BUILDING Energy Efficiency in Nepal (BEEN) is a four year project funded by the European Union under the SWITCH-Asia Programme. BEEN project is a consortium led by University of Innsbruck, Austria in partnership with MinErgy Pvt Ltd, Nepal, Greentech Knowledge Solutions Pvt Ltd, India and Asociación Espanola de Normalización (UNE), Spain. BEEN aims to contribute in achieving low-carbon and resource-efficiency in the Nepalese building sector by promoting climate-responsive building design and construction through integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. The Project will be implemented in 60 municipalities across the four bio-climatic zones of Gandaki, Lumbini and Bagmati Province.

The goal of the action is to contribute to the development of a low carbon and resource efficient building construction sector in Nepal, with the following objectives;

• To promote Energy Efficiency (EE) design and construction practices in the building sector, including the integration of Renewable Energy (RE) for new construction and retrofitting
• To enable policy, regulatory and standards framework for the building sector and availability of financial products for introducing and applying EE in the building sector in Nepal

Nepal is now one of the fastest urbanizing developing countries. It is estimated that 1 million homes will be built in Nepal in the next decade. Most of the buildings in Nepal are designed without considering the local climate. Increased urbanization, changing lifestyle and lack of climatic consideration has increased the energy demand in building sector in Nepal. Moreover, the use of building materials with high embodied energy has also resulted into higher carbon emission through the building sector.

Nepal currently does not have standards, guidelines or regulations regarding energy efficient building design for new construction or for retrofitting of existing buildings. There is lack of awareness among people and capacities of building sector, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) on energy efficient buildings and their service offerings remain low. While structural stability of buildings has received attention in Nepal due to earthquakes, consideration of climate responsiveness and energy efficiency are lacking in most new building designs. Efficiency issues need to be addressed by integrating passive strategies to design climate-responsive buildings and use of energy efficient space heating and cooling system. In addition, materials that use low energy and resource-efficiency during production and over their use times also need to be prioritized. Similarly, integration of renewable energy measures in building design and operation needs to be fostered to further reduce building’s carbon footprint.

Expectations/promise (what would happen if? What if?)

• BEEN seeks to apply Energy Efficiency (EE) and Renewable Energy (RE) measures in 200 buildings in 60 municipalities within four years
• BEEN intends to save 25% operational energy consumption in selected new and retrofitted buildings
• BEEN project will construct 8 showcase buildings which will demonstrate EE and RE measures
• The project aims to capacitate 400 BUILDING-MSMEs such as architects, civil engineers, technical and consulting Firms, builders & contractors, Door- Window service providers, and  Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) service providers to offer EE and RE measures in their services and products
• Within 4 years, the project seeks to develop at least 3 policies for promoting EE in building sector
• Through BEEN project, at least 30 targeted municipalities will adopt policies promoting EE and RE in buildings
• BEEN project will also collaborate with at least 2 banks to offer preferential financial instruments to attract private investment for energy efficient building sector

Solution

• BEEN seeks to collaborate with different associations and building Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to build the capacities through different trainings, passive design guidelines, tools and technical standards.
• BEEN intends to increase awareness of Building MSMEs and end users and also seeks to create market system for the promotion of RE & EE building design and construction
• Through collaboration with different government officials, BEEN will develop relevant policy, regulatory standard and frameworks on building energy efficiency solutions.
• Financial instruments will be developed to promote RE & EE building design and construction