“Greening our Hotels – Green Hotels in Romania too” – September 28th, 2010, Bucharest
October 12, 2010 at 10:49 am | Posted in Events | Leave a commentTags: buildings, conference, Energy Certification, Energy Efficiency, Events, Green Building, Green Building Council, green buildings, Legislation, Legislative Outreach, RoGBC, Sustainable Construction
On September 28th, Romania Green Building Council held, at the Athenee Palace Hilton, a one day course on “Greening our Hotels – Green Hotels in Romania too”, in order to engage the hospitality industry and its related products and services in a discussion regarding the opportunity and importance of a more environmentally responsible approach of architectural design, rehabilitation and dealing with properties.
The workshop provided practice information about integrating available technologies in the design of more energy efficient and with low environmental impact buildings. In addition, the course was structured so that the participants had the time to interact with the speakers, during the “question& answer” sessions.
First part. Competitive advantages for building/ refurbishing green hotels.
In his welcoming speech, Steven Borncamp, president of RoGBC, gave a short introduction to the importance of the “green approach” in designing and operating new buildings, increasing international and local regulations for building materials and energy consumption, as well as the need for more action for generalized sustainable principles for all types of buildings. Stressing that “green” stands for quality, present and future, Mr. Borncamp also mentioned that for a slight increase of the costs for a green building (with 2-4%), the cumulative savings are about 40% per year, while the investment amortization is being done in the first 2 or 3 years.
Next, Linda Griffin, the new general manager of Hilton Athenee Palace, presented some recent actions that aim at reducing electricity consumption, promoting ecological means of transportation (bicycles for customers) and creating a Green Team, which would be involve in implementing sustainable initiatives in the hotel network as well as initiating a “customer awareness” program on environmental behaviors during accommodation.
David Nicholl- general manager of Schneider Electric- had a comprehensive overview on the benefits of generalized automation systems in all types of buildings, including hotels. Through the Active Energy Management systems, significant, controllable and predictable reductions are being made, throughout the building, while ensuring optimum comfort for residents. The integrated Schneider Electric solutions can lead to constant electricity and heat consumption reductions up to 30% in the long run.
Second part. Financial incentives, legislation and certification
Ms. Maria Daniela Toma – manager in Ministry of Environment- tackled issues of the environmental labeling of hotels. Introduced after 2005, eco-labels represent green building certification, based on 20 criteria which include, among others, indicators of ecological materials use, presence and quality of the vegetation in the site area, energy and water consumption, waste storage and recycling, cleaning systems’ efficiency, information about preventive ecological behavior etc. Specific matters regarding general aspects and regulations of green label certification are available on www.eur-lex.europa.eu. The fee for obtaining this certification is presently 200-300 euro/year.
Furthermore, two case studies were presented. Linica Stan, manager Saturn Hotel, presented the case of Saturn Hotel, Mangalia, while for Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bucharest, the presentation was held by Melania Secuianu, Administrative Manager Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Mark Velody – BERD consultant – held a methodological overview of financial procedures, with favorable interest or grants for energy efficient building projects.
Third part. Innovative solutions.
Rafael Mărculescu – Schneider Electric – completed David Nicholl’s presentation through an application of energetic management integrated systems. He showed that the implementation of this kind of systems is very useful for all types of hotel equipments (heating/ HVAC/ water management, lighting etc.) and that the investment amortization for Schneider systems is up to 3 years, meanwhile noticing reductions of 35% for heat, 60% for electricity, as well as the number of employees.
David Clark – Cundall Engineering – presented a hotel case study, underlining the three aspects – energetic benchmarking, clarifying the CO2 footprint criteria (design, passive/ active system, energy efficiency and the recovery of energies) and users’ information/ education, in this case the tourists.
Specific solutions
In the last part the presentations were about a) particular solutions (products and systems) for a successfully implementation of significantly reduction of electricity consumption, lighting through efficient LED and mercury light bulbs (Cuneșteanu – Philips România), b) packaging waste management (Lorita Constantinescu – Eco-Rom Ambalaje) and c) sustainable solutions for green spaces design, through water management and special effects for the aesthetic part and for air quality improvement (Katja Perrey – Katja Perrey Landscapes).
