Romania GBC at International Green Building Summit

February 23, 2012 at 11:43 am | Posted in Events | Leave a comment

I just returned from Istanbul from presenting the progress of the Romania Green Building Council at the invitation

Rick Fedrizzi, Chairman of the World GBC kicks off the plenary session; comments included announcement of a business district sized development "going green"

of the organizers; the Turkish Green Building Council.    The two day summit included presentations from nearly 50 green building experts from around the world.   The opening panel included Romania and the leaders of the Green Building Councils from the U.S., Turkey, Jordan,  Sweden, and Tunisia; each bringing different approaches to the topic but a common and exciting theme of rapidly growing interest for sustainable construction.

I had a chance to speak with Rick Fedrizzi, who is both the Chairman of the World Green Building Council and President and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council.   He shared my desire to ensure all of the Green Building Councils work together to share knowledge and build capacities to be successful in their respective local, regional and global missions.   I also met Dr. Nils Kok, one of the world’s top experts on the valuation of green buildings.   I was very interested in bringing his expertise and body of research to the discussion of green building finance in

over 800 persons registered for the conference

Romania.  He was very interested in the work of the Green Building Councils including the RoGBC Green Mortgage product.

I also had the good fortune to have great conversations with Mark James,  Founder of Urban Green, a developer focused on affordable, green housing.   Dr. Michael Braungart – renown co-author of the influential deep green book  “Cradle to Cradle”, and Greg Katz, an entrepreneur and green venture capital partner with major accomplishments in green finance and energy performance standards.  Both Dr. Braungart and Mr. Katz shared my very positive experience working in Romania while Mr. James is looking forward to his first visit.

While, as you can imagine, the team from the Turkish GBC was quite busy, I still managed to find time to speak with Yenal Guller, Executive Director, Dr. Duygu Erten, Vice President and co-founder, Haluk Sur, Chairman and Ali Nihat Gokyigit, Honorary Chairman and co-founder.   It is clear their Council is off to a very strong start and with a great team in place.

– Steve

Green Cafe – Shades of Green in Sustainable Architecture Projects

February 16, 2012 at 11:25 am | Posted in General | Leave a comment

The Founding Members and friends of RoGBC Transilvania were invited to another informal, but yet informative Green Cafe and we discussed about the green architectural design topic.

The event was at Dico & Tiganas office from Cluj – Napoca and had as moderators Arh. Serban Tiganas & Dr. Dorin Beu, Director RoGBC Transilvania.

Projects were discussed:

  •  HiLine New-York Project
  •  Holcim Europa 2011 Awards
  • Small but Green Building Projects

At the event were invited participants from  construction related fields.

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RoGBC Team

Managing Green Building Projects

February 8, 2012 at 2:38 am | Posted in Training | Leave a comment
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In 3 February took  place at RoBGC headquarters the “Managing Green Building Projects” course, from the Romania Green Building Professional certification training platform.

The course was focused on best practices for managing successful green building projects.

Arch. Steven BEKERS is now an independent registered Cradle to Cradle™ architect/consultant, Master of Conference at BATir ULB university, vice president of Seco building control, founding member of Local Solutions Development Group ASBL already active in Africa and founding partner of “Lateral Thinking Factory”; supporting projects according to Cradle to Cradle principles with a multidisciplinary network of world experts that include c2c authors Dr. Michael Braungart and Architect William Mc Donough.

 

In his presentation, arh. Steven Beckers had reached key sustainable construction principles including “Integrated Design” exemplified on his pioneer green thinking, awards wining projects.

 

 

During the course was also two interventions regarding Green Office strategy at RoGBC, made by eng. Monica Zarnescu and  the project management for demonstrative projects in progress at RoGBC,  “ecoBiblioteca” and “Greening our Workspace”, made by arch. Luiza Hanc.

In the second part of the course Steve Borncamp,  who is currently leading three exemplary regional green building projects, has introduced the “Prispa” student project which was followed by a brainstorming session regarding “Prispa” student project managing.

Arch. Radu Andone

 

What is the cost of the Energy Performance Certificate for buildings?

February 3, 2012 at 12:37 am | Posted in General, Legislative Outreach | Leave a comment
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I recently found  a research, published in December 2011  on the price of Energy Performance Certificates and main factors that influence  it  in different Member States. The research is made by the Energy Performance in Buildings  Concerted Action (EPBD CA) – a group of experts (mainly from the governments but also associated technical experts from each Member State) in charge with the implementation of EPBD at the national level.

What are the main findings of their study?

  • the price of certification is mainly dependent on the expert’s work and defined in most member states by the market conditions; however there are countries (Spain, Portugal, Malta) where part of the price is fixed (fixed fees imposed in the legislation) and part is determined by the market.
  • price of certification may vary considerable based on type of buildings (residential or non-residential) and if the building is new or existing; in some countries certification for existing buildings is more expensive than that for new buildings
    • in general the price of certificates for residential buildings typically range from 200EUR -600EUR
    • for the non-residential buildings the range can vary significantly from few hundred Euros for small and simple buildings up to 20 000 EUR for large and complex buildings
  • the main factors that influence the price of the certificate are the experience of the auditor, the methodology used, the size and geometry of the building, the characteristics of the HVAC systems

What is the situation in Romania?

According to the study there is no difference in price between certificates for existing or new buildings in Romania. The price is defined by market conditions and varies according to the type of building certified:

Residential, single family house – 2-3 EUR/m2

Residential, single flat in multifamily building – 1.5 -2.5EUR/m2

Residential, entire multifamily building – 1-2 EUR/m2

Small non-residential building (<1000 m2) – 2-3 EUR/m2

Large non-residential building (>1000 m2)  – 2-3 EUR/m2

The information in the research is based on a survey  with data from 2008. The situation might be different now considering that  the building energy performance certification market is growing and there are more energy auditors. Anyway, the EPBD recast will inevitably lead to changes on the market (more buildings will need to get the certification, penalties for non complying with the requirements of EPBD should be introduced in all member states) and inevitably on the price.

Get more insights on the price of energy performance certificates and the factors that influence it in different countries from reading the whole report here.

What do you know about the price of energy performance certificates in Romania?

Do you find the results of the study consistent with your experience in getting an energy performance certificate for your building?

Anca Bieru

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