Billboards with the slogan “Choose Energy Efficiency Class A” have appeared in Kyiv. This is part of an awareness campaign by the NGO Ecoaction, which reminds people that before buying or renting an apartment, it is worth paying attention not only to the price, size, and location, but also to how much energy the building consumes.
The goal of the campaign is to draw attention to energy efficiency as an important criterion when choosing your apartment or house. After all, energy efficiency affects not only utility costs, but also living comfort — warm winters without heaters and cool summers without constant air conditioning.
Energy labeling is a system already familiar to many people from household appliances. The energy efficiency class (from A to G) shows how efficiently a building uses energy for heating, cooling, lighting, and hot water. Class A means the lowest energy consumption, while G means the highest.
This labeling system makes it possible to compare different housing options. For example, two apartments may cost the same, but one of them may “consume” much more money every month because of poor insulation or outdated systems.
As Ecoaction explains, under Ukrainian legislation, every new residential building must have an energy certificate with a class rating no lower than C. However, in practice, online housing platforms and developers often do not provide this information in listings, and buyers may not even know they have the right to request it.
“The law explicitly requires agencies and marketplaces to inform potential buyers or tenants about the energy characteristics of buildings. This information must be included in advertisements, on real estate agency websites, in promotional materials, or brochures. But in practice, this requirement is often ignored, and people do not know what they are buying,” explains Iryna Klymas, an energy policy expert at Ecoaction.
In addition, having an energy certificate may be a requirement for participating in government’s energy efficiency programs — for example, to receive grants or preferential loans for housing modernisation.
Translated by Ecoaction volunteer Kseniia Khryplyvets