Identifying the optimal measures to reduce the heating energy consumption and environmental impact of existing apartment blocks in the Republic of Kosovo

Abstract

The reduction of heating energy consumption and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector has been an ongoing quest, especially in countries that rely on a coal-based energy sector where electricity and fossil fuels are used as the main heating solution in buildings. Many regulations are enforced to increase the building energy performance of existing buildings, however, there is a gap in the practical implementation of such regulations, especially in developing countries. Hence, this study presents the evaluation of the impact of existing regulations for building performance on the energy demand, cost, and environmental impact of block apartment buildings by testing four scenarios with different energy efficiency measures and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. A numerical analysis is performed for the building energy performance assessment of a block apartment in Prishtina, Kosovo and a thorough statistical report is presented on the latest energy-related statistics in Kosovo to bridge the gap of the lack of available information on the building sector. After implementing the energy efficiency measures for the case study building, the results show a reduction of the heating load by 116.7 MWh/year, fuel demand by 243.49 kWh/year, and 86% carbon dioxide emission mitigation. These findings are important to promote the enforcement and practical implementation of existing regulations on building energy performance to building stakeholders and practitioners.

Keywords

• energy efficiency
• building energy performance
• retrofitting
• heating energy consumption
• co2 emission mitigation