Summary:

According to the Energy Low requirements relevant to local commune level, there should be made the balance of local energy demand and existing heat and energy potential. As Serock commune is the rural one, it does not have any centralized heating systems. In 2004 Serock local commune had 10 193 inhabitants. They occupied 1050 apartments in the city and 2500 houses or flats in commune rural area. In Serock rural commune, energy demand for house and water heating systems is ensured mainly by natural gas, next by solid fossil fuels; coal and coal derivatives. In the city 474 households were heated by gas, and in the country – 717. The rest – i.e. 576 households in the city and 1783 in the country were heated by other energy carriers. To heat 1m² of living area (data based on our own research results) energy of 0,7 GJ is needed. The equivalent heat power amounts to 0,1 kW. Currently, in Sercok local commune total heating demand amounts to 343 408 GJ/a, which is the equivalent of about 49,05 MW of power necessary to cover typical heating season demand. In the studied community, total coal consumption amounts to 5897,5 t per year, and fuel wood consumption amounts to1600m³. Gaseous emission indices in Serock commune are as follows: CO₂ –23 075,9t, SO₂ – 97,5t, NO_x - 42t, CO - 20,18t. Specific heating energy consumption in school buildings and kindergartens ranges from 0,44-0,99GJ/m² and 0,1 – 0,22GJ/m³ (the studied buildings are comprised in class C-F, according to the classification and labeling rules established for such facilities). Specific heating energy consumption in households ranges from 0,43 to 1,43 GJ/m². On the base of energy management analysis completed in Serock community, and taking sustainable regional development for priority, we can state that to reduce heat demand in households, schools and other commune facilities it is necessary to undertake some thermo-modernization measures. This method of balancing heating demand in a rural community has been properly verified and can be applied in a wide scale.