The Odessa Housing Union (OHA) Association is the ComAct country partner in Ukraine and last August 4th, the opening ceremony of the Energy Consulting Resource Centre took place. The opening ceremony was attended by different high representatives, like Asaulenko Alexei Vladimirovich, Zvyagin Oleg Sergeevich, a representative of the deputy Shabanova Anna Sergeevna from the Odessa City Council and Mostovy Viktor Mykolayovych from the Support Program of the Energy Efficiency Fund of Ukraine.
As Svetlana Slesarenok, OHA, noted, between 50 and 120 million people in Europe suffer from energy poverty. They are forced to give up heating in winter, and in summer they cannot afford to turn on the air conditioner or heat the water to take a shower or wash their clothes. Therefore, they have long begun to look for ways to support people who find themselves in such a difficult situation. The main way is thermal modernization of residential buildings and there is potential for Ukraine to adopt best practices from abroad.
The second half of August saw the lauch of a sociological study in 200 high-rise buildings part of the OHA, to find out how many residents live in energy poverty. The residents will be able to contact the resource center to get help in carrying out a technical examination of the house, preparing meetings between residents, and proceeding with thermal modernization. An energy auditor will also help the residents to decide what and how to do and how much it will cost. Five houses in which thermal modernization will be carried out, are part of ComAct.
Head of the Department of Urban Construction and Economy of OGASA, Ph.D. Vladimir Kersh emphasized that many points should be taken into account when carrying out thermal modernization measures: the layers of insulation must be correctly placed so that moisture does not accumulate under them and the approach should be holistic. Vladimir Kersh also highlighted the problem of the lack of qualified specialists: as the construction industry is not a priority in Ukraine, the number of applicants for construction specialisation courses decreases yearly.
Oleg Zvyagin, a deputy of the Odessa City Council, spoke about the EnergoDom program, helping residents to install meters, repair facades or roofs. 5 million hryvnias have been allocated to finance this program, but if there are more applications, the deputies are ready to increase the amount of funding.
Chairman of the Board of the Association “Odessa Housing Union” Evgeny Malnev called on residents of Odessa to join the ComAct project in order to improve the condition of their home, and, therefore, improve the quality of their lives.
Watch the video of the Resource Centre opening (in Ukrainian)
Check out the service broadcasted on the national television (in Ukrainian)
