Energy Efficiency in Social Housing Sector in Serbia: Problems and Benefits

In many developed countries, energy efficiency has become an indispensable part of social housing policies, planning, design, and construction. Following abundant energy efficiency and environmental protection related international practice and experiences in the social housing sector, these issues have progressively become more prominent in Serbia as well. Several essential housing policies, and energy standards derived from EU Directives, and incentives have been established to encourage the development of energy-saving processes in the housing sector. However, current technical requirements for planning, design, and construction of social housing in Serbia need to be further adjusted to adequately address actual energy optimization needs and fight against energy poverty to reach sustainability. Energy efficiency measures in social housing should be set as early as possible and intrinsically used at all levels of project implementation, in urban planning, project design, and all construction phases. Based on the examination of policies, scientific and relevant professional literature, this paper discusses the problems and benefits of implementation of energy efficiency into social housing planning, design, and construction in Serbia, etc.