with the greatest potential for reducing projected baseline emissions by 2020.
The conference noted that the lack of knowledge on the energy-efficient housing sector hinders investment. In addition, a number of constraints hamper the sector’s ability for innovation, including outdated legislation, organizational barriers and technological backwardness.
The conclusions and recommendations from the workshop will pave the way for the development of an Action Plan on Energy Efficiency in Housing for the UNECE region. Its main elements will be developed through the second UNECE Workshop on Energy Efficiency in Housing, to be held from November 23-25 in