Energy efficiency awareness in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still not sufficiently developed. According to the latest available information, nearly 20 percent of gross national income in B&H is spent on energy, which puts our country in the group of the largest energy distributors in South East Europe.
Energy efficiency is a topic of which the last few years speaks a lot in Bosnia and Herzegovina and thanks to numerous projects that support this problem, slowly gaining greater significance, but not even close as in the countries of the European Union. One of the best examples of countries with a low energy intensity is Denmark, where after 25 years of implementing energy efficient measures, energy consumption decreased by 7 percent, while carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are decreased by 30 percent.
To achieve this, one of the steps was the move by the Government of Denmark which has taken serious measures in the field of the development of technologies for the use of renewable energy sources. Bosnia and Herzegovina is far from these numbers. The question is why?
“Due to obsolete construction technology and poor insulation of buildings so as still insufficiently developed awareness of energy efficiency on average it consumes twice as much energy as the EU. However, in certain parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the energy turnaround has already started, but for a systemic solution, require the support of B&H authorities with all government levels”, said experts from BEEP – Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project.
Many cities in the European Union have recognized the benefits of using renewable energy sources to reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions as well as financial savings and which do not impair the conditions of work and life. If we look at the natural resources of Bosnia and Herzegovina it is clear that our country has great energy potential, however, to get closer to these cities our country still has to work hard to fulfill its obligations under the Energy Community Treaty which has committed itself to the implementation of the EU energy efficiency directive.