Although they are in need of basic renovation, there is growing evidence that panel buildings, both block flats used for housing and public buildings of similar construction, have the potential to be efficiently renovated to provide comfort and protection from heat waves and extreme weather events and to incorporate energy-saving retrofits. Some of this evidence comes from demonstration projects supported by the EC. For instance, SOLANOVA, which was initiated in Hungary, resulted in the successful eco-renovation of a panel building that demonstrated how block flats could be redesigned to meet human needs while achieving resource efficiency and optimization of solar supply. Similarly, results from the Demohouse projects in Budapest and Warsaw, though still in the preliminary phase, suggest that the potential exists for improving energy savings and for introducing renewables when rehabilitating these types of buildings. These results have been further reinforced by the Baltic Energy Efficiency Network for the Building Stock (BEEN, 2007), a program that has been taking a comprehensive look at energy efficiency in block flats in five countries.

Complementary efforts have focused on the development of sustainable, high energy performance public buildings in ECA. Sustainable Architecture Applied to Replicable Public Access Buildings (SARA), which focuses on using advanced sustainable energy technologies, has resulted in successful retrofits of a community building in Uzbekistan and a supermarket in Ljubljana. An important aspect of the approach being adopted is that the project places an emphasis on cost effective technologies and in the development of techniques that will be replicable in diverse climatic regions. The Bringing Retrofit Innovation to Application in Public Buildings (BRITA in PUBS) project also is working to promote innovative retrofits at a reasonable cost. So far, nine demonstration projects that cut across different types of public buildings are in progress, including a student social and cultural center in Brno and the main university building in Vilnius. In addition to the EC demonstration projects noted here, a variety of other funders have supported successful conversions of panel-style apartment and public buildings throughout the region (EEA, 2007).

To date, large-scale retrofits of residential buildings have been limited in the ECA region, even in the new EU membership countries. Although they have not yet been attempted on a large scale, existing pilot support programs, including those with subsidies and state guarantees, show promising results. Table 1 provides a snapshot of the costs and structure of financing for housing retrofits in two countries participating in the Baltic Energy Efficiency Network for the Building Stock (BEEN). Due to complex ownership structures and associated legal responsibilities in countries in ECA, the Banking sector has been reluctant to enter this market. However, successful cases of larger-scale implementation have occurred, primarily in private sub-divisions and condominium communities.

**<u>Table 1: Financing and Energy Savings in Housing Retrofit Programs</u>**

||**Latvia**|**Eastern Germany**|
|---|---|---|
|Supplementary support programs<br>(Pro 2)|Energy-saving<br>pilot program|Combination of KfW<br>and supplementary<br>Berlinsupport program|
|Typical refurbishment sum per flat|€3,435|€29,000|
|**Financing**|||
|Own funds|€-|€-|
|Subsidy|€-|€-|

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