Abstract
Energy refurbishments of buildings can substantially contribute to economy-wide energy efficiency improvements, leading to decarbonisation and additional sustainability benefits. Prioritising the most economically promising investments is not straightforward because apart from cost-effectiveness calculations, several real-world constraints have to be taken into account. This paper describes an approach to assess the economically viable energy efficiency potential in the building sector of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, with a combination of detailed engineering modelling, cost-effectiveness calculations and real-world considerations of budgetary, technical, behavioural and market constraints. We examine diverse cost-effectiveness indices and come up with a proposal for prioritising specific energy investments such as the installation of heat pumps, insulation of roofs, and replacement of lighting and electronic equipment—without however ignoring other measures that may be economically less favourable but can realistically be implemented in a limited number of buildings. Finally we address the governance of energy efficiency policies, focusing on weaknesses of the current regulatory environment in Cyprus, which can be generalised for many other countries facing similar dilemmas.
Highlights
Increasing the energy productivity of the global economy is considered as a key step to combat climate change and ensure the sustainable use of energy and natural resources in the planet
This paper presents results from the first in-depth study on the energy efficiency potential in the Republic of Cyprus, with a focus on the residential and commercial building sectors, which are responsible for about 40% of energy use and 60% of electricity use in Europe [4,5] and about one third of total energy demand in Cyprus [6]
Energy refurbishments of buildings can bring about substantial improvements in the energy efficiency of an economy, which can ensure progress towards decarbonisation and contribute to several additional sustainability objectives
Summary
Increasing the energy productivity of the global economy is considered as a key step to combat climate change and ensure the sustainable use of energy and natural resources in the planet. We collected economic data for energy efficiency interventions from the national market; took into account realistic financial and technical constraints for Cyprus; constructed diverse cost-effectiveness indices on the basis of engineering modelling results and economic data; and provided a ranking of different interventions that can be exploited by authorities to determine their funding priorities. The paper follows this structure, and ends with some recommendations about overcoming financial barriers and enabling energy efficiency investments
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