Organizer:
Romania Green Building Council (www.RoGBC.org) is a non-profit and non-political association which encourages the development of market, educational and legal conditions necessary in the transformation of the building industry, in order to create and refurbish intelligent buildings, both sustainable and profitable. RoGBC is an “Established Council” within the World Green Building Council (www.WorldGBC.org) .
Cristina Şiu
Romania Green Building Council
Manager Marketing & Events
021-222 5135 / 021-260 0051 / 021 – 222 0011
Changes in the “Normative for thermo-technical computation of the houses elements, indicative C 107/2005″
July 30, 2010 at 2:44 pm | Posted in General | Leave a commentTags: Bucharest, Energy Audit, Energy Certification, Energy Efficiency, Legislation, Sustainable Development
The Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism has issued an Order for modifying the technical Regulation “Normative for thermo-technical computation of the houses elements, indicative C 107/2005” approved by order of the Ministry of transportation, construction and tourism no. 2055/205.
The following changes appear in C107:
- In the first part, for the computation of the necessary heat for heating, the 7.3 chart is replaced and some modifications appear at 7.8.2 point. This is a rectification.
- An actualization is done also for the minimum values of the Normalized Insulation Coefficients GN and of the Thermal Resistances Rmin, for buildings designed after 1.10.2010. This way the stakes are raised for construction specialists.
- For a more precise computation of the Global Reference Coefficient G1, the values of the control coefficients a, b, c, d, e were recomputed are the old values are replaced (C107/2).
Through these changes in C 105 normative, the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism is raising the standards for the construction field, and make it clear that correct thermo-technical computations are needed.
The changes can be viewed here.
Catalin Gauloiu
RoGBC Interview: Class A 2010
February 5, 2010 at 5:24 pm | Posted in Certification, Green Building Projects, News from Members | Leave a commentTags: Certification, class A, Energy Certification, Sustainable Construction
This January, the RoGBC suggests a sustainable New Year resolution: turning your home into a greener one. To prove that this is a feasible target, we invite you to take example form one of our very active members: Perry Zizzi, partner within Badea Clifford Chance, who achieved a Class A certificate for his home.
Lestat Monroe, the person behind the retrofitting of the home, as well as Ila Teodorescu, the auditor who rated the energy efficiency of the house agreed to explain the motivation, method and consequences of rating one’s home.
RoGBC: Why did you get your building audited?
Lestat Monroe: We believe in setting an example that green construction is feasible and desirable in Romania. There is also the personal conviction that we must green our homes and workplaces to ensure sustainability. Finally, there is no doubt that a building certified as energy efficient will — at least in the medium term — be more valuable than a building that is not.
RoGBC: What were your expectations and experience with the process?
L.M.: There is very little information on this, available to the average person. It is difficult to find companies that know the range of options available and that have the requisite expertise to properly install photovoltaic cells and other enhancements. We did all the research and educated ourselves, but we were still often told that nobody in Romania builds green, it is too expensive, etc. Because we made improvements that are not generally used in Romania, we expected that the building would get high marks.
RoGBC: Was the result as high as the expectations?
L.M.: The building earned the highest rating. It was gratifying to see so soon a pay-off from all the planning and extra effort to educate contractors and search for materials.
RoGBC: Will you be taking any next steps?
L.M.: We will continue to monitor technological developments and current trends in an effort to maintain an optimal mix of energy-saving features in the building.
RoGBC: Where is the most room for improvement for Romanian homes/buildings? The biggest ROI?
L.M.: It’s simple: windows need to be closed when the heat or the air conditioning is on. If it is too hot, turn down the heat — don’t open the window. Same if it is too cold when the air conditioning is operating. This behavior is among the most wasteful and inefficient! Besides that, buildings could be better insulated, energy saving bulbs could be used, lights could be put on sensors to turn off automatically when a room is empty and water saving toilets could be used.
RoGBC: How was the process seen from the auditor’s point of view?
Ila Teodorescu: At present, a building is considered to be an organism undergoing permanent evolution, needing to be rehabilitated after a certain time and modernized in order to fit the requirements claimed by the owner, at a specific level.
RoGBC: Where do you think is the most room for improvement in Romanian homes?
