Energy retrofitting of municipal buildings in Greek islands

The building sector is responsible for a high energy demand share in the overall energy consumption of Europe and Greece in particular. For the new programming period 2021-2017 special focus is given to the energy retrofitting of public buildings, through new financial tools and innovative technologies in order to enable the transition of the public sector building stock into Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB).

AEGEA and DAFNI promote the uptake of energy efficiency measures for the municipal buildings in the Greek Archipelago. Despite the challenges deriving from insularity and seasonality faced by islands – with regards to climate, energy production, transportation, natural resources, market access and economic diversification, there is growing evidence that these inherent characteristics can in fact represent untapped potential for islands to function as laboratories of technological, social and financial innovation.

The Network of Sustainable Greek Islands DAFNI is supporting the implementation of energy retrofitting in buildings in the phases of design, technical studies and securing funds, in a tailored manner that is adapted to all the above mentioned particularities. It initiated collaboration with a number of Municipalities and succeeded in submitting an important number of energy retrofitting proposals.

AEGEA in collaboration with DAFNI provided the following services to its members:

• Elaboration of a strategic plan for municipal buildings’ energy retrofitting through the development of Building Energy Efficiency Action Plan (a prerequisite for funding under Greek law);
• Technical and legal support in resolving legality and ownership issues of municipal buildings;
• On-site energy audits and inspections to issue energy performance certificates for buildings;
• Technical studies to identify optimal technical and economic energy retrofitting solutions;
• Support in the preparation of request for proposals as well as in the selection of financial mechanisms;
• Support in tendering and public contract conclusion for the implementation of energy retrofitting projects;
• Training and support of technical staff of municipal buildings in order to ensure effective monitoring of the buildings’ energy condition.

This support and collaboration with the island municipalities resulted in a high rate of funds absorption, a large number of insular population reached and further technical dissemination on green technologies in a large and remote geographical area.

To this day, AEGEA and DAFNI have jointly supported the submission of energy retrofitting proposals for 21 municipal buildings in 12 islands: Limnos, Psara, Fournoi, Kalymnos, Ios, Mykonos, Naxos, Amorgos, Milos, Astypalaia, Nisyros, Kea. The projects concern mainly educational or tertiary services buildings, selected for their importance on social, economic and environmental leve