New buildings in Estonia do not always bring lower bills: the new school in Lihula uses more than the old one

The new building of Lääneranna upper secondary school in Lihula, western Estonia, has much higher electricity and heating costs than the old school it replaced, which surprised the municipality, public broadcaster ERR reports. The case has prompted a discussion about why new buildings with better indoor air do not automatically bring lower bills.

The Lihula case. The school, built by Lääneranna municipality for almost €12 million and described at the design stage as a nearly zero-energy building, opened on 1 September 2025 for more than 300 pupils, according to ERR. Mayor Tarvi Sits says prices explain part of the increase, but modern ventilation systems probably use more electricity; the municipality has brought forward an energy audit and set aside a budget reserve for winter heating and electricity. ERR also cites a Tallinn resident who moved from an unrenovated block in Lasnamäe to a new building in Kopli and now pays twice as much for electricity.

The experts’ explanation. Professor Jarek Kurnitski, who leads the nearly zero-energy buildings research group at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), says schools need about five air changes per hour because many pupils share small classrooms, so ventilation uses a lot of electricity; demand-controlled ventilation could save roughly half of that. Apartments need only about 0.5 air changes per hour. If supply air exceeds 18 °C, the electric reheater kicks in, whereas underfloor heating supplied by district heating is much cheaper. Priit Valk of the state real estate company RKAS says extra consumption often comes from ensuring indoor climate.

Benchmarks. According to Kurnitski, a new energy class A building should have at most half the energy costs of an old one, and older buildings often use two to three times more energy. New systems, however, need time to be tuned, so the first months can be expensive.

What comes next. The experts recommend comparing buildings as a whole, checking the supply air temperature and the ventilation schedule and, where possible, controlling ventilation by demand.

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