The European Commission plans to eliminate Russian fossil fuel imports features a strong focus on energy efficiency. For the energy-guzzling building sector, this means a renewed push for home insulation.

The EU’s building stock is responsible for about 40% of the EU’s total energy consumption and 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions. The prevalence of fossil gas boilers in European homes further compounds the issue.

The EU executive’s plan, dubbed REPowerEU, “will help us to save more energy to accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuel and most importantly to kickstart investments on a new scale,” explained Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission.

Most obvious among those are investments in energy savings, which “are the quickest and the cheapest way to address the current energy crisis,” she added while presenting the proposals on Wednesday (18 May).

Home insulation is one of the surest ways of reducing energy use and consumer’s energy bills. A recent study by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), a think-tank, found that insulating homes could significantly reduce energy use and reliance on Russian gas.

Looking at some of the largest EU states, the think-tank found that “improving insulation in the selected countries can achieve up to 44% gas savings and reduce final energy demand by 45%.”

“The BPIE analysis tallies with research by the Regulatory Assistance Project, Ember Climate, E3G and Bellona showing that energy efficiency and electrification can massively reduce gas imports,” tweeted Jan Rosenow, director of European operations at environmental NGO RAP.

Industry representatives share this view too. “According to the latest BPIE analysis, a massive roll out of building insulation can lead to 45% of final energy demand reduction and 44% of natural gas saved for heating residential buildings,” explained Katarzyna Wardal, public affairs manager at insulation producer Knauf Insulation.

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