During the discussion with the participation of Ukrainian experts in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, the following issues were discussed: factors determining technical parameters and cost of heating in Ukraine in multi-apartment buildings and private homes; strategies for ensuring cost of heating at an acceptable level; ways of forming economic and ecological consciousness of citizens; incentives and obstacles to the reform of heat supply systems; conditioning as a kind of service for consumers and ways to ensure its economical, efficient, and environmentally friendly use.

Since heating and air conditioning are among the most important segments of energy consumption by Ukrainian citizens, because this segment is determined by the person's desire to maintain comfortable living environment with simultaneous efforts to reduce the cost of that services, the participants discussed the state and trends of further development of this segment.

The President of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI" Mykhailo Gonchar noted that it was important to understand the in-depth approaches in people's behavior when they make choices of energy sources, technologies, methods of energy consumption or decide on the use of energy-efficient and energy-saving technologies. He stressed the need to take into account regional energy differentiation in Ukraine, availability of local energy resources (mixed fuels, solar energy, wood, coal, peat, etc.), as well as importance of finding new ways to optimize their use.

The Head of International Programs of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI" Vitalii Martyniuk in an introductory report informed the participants of the round table about the results of the expert discussion, which was held by the Centre on October 13 on this theme. He, in particular, gave certain factors that influenced behavior of consumers in choosing methods and technologies for energy saving and energy efficiency.

The expert Mykola Polytikin drew attention to the fact that in the Ukrainian society, factors such as personal (expressed in the psychological striving for energy autonomy) and political (transition to the use of alternative fuels, as opposed to natural gas) are increasingly being viewed and actualized. This is connected with the desire to promote energy independence of Ukraine and the refusal to pay energy from an aggressor country - Russia.

Energy Audit Expert Volodymyr Mamaliga drew attention to the fact that many energy-saving measures are quite simple and affordable, for example: installation of additional doors in the entrance or screens on heating radiators, sealing of windows and doors. At the same time, he noted the importance of public awareness, which should begin with the training, first of all, officials on the principles of energy efficiency.

In the same vein, the activist of NGO Ecodiya, Maxim Babayev, noted that there was no clear state policy of informing the population about energy-efficient technologies, and that public organizations and business should be more and more involved in this process.

Andriy Sukhoryabov, the Chairman of the Center for Partnership and Innovation "Synergy", said that public policy was a stimulant in the areas of EE and RES, but local features, including the peculiarities of operation and maintenance of energy efficient equipment, should be carefully taken into account and, accordingly, market should be differentiated under conditions of its galloping transformation.

Expert of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI" Serhii Zhuk stressed the importance of property issues, because the sense of ownership is stimulating a person to implement energy-efficient technologies.

Summing up the results of the discussion, the participants agreed on the apparent difference between the current behavior of consumers in Ukraine and consumer behavior in the EU, since the Ukrainian consumers are guided mostly by a financial factor, while the European consumers take into account other factors, like ecology, development of the country and the region, promoting the development of new technologies. However, dynamic changes in Ukrainian and European energy markets will determine the change of consumer behavior, which should be taken into account in a timely manner in the process of determining the driving forces that influence the choice of energy sources.