Though Vietnam’s construction standards were promulgated
in 2006, annual surveys in HCM City show that nearly all the buildings in the
city cannot meet the standards, which leads to a high level of energy
consumption, according to Pham Huy Phong, Deputy Director of the HCM City Energy
Saving Center.

Phong said that surveys have found out that the housing construction (wall
structure, building materials, roof wall color, thickness, or the resistance to
radiation of the window glass) at nearly all buildings cannot meet the
standards. The air-conditioning systems of some buildings gobble up 50 percent
of the total power consumption level of the whole buildings, which is because of
the poor performance and bad initial investment, while the machines are too old
and they are not property maintained.

How would you explain the fact that people’s houses consume up to 36 percent
of the total electricity consumption of the city?

The construction standards are applied to the buildings with the areas of
300-2500 square meters. As people’s houses usually have the areas of less than
300 square meters, they do not need to follow the standards. Therefore, the
energy saving at people’s houses depends on the awareness and how effectively
people use electrical appliances.

Many people say that in energy saving, the heavier investments they make; the
lower efficiency they can get. What would you say about that?

There are always three groups of solutions for energy saving. The first group is
simple with low expenses, but it can bring high efficiency. These are the
reasonable management methods which encourage people to save energy.

The second group has the medium level of investment which takes 2-3 years to get
back investment capital.

The third group includes high solutions, which takes more than three years to
get back capital. Though the solutions are costly and they require much time,
the energy to be saved will be big.

When we give advices to clients, we always present the three solutions, so that
the clients can make decisions after considering their conditions. The first
group of solutions is always the priority choice which can be done immediately.
Meanwhile, the second group of solutions could be suitable for the immediate
time, while the third should be carried out in a long term plan.

Have you taken into account the climate changes when offering the solutions?

Yes, of course. Previously, when talking about energy consumption, we emphasized
the benefits for the owners of the buildings. As you may hear recently that
“green buildings” have become in a growing tendency. Green buildings mean the
buildings which use energy in the most effective way.

Moreover, the buildings do not use energy, but they can themselves create
energy. They are built in the way which fits the local climate and allows to
take full advantage of the natural conditions, striving to a sustainable
development and the reduction of the energy that causes pollution to the
environment.

However, I have to say that Vietnam is still far from attaining “green
buildings”. Before we dream of green buildings, we should strive to have energy
saving buildings first, because we still even do not have energy saving
buildings.

Though the construction standards were promulgated in 2006 already, the
standards have not been compulsory. We are just encouraging buildings’ investors
to follow the standards. The Energy Saving Law has taken effects since the
beginning of 2011, but there have been no concrete regulations.

Could you please tell us about the things that need to be done to march
towards green buildings?

In fact, it is very difficult to attain green buildings – the concept which
remains new in many countries in the world. But it is much easier to have energy
saving buildings. I believe that we have great potentials to save energy.

Source: SGTT