/ 3 June 2011

Fixing buildings

Fixing Buildings

Buildings account for almost a third of energy consumed globally and at the same time contribute significantly to climate change-causing carbon emissions.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), heating and cooling technologies for buildings that are both energy-efficient and cut down on CO2 emissions are commercially available, but it is up to governments to stimulate the market.

The association released a comprehensive report in late May showing how efficiency in heating and cooling buildings could save up to 710 million oil equivilant tons of energy by 2050, and cut the use of fossil fuels in the sector to between 5% and 20%.

“Energy-efficient technologies for buildings offer many low-cost options for reducing consumption, energy bills and CO2 emissions. The savings potential is huge,” said Bo Diczfalusy, the association’s director of sustainable energy policy and technology, at the launch of the report.

Heating and cooling spaces and hot water account for about 50% of energy consumed in residential, commercial and public buildings. The report says transformation to energy efficiency is possible using four key available technologies:

  • Active solar thermal systems, where water is heated by the sun and used in buildings to heat spaces or for hot water.
  • Combined heat and power systems, which simultaneously produce heat and electricity for use in buildings or for sale to the electricity grid. The heat produced is used for space or water heating, and even cooling with a thermally-driven chiller.
  • Heat-pump systems, designed to produce heat and/or cold, and can produce them simultaneously.
  • Thermal energy storage, which facilitates greater use of renewable energy.

Titled Energy-Efficient Buildings: Heating and Cooling Equipment Roadmap, the report charts a course for expanding the use of these technologies to 2050. In developing countries transformation will mostly be achieved through retrofitting heating and cooling equipment in existing buildings, given the relatively slow rate of new construction. In developed countries, the priority is to change the policy for new buildings.

The report envisages the total number of installed heat pumps in residential homes will grow from around 800 million today to nearly 3.5 billion by 2050. Solar thermal capacity will increase by more than 25 times and half of all space heating and hot water systems will be equipped with thermal energy storage, it predicts. But governments will have to provide the right incentives and policy frameworks to keep the construction industry on track.

The IEA, which has 28 member states and focuses on global energy security, prepared the roadmap in consultation with government representatives, the construction industry, academics and NGOs. South Africa is not a member state, but has been co-operating with the association on various levels since 1996.

It says government policies must be both “broad” enough to address specific barriers to transforming buildings — for instance, by raising awareness on the part of workers who install equipment — and “deep” enough to reach all players in the fragmented sector — for instance, by aligning the incentives for building developers with those for future owners.

“Governments need to create the economic conditions that will enable heating and cooling technologies to meet environmental criteria,” said Diczfalusy. “The challenges are significant, given the very fragmented nature of the building sector and the difficulty of ensuring that effective policy reaches all decision-makers.”

Key actions needed in the next 10 years include developing national roadmaps, tailored to local circumstances, to help drive market expansion. Governments should advance systems development and integration, shape supportive policy and enhance collaboration.

“Policies should set measurable and meaningful targets, such as CO2 emissions reductions, and ensure that the effectiveness of programmes is verified regularly,” says the report. Governments should also educate key professionals, such as architects, engineers and builders — as well as owners — about the potential of existing and soon to be commercialised heating and cooling equipment.

“Minimum energy performance standards, labelling, utility programmes and financial incentives are needed over the next decade to address market barriers,” it says.

This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial feature