The energy performance gap and its determinants in Soviet-era multi-apartment buildings

Deep renovation, is seen as crucial in dealing with energy security and meeting climate targets, especially in post-Soviet countries with notoriously energy-inefficient residential housing stock. One critical question is whether these retrofits can achieve the energy savings promised by the engineering model. This paper assesses the energy performance gap–the discrepancy between realized energy savings and the predictions of engineers at the building level. In contrast to previous studies, we find that, on average, the predicted savings are fully realized for a retrofit programme of multi-apartment buildings in Lithuania. Among other factors, we consider how the differences in the energy performance gap for each building can be explained by energy efficiency measures, targeted energy class, and the type of multi-apartment building management. Interestingly, we find that multi-apartment buildings managed by outsourced specialized housing management companies tend to realize higher energy savings than buildings managed by communities of apartment owners.