On March 17 construction of new energy-efficient house was started in Kazan (Kirovsky district, 2, Khalturina st.). A capsule with high performance building materials was laid to mark the start of construction.

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Board Chairman of State Corporation "Housing and Utility Reform Foundation" Konstantin Tsitsin, Chairman of supervision council of State Corporation "Housing and Utility Reform Foundation" Sergey Stepashin, Minister of Construction, Architecture, Housing and Municipal Economy Irek Faizullin, Deputy Chairman of State Council Aleksandr Gusev and Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin took part in the event.

Tatarstan President noted that since 2000, the share of energy consumption in GRP decreased by 50 per cent due to energy-saving programmes.

Sergey Stepashin, in his turn, said he was glad that the first energy-efficient house would be built in Kazan. “Unfortunately, there are only 52 such houses in Russia, whereas all around the world there are cities and districts where such houses are main places to live, because it helps saving energy and money. At today’s meeting with heads of municipalities we agreed on making Tatarstan the first region by the number of energy-efficient houses in a few years. I am sure you can do that,” he said.

Konstantin Tsitsin congratulated Tatarstan citizens on the event. “I am sure such houses will be built in Tatarstan. It is the housing of the 21st century. I hope we will meet at the end of the year to present keys to first dwellers of the house,” he said.

The whole range of energy-efficient technologies is to be used in construction of the house, such as weather control system, ventilation with heat recuperator, geothermic heat pump with subsoil heat exchanger, energy-efficient glazing and wall insulation, LED-based lighting system, solar panels, and apartment power supply control system.

The amount of consumed energy in the new energy-efficient house will be 60 per cent less than standard energy consumption. Annual need for heating may be about 15 kilowatt-hour per per square metre.