Vilnius is encouraging energy efficiency upgrades in its aging apartment buildings via an interactive, user-friendly online energy map enabling residents to see the benefits of undertaking renovations.
In 2013, Vilnius created an interactive online energy map enabling residents to access and compare energy performance data for 4,799 apartment blocks in the city. The city hopes the detailed and user-friendly information will spur homeowner associations to undertake energy efficiency upgrades that will help the city reduce its CO2 emissions.
12,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions could be reduced by 2020 by renovating 600 apartment blocks
Cities100 – 2016
To make comparisons easier, buildings have been grouped into 15 classes based on energy efficiency and color coded for display on the map from green (very good) to purple (very poor). Users can select a particular building, and then view a pop-up window showing energy-related information, including the building’s energy efficiency class for each winter for the three last seasons, building type and construction year, and monthly energy efficiency graphs to date. As a bonus feature, the online map enables users to see the financial and energy use benefits from energy-saving solutions, including roof insulation, window and door replacement, and heating and ventilation system modernization.
The challenge
More than two-thirds of Vilnius’ 600,000 citizens live in privately owned apartments located in large multi-story blocks built between 1960 and 1990, constructed with poor thermal insulation and outdated centralized heating systems, without unit-level metering or controls. By creating this detailed, user-friendly energy map, the city hopes apartment owners will see the benefits of undertaking energy efficiency upgrades.
Co-benefits
Economic Energy retrofits, spurred by the interactive map, will save homeowners and renters on electricity bills and winter heating costs.
Health Energy efficiency upgrades, as encouraged by the informative map, also improve indoor air quality which can improve residents’ respiratory health.
Social The public has been well-engaged with the initiative and, by January 2016, the energy map had already been viewed more than 150,000 times.
About Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 542,664 as of 2015. Vilnius is located in the southeast part of Lithuania and is the second largest city in the Baltic states. Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies, and is known for the architecture in its Old Town, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
