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Victoria Mindova

From now on a certificate of energy efficiency will be required for new buildings in Greece. The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change reported that during the following twenty days the public dialogue about the new ordinance will be completed and within three months the ministerial decision that creates a new service for monitoring and reporting on energy efficiency in buildings, will come into effect. It will be mandatory for the new institution to issue a certificate of energy efficiency of new buildings and for old and new buildings with total area of over 1000 square meters, for residential buildings and for offices that are rented or for sale and buildings after overhaul (regardless of year of construction). 

The certificate will be valid for ten years and will be issued by licensed by the Ministry engineers who have private practices. The license of professionals who will issue certificates for energy efficiency in buildings will be given after a training course and an exam set by the Ministry of Environment. 

Tina Birbili, Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, said that the innovation in the energy efficiency Regulations for buildings is a first step towards optimizing energy consumption in Greece. The minister said the country's buildings consume from 156 to 375 kilowatt hours per square meter per year or two to three times the average energy consumption in the European Union. She also added: "The cheapest energy is the not used energy. Birbili Tina said, that the ministry has decided to implement and support measures for improving energy efficiency of buildings by providing state subsidies for renovation and repairs, and other tax incentives, etc. 

The ministry commented that the program of the previous New Democracy government for renovation of old buildings, was inefficient for two reasons: first - the allocated funds were enough for the renovation of 15-20 thousand homes and not for all building; the second - the previous government did not create an effective supervisory body to monitor and report the results of correct utilization of the allocated state funds.