The Balance Point and Passive Heating for residential buildings in Kosovo

The end use energy in buildings is a large share of total energy consumed in residential and commercial sector. In total, 76 % of the world produced energy is used on the buildings and from the buildings, therefore the highest carbon emissions comes from the buildings.Knowing how and when a building is used is very critical for knowing heating and cooling requirements. When we determine these building requirements, we can choose the proper strategies that will allow us to smartly use the energy within the building. In Kosovo, the energy sector is facing a lot of challenges. The energy production is based on lignite, resulting in high environmental pollutions. In addition, the energy is still used for heating from a large number of residential consumers which creates additional challenges in managing the energy demand during the winter.Therefore the questions raised in this paper are: considering Kosovo climate, what building design strategies could reduce energy consumption on residential building. How and when can climate conditions be used in Kosovo to create comfor inside the building, without using energy for heating or cooling? How much energy could be saved if we apply this strategy, on the residential buildings in Kosovo?