Workshop discusses action plan for green growth in building sector

A workshop was co-held by the Ministry of Construction and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in Hanoi on June 16, to implement the action plan for green growth within the building sector.

At the workshop (Source: VNA)
At the workshop (Source: VNA)

Speaking at the event, Le Trung Thanh, Director of the Department of Science Technology and Environment at the Ministry of Construction, stressed the side-effects of economic development, which have caused pollution, resource exhaustion and energy crisis over the past few years.

Vietnam is among several countries suffering the most from the impacts of climate change, for example, rising sea levels, droughts and flooding, so it is imperative that the government has designed a national action plan for green growth from 2014-2020.

With support from the USAID’s “Vietnam Clean Energy Programme: Energy Efficiency Promotion”, the Ministry has formulated the action plan for the building sector by 2020, with a vision to 2030.

The program offers building owners free technical support to provide building energy simulations, that can help them achieve substantial energy and Green House Gas (GHG) reductions, for their newly-designed and retrofitted building demonstration projects.

It also offers training on integrated design, building energy simulation and the incorporation of energy code requirements, into construction processes. Furthermore, it provides urban managers and leaders with the expertise from American green building and sustainable, urban, energy development experts.

USAID Vietnam Director, Michael Greene, said Vietnam is among countries with the fastest urbanization which leads to an increase in GHG. Energy consumption may triple between 2010 and 2020, he noted.

He underlined the necessity to integrate the Vietnam Energy Efficiency Building Code (VEEBC) into the building sector’s action plan for green growth.

So far, some 3,000 architects, engineers, project managers, government officials and practitioners from 40 provinces, have benefited from the program’s training courses, receiving technical knowledge and skills, to effectively enforce and implement the VEEBC. The program has surveyed 280 buildings in order to develop a national database on building energy performance.