Building stock characteristics and energy performance of residential buildings in Eastern-European countries

•Energy analysis of the housing stock in the Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia.•Climate, housing stock, building systems, energy sources, user habits.•Assessment of statistical data on the housing stock, including renovation activities.•Estimates on potential primary energy savings.•Partial heating and underheating caused by fuel poverty is an important factor. Countries in Eastern-Europe have similar characteristics due to their common historical and economic backgrounds. A large part of the housing stock has been built during the Soviet era, applying uniform solutions and similar standards, but similarities extend to other periods as well. On the other hand, the differences should also be noted – although the climate is mainly continental, there are significant variations between South and North and between mountainous and flat areas. In this paper, a detailed comparative analysis is presented for Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The results are based on the residential building typologies developed within the TABULA/EPISCOPE project co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. Typical building types will be presented, covering building structures and systems. Important energy performance indicators are identified and compared, supported by available statistical data about the housing stock. The added value of the paper consists of the analysis of heterogeneous data sources and collecting and comparing the information of the housing stock under a common comparison framework of building typology data between countries, and the contribution in the harmonization of the building typology approach.