A cold bridge in construction is a structure area where a gap occurs with high heat conductivity, through which cold air from the environment enters the room while heat, on the contrary, goes outside. When there is no thermal protection, uncontrolled heat losses reach up to 30%. To prevent heat losses, Semen Kramarenko, a fourth-year student of the Department of Heat Engineering and Energy Saving, is researching the effectiveness of fencing structures.

Recently, he has got a diploma of a first degree at the All-Ukrainian competition of student research papers on “Energy”. Semen has been working on the research “Assessment of the influence of linear heat-conducting inclusions in the places of adjacency of the window frame to the enclosing structures of the building” under the guidance of Associate Professor, Candidate (Ph.D.) of Technical Sciences Inna Bilous. Before winning, his work has been chosen among many other research papers. In addition, in February 2021, Semen Kramarenko has taken second place in the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in Energy Management (specialization Energy Management and Engineering). The student has already published a co-authored professional article and participated in three scientific and practical conferences. The Department of Heat Engineering and Energy Saving sincerely congratulates Semen and is proud of his student achievements! 

Semen was born into an ordinary Ukrainian family: his father is a driver, his mother is a housewife. The family had lived in Donetsk for a long time. Later, they moved to Cherkasy, where Semen graduated from Cherkasy Secondary School №11 with honors. During his school years, he won prizes in competitions, got engaged in public life: he performed in the school theater and organized holidays and performances. After graduating from school, Semen had to choose a future approach and enter a higher education institution. The young man decided that the IEE specialties were modern and promising. Increasing the energy efficiency level of enterprises and utilities is crucial for Ukraine, so a heat and power engineer will always have a job.

As soon as he chose the specialty “Heat and Power Engineering”, Semen immediately got the reputation of a sharp-witted and capable student who accomplishes tasks in a non-standard and thorough way. University teachers noticed Semen’s interest in research almost at once, so on the 3rd year of study, he and other active students got engaged in the science club “Software for modeling energy processes in buildings”. The head is Associate Professor Inna Bilous, the winner of the University competition Young teacher-researcher - 2018 and 2019, laureate of the President Award for Young Scientists in 2020, laureate of the competition for the scholarship of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for young scientists in 2018-2020 and 2020 -2022.

“Using specialized software, we conducted a series of calculations of heat loss through the enclosing structures of the building, which became the basis for writing a research paper for the All-Ukrainian competition of student works,” said Semen. "As part of the research, we analyzed current national and European standards; performed comparative calculations taking into account various methods that characterize heat-conducting inclusions (cold bridges) for building fences." Associate Professor Inna Bilous is convinced that the modeling of building heat loss is relevant in conducting energy audits and energy certification. Specialists with such skills are in demand in the labor market. They can perform work not only for Ukrainian but also for European customers. 

Semen Kramarenko plans to get a Master's degree and work in the specialty to use the acquired experience in scientific achievements. Teachers of the Department of Heat Engineering and Energy Saving wish Semen further professional success!

Maryna Shovkaliuk, Associate Professor of the Institute of Energy Saving and Energy Management