Transition Towards Energy Efficient Housing: Detection of The “Weakest Links” In Energy Performance of the Residential Building Stock of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The objective of this paper is to evaluate and distinguish the most critical segments of the residential building stock in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of its energy performance, in order to define the guidelines and priorities in the development of the energy efficiency strategies and building refurbishment plans. The research methodology will be explained systematic in the case of the most dominant typology in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the single-family houses built from 1981 to 1991. The analysis will include an overview of the average features for the selected category, which were obtained from the statistical survey and embraces several aspects: urbanism, architecture building physics and heating system. Subsequent methodological steps included the selection of the “representative” or the “typical” buildings, which are characterized by average or the most typical properties of each category within the entire database. This paper will present the analysis, which intend to demonstrate that, according to their potential in terms of possible energy savings, based on the presented improvement measures, the highlighted building typology – the single-family houses of 27 to 37 years of age – can be considered as the most relevant building typology in developing the strategies and plans of the residential building stock refurbishment. This paper is a part of the research on the typology of existing residential buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was initiated in 2014. Being the first-of-a-kind systematic approach on the subject matter, this research intends to catalyse the shift to the energy efficient housing models in a post-transition and post-conflict country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina.