IEN (Gregers) was invited to speak on the topic of "Energy Efficient & Green Buildings" by the Malaysian-Danish Business Council. Download Gregers' slides entitled "Expensive not to go green", which highlighted:
Case studies of substantial energy savings (30-66%) achieved for different building projects
Building performance simulation as an effective design tool
Salaries being the biggest operational expenditure for buildings, hence, the importance on designing healthy and stimulating work environments conducive for occupancy.
Having made the case for energy efficient and green buildings, Gregers rhetorically asked: "How to make Energy Efficient & Green Buildings the natural choice?". And offered the following suggestions:
Levelling the playing field with respect to energy pricing that reflects the true price of energy according to a polluters-pay principle. At the moment, the adverse cost from air pollution, climate change and others are not factored into the energy price.
Ensuring the benefits of energy efficiency at the point of purchase / leasing of buildings. This can be achieved through mandatory energy labeling of buildings, an initiative already begun for government buildings
Energy Efficiency labeling of equipment and Cash Rebate Vouchers for the most energy efficient products on the market. For example, as done through the SAVE program under SEDA (https://www.seda.gov.my/saveprogram/), where it was found that the cash voucher subsidy was saved 9-fold from the energy savings achieved.
In the ensuing Q&A, the other speaker, Allan Jensen, Danfoss, recounted how the energy labelling scheme for buildings played a decisive role when choosing his future home, as the choice came down to two buildings that cost the same. However, the energy label showed that one building had a 3 times higher energy consumption that the other, so, the (financial) choice was clear: Allan chose the energy efficient house.
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