Oman’s authorities are pressing ahead with plans to develop and enforce a set of construction standards and specifications designed to enhance energy efficiency in all new buildings coming up in the Sultanate.
A number of strategies to this end were deliberated at the Energy Lab — a weeks-long forum hosted by the government’s Implementation Support & Follow-Up Unit (ISFU) to brainstorm initiatives to accelerate Oman’s economic diversification away from hydrocarbons. Participating in the Energy Lab, which ran for about three weeks from March 18 to April 26, 2018, were decision-makers and high level executives representing a number of electricity and energy related government agencies and stakeholder institutions, and academic and research bodies.
Air-conditioning typically accounts for 70–80 per cent of electricity consumption in buildings and residential homes in the Sultanate — a trend that is widely seen as economically unsustainable and environmentally worrisome. With a combination of technologies and effective insulation materials, energy consumption in buildings can be dramatically reduced, thereby alleviating electricity demand from the grid and also mitigating the attendant impacts on global warming and climate change, say experts.
“The development and enforcement of energy efficiency standards and specifications will drive down power use in new buildings. This initiative will introduce green building requirements into buildings construction rules and regulations. The Supreme Council for Planning (SCP) will carry this out in cooperation with the relevant entities,” said ISFU — a task force operating under the auspices of the Diwan of Royal Court — in a newly published handbook on the Energy Lab.
Importantly, the new energy efficiency guidelines will contribute to significant savings in electricity consumption in buildings during the post-2018 period, according to ISFU. Savings are estimated at a ballpark 0.4 terawatts-hours by the year 2023.
“The initiative will include various types of buildings such as governmental, commercial, residential and industrial,” the Implementation Support and Follow-up Unit stated.
At the forum, participants discussed moves to develop and introduce new building rules and regulations that are harmonised across a number of regulatory bodies and stakeholders, notably Muscat Municipality, Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, and Ministry of Housing. They also reviewed challenges in enforcing existing energy efficiency guidelines, as well as the additional cost that will accrue to building owners when the new measures come into force.
Also participating in the effort to roll out energy efficiency standards for new buildings is the Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER) and Ministry of Legal Affairs.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
