Improved building services bring energy savings to house owners

House owners in Bulgaria used REECL loans to install green technologies like modern solar water heaters, PV, biomass boilers/stoves, heat pumps and gas boilers for domestic hot water and heating. Often if the house is being fully renovated there will be three to five different green building services installed and it will achieve a higher efficiency rating than new buildings that meet the latest national building standards.

REECL consultants helped the house owners to select the most suitable green technologies and assessed the saving these technologies could bring to the householder. The Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF) supported the project by providing  investment incentives and technical assistance.

More than 9 out of 10 renovated houses achieved the top A or B rating for energy efficiency compared to less than 1% of existing properties. The REECL team estimates showed that many house owners would save on average €40 – 65 a month, or €480 – 700 a year.  With fuel prices expected to increase further, REECL borrowers would easily repay their loans out of the energy saving. The renovated houses led to a reduction of the CO2 emissions by 1,249 tonnes per year.

Garo Melkonian, a renovated house owner, said: “REECL participants are saving hundreds of euro a year in energy bills due to the modern REECL compliant technologies used to renovate the building services of their houses. With energy bills expected to increase further, households will continue to reap the financial rewards in the future allowing families to have more disposable income by not spending it on keeping warm.”

REECL Facility in Bulgaria was developed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and is supported by the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF).