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Editor’s note
Behrouz Mohammad Kari | Ph.D. in Building Physics
Inception of a fundamental move towards assessment
of high-quality buildings in terms of energy efficiency
and environment:
(From the new edition of Article 19 of the National
Building Code, to the draft of guidelines for the
evaluation and rating of green buildings)
This issue of the Journal of Architecture and Energy is devoted
to the important topic of evaluating and rating green buildings.
It should be noted that this approach is due to two important
steps that have recently been taken to qualitatively classify
buildings: energy rating and green buildings classification.
In order to implement the Article 18 directive of the
Consumption Pattern Reform Law, in September 2018, a new
edition of Section 19 of the National Building Regulations was
announced. The new edition provides design and execution
opportunities that did not exist in the previous edition. To
prepare the text of the new edition, which is the fourth edition
of the topic, 10 globally and regionally eminent energy laws
and codes were examined. The most important changes in the
new edition are:
- In addition to the category «Energy Compliant Buildings (in
accordance with Section 19) (EC)» which is considered the
lowest energy category, three higher energy categories, under
the headings «Low energy Compliant Building (EC+)», «Very
low energy Compliant Building (EC++)», and «Near Zero
Energy Consumption Building (ECnZ)» are also defined.
It should be noted that such a pattern has been considered in
other countries as well. For example, in European countries,
the design and implementation of «buildings with near zero
energy consumption» was optional until the end of 2019,
but from the beginning of 2019, according to new European
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), it is
necessary to design and implement all new public buildings
in accordance with the criteria set for «Near Zero Energy
Buildings». In addition, by the end of 2020, this expectation
will be extended to all new buildings.
- In previous editions, two design methods were proposed.
In the new edition, in addition to the two «prescriptive» and
«trade-off» methods, two other methods are also presented
entitled «energy need» and «energy efficiency». The
«prescriptive» method is the simplest method and the «energy
efficiency» method is the most sophisticated design method.
At the same time, the lowest design options and the highest
implementation costs are related to prescription method, while
the highest design options and the lowest implementation
costs are achievable with «energy efficiency» method.
- In the sections related to mechanical installations, in addition the basis for questions and suggestions to complete the
to the issues raised in the previous edition, other key issues
are also considered, including minimum equipment efficiency,
control and monitoring, recycling and energy storage.
- In different design methods, new criteria for the use of
renewable energy systems have been considered.
- Special attention is paid to the use of natural lighting, so
that in addition to improving the conditions of the indoor
environment, the consumption of artificial lighting is reduced
as much as possible.
- In the sections related to electrical installations, in addition
to artificial lighting, control systems and motors, other
important issues, including the use of generation systems,
transformers, emergency power generators, capacitor banks
have also been addressed.
It should be noted that the new edition has been prepared
with the spiritual and financial support of the Vice President
for Science and Technology and the UNDP, and due to the fact
that it has innovations in the relevant global regulations, its
English translation will also be prepared in the near future.
It should be noted here that in Article 18 of the Consumption
Pattern Reform Law, what is defined as a task is not merely
a review of energy regulations, but a much higher goal. The
text of the Article 18 explicitly states «orientation towards the
green building».
In this regard, the Road, Housing and Urban Development
Research Center has carried out a project since 2018 in
which, in the first step, the models of 13 developed and
developing regional countries were reviewed and compared.
In the next steps, after summarizing the results of analyzes
and comparisons, a national model was proposed, after
holding symposiums, with the presence of representatives
of various relevant institutions and the most expert persons
in various fields in green buildings, weighting factors to
various criteria have been fixed. Thus, the way was paved to
achieve a national model for the evaluation and classification
of green buildings, called «cypress». It should be noted that
the employer of this project is the National Land and Housing
Organization, and we hope that in the near future, the text
prepared as a supporting document will be announced as
the second executive regulation directive of Article 18 of the
Energy Consumption Pattern Reform Law.
The next steps to be taken are to provide the specialized
guidance needed for topic 19 as well as the green building
appraisal model, so that simple and practical technical
solutions for each of these two important national authorities
can be provided to construction project designers and decision
makers.
It is hoped that the articles presented in this issue will provide
proposed national model for the evaluation of green buildings.