EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Energy Conservation Center Japan (ECCJ) conducted a workshop (ECAP 20) on the energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) of buildings on 2–6 December 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. ECAP 20 was under the ASEAN Japan Energy-Efficiency Partnership (AJEEP), where Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states (AMSs) shared their knowledge and ideas to develop and implement building energy codes (BECs) / green building codes (GBCs) effectively in their home countries. This report summarizes the presentations, discussions, recommendations, and outcomes of the workshop.
1. Background
Development of BEC (Building Energy Code) and GBC (Green Building Code) is one of the main strategies of APAEC (ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation) *1 activities. Therefore, a series of workshops on this theme has been held in Japan since 2013, and AMS and Japan have been promoting policies, technologies and best practice introduction related to the EE&C of buildings.
Based on the above history, at ECAP17 in the previous year, lectures and discussions were made regarding the overall promotion status of ZEB and the recent excellent EE&C policy on buildings in Japan. Subsequently small group discussion was held regarding the utilization of these Japanese policy and technologies for further EE&C promotion in AMS.
Those process and the fruitful result of the total discussion had a great impact on the subsequent development of the AEA (ASEAN Energy Award).
After all, AEA 2019 was held with the result of 2 numbers of submissions from Singapore and Malaysia and no successful outcome.
*1 APAEC’s four main “Outcome-Based Strategies” for the EE&C program are as follows:
(1) Harmonization and promotion of energy-efficiency standards and labeling on various kinds of energy-related products.
(2) Enhancing private sector participation including energy service companies (ESCOs) for EE&C promotion.
(3) Developing GBCs that support the use of highly energy-efficient products.
(4) Enhancing the participation of financial institutions in EE&C development.
2. Objectives
Based on the above-mentioned background, ECCJ held the ECAP 20 workshop on 2–6 December 2019 in Tokyo, as a follow-up session to the one held in the previous year where experts from the governments of ASEAN countries had been invited. ECCJ targets the promotion of human resource development projects that will contribute to improving the EE&C level of the buildings in AMSs. Specifically, the goals are defined as follows:
(1) To learn the Japanese policy and measures related to BEC / GBC and new technologies to disseminate and promote ZEB (Zero Energy Building) through the collaboration with Japanese Business Alliance for Smart Energy Worldwide (JASE-W). The contents of the information to be provided will be prepared based upon the results of the previous year’s ECAP17 and responding to the requests from the ASEAN side.
(2) To discuss and develop the measures to further enhance awareness on “the ZEB Family Concept” in ASEAN region in order to promote entry and understanding the judges of BOJ to “ZEB Ready” subcategory of the special submission category of EE&C Buildings of AEA.
(3) To obtain the knowledge and measures for development and refinement of BEC / GBC based on the present status of each country through the group discussion.
3. Outline of the workshop
The workshop program was carefully designed and implemented in the following steps:
Presentation of Country Reports
On the first day, participants presented reports consisting of (a) present status and future tasks of BECs/GBCs in their respective countries and (b) proposals to refine the AEA (increase of entries, improvement of criteria and judging procedure, etc.).
Lectures and Site Visit
Participants obtained a great deal of useful information to establish and execute BECs/GBCs in their respective countries as well as to refine the AEA through a keynote speech, Japanese speakers’ lectures, and a site visit to ZEB oriented building, ZEB-ready buildings and Net Zero Energy building recognized for their fine energy management.
<Expected outcomes>
To share information among participants about the current situation of both BEC and GBC standards in ASEAN countries and to knowledge-gain through lectures and a site visit.
Discussion
Discussion either in small groups or among all members, where the special professionals and experts also participated in3, helped participants to prepare their action plans, according to the situation of their countries, by providing opportunities for the free exchange of ideas.
Presentation of Action Plans
At the end of the workshop, participants presented action plans/roadmaps for promoting BECs/GBCs in their respective countries and for improving AEA activities in terms of more application and awarded cases.
<Expected outcomes>
To make plan to promote buildings’ EE&C including ZEB in respective countries and to work out the solution for increasing the number of entries and promoting understanding of the judges of BOJ regarding “ZEB Ready” subcategory of the special submission category of EE&C Buildings of ASEAN Energy Award.
4. Conclusions and Way Forward
(1) Participants could recognize through the presentation of country reports, etc. that the proper action plan to promote and disseminate BEC / GBC and ZEB on buildings should be required for each AMS because the policy and measure to do so are different among AMSs
(2) As for the sharing knowledge about ZEB promotion effort in Japan (design, operation, EE&C evaluation tools, etc.), participants could effectively and efficiently learn about the best practices and specific technologies in Japan through lectures, site visits. In particular, in the site visits, participants learned about the efforts of leading companies in terms of observing three different cases of the ZEB level (ZEB Oriented, ZEB Ready and Net ZEB). It was deeply understood that EE&C evaluation tools, energy management, and step by step level improvement were important for achieving ZEB. Participants could also learned the information that would be useful for developing more effective national policies.
(3) Participants learned by the advice of JASE-W on planning, design, construction and operation of the building and were provided with the information on the international standardization of the ZEB Family concept as technical measures for promotion and dissemination of ZEB.
(4) Considering the status that number of the submissions in the ZEB Ready subcategory in the AEA was only two and there was no awarded submission in 2019, the participants discussed the specific improvement methods for entry and evaluation, and obtained the following improvement plans:
– To follow Japanese example to introduce “ZEB Oriented” level, which will mitigate the hurdle of submissions to increase the number of ZEB related submissions.
– To enhance national policy to promote ZEB family concept in each AMS
– To study the possibility for using online platform for BOJ members who cannot attend the final judging meeting to enhance evaluation quality (decision by EE&C-SSN)
(5) On the basis of METI’s (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan) instruction, ECCJ is going to continue this workshop in future for further progress in the EE&C of buildings in the ASEAN region.