Condominium Owners Associations (COAs), which manage 15 small apartment buildings selected earlier this year for free energy audits, have received prepared reports on their buildings.
Energy audits assess the current energy efficiency of buildings and suggest appropriate retrofit measures to improve it and lower energy bills.
Out of 15 audited buildings, 10 buildings were selected for the next stage – development of technical design documentation. The ASCs will receive it free of charge as part of a Norwegian-funded pilot project for small apartment buildings implemented under the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for Moldova (E4M) program.
The measures recommended by the auditors will soon be voted on at the ASC general meetings. Depending on the decisions taken, technical experts will further evaluate the 10 buildings, and architects and engineers will develop the technical documentation needed to apply for funding from the Fund for Energy Efficiency in the Residential Sector (FEERM) for the construction works in the next phase.
The proposed measures include insulating walls and roofs, replacing old and inefficient windows with new, energy efficient ones, and installing photovoltaic panels on the roof to generate renewable energy. The implementation of these works will contribute to a significant reduction in energy losses, lowering residents’ bills and, at the same time, increasing the value of the property.
The selected buildings with 120 apartments were built before 2005 and are managed by ASC in Chisinau, Balti, Edinet, Hincesti, Cahul and Ceadir-Lunga.
The costs of the audit and technical project development are fully covered by the pilot project “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for Moldova” (E4M).
The ten buildings selected for the technical documentation phase were selected based on a number of criteria, including replication potential, structural integrity, compliance with legislation and the level of participation of homeowners’ associations. The selection process also took into account the potential of the buildings to maximize energy savings once the proposed measures are implemented.