I.T.: Improving or increasing energy efficiency has to start as a matter of educating the building users in the spirit of energy saving and has to go through affordable interventions, to energy auditing and finally receiving recommendations for technological improvements of the building. The building envelope is the area where most improvements can be done in order to rehabilitate the building. It is the biggest source of ROI as well. We have to bear in mind the fact that the costs associated with the thermal rehabilitation of a building are lower than the costs of installing a complementary thermal energy capacity.
Common sense and increasingly efficient technology are the two elements driving the future of responsible building. Ignoring either of the two can delay development and have a negative economic impact.
As in any other field, it is the awareness of the possibilities to improve that can transform our reality in a way that could pleasantly surprise even the most skeptical.
RoGBC signs position paper “Romania and Climate Change Policies – Economic Stimulus from a Green Economy”
September 19, 2009 at 4:46 pm | Posted in Events, Legislative Outreach | Leave a commentTags: buildings, climate change, conference, Energy Audit, Energy Certification, Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency in Buildings, GBC, Green Building, Green Building Council, green buildings, LEED, Legislation, Legislative Outreach, renewable energy, strategy, sustainability, sustainable architecture, Sustainable Development, WWF
The Romania Green Building Council (RoGBC) along with WWF Danube-Carpathian Romania, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Association of Energy Auditors for Buildings (AAEC) signed a shared position paper, regarding the measures that should be taken in order to encourage energy efficiency. The document, entitled “Romania and Climate Change Policies – Economic Stimulus from a Green Economy”, draws the attention on the economic opportunities associated with the implementation of environment policies, especially in the construction field. Some of the opportunities highlighted are the reducing energy costs, ensuring energy safety, raising comfort and creating new jobs.
In addition, the position paper underlines the necessity of immediate action in order to move towards a greener economy and explains that the practical measures to be applied do not represent budgetary costs, but investments towards a sustainable development. .
The position paper is available for reading here.
Software for calculating the energy efficiency of buildings
July 20, 2009 at 2:48 pm | Posted in News from Members | Leave a commentTags: Energy Audit, Energy Certification, Energy Efficiency, EPBD, Green Building
Nemetschek Romania launched a software package dedicated to “Calculating the energy efficiency of buildings”. The software, which is fully translated into Romanian and complying with the current legislation, uses all the architectural data from the unique model of the building, avoiding the potential errors due to defining the building through a great number of numerical data, that are difficult to manage. The package supplies all the features necessary to obtaining an energy efficiency certificate, including instructive tutorials.
Obtaining an architectural model is very simple. After 10 to 12 hours of preparation, a user with no experience in assisted planning can, in approximately 3 hours, make a model of a P+4 apartment building, with two entrances, in compliance with the requirements of the Energy Efficiency of the Buildings Program.
The software automatically determines the physical characteristics of the architectural elements, allowing the Certificate for Energy Efficiency of the Building to be printed with just one mouse click.
The certificate is obtained according to MC001/2007 and elaborated by applying the law 327/2005, which includes energy consumption for heating, hot water and lighting.
Also, the software offers a quantity list of added materials (e.g. new insulation layer) for rehabilitation options.
Nemetschek offers live demonstrations to those interested in test running the software program.
Online Training Video: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
April 10, 2009 at 11:26 am | Posted in Events, Training | 1 CommentTags: Energy Audit, Energy Certification, Energy Efficiency, EPBD, Green Building, Legislation, renewable energy, sustainable_development, Training
We are pleased to announce that videos from our training on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive are now available online. The presentations are in Romanian, with subtitles in English.
“How to get an A rating on the Energy Performance Certificates?” was held in October 2008. It was a training event dedicated to explaining the most important aspects to be considered to score the highest rating on the energy performance certificates in the European Union’s mandatory Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
The presentations covered: definitions and benchmarks in a building energy performance certificate, energy saving measures (insulation, architecture and vicinity passive solutions, traditional and unconventional heating systems, lighting, ventilation and air conditioning, etc), case studies.
To view the presentations, go to www.RoGBC.org, Watch Green Videos section.
Protected: Training Specifications – Energy Performance for Buildings Directive
September 13, 2008 at 8:47 pm | Posted in Training | Enter your password to view comments.Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Certification, EPBD
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