Romanian family renovates a draughty old village house…

When the Mihai family decided to renovate an old house in the village of Bărcănesti, Prahova county, they used the green personal loan facility that Banca Transilvania established under the EBRD GEFF programme.

Investments financed by the GEFF use materials and equipment that meet high technical performance standards set by EBRD. As a result, it is easy for households to optimise the energy-savings potential of their home investment.

Building measures included 10cm of polystyrene insulation with associated fixtures and fittings for the exterior of the house and sealed double-glazed units to replace the old windows and doors. Technological measures include replacing an on old-fashioned terracotta stove with a modern central heating system consisting of a condensing gas boiler and 10 radiators.

According to Adrian Mihai

‘We expect that this investment will improve our quality of life by providing greater thermal comfort at home. We also expect significant financial savings as natural gas costs are likely to be much lower than the old, high-cost solid fuel-based system’.

Banca Transilvania provided a personal loan within the framework of the Green Economy Finance Facility (GEFF).

According to Product Manager Robert Szilagyi:

‘Renovation is a great way to improve the comfort and value of your home, while lowering monthly energy costs. Many customers of Banca Transilvania use the green credit product that we set up through EBRD GEFF to insulate their homes and replace the windows and boiler. We are very happy to be financing these simple environmental investments.’

Tractebel Engineering, the GEFF Facility Consultant, maintains the Technology Selector, an online database of green technologies such as that can be used by the Mihai Family and others to identify energy-saving technologies that meet high technical performance standards established for the GEFF by EBRD.

The Green Economy Financing Facility is an initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). GEFFs combine technical knowledge with finance to help clients of participating financial institutions like Banca Transilvania to invest in high-performing technologies. So far, EBRD provided almost €4.2 billion of financing through 130 local financial institutions in 24 countries through GEFF.