Mainstreaming Building Energy Efficiency Codes in Developing Countries
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energy consumption levels of at least 30 percent below those required in the 2007 BEEC can apply for low-interest loans or grants from the German Development Bank KfW.14 It should be emphasized that the use of incentives to improve compliance does not mean that the need to verify compliance disappears—on the contrary, the use of public funds needs to be justified by monitoring and verification of BEEC compliance. Information. Information should be provided to professionals and the general public, such as development of software tools and simulation models, design manuals, compilation of interpretation of BEEC, metering, audits and information/ checklists for buyers and consumers. Certification and rating systems for the regulated building components aid designers in specification of BEEC compliant materials, builders in compliance with the code and code officials in checking compliance. Building energy certificates are increasingly used to provide information to the public about the energy consumption status of buildings. They can be also used to monitor/evaluate compliance with the BEEC (for example, in Sweden; see Chapter 4),15 or to provide the basis for payout of financial incentives (for example in Austria).16 Performance-based BEECs can produce numerical scales for energy labeling and thus facilitate the use of other policy instruments.17
The compliance tools could also be used for monitoring and evaluating the general compliance and effectiveness of the BEEC on a local or national basis. This would be important if political targets for achieving certain penetration or energy savings and/or CO2 emission reductions have been set.
Compliance Approaches and Enforcement Interactions18 Prescriptive BEECs that provide specific requirements for the building envelope and for some or all of the fixed equipment (heating, cooling, ventilation, service water heating, and lighting) are easy to apply by designers and builders, require relatively little information, and are relatively easy to check by reviewers and inspectors, particularly if equipment and materials have been tested and certified. Since prescriptive BEECs stipulate the minimum acceptable, a pass/fail criterion for one parameter per component can usually be applied. To ensure that materials have actually been installed correctly, inspection on site is required as well. Performance-based BEECs that regulate the whole building performance, including all fixed services, allow the designer to optimize solutions, tailor them to the specific circumstances, and allow the use of innovative products. But they are also more complex to apply, require more information and usually computerized calculations. Although a pass/fail criterion is applied for the final output (energy use per m2 or similar), many intermediate parameter values feed into this. It is easier to make mistakes (or to hide an incorrect figure), but also more difficult to understand and apply and to check. Building control staff need expertise and time to be able to check data and calculations.