Energy Efficiency Directive – what are the discussions and how it will affect the building industry
July 26, 2011 at 8:02 pm | Posted in Legislative Outreach | Leave a commentTags: energy_efficiency, European_Commission, green renovation, Lobby
The European Commission published at the end of June its final version of the debated Energy Efficiency Directive. The text will be discussed and negotiated further in the European Parliament and Council of Ministers starting with this fall.
The Directive was supposed to capture some of the provisions from the Energy Efficiency Plan and also review the general energy efficiency targets for 2020. For the building industry the Directive is relevant because:
- sets obligation on Member States to renovate 3% of their building stock to minimum energy performance criteria
- demands public bodies to include energy efficiency criteria in public procurement of products, services and building
- sets obligations on energy distributors or retail energy sales companies to achieve annual energy savings – preferably through energy efficiency measures applied to final customers
- require installation of meters and smart meters to final customers for electricity, natural gas, district heating or cooling, district supplied domestic hot water
- promotes facilitation/support of small scale and micro cogeneration units
- promotes energy services market – model contracts for energy performance contracting (buildings included) in the public sector
However, the European Commission’s proposal received a lot of critics mainly for already including a lot of “opt-outs” in major areas such as the 3% renovation target and the energy savings from the utilities.
The situation might improve since the Rapporteur assigned to draft the European Parliament’s position and lead the negotiation is Mr. Claude Turmes (Greens, MEP Luxembourg) that already criticised significantly the Commission’s proposal, showing a clear support for stronger requirements.
More to follow after the fall’s discussions….
Anca Bieru
Avalon Residence
July 26, 2011 at 3:31 pm | Posted in General, Member Projects | Leave a commentTags: Green Building Projects, sustainable architecture, sustainable_development
Ozone Homes, member of the RoGBC obtained a high score certification of energy performance with Avalone Residence. Avalon Residence is an ensemble of three residential ecological buildings. The residential development is built in Pipera Tunari, only 10 minutes away from Baneasa Shopping City complex, closet Henri Coanda Airport and the Pipera neighborhood. The Avalon is in close proximity to all amenities for a comfortable lifestyle: supermarkets, shops, kindergarten and schools. Avalon is a low-rise development built on only two levels(P+1) in keeping with our lifestyle concept of green space and not overcrowding the development, totaling 38 apartments with two and three rooms (1&2 Bedroom apartments). Every apartment includes a fully equipped Kitchen and Bathroom, Built-in wardrobes, 1 or 2 parking spaces and the ground floor apartments come with private gardens. All utilities are completed within a community: access roads, paved walkways as well as all residents have a communal pool, garden, playground for children and leisure facilities (barbecue) and miniature golf.
new “Products & Technology Task Group” added
July 25, 2011 at 11:08 pm | Posted in Certification | Leave a commentTags: product & technology task group, product certification
The RoGBC Board of Directors has approved the creation of a “Products & Technology Task Group” to address the growing need to understand and guide the implementation of green certifications of materials, products and technology related to Romania’s construction industry. This group will coordinated closely with the “Building Certification” and “Legislative Outreach” Task Group to ensure these inter-linked topics progress efficiently.
The “Products & Technology Task Group “is led by RoGBC Board Member Dragos Riti of ERSTE Group Immorent who is joined by Carmine Bottigliero of EPSTEIN Romania, Civil Engineer and BREEAM Assessor Anca Mihaela Costin, and Steven Borncamp of the RoGBC. Dragos chaired the inaugural meeting on 18 July and Anca was kind enough to capture the proposed objectives in meeting notes that are available to any member company upon their request.
Members of this Task Group will attend the Sustainable Material and Resources training this Friday and hold a meeting immediately following the course to refine their objectives based on this update of available solutions and pending and in force legislation.
Member company representatives are welcome to join this initiative and invited to contact the RoGBC office for more details.
ecoBiblioteca update – Construction Started!
July 25, 2011 at 10:24 pm | Posted in ecobiblioteca, Green Building Projects | Leave a commentTags: Cacica, demo project, demonstration project, ecobiblioteca, green renovation, library, Suceava
[ Note – We will be posting a series of updates and photos about our ecoBiblioteca project. There are many project partners involved and we will introduce them in various posts throughout the phases of the project. RoGBC member companies have donated service hours, products and technology or made significant discounts from their standard fees
to assist our Council in undertaking this work which we appreciate greatly. ]
We hope you enjoy these project updates. Please contact us if you would like to get involved. – the RoGBC Team
________________
The construction works of the green library renovation project have gotten underway with site preparation and the beginning of the “deconstruction” of an adjoining, derelict building and the organization of its usable materials to be integrated into the renovated building and the surrounding landscaping.
Project Site Manager Bogdan Draganescu of Smart & Pepper Consulting ensured the site was prepared to exceed the required Health and Safety regulations as well as to ensure the construction activity on the site will not cause harm to the surrounding ecology. The construction team was briefed on the requirements of the “Living Building Challenge” standard which included carefully categorizing and storing of reusable materials and management of hazardous waste. The standard requires almost all of the construction waste to be diverted from landfills.
For more information about the project, see: or contact Timea Paal, ecoBiblioteca’s Project Manager for RoGBC.
site works
Plaster removal from the walls
Replacing Asbestos roof with traditional wood shingles
Storing reclaimed wood
Storing bricks for reusage
Corporate Office Solutions and Steelcase deliver training on “Creating and Managing Greener Workspaces”
July 21, 2011 at 3:21 pm | Posted in Certification, Events, Greening our Wokspace | Leave a commentTags: corporate office solutions, Creating and managing greener workspaces, green office, green office policies, green renovation, greener workspaces, RoGBC office, steelcase, training on how to create a greener workspaces
Just like there are things we can do in our personal life to keep our carbon footprint at a minimum, there are things we can do with our work life as well.
On July 5, RoGBC organized another training course within the “Romania Green Building Professional” certification and training platform. Representatives from Corporate Office Solutions and Steelcase talked about how to design, construct and operate green workspaces.
The course presented key information on various sustainable office solutions. It included developing a green office program as well as achieving internationally recognized green building certification. The event was useful for executives, architects, product designers, technologists, engineers, academics, students, and others interested in exploring ways to benefit from the important shift toward energy efficient and environmentally responsible design principle.
Within the course, our colleague Monica Zarnescu presented RoGBC’s internal policies to create a greener and healthier workspace. These include:
- paper recycling program – RECICLETA;
- public transportation program for the entire RoGBC team;
- green business events & meetings; RoGBC requires that all it’s suppliers to go green;
- office indoor air quality that includes natural ventilation, operable windows, entrance dirt track system, indoor green wall and plants, sustainable office furniture, recycled & recyclable carpet, energy efficient & light fixtures, Green Energy Star labeled computers, printers, LCDs, selective garbage collection: plastic, paper, residuary, recycled & recyclable pens, markers, organic soaps & non-toxic cleaners
Ligthing Design & Smart Buildings course
July 20, 2011 at 1:49 pm | Posted in Certification, Events | Leave a commentTags: BMS system, green building courses, lighting design, Romania Green Building Professional
On July 15 RoGBC organized a course on principles of lighting design and the integration with Building Management Systems to create high-performance green buildings.
Topics included: lighting basics (units, measurements and standards), lamps, LED: tales or facts, lighting systems, daylight and light pipes, dialux – European lighting software, EN 15193 – Lighting ENergy Index LENI9. Lighting control systems and case studies on lighting atomization.
The trainers for this course were Ph.D Dorin Beu, Technical University Cluj-Napoca and Rafael Marculescu, Schneider Electric
The course is part of the “Romania Green Building Professional” certification & training platform. More information about the program is available here.
Emilio Miguel Mitre of GBC Espagna teaches Green Design Principles within the “Romania Green Building Professional” certification & training platform
July 20, 2011 at 11:45 am | Posted in Certification, Events, General | Leave a commentTags: Emilio Miguel Mitre, green building courses, Romania Green Building Professional, training platform
RoGBC organized a new training course within the “Romania Green Building Professional” on 
Green Design Principles.
This was a full day course that delivered a practical overview on sustainable building projects from Mr. Emilio Miguel Mitre’s experience worldwide, Director for International Relations GBC Espagna and Chair of the World GBC Europe Network Training Task Force.
The topics included the basics on bioclimatic and sustainable architectural design and local case studies.
We were happy to have Emilio in Romania and would like to thank him again for a very interesting course!
New graduates of the “Romania Green Building Professional” certification and training program
July 15, 2011 at 4:20 pm | Posted in Certification | Leave a commentTags: Certification, conference, Green Building Council, sustainability, Training
We would like to congratulate the following persons for their commitment, participation, ideas and other contributions for the “Romania Green Building Professional” certification and training program:
Andreea Carastoian, Strucon Proiect
Raluca Primejdie, Architect
Lucian Opris, Bluehouse Capital
Monica Marza, West Group Architecture
The intensive program includes 56 hours of multidisciplinary training in sustainable construction principles. The RoGBC wishes each of you success in transforming Romania’s built environment to the highest levels of green performance.
Click here for the full list of Romania Green Building Professional graduates.
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