Energy efficient Renovation Strategies : Estonia and European Sustainability Project

Abstract

The final year project aimed at reviewing and analyzing current energy efficient renovation strategies for Soviet era residential buildings, using Estonia as an example. A local renovation support scheme called KredEx and EU´s SmartEnCity project, both of which aim at reducing energy consumption in residential buildings and communities, were reviewed and analyzed. A renovation project engineer was interviewed to get technical details of the solutions applied for 17 multi-story residential buildings renovated under the SmartEnCity project in Tartu, Estonia. Literary sources were studied in order to establish if the local renovation grant scheme is successful in achieving its goals, such as getting apartment owners involved into renovation and making the buildings significantly less energy demanding It was established that a combination of state support and rising of community awareness about the benefits of energy saving play a significant role in increasing the apartment owners’ willingness to renovate. Furthermore, it was established that the EU aims at creating pan European sustainability regulations and practices, which may lead the European community towards a cleaner future with significantly reduced CO2 emissions. The study showed that combination of energy efficiency regulations, technical supervision and state funding can lead to significant energy savings by retrofitted buildings while maintaining the monthly apartment costs almost on the same level as before the renovation. This thesis might help to take a closer look on outcomes of renovation stimulating programs and their cost effectiveness as well as to compare different community sustainability solutions.