Saving energy in buildings.

The buildings and transport sectors are the biggest consumers of energy in the country. Buildings in Greece are accounted for approximately 36% of total energy consumption, while in the period 2000-2005, they increased their energy consumption by about 24%, one of the highest increases in Europe.

One of the main reasons why Greek buildings are particularly energy consuming is the age of the building and the failure to incorporate new modern technology, due to lack of legislation for the last 30 years.

Most of these buildings are faced with problems suchas:

• Partial or complete lack of insulation
• Obsolete frames ( frame / single pane)
• No sun protection of southern and western sides
• Insufficient exploitation of the high solar potential of the country
• No maintenance of the heating systems/air conditioning which results to low performance.

An important parameter, which also determines the energy performance of a building, is the behavior of the tenants. The ill informed users-residents regarding the rational use and management of energy, often lead to extravagant behaviors such as installing individual air-conditioning systems without a processed study, the use of devices with low performance, or non-maintenance of heating systems and more.

In this direction, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate change completing the institutional framework for energy efficiency in buildings, co-funded by the European Union, proceeds to an economic stimulus package in order to achieve interventions in energy upgrading of buildings in the residential sector, through the programme << Economize At Home>>.