“Zhytomyr’s climate-neutral future. City’s green transition to 100% RES by 2050” – energy efficiency practices in Zhytomyr

Journalists from all over Ukraine learned first-hand about the best energy efficiency and energy conservation practices that are being implemented in Zhytomyr.

GIZ GmbH collaborated with the public union “Business for Partnership” to organize the event. Zhytomyr is the first city in Ukraine and one of the first cities in Eastern Europe to officially announce the transition to 100% renewable energy. The city plans to become climate neutral by 2050. Therefore, the expertise of the Zhytomyr community in the field of energy efficiency and RES was chosen within the framework of the All-Ukrainian press tour.

“We have successfully implemented projects in collaboration with the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and the World Bank. We are currently preparing a project with the KfW Development Bank on the thermal modernization of educational institutions. Enemy attacks on the energy infrastructure demonstrate that energy efficiency measures are about the climate, the future, and security,” says Serhiy Sukhomlyn.

The facilities that have undergone thermal modernization include Preschool educational institution No. 6 and “Vulyk-21” condominium. The thermal renovation of the building of Preschool educational institution No. 6 was carried out within the framework of the project “Increasing the energy efficiency of public sector facilities in Zhytomyr” with the financial support of the Northern Environment Financial Corporation (NEFCO) and the Eastern European Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5R). As a result of the thermal modernization of the building, the internal temperature in the institution increased (by 5-6 degrees), and the heat energy consumption decreased significantly (by 55-60% of the estimated consumption).

“A task for all educational institutions s to improve energy efficiency. We were able to reduce the cost of heat supply services in 2022 by more than UAH 9 million as a result of the effective operation of the buildings. Schools and kindergartens used the money they saved to implement energy efficiency measures and improve the material base,” says Svitlana Kovtunenko, first deputy director of the Department of Education.

Condominium “Vulyk-21” took the so-called “warm loan” back in 2015. First, windows in common areas were replaced. The following credit terms were offered to residents of high-rise buildings: the local budget covered 30% of the cost. Currently, energy-efficient measures are being implemented in the building under package B of the “Energodim” program. The total project cost is UAH 25 million. The loan in the amount of UAH 7.0 million was taken in 2021. The city council reimbursed the interest on this loan during the first 18 months.

“After energy-efficient measures, the heating bills for the co-owners of this apartment building halved compared to similar buildings,” says Artem Razhev, head of the Municipal Development Department.

After visiting the thermally modernized buildings, the representatives of public utilities “Zhytomyrvodokanal” (Water supply company) and “Zhytomyrteplokomunenergo” (Heat supply company) presented projects on the development of a district heating supply system and centralized water supply and disposal.