Austrian Institute of Economic Research - WIFO

Mail: Margarete.Czerny@wifo.ac.at
Web: www.wifo.at


Next EUROCONSTRUCT Conference:
Barcelona November 28th, 2005
Special topic: New Opportunities for the Building Industry
Construction forecast by sectors 2006-2008 for 19 European countries


The current Country of the Month article is dedicated to the next conference topic. The presented article is based on a WIFO research study which was carried on behalf of the Austrian thermal isolation association.

Kyoto climate treaty and its impact on the Austrian residential market
The protocol of the climate conference in Kyoto in 1997 constitutes a reduction of six different greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, laughing gas, PFCs, HFCs and SF6) within the period 2008 and 2012. The reduction target for the European Union was set to -8%. Austria committed to reduce the greenhouse gases by -13% within the periode 2008-12 compared to 1990. On 22nd January 2002 the Austrian council of ministers ratified the Kyoto-climate treaty.

Recent calculations show that the housing sector plays an important role, because about 40% of the total energy consumption is used for heating the buildings (EBIS, 2002). So the Austrian Institute for Economic Research carried out a study which should show the economic effects of housing renovation.

In Austria about 3,261,000 inhabited dwellings exists due to the census in 2001. The majority of the dwellings were built in the period between 1961-1980 (1.1 mill dwellings). About half of the inhabited dwellings (1.48 mill.) were constructed between 1945-1980. This particular housing stock holds the highest energy saving potential. If also the dwellings considered before 1945 the total renovation potential in Austria is about 2.4 mill dwellings (round 75% of all inhabited dwellings).

Figure 1: Housing stock by construction period

The Austrian housing stock can also be splitted in different categories from which an urgent renovation potential can be derived. The statistics show that more than 490.000 inhabited dwellings (15%) are not connected to central heating systems or similar. Nearly 120.000 inhabited dwellings (4%) have additionally no toilet, bathtub or shower within the dwelling. This part has the highest renovation priority. An investigation of the housing stock by categories show that renovation potential is about 567.000 dwellings (category B, C, D dwellings)

Table 1: inhabited dwellings and housing stock by dwelling category in 2001

Figure 2: Housing stock by categories in 2001