Background The EC Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings requires the energy certification of buildings in order to reduce CO2 emissions. A previous LIFE project "ENERLAB" (LIFE02 ENV/LV/000478) tested an energy certification scheme developed by Riga Technical University in the town of Ogre in Latvia. However, this system only considered heat consumption, and did not cover gas and electricity consumption. These should however be included in a energy certification scheme as they also influence CO2 emissions - updating of the scheme was therefore required. Appropriate energy certification is a cost-effective and efficient method for saving energy and can help EU implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Objectives The "ENCERB" project will develop further the apartment buildings' energy certification and labelling system established in the city of Ogre in 2002/2003 within the ENERLAB project. The ENERLAB heat consumption management system will be upgraded to a full energy management system in compliance with Directive 2002/91/EC (Energy Performance of Buildings). The ENERLAB project in Ogre achieved reductions of 5-10 percent in heat consumption and the new project was to build on this. Results The overall objective of the ENCERB project has been reached: the elaboration of a new building’s energy certification scheme based on the calculation of standardized annual full energy consumption (including heat, electricity and gas consumption). During the project, the new scheme was applied through: - Calculation of energy consumption ratings for 139 multi-storey apartment buildings in Ogre town over a period of 3 years; - Issuing energy passports based on calculated energy rating for each building; - Labelling each building with a label that indicates calculated energy rating; - Raising public awareness, using various dissemination activities, towards the importance of energy saving and its direct relation to financial benefits, i.e. reduction of expenditures for heat, electricity and gas consumption and thus achieving also higher energy rating for buildings selected. The project has therefore contributed to the implementation of the EC Directive 2002/91/EC and Kyoto agreement through the development of an advanced buildings’ energy rating scheme and thus promoting overall energy saving and reduction of CO2 emissions. During the project it was found out that the average distribution of energy consumption for the buildings analysed is as follows: - Heat consumption takes 85% in buildings’ total energy consumption; - Electricity consumption takes 8.55% in buildings’ total energy consumption; - Gas consumption takes 6.51% in buildings’ total energy consumption. This means that currently the most efficient energy saving method for the buildings selected is to improve the quality of the heat insulation in order to reduce energy consumption. Activities for further reduction of electricity and gas consumption will be effective only after heat consumption improvements have been made. The new full energy certification scheme has given the possibility to monitor the changes in buildings’ energy consumption annually and to make efficient maintenance and reconstruction works of dwelling buildings, where necessary. The results of the project has provided the necessary background information for the environmentally sound reconstruction of those Latvian dwelling buildings, which were built in Soviet times (i.e. serial projects). It means that these results can be also used in other Eastern Europe countries with a similar situation. The implementation of the ENCERB project has also provided the opportunity of stabilising the reduction of energy consumption achieved already during previous LIFE ENERLAB project. Large investments into improvement of energy efficiency of multi-storey apartment buildings are not typical for Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Therefore energy certification and increasing of awareness of inhabitants are one of the most appropriate ways to influence energy consumption. For the project implemented in Ogre town, the calculated reduction of heat consumption was 5-10%. This means annual reduction by 4500 – 9000 MWh. The analysis of standardised energy consumption during the project has shown the following results: Year Space heating, kWh/m2 Hot water, kWh/m2 Gas consumption, kWh/m2 2003./2004 131.62 66.14 12.12 2004./2005. 130.11 66.93 7.82 2005./2006. 131.31 64.27 9.98 The energy certification of buildings was also planned to continue after the end of the project thanks to an agreement signed on 17/01/2007 between the beneficiary and one of its partner, the Municipal Agency “Mālkalne”. According to the agreement (valid for 2 years), the after-LIFE tasks were to be as follows: - the Municipal agency “Mālkalne” was to continue collecting data on the energy consumption; evaluation of the effectiveness of the necessary works for buildings’ reconstruction in order to reduce energy consumption; consult inhabitants and other interested stakeholders towards improving buildings’ energy efficiency. - the Riga Technical University was to continue doing the necessary calculations of the buildings’ full energy consumption in order to update buildings’ energy rating each year.