More green buildings, less energy usage

Developing more eco friendly and sustainable buildings is expected to help save energy at a time when energy shortage is of growing concern in Viet Nam, experts said at the World-Green-Building-Week meeting held yesterday. Green buildings only account for five per cent of all buildings in Viet Nam and the country is forecast to face an energy shortage of up to 70 per cent by 2025. In addition, Viet Nam recorded the most rapid increase of CO2 emission worldwide between 1990 and 2005, according to a report by the US-based Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre. Population growth and an increasing urbanisation process were blamed for the situation, said Yannick Millet, Viet Nam Green Building Council's Executive Director. Statistics from the Viet Nam General Statistics Office show the country's population increases one million each year and is forecast to reach 120 million by 2050 with 60 per cent of people living in urban areas.According to Autif Mohammed Sayyed, an expert from the Green Buildings programme in Viet Nam and East Asia under the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, energy consumption of buildings accounts for over 20 per cent of the country's entire energy consumption annually.  Autif also said the average growth rate for the construction sector currently stood at 10 per cent annually - if not higher, before suggesting that the Government find new energy sources and raise energy efficiency in buildings. Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Viet Nam's Ministry of Construction and the World Bank, data had been collected to calculate the energy consumption of 1,000 buildings including hospitals, hotels, schools, offices and retail stores in Da Nang, Ha Noi and HCM City, said Tran Dinh Thai, deputy head of the ministry's Science, Technology and Environment Department. The MoU aims to modify the Building Energy Efficiency Certificate, which was issued by the ministry in 2005, to make it easier for builders to implement. The National Strategy on developing green buildings by 2020 with a vision to 2030 is scheduled to be issued at the end of 2013.