Building renovation delivers South-East Europe gas security

Panel: 6. Buildings policies, directives and programmes

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Dan Staniaszek, The Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), Belgium
Filippos Anagnostopoulos, BPIE, Belgium
Maarten de Groote, BPIE
Oliver Rapf, BPIE

Abstract

Security of gas supply is a political issue of considerable importance in South-East Europe, identified as the only region in Europe with a significant gas security issue in the event of an interruption of supply through Ukraine. While the Security of Gas Supply Regulation aims to ensure deliveries of gas to protected customers (i.e. households), its operation in a real crisis is unknown. Consumers, including business and public sector buildings not covered by the regulation, would not be able to rely on it to meet their heating needs in case of a serious supply disruption, as has been witnessed in recent years when supplies from Russia to Ukraine were cut.

In order to better understand the risks faced by gas consumers, this study explores the vulnerability

of the building sector to gas supply interruptions in specific countries of the region, through the prism

of the Building stock Vulnerability Indicator (BVI), developed by BPIE. The BVI takes into account the importance of the use of gas in the building sector, along with the dependence on imported gas and its import routes. The results show that most countries of the region are at least moderately vulnerable, with Hungary and Slovakia found to be severely vulnerable.

Rather than adding gas supply infrastructure, which ultimately INCREASES dependence on imported gas, this study shows how energy security can be considerably improved by drastically reducing demand for gas through a dedicated and targeted building renovation programme throughout the region, covering the following countries: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

In addition to improving energy security, such as approach yields a good return on investments and in addition provides considerable employment opportunities, while helping to tackle the serious health, air quality and fuel poverty issues suffered by many citizens in the region.