Do you know which are the most innovative green building products in 2011?

May 21, 2012 at 5:53 pm | Posted in Events, General | Leave a comment
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We revealed the top 3 within the Romania Green Building Council Awards Gala, on May 10 at Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest

  • AGC Flat Glass Romania;

Stopray Ultravision is new type of glass to be used in facades or windows. It has a double function: during winter, it acts as a super insulating glass. In double glazing Ug value is as low as 1.0 W/sqm K. In summer time its low Solar Factor of 23%generates significant reduction of electricity ( air conditioning is not used on full power). On top of that, the light transmission is the optimum (LT=49%), ensuring that natural light enters to the building. Glass has the highest selectivity in the market (ration between light transmission and solar factor is very high, S=LT/SF=2,13). Stopray Ultravision is certified Cradle to Cradle with SILVER.

  • Jotun

Jotashield Extreme Silk is a 100% pure acrylic based paint specially formulated to with stand the harsh climate. The porduct’s special formulation based on a cutting edge technology offers excellent thermal comfort, lower energy consumption for keeping building interiors cool, longer lasting colours and protection against concrete carbonation. The special acrylic binder gives a durable and long lasting silk finish with low dirt pickup. It is ideal for decorating and protecting exterior surfaces and specially suited as a maintenance product

  • Schneider Electric;

Transportation is responsible for almost one third of all CO2 emissions in most industrialized countries.

As environmental considerations cause individuals and businesses to increasingly consider electrical propulsion for a wide-range of transportation needs, society is presented with an outstanding opportunity to reconsider its expectation of vehicles and the role of personal mobility. And Schneider Electric has a very significant role in this motion process by providing the infrastructure for the charging stations used by electric vehicles.

Schneider Electric’s EVlink makes possible for an electric car battery to charge at 80% of its capacity in less than 15 minutes, covering all the needs of the contibutors: from energy utilities to electric vehicles users, from the smart grid to the plug, from local supervision to wireless supervision on the charging stations, from simple charge to smart charge to optimize costs.

In our country, Schneider Electric has signed a partnership with Renault, Electrica and Siemens to develop the electric vehicles charging infrastructure.

 

 

The winner of this category was AGC Flat Glass Romania.

Green Building Education Initiatives in Romania awarded within the RoGBC Green Awards Gala, May 10

May 21, 2012 at 4:11 pm | Posted in Events, General | Leave a comment
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We are pleased to announce that for the 3rd edition of the Romania Green Building Council Awards competition we received a very impressive list of submissions for the Green Building Education Initiative of the Year category. The most appreciated education activities were:

  • “Sustainable Development. Integrated concept of built space and energetic audit” – University of Architecture & Urbanism “Ion Mincu”

The Faculty of Urban Planning, Landscape Design Section has developed a new Curriculum of Master in architecture which responds to issues of sustainability, energy, and the environment within the “Sustainable Development – Integrated concept of built space and energetic audit” course. As case study for this course a partnership protocol was signed between Bucharest University, “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Babes Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, and University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine  The students from Faculty of Urban Planning, Landscape Design Section were involved in the interdisciplinary summer practice.They identified the architectural patrimony of Geopark villages: Sarmisegetusa, Clopotiva, Densus, Santamaria Orlea and the vernacular architecture principal specific features.

  • “Energy improvement in the built environment” Transilvania University Brasov – Faculty of Construction;

The Department of Construction & Building Services has organized and developed courses concerning the Management of Water, Energy, Indoor Air Quality and Daylight harvesting.

Notable environmental and sustainable achievements:

-Green Roofs and Cool Roofs have been subjects of papers published by doctoral students.

-A student contest concerning Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Renewable energy applied in buildings, Sustainable use of Materials took place in 2011 in the faculty.

-A laboratory that studies the usugae of heat pumps was recently finalized. MsC and doctoral Students have won an ASHRAE grant focused on Energy Efficiency  in Buildings.

-In March 2011 RoGBC  organized the “Managing Green Building Projects” course at Aula of Transilvania University of  Brasov.

  • “Research and Educational Center for High Energy Efficiency Buildings” – University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest;

University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, in partnership with University of Architecture & Urbanism “Ion Mincu”, ICPE, ISPE, UTCB and Agecom Baia Mare built two passive houses as a laboratory for students and educational purpose.

The monitoring system  helps students to better understand:

-          Conductive heat exchange through building walls, windows and doors.

-          Convective heat exchange through heating recovery units.

-          Heat exchange by radiation through radiant heating panels, windows. The monitoring system also uses a pyrometer to collect solar radiation.

Moreover, students learn how to calculate heat requirement of the building using dynamic models, sizing heating equipament, how photovoltaic panels can be integrated in the structure of the house (storage of energy, energy transfer to the national grid) and many other applications.

 

The winner for this category was “Research and Educational Center for High Energy Efficiency Buildings” – University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest.

 

Finalists and Winners of the Romania Green Building Council Awards

May 18, 2012 at 10:05 am | Posted in Events, General | Leave a comment
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This year, based on the interest we’ve seen in the third edition of the Romania Green Building Council Awards, we can definitely say that sustainability is not a niche topic anymore on the Romanian construction market. If in the previous years, the RoGBC Green Awards was usually just a section in a more general real estate awards, this time based on the interest we received and the uprising trend of the green construction in Romania we decided to organize it separately.

It was a great decision since this year’s contest saw an increase in the number of award submissions and a very impressive list of projects, company initiatives, and education institution activity.

On May 10th we’ve invited everybody to come for a drink at Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest – one of the greenest Hilton Hotels in Europe, based on the hotel chain’s internal assessment and competition – and find out which finalists were the winners of this year’s RoGBC Awards. The short list included (Finalists for Romania Green Building Council Awards after first judging session):

Green Education Initiative of the Year:

    • “Sustainable Development. Integrated concept of built space and energetic audit” – University of Architecture & Urbanism “Ion Mincu”
    • “Energy improvement in the built environment” Transilvania University Brasov – Faculty of Construction;
    • “Research and Educational Center for High Energy Eficiency Buildings” – University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest;

Green Building Product Innovation of the Year:

    • AGC Flat Glass Romania;
    • Jotun
    • Schneider Electric;

Sustainable Company of the Year:

    • CUNDALL Engineering;
    • Ozone Homes;
    • Schneider Electric Romania;

Green Service Provider of the Year:

    • BuildGreen Romania;
    • CUNDALL Engineering;
    • EPSTEIN ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING ROMANIA :

Green Building Project of the Year SMALL:

    • Greenome; Developer: Felicia and Marius Ienculescu-Popovici;
    • Complex Piatra Soimului, Sinaia;

Green Building Project of the Year LARGE:

    • Avalon Residence – Ozone Homes
    • CRYSTAL TOWER Business Center
    • Olympia Tower;

All the finalists had great projects and initiatives and choosing the best was a tough decision. The jury this year was formed of: Arh. Emilio Miguel Mitre, President GBC Espagna & Education Taskforce Chair of WorldGBC’s European Regional Network; Arh. Adrian Cristescu, West Group Architecture; Mr.Claus Kegel, Managing Director Heberger Constructii; Prof Dorin Beu Ph.D- Universitatea Tehnica Cluj-Napoca; Mr. Perry Zizzi, Partner, Badea Clifford Chance; Mr. Dragos Riti, Erste Group Immorent; Mr. Ovidiu Sandor, Modatim Investment; Ms. Corina Truica, Managing Partner CEMS Tehnologii

In the end we had only one award for each category so the jury had to make their choice and the trophies, which were made out of 100% recyclable glass and wood, went to:

POLITEHNICA University, Bucharest for the BEST Green Education Initiative of the Year

AGC Flat Glass Romania for the BEST Building Product Innovation of the Year

Schneider Electric Romania for the BEST Sustainable Company of the Year

EPSTEIN ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING ROMANIA for the BEST Service Provider of the Year

CRYSTAL TOWER Business Center for the BEST Green Building Project of the Year – Large

Greenome for the BEST Green Building Project of the Year – Small

The RoGBC team would like to thank everybody for participation and for being active in shifting the construction industry in Romania towards sustainability! More details on each winner and why they received the awards will follow shortly!

“Greening our Hotels – Green Hotels in Romania too” – September 28th, 2010, Bucharest

October 12, 2010 at 10:49 am | Posted in Events | Leave a comment
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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

Cristina.Siu@RoGBC.org

www.RoGBC.org

Green Building Innovation Center Open House

July 16, 2010 at 11:25 pm | Posted in Green Building Projects | Leave a comment
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Come visit the Green Building Innovation Center on July 28th to get information and meet companies active in sustainable construction, real estate and green tech activities. The Center will be opened to be general public from 10:00am and conclude at 5pm.

Visitors will have the opportunity of learning about the Green Building Innovation Center , sustainable construction, and the RoGBC member companies.

RoGBC Member companies are invited to display their brochures and other promotional materials during the Open House.

Please contact Roxana Bica, Manager of Operations at RoGBC to ensure your participation is included in this exciting event.

Green Building Innovation Center

Purpose: to assist both “start up” and existing companies dedicated to transforming the construction and related industries towards greater environmental responsibility and energy efficiency.

The Green Building Innovation Center (or “GBIC”) provides companies a very efficient workspace to focus on developing their respective businesses in the proximity of a supportive network of similar companies.

This initiative is organized by the Romania Green Building Council (www.RoGBC.org) with the generous support of West Group Architecture.

The Benefits to Green Components of GBIC:

- Low-cost office space in central Bucharest with easy access to public transit for Green Building and Green Tech entrepreneurs

- Flexible use to accommodate the companies’ needs, reduce costs, and utilize the office space more efficiently

- The office equipment, appliances, materials, paints and lighting are selected to improve the environmental performance of the building

- Includes assistant to answer phones and resolve office issues; Kitchen with water, coffee and tea

- Includes use of office equipment (printer, fax, copier), high speed internet, central phone line, electricity, water and gas

More information is available here.

Looking forward to seeing you  there,

Cristina Siu

The RoGBC and the US Embassy brought Copenhagen to Bucharest for an hour

December 11, 2009 at 10:57 am | Posted in Events | Leave a comment
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How would you comment if someone told you that a 38% energy consumption reduction in a huge office building would pay back in 3.1 years? What if this statement came from US experts that were present at the Copenhagen summit? And what would you say if that building was the Empire State Building? This was one of the most exciting aspects of the presentations held during the fully booked Green Café /webinar hosted by the RoGBC, in collaboration with the US Embassy.

The session, which was transmitted via Internet from the US Center at the Copenhagen conference, discussed vital examples of “low-hanging fruit” mitigation opportunities that can be undertaken at cost savings by building owners and occupants.

Panelists represented ESCOs, Green Building NGOs, building supply and technology companies, and addressed leading technologies and examples of green buildings, obstacles to implementation, and best ways forward in implementing energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings.

Have a look at a slide presentation accompanying one of the talks here.

Discussions before and after the webinar

RoGBC celebrated a year of activity

October 1, 2009 at 12:26 pm | Posted in Events, News from Members | Leave a comment
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The RoGBC, along with its partners Athenee Palace Hilton and Calidus Romania, organized a triple party to celebrate RoGBC’s first year of activity, but also to publicize the first shared sustainable project between Hilton and Calidus. On the same occasion, the three organizations celebrated World Green Building Day.

Among the guests at the event were representatives of RoGBC member companies, but also representatives of other companies involved in projects that require a careful approach to environment.

Hilton 223

More photos from the event can be found on our Flikr account.

RoGBC Associate Memberships for academics

October 31, 2008 at 8:49 am | Posted in Academics, General | Leave a comment
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Full time students and professors are eligible to become an “associate member” of the RoGBC by providing 80 hours of service to the RoGBC in exchange for a one year membership.   We have identified and will continue to identify projects useful for meeting the RoGBC and our member companies’ objectives.  Members can suggest projects we should include in this initiative.

The procedure:

- submit a resume/CV

- submit a cover describing your intentions for joining the RoGBC, what you feel you could contribute to the council, and on which types of projects you would like to work.

Below are two sample 80 hour projects that will satisfy the requirements to become an associate member….  The work must be suitable for publishing, include the latest available technologies and/or techniques in green building,  and needs to include 80 hours of new effort… not republishing existing work.   This work result must also be action oriented… not just a theoretical exploration.

Expenses can be reimbursed but will be decided on a case by case basis.

Project 1

- Review BREEAM and LEED standards for offices
- Create an inventory of “green construction related courses” throughout Romania’s Universities, Research Institutions, Training Companies, etc.
- Provide analysis on the suitability of each course toward the latest green standards
- Provide recommendations for how the RoGBC can best promote sustainable construction working with Romanian Universities

Project 2 (can be one or two people…it could be, for example, a business student with an architectural professor or student)

Purpose – Provide analysis to promote green products, materials, technology,

- Choose  a subject area (e.g. Green Roofs, Energy Efficient Lighting, GeoThermal application in Buildings, Integration of Traditional Building Styles with Modern Applications, etc.)
- Prepare a paper that describes the market and economic opportunities, employment opportunities, barriers, expected results, existing and projected installations, existing government funding, desired government funding, recommended approach.

Please send questions and/or your resume and CV to info@RoGBC.org.

Thank you for your interest.

Steven Borncamp, Romania Green Building Council

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