| IEE - SAVE | ||||
| IEE Key Actions | ||||
| IEE-VKA2-SAVE Retrofitting of social housing | ||||
The history and evolution of social housing varies considerably between the EU, EEA and Candidate Countries. In many countries social housing was or is a task of local authorities, in others this relies on private housing initiatives. Respecting these particularities, social housing for this key action is simply defined as single or multi-family houses or apartment blocks built to provide affordable dwellings for low income people. There are at present about 2.5 million social dwellings in the EU, however enlargement will increase this number substantially. Social housing is responsible for some 45% of the consumption in the building sector, equivalent to around 18% of the total EU final energy consumption.
In recent years many EU, national, regional and local initiatives have clearly demonstrated that sustainable low energy buildings can be built at no greater cost than conventional buildings. When life-cycle costs are taken into account, costs can even be less. Based on this knowledge and the awareness of fuel poverty as well as the greater comfort, indoor air quality and quality of life for inhabitants of social housing, the construction and upgrading of buildings for low energy consumption should provide considerable all round benefits.
At present there is more experience of the construction of new low energy social housing than of retrofitting, but in recent years some countries have started full-scale programmes for energyefficient retrofitting of social housing. This Key Action is thus designed to accelerate activities regarding the retrofitting of social housing.
The aim of the Key Action is to contribute to increasing the energy efficiency in social housing by at least 30% on average, leading to an overall reduction of about 5% in EU energy use. In each country priority should be given to themost relevant types of buildings and of ownership in order to underline best the multiplication potential.
The Target areas to be addressed are:
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