Study: Czech households waste half their energy spending on heating due to poor insulation

Czech households waste more than half of their energy spending on heating because of the poor condition of their homes. They spend almost 190 billion crowns a year on energy. The main problem is inadequate insulation in older homes. This is according to a study by consulting firm KPMG and Česká spořitelna Building Savings Bank. The study says that reducing household energy consumption significantly by 2050 will require up to 2.5 trillion crowns.

According to the study, there are 4.5 million dwellings in Czechia, including two million in detached houses and 2.5 million in apartment buildings. Households account for almost a third of total energy consumption, mostly for heating. According to the study, energy is wasted mainly in older homes built before 1980 that their owners have not yet renovated. More than half of the Czech Republic’s population currently lives in these homes. The most common problem, according to the study’s authors, is a lack of insulation: nearly 700,000 households have none. More than two million dwellings have uninsulated walls, and over a million have no double-glazed windows.

According to Libor Vošický of Česká spořitelna Building Savings Bank, energy consumption in these homes could be up to two thirds lower if households adopted energy-saving measures. He said that fully insulating homes would save an amount of energy equivalent to the annual output of roughly two units at the Temelín nuclear power plant. He warned that the situation could worsen further due to expected growth in consumption in the future.

According to calculations by KMPG, achieving such savings would require a total of around 2.5 trillion crowns in renovations. Vošický noted that this would amount to an average of 75 billion crowns a year, while households currently spend around 45 billion crowns annually on such measures.

The study also examined conditions in individual regions. The situation is best, it says, in the Karlovy Vary and South Moravian regions. By contrast, the study’s authors say the greatest potential for savings is in the Liberec and Hradec Králové regions. „Potential annual savings in the Hradec Králové Region would amount to 5.6 billion crowns. To achieve this, we would need to renovate detached houses and apartment buildings at a cost of five billion crowns a year,“ said Anna Fořtová of KPMG, citing one of the regions as an example.

According to Vít Kutnar, owner of the DEK group, the Czech construction industry is ready to carry out energy-saving measures if the work is spread over time. „The construction industry is not doing very well at the moment, and our customers expect a 3.6 percent decline next year, so we think now is a good time to get started,“ Kutnar said.

Vošický therefore called on the state to expand its partnership with building savings banks. Between March and September, subsidy specialists at Czech building savings banks advised 13,797 people. During that time, for example, they provided 589 subsidized loans worth 788 million crowns under the Repair Your House from Grandma program. Around a quarter of building savings banks’ unsecured lending is made up of loans to finance energy-efficient renovations. „But that is not enough to make renovations more accessible. We therefore propose extending access to co-financed loans to other comprehensive energy renovations under the New Green Savings program (NZÚ, the subsidy program, editor’s note),“ Vošický said.