Promotion of energy efficiency in the existing low income and social housing faces a large number of barriers. At the same time this stock is characterised by high energy use, due to poor energy efficiency of heating installations and poor thermal insulation, poor thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Major barrier is the lack of financial means as well as with owners as housing corporations. Private organised Energy Exploitation and Energy Performance Contracting are potential solutions for this problem. In ECOLISH a European pilot for energy exploitation and performance contracting is organised, elaborated and evaluated on 4 locations:

Heerlen the Netherlands
Ogre Latvia
Pieria Greece
Pécsvárad Hungary

The pilots include tailor-made finance schemes, energy and building technical boundary conditions, juridical, financial and social aspects. General guidelines and conditions will be given how to come to Energy Exploitation companies with occupants and concerned parties as shareholder and energy performance contracting including a template for a contract.

The Ecolish project started in 2006 and was finished in 2009.