Description

That is the major content of the project “Energy Efficiency Improvement in Commercial and High-Rise Residential Buildings in Vietnam” (EECB) funded by Global Environment Fund through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project aims to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector by improving energy utilization performance of buildings in Hồ Chí Minh City and Hà Nội. This project lasts from 2016 to 2021 and has been rolled out by the Ministry of Construction (MoC) under the sponsorship of UNDP. On 22^nd October, the MoC and UNDP co-organized a conference to share the final results of the project.

According to UNDP Vietnam, construction is the energy-intensive sector, accounting for 35 – 40% of the national energy consumption. However, this sector also has a high potential for energy efficiency. About 25% to 67% of the energy use in buildings can be saved. This leads to a reduction of operating cost and CO2 emission, benefits of the environment, and thus life quality improvement.

The EECB project provided:

– policy review and technical inputs to the introduction of energy-efficient and green buildings provision into the Law on amendment and supplementation of many articles of Law on Construction 2020 and Decree 15/2011/ND-CP on guiding the management of construction investment projects

– five technical standards on energy-efficient properties of building materials, six technical standards on the methodology of the establishment of Specific Energy Consumption Profiles; one technical cost norm related to energy efficiency consultancy service costs, one roadmap on development of energy-efficient buildings in Viet Nam, and two databases on energy-efficient equipment and materials

– technical support to 23 new and existing buildings with the application of a total of 75 energy-saving solutions and subsequently save 12,000 MWh equivalent to a reduction of 10,000 tons of CO2 and 35 billion VNĐ.

Deputy Minister of MoC, Lê Quang Hùng, stressed that the “results and lessons from 75 energy-saving solutions will be shared and replicated”. The UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Vietnam, Patrick Haverman suggested further steps that the Government of Vietnam can consider including (1) issuing tools on energy consumption profiles, energy bench-marking, energy-efficient building certification system, (2) designing specific incentive schemes and innovative financial models to promoting the demand and supply of green buildings, (3) long-term vision of private sector towards net-zero energy building by 2050, and (4) raising public awareness on the economic, environmental, and health benefits of green buildings.

Sources & further information: “Further Advancing Energy Efficiency in High-rise Residential and Commercial Buildings” at https://www.vn.undp.org, “Thúc đẩy sử dụng năng lượng hiệu quả trong các chung cư cao tầng” at https://www.vietnamplus.vn, and “Vietnam aims to utilise energy saving and environmental protection” at https://vir.com.vn, accessed on 29 October 2021.