Badly insulated homes lead to high heating costs, especially for the poor
Greeks spend twice as much as Swedes do on heating their homes, according to Manthos Santamouris, an assistant professor of physics at Athens University. «Meeting a building’s energy needs in Greece is like trying to fill a barrel full of holes,» said Santamouris, whose team was among the advisers to the Spanish government on drafting a recent major law on buildings and energy. Unfortunately, the corresponding regulation in Greece to implement the European Union directive on buildings’ energy efficiency has been filed away in some ministry drawer, even though the EU’s final extension expired on January 6, 2006. «The key words are ‘energy conservation,’ but unfortunately these are unknown words in Greece. The poor in Athens pay 197 euros a year for air conditioning, yet the average is 100 euros. That is because they live in unsuitable buildings. Only 8 percent of their homes have the right kind of insulation and double glazing, which are installed in 67 percent of the homes of the better-off,» he explained. Santamouris said the population of «energy poor» is increasing – that is, those who pay 10 percent of their income for heating and energy needs. He believes that legislation on energy specifications in building construction in Greece is outdated and insufficient for modern challenges and climatic change, resulting in wasted energy. Most of that waste occurs in public buildings. «Energy consumption has risen disproportionately in Greece – 6 to 9 percent annually, when the GDP growth rate is no more than 4 percent.» According to Santamouris, there are two possible choices. «One is to continue wasting energy, which will require new power stations to meet the needs of prime-time demand at a high cost (0.102 euros per kilowatt hour, compared to the average of -0.033). This will increase both the cost of energy and the profits of the four to five major private firms that are filling the air with pollution. The other choice is to save energy, a course that will benefit all society – those who improve their homes, those who will be working toward that end and all of us who will have a better environment.» If energy conservation is accompanied by the right use of renewable energy sources – chiefly solar energy in homes – then progress will be even greater, he claims. In Greece there is plentiful solar energy to be had, and most of it during the time of peak demand for power – summer afternoons. «Although the previous EU directive on energy in buildings has still to be implemented here, another directive has been issued on saving another 1 percent of energy in buildings,» he said, adding that the delay in enacting the legislation is due to ignorance and indifference on the part of the authorities. «Instead of paying pollution rights as provided for in the Kyoto treaty for wasting energy, let us rather spend that money in quality buildings so as to make our lives better,» he added. For more information: Center for Renewable Energy Sources, building section of the Energy Conservation Department, tel 210.660.3300, www.cres.gr, or the Environment and Public Works Ministry’s housing policy department, tel 210.691.0667.
