The role of the individual in the country's energy efficiency was the cornerstone of most of the discussions at the "Energy Democracy in Ukraine: Personal Responsibility" conference,which was heldon July 9 by the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency in Kyiv.
“Citizens have a very great responsibility – they … have to request
changes, and be the change that is necessary for Ukraine to achieve energy
efficiency,” said David Ceschia, the head of European-Ukrainian Energy Agency,
opening the conference.
Other conference participants presented numerous solutions to achieve
that change.
There are plenty of proposals, including on technology, expertise and
money, for those brave enough to take the initiative, while also convincing their
neighbors if the issue concerns a multi-storey apartment block. The potential rewards
for modernization are reductionsin energy consumption by up to 50 percent,and even energy self-sufficiency with some renewable
solutions.
The easiest, and the cheapest “for-peanuts type of
investment,” is installing centralized house meters and adjustable individual
heat meters, according to Krzysztof Gierulski, an energy expert from the
European Commission Support Group for Ukraine.
“Modernization has to be done, but it has to be done smartly,”he
said, adding that in some cases even insulation or replacing a boiler might not
work until both metering and billing are done properly,and customers are able
to adjust their consumption accordingly.Gierulski is himself assisting the
country’s lawmakers in designing the respective legislation.
The conference itself took place in the building of the”Our
Kids” center for disadvantaged children of the German-Polish-Ukrainian society,
which recently installed a geo-thermal heating system and insulated the entire
building, decreasing its energy costs by more than 10.5 times to Hr 20 (less
than a dollar) per square meter.
Bosch, the German multinational engineering and
electronics company, presented its successful projects to install solar
panels for water heating in residential, commercial and municipal buildings.
Another participant, Austria’sHerz,said it was providing equipment,
advice,and helping to hire reliable contractorsto carry out energy system
modernizations.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has already
allocated around 2 billion euros in energy efficiency projects for city
authorities and private companies since 2006, andthis autumnplans to start a
program, similar to a Ukrainian state program,to lend money to homeowners for
energy efficiency projects through commercial banks. The planned budget for the
first stage of the program is 80 million euros.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Gordiienko can be
reached at [email protected].
