On June 7, in Hanoi, the energy efficiency promotion project in supporting Small and Medium Enterprises Vietnam (MEET – BIS Vietnam) and the Association of Chief Engineers of Buildings/Hotels in Hanoi jointly organized the seminar "Experience in efficiently using and managing water and energy resources in buildings." The seminar attracted nearly 100 delegates representing buildings, hotels, and industrial parks throughout the Northern region.
According to statistics, at present, half of the carbon emissions in the world is generated from the building sector. In addition, the energy consumption rate of buildings accounts for 40% of global energy consumption. In Vietnam, Mr. Dinh Chinh Loi from the Department of Science, Technology and Environment - Ministry of Construction, said: The rate of energy consumption of Vietnam building sector is increasing rapidly, from 20% of total national energy consumption in 2003 up to 30% in the current period. Now, among more than 1000 key facilities using power all over the country, there are 126 buildings in this area (about 10% of total national energy consumption), mainly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Despite big amount of energy consumption, the potential of energy efficiency in this area is great, about 30 – 40% in new buildings and about 15-25% in renovated buildings. Therefore, applying energy efficiency solutions is important for buildings to reduce costs, especially in current difficult circumstances for production. In fact, many buildings have achieved significant economic effect with the application of energy efficiency solutions.
At the seminar, sharing experiences in water and energy efficiency in the building sector, Mr. Nguyen Van Chinh, Chief Engineer of Hotel Sheraton Hanoi said: Over recent years, to protect and preserve the sustainable environment around hotel’s area, the hotel management board planned management measures to minimize the impact on the environment, reduce energy and water use. The entire lighting system of the hotel uses LED, an inducting lighting system to save energy, and at the same time maximizing natural light; integrate elevator area and central air conditioning with the inverters; uses smart cards for rooms lock; use steam boilers for laundry system to save energy, use high-efficiency heat pump in hot water for the entire operations of the hotel ... "We are willing to invest more in new solutions for maximum energy efficiency", said Mr. Chinh.
CEO of Rex Hotel (in Ho Chi Minh City), one of the buildings successful in applying energy efficiency solutions shared: In the current circumstances of business with many challenges, the practice of energy savings contributes to the reduction of enterprises operating costs. Accordingly, since 2010, the hotel has adopted many energy efficiency measures such as investment in hot water solar system, using inverter air conditioning system, etc. With these solutions, in 2012, the hotel saved more than 400,000 kWh of electricity, equivalent to 970 million compared to 2009.
The energy efficiency solutions also bring great results in helping HITC building (in Hanoi) to save 20% of power consumption for air-conditioning system; 30% power for automatic escalator system; 16% power for cooling water pumping system. Specifically, HITC building has applied some measures such as installing an inverter for pumping system, using energy-saving T5 lights; developing automatic escalator control systems; maintaining and dealing with unusual situations of air conditioning system. Besides, the building also built energy saving regulations and implemented energy audit in order to find out the optimum energy efficiency solutions. With these solutions, HITC building was awarded the first prize for unique energy management by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2010.
By the end of this year, Regulations on "The Building Using Energy Efficiency" will be issued by the Ministry of Construction in order to contribute to achieving energy efficiency targets in the building sector more quickly. Along with the Law on Energy efficiency being in force, this regulation would create a legal framework for energy efficiency in building operations. However, after all, law is just a tool of administration. What is more important is that enterprises need to recognize that energy efficiency helps bring long-term economic benefits for themselves, then they can apply energy efficiency solutions by themselves. Success from the buildings mentioned above is the clearest proof of those benefits.
By Minh Chau
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