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To overcome the climate challenge is one of the greatest tasks of our time. In EU, renovating the existing building stock has been found an effective measure. In Swedish buildings with district heating, lowering heat demand could be questioned, because the energy used is mainly renewable bio energy or waste heat from industries. In addition many district heating systems cogenerate electricity, which could reduce the overall European greenhouse gas emissions.

The aim of this article is to find effective measures for Swedish apartment buildings, in order to increase the share of renewable energy in European energy consumption. As a basis we use a previous study of energy saving potentials in apartment buildings. Added to this we study the impact of heat savings in 30 of Sweden’s largest district heating systems.

The results show that on average heat reductions will lead to a decreased share of renewable energy, while electricity reductions will lead to an increased share of renewables. Of the investigated measures, using photovoltaics for local solar electricity generation has the largest potential.

Our conclusion is that using the potential of solar electricity production should be considered in national energy policy and future building requirements. Heat reduction, on the other hand, could have lower priority in district heating areas, at least for existing buildings